How important is your business to you? You need your customers to feel like it’s just as important to them. That starts with creating a good reputation around key communities. Read on to learn more.
Give a positive response to the negative feedback that you get. If you work on boosting positive feedback, it will make the negative stuff fade away. The more positive content there is, the less of an impact negative comments will have.
Be personable online. Posting status updates and tweets isn’t going to work unless you’re speaking with the followers you have. Whenever a question is posted on your social media page, answer it as fast as you can. If you are unsure, inform them that you are going to find the appropriate response, and then do so.
To ensure the trust of your customers, honesty and transparency is key. Don’t remove or try to cover up negative posts from your website. Doing this can make it appear to your customers as if you are ignoring their concerns or that you simply don’t care about them. Always be upfront about any issues your company might be facing.
To improve the online reputation of your business, optimize web pages with the right search phrase. Typically, that is simply the name of your business. Search engines like businesses that seem to be an authority. When your business is seen as an authority, then search engines like Google will bump you to a higher standing in the results.
Your online presence is something to always be aware of. You can’t be sure when a negative review can pop up from someone that doesn’t like you, your business, or is just an unhappy customer. Checking search results can help you keep negative content from reaching the top. Work this a few times each and every month.
Always treat employees with respect. Many people do not take this as seriously as they should, and there can be serious consequences. If others know that you don’t treat employees well, they may not want to do business with you.
Before putting too much effort in reputation management online, check to see how much you need, if any. Search your business with Google and Bing. Do negative results come up? Do the websites and blogs your business runs only show up on a few hits or none at all? Answering yes to either question means that you have work cut out.
A private promotion or deal should always be kept a private matter. This is particularly important when offering these things in response to complaints. One thing to avoid is posting the things you’re doing to remedy a customer complaint and then receive more complaints because people want free things.
Frequent some of the places your customers do. Visit these locales as often as possible. If you are present and visible, you will seem more approachable. Most people are more comfortable in these social settings, so they’ll be more likely to let you in.
As your business prospers, your customer interaction will increase. This results in more complaints, which you should make sure you address. Also, you have to address them in a polite and proper manner.
The best way to manage your reputation is simply to provide great customer service to everyone that you deal with. When everyone is happy, they only say positive things or just nothing at all. Word of mouth is the most powerful advertising because it is free and unstoppable. Make sure no one ever has a reason to bad mouth you in the first place.
You might get angry when you read negative commentary that has been posted about your company. However, you should remain calm when responding to what has been said. This will give people the opportunity to understand your side as well as that of the complainer.
You need to help customers develop realistic expectations along the way. This means being upfront with customers when you make mistakes, and make sure you handle it carefully. Transparency is an important part of managing your reputation.
As mentioned earlier, if your business is really important to you, then you should make it really important to your customers too. Your reputation is a big part of this. Use the advice from this article to build your business.
