Your brand’s reputation is directly linked with its prosperity. It’s an invaluable marketing tool. If you have a good standing in the eyes of the public, your brand will thrive. The reverse also holds. A bad reputation can irreversibly destroy your brand.
In this social media era, it takes just a few seconds for posts to make a global turn. Whether accusations made against you are right or not, the message has already spread. Reputation management is, therefore, crucial. On that note, here are four valuable reputation management tips.
1. Use search engine optimization.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) comes in handy with reputation management. It works by promoting positive posts about your brand on the search engine results page and limiting the negative ones. This is an effective way to ensure that your brand image stays intact. So let’s say, for instance, a Google search is made on your company.
Online reputation management SEO is not a difficult task. Many marketing experts are skilled at this. Alternatively, you can seek help from a reputation management company that can deliver an aggressive SEO campaign to positively tweak the search engine algorithms. Most offer free consultancy and a demo of their generic tools.
2. Swiftly reply to negative feedback.
One of the most important ways to manage your business’s reputation is via communication. Always try to respond to every negative inquiry or statement that involves your brand. Let’s say, for example, you run a clinic that offers comprehensive medical management services. If an aggrieved client makes accusatory posts on social media sites regarding medical negligence, try to respond. Staying quiet on this will only trigger a more vicious response.
To preserve your brand value, it’s always good to tell your side of the story. Clearly express what your brand stands for. Let them know what actually happened. If you’re at fault, admit it, express your regret and say why it happened. If possible, offer reimbursement. The public is always sympathetic to companies that display some kind of credibility and integrity. This also helps build trustworthiness.
3. Have good engagement with the public.
Another vital way a business can maintain a good reputation is with a positive brand image. Whatever negative press is hurled at you might be quickly brushed aside if your relationship with customers has always been positive. Some might see it as conjecture or smear campaign.
Constantly engaging the public promotes a sense of familiarity. But you need to have a powerful online presence. Create accounts on every social media platform and offer fun, engaging, and quality content. Mix up video content, blogs, or audio snippets. Also, leave your business’s contact on all the platforms. This includes the email address and phone number. Phone lines must always be open and encourage customers to directly communicate if they have any problems. With time, you’ll be able to influence public opinion and nothing will be able to dent it.
4. Voraciously seek feedback.
Your communication tools are not only there to feed the public. They also serve as important devices in assessing your brand’s image, value, and reputation. Constantly seeking the opinion of the public is critical. Ultimately, this helps you know how well your brand is performing.
Try as best as you can to involve customers when posting on social media. Let them tell you what they like about your brand and what you can do better. Once received, review the comments both on your social media accounts and other areas like Google Reviews. Take what’s posted seriously and implement the required changes. All this hard work will, no doubt, result in happy customers. You might also have an edge over competitors.