According to Brandwatch, leading retail brands receive an average of 2,217 mentions per day on Twitter alone. Now, consider that there are 1.5 billion websites in Google’s index. That means there are potentially thousands of mentions of your brand each day to track. If you aren’t vigilant, you might miss bad reviews, biased articles, inaccurate reports, or competitor attacks.
Whether you use commercially available reputation monitoring tools and services like Google Alerts, develop your sentiment-tracking software as dandy portal we did, or simply search Google regularly, you must know when people mention you.
Don’t focus so much on Google that you forget about social media monitoring, either. Customer feedback doesn’t just arrive in the form of star ratings these days. A simple Tweet about a poor customer experience can erupt in real-time into a public firestorm if you ignore it. And don’t think you can simply delete negative comments. Doing so will only make problems worse.
When it comes to your reputation, social media marketing is a double-edged sword. On one hand, it’s a vital component of both your digital marketing and online reputation management strategy. Yet, controversial comments on social networks are a major source of countless brand crises.
To avoid most problems, don’t engage in arguments about politics or other hot-button topics on your social media accounts. If you absolutely must take a position, carefully weigh the consequences and make sure your messaging is clear and appropriate.
The best way to approach social media is to assume that everyone will read what you write, including stakeholders, customers, family members, and business partners. If you wouldn’t stand up and say it in front of your board or investors, don’t say it on any social media account. Remember, your customers have a wide spectrum of political and personal opinions. So, whatever you say about a sensitive topic is likely to offend someone.
When it comes to branded social media profiles, it’s even more risky to join discussions around sensitive topics. Many brands have attempted to weigh in on trending hashtags only to completely miss the mark. Bottom line: never hijack a hashtag for commercial benefit if you don’t understand what it means.
Reputation-harming online content doesn’t just disappear by itself. It takes time, effort, resources, and a precision-targeted SEO strategy deployed by experts to reposition it where it won’t be found. The longer unfavorable content remains on page one, the stickier it will become, and the more it will cost your business.
Your customers, investors, business partners, future employees, and loyal clients all depend on Google to tell them how and where to spend their money and time. We ensure they find favorable content that promotes a solid, long-lasting relationship with you and your company. We work in close partnership with you to craft the story you want your brand to tell.
There are rogue reviewers out there who will do a hatchet job for seemingly no reason, but for the most part, if you want to get a reputation for good service, offer good service. If your customers are genuinely pleased with their experience with your company, they’ll make it known
One of the best things you can do for your online reputation is interact with people who take the time to write a review of your business. Respond to positive reviews with a sincere thank you, and don’t let the negative reviews get you down–according to a survey by Trustpilot, 68% of consumers trust reviews more overall when there are some negative reviews in the mix. The important thing is to handle them correctly: Resist the urge to get defensive. Be courteous, apologize, and give the customer a way to get in touch with you directly so you can resolve the issue.