Reputation Management is Getting Corporate’s Attention!
This “Internet of Things” has entered a new phase for brands who first had to recognize that having an online presence is powerful. Then recognizing that online presence can drives sales and forces us to innovate. Finally, (and it’s not the last stop in the evolution of digital marketing) that how our brand is represented and appears online along with what others think of it is shifting consumer conversions to or from our brands.
Boom! Enter Reputation Management
Our online customer touchpoints matter. How others perceive our brands matter more! But people care most about what others think! That’s why online reputation management is getting the attention of brands in all shapes and sizes.
According to MCGadvertising.com, 88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. Thanks to the catapulting of new platforms and messaging in this digital age, the instant sharing of unlimited social content is driving a myriad of mediums where customer sentiment pops up.
Even our clients are just starting to recognize the way an ill-fated comment on a social platform can play out in repelling new prospects or, conversely, how a five-star review drives more click-thrus, website-referred traffic, and new customers. This is a make-or-break arena. Managing your online reputation is critical to today’s business but is an oversight for too many companies that simply don’t know where to start.
The Digital Playground for Reputation Management
Online reputation management is bigger than just public relations, it’s about managing the sentiment across a variety of digital platforms. By actively monitoring, managing, engaging and responding to these brand perceptions and the outside community, companies can harness the power of what sentiment can do for their brand.
Consistent monitoring of your online reputation helps you stay ahead of and address negative sentiment. According to Moz.com, businesses risk losing 22 percent of business when potential customers discover just one negative article on page one of search results. However, lost business amplifies to 59.2% when three negative articles show up on page one.
[FREE TOOL: Want to measure your brand sentiment? We love this FREE TOOL from Socialbakers that helps you manage your brand perceptions on social media and benchmark yourself against your competitors.]
Employee Sentiment. How your employees talk about or reflect your brand to their social and online communities can say a lot about what life is like behind your office doors. Here’s where the majority of employee reviews will appear for most brands:
- Glassdoor – This is an employee-facing review site.
- Indeed – Job-posting and job-search site that allows for company reviews.
- Facebook – The banter about an employer often finds its way to Facebook and it’s a great place to listen in on the conversation.
Customer Sentiment. Public feedback or reviews can pop up on any social platform, but here are the top areas where the predominant number of customer reviews can be found:
- Google Business – Claim your Google Business Page; this one has the biggest impact on your bottom line.
- Yelp – Service-industry companies are likely to find their reviews here.
- Facebook – Search your company name to see what comments are being made about you or monitor the reviews on your company page.
- Twitter – Search your company name here to scour tweets about you. See examples below to see how two companies deal with review comments.
Controlling Sentiment with Your Response
The response from your brand to both negative and positive online feedback is EXACTLY what the consumer is watching. So, how you execute on your message says a lot about your company and its personality. We’ve captured these company responses recently and appreciate the value of how they publicly offer to help. In the Printed Solid example, using the platform of a good review to build greater brand awareness in a fun, engaging way…brilliant!. 
A great example here from Printed Solid on how to amplify their brand using a good review. By using a fun survey in their response, they engage other Twitter users and showcase their brand’s personality.
Monitoring Your Online Reviews
Frankly, this takes time! There are many platforms where reviews of your brand can exist and keeping track of it all can be overwhelming. There are several simpler ways to monitor, manage, engage and respond but we’re partial to the affordability of Monitor Business Reviews. This platform offers companies an easy way to see results by collecting all reviews in a simple to view dashboard. It sends alerts to your phone or email each time a new review is posted. Monitor Business Reviews even help you respond to reviews fast. New reviews are a powerful way to increase your review score. With this platform, brands can generate new reviews from current customers to build a better reputation across all digital platforms.
It’s time to take online reputation management seriously. Be sure to stay ahead of perceptions before they become a crisis and consistently monitor your brand’s reputation.