Bad reviews can happen, but if you don’t take the time to fix it, in today’s online world, it could plague your business with multiple bad reviews. Reputation management can help companies overcome negative reviews, learn from their mistakes and continue to keep going and thrive.
Reputation management helps businesses examine their current status. Don’t know what rank your business currently holds? A simple search for your business on Google, Yahoo, and Bing can keep you up-to-date on all your current standings on reviews. Go the extra mile and create a spreadsheet to track each site that mentions your business and make sure each one indicates whether the review was positive, negative or neutral.
Responding to positive reviews will add a great touch to your reputation. Do this by thinking the reviewer for their business and examination, address any negative feedback and encourage them to shop at your business again. Always keep your post as friendly and professional as possible.
Keeping up with responding to negative reviews is the most important role in reputation management. Before responding to a negative review, make sure you are in the correct positive mindset before taking the time to answer to the negative review. Figure out what is upsetting the negative reviewer and if it is valid, own up to your mistake! If the review is incomplete or missing fact, politely fill in any missing information. Always keep it professional and respond like you are speaking in person and stay away from jargon or skirting the issue. Apologize when you have to and try to repair their trust by inviting them back for a better experience.
Another tool for great reputation management is dealing with dishonest reviews. Sometimes some reviewers can review your business and be downright false. If this happens to your business, check the site’s terms and if the review violates those terms, privately contact the reviewer and ask that it be removed. If it never gets taken down, follow the steps toward reporting false reviews for the individual site. If you feel the need to, publicly comment on the report to provide the fact; always make sure you remain polite and professional.
Spreading The Word
Once you’ve dealt with upping your businesses reputation, it is time to spread the word about your business – especially if you are working on getting back a client base you’ve lost. Make sure if your business has been tainted by negativity, that you let people know that you’ve fixed any issues and want them to try out your newly updated business. Here are ways you can spread the word:
- Stickers & Badges
- SEO
- Social Media
- Blogging
Keeping up with the times and staying informed is the best way for a business to keep their reputation up – especially online. Make sure all reviews are always being monitored, and try to take negative comments as criticism. If something negative about your business or produce keeps popping up, try to improve on it. Everything needs improvement at some point in time.