4 Simple Strategies to Manage Your Online Reputation
True story: In 2017, Devon an 18-year old was charging his Dell laptop on his couch. It let out a big bang and then burst into flames. He blew the flames out. Unplugged the laptop and put it on the table outside. It exploded again. This time he used a fire extinguisher. As that wasn’t enough, it exploded again. It was all caught on home security cameras and became viral overnight and spread like wildfire across the internet. Thousands of bloggers started bashing the company and demanding they apologize. In a matter of days, the company’s hard-earned reputation and goodwill in the marketplace was in jeopardy as Dell issued the biggest product recall in computer history.
Michael Dell started his computer company in his dorm room and transformed it into a multi-billion-dollar company. He spent years building his legendary empire and suddenly, the company’s reputation was at stake thanks to the power of Social Media. This could happen to your company. Are your prepared to handle your online reputation?
Bad things Happen to Good Companies
The internet is filled with stories of companies and individuals whose reputations have been in ruins overnight. Honest businesses fall prey to manipulating competitors out to ruin them and steal market share in return. Many businesses have experienced, through no fault of their own, scheming competitors bad mouthing and spreading false rumors about them through social media. Heck just read the fake Yelp reviews. These days, the means to spread rumors about a business are many and as a result, it is imperative for businesses to proactively manage their online reputation.
In a study by McKinsey & Company, they stated how consumers really make decisions. Part of the study stated, that the number one-way consumers make a decision to buy a product or service is through online reviews and ratings. Online reviews are not just for major sites like Amazon. Today, a customer can research a product or service just about anywhere including blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and of course, within the dreaded search engine result pages. As such, business owners need to ensure that their company reviews are clean. By clean, I mean over 90% of reviews for your products and services should be positive. Of course, every now and then you will have that rogue customer who is not satisfied with your product or service and even though you may have gone the extra mile to satisfy him or her, it just didn’t cut it for them. But that’s the cost of doing business.
Reputation Management online is not as tough as one would imagine and can be broken down into four solid pieces. Monitor, Listen, Respond and Amplify. Let’s look at each one of them:
Monitoring your
Reputation:
The starting point of online reputation management requires businesses to begin
proactively monitoring conversations happening about their brand. Automated
keyword searches can quickly reveal the topics and themes that customers (and
competitors) are talking about. Companies often feel overwhelmed in the
beginning due to the large volume of content on the internet. But proper
configuration and tweaking of keywords can help tremendously. It is easy to set
up Google Alerts. Use your company’s name as a keyword and have Google send you
what it finds about your company. Set up a few different alerts. Include your
name on one of the Alerts, Organizations you are affiliated with, Etc.
Listening to your
Customers:
In this critical piece of online reputation management, a business needs to
separate the noise from the real conversations taking place on social media
about their products or services. The real conversations can be separated into
two distinct categories; those that are actively talking about your business,
and those that may warn of a storm on the horizon. The latter category requires
you to listen carefully and diffuse the storm before it gains strength. Most
social media managers categorize and separate these conversations into those
that need “immediate attention” and those that require “active listening.” This
allows them to be prepared and to strategize ways to diffuse the situation
before the conversation turns into an ugly rant against their brand. Listening
requires a careful plan of action with a fine balance between coming across as overprotective
and defensive and simply monitoring your reputation.
Responding is an Art:
Effectively responding and diverging crises is an art. You don’t want your
communication to sound like a well-honed PR message. People complain on social
media channels because they are not satisfied, and they are usually hoping for
a resolution. Always be sympathetic and put yourself in the customer’s
position. This does not mean that you should allow a customer to take
your brand hostage while they are ranting against your company. However,
responding means first analyzing what went wrong and how you can make it right.
Most large companies follow a certain set of processes to ensure that they are
responding to customer complaints on social media in a fair manner. These set
processes can be setting up special email groups, hiring additional employees
in the customer resolution area, and coming up with special offers to win these
customers back. Responding negatively will
only do more harm than good. Watch your words.
Amplify your Wins:
I have seen many companies go to great lengths to satisfy an angry customer on
a social media platform. It is not uncommon for complaining customers to
receive complimentary gift certificates, free services, heavy discounts, you
name it, in response to their public complaints. At the end, both the
customer and company are happy, and all is forgotten.
A very critical piece that companies often neglect is to amplify the positive actions the company took to satisfy the angry customer. Traditional customer service folks are not trained on how to amplify positive remarks. This onus typically falls on the social media managers to let the world know that your company goes great lengths to satisfy their customers. Amplification of positive experiences with your brand or services goes a long way in the social media world. This amplification is not just leaving a comment behind but finding strategic, meaningful ways to communicate to the rest of the world. This is the art of social media.
These are just some of the high-level strategy pieces that a company of any size can employ to manage their online reputation.
What strategies are you going to take to manage your online reputation?
Steve Feld, MBA, provides training and business performance coaching to business owners, professionals and executives. Steve also speaks to organizations, conducts workshops and training. Focusing on the lead generation and revenue creation to get growth results for the business. Contact Steve today to see how he can assist you grow your business, steve@bizcoachsteve.com, or www.bizcoachsteve.com. He is in the business of growing businesses. Need a speaker, contact Steve today. #bizcoachstevef #entrepreneur #smallbusiness #business #smallbiz #coaching #businessowner #businesscoach #leadership #marketing #speaking