Online Reputation Management Strategy for 2018

Your online reputation has never been more important. Thanks to the Internet what happens offline, quite often appears online (and what happens online often gets blown out of proportion). Love it or hate it, a great online reputation is one of the cornerstones to successfully market your business in the 21st century.

That’s because your online reputation involves a whole lot more than just your ratings and reviews. Today, customers are looking everywhere, and having a great online reputation management strategy is key to looking your best where customers may find you. Let’s take a look at the top five things you need for a great online reputation management strategy.

Best Online Reputation Management Strategy Tips

1. Claim All Your Profiles on Industry and General Business Directories
   There are dozens of sites out there that customers use to find, evaluate, and contact business. There are even more business-listing sites. Thes include Google’s own business listing service, and an array of third-party sites. If you are in business, chances are you may already have a profile on these sites. Whether or not you know it.The first step in your online reputation management should be to claiming your profile on all of the industry specific and business-listing sites. If you don’t claim your profile, you can’t control the information presented, and much of what gets posted is bound to be inaccurate. Take control of your profiles, and you have more control over your online reputation.You can find, claim, and update your online profiles manually. There are software options that can make it much easier. With literally hundreds of different places on the web where you might be listed, the software option tends to be a major time and cost-saver in the long run.
2. Update Your Rating, Review, and Social Media Profiles Regularly
   Now that you have claimed all of your online profiles, you need to make sure they all have accurate information. This includes information about your business location, hours, contact info, etc. You may even be able to upload pictures, videos, and other important information that customers are seeking.You should regularly update your profiles any time there’s a change at the business. This helps avoid a situation where a customer calls the wrong phone number, shows up at the wrong time, or address. Situations such as this arise all of the time and reflect negatively on your brand, and your reputation.
3. Keep a Constant  Eye On Your Online Profiles
   That software I mentioned above can also help when it comes to monitoring your online profiles. Using an online reputation management software, you can get notifications any time someone else makes a change to your profile. This includes things such as a customer adding a review or comment, asking a question, “flagging” you for any reason, or if changes are made by the site hosting your profile.This gives you the opportunity to quickly step in and correct any inaccurate information, answer any questions, and respond to any comments/reviews in a prompt and professional manner. You want to control the information that’s posted about you online as much as you can, and monitoring your online profiles will go a long way towards making that a reality for your business.
4. Let Your Customer Know That Their Opinion Matters
   In your office, service, and waiting room areas, you should have signage and collateral that makes it easy for customers to understand how to review your business online. After all, letting customers know that what they say online truly matters to your business is critical to having a great online reputation.For example, you should let customers know where they can leave a review for your business. You can hand customers formal instructions for how to leave a review for you when they get home. You can also use an electronic method, such as sending them a follow up text message, or email. You can even resort to good ‘ole asking in-person.Regardless of your method, showing customers their experience at your business matters online will ensure a consistent flow of positive reviews. It will also give you the opportunity to turn a disgruntled customer into a lifelong evangelist. Both of which are necessary in order to have a great online reputation!
5. Have a Single Person in Charge of Your Online Reputation Management Program
   Your online reputation is important. It takes consistent effort in order to build a great online reputation. That’s why the best tip I can give you is to put a specific person in charge of managing it.This person can develop a plan for find, claiming, and enhancing your online profiles. They can be responsible for setting-up and using your online reputation management software. They can even make sure the postcard, email, or text messages solicitations go out. And of course, they can respond when new reviews are left.Putting a specific person in charge of this will free up your time. It also helps to make sure your online reputation management strategy is actually implemented. Remember, any strategy is useless if no one puts in the time to execute on it. Just like your online reputation.