The Internet has brought a lot of benefits to small businesses. The modern opportunities to reach out to new customers are unprecedented. Now, small businesses can determine exactly the client niches and buyer personas they want to target. But, although it may be easy for your small business to find leads, it’s just as simple for them to find out about you.
A common misconception is that your online reputation is out of your control. Of course, it can be influenced by great customer service, but aside from that, it’s not worth worrying about, right? Wrong. Your site and store could be the best out there, but if your reputation doesn’t live up to your branding, this imbalance can steer people away.
So, how exactly do you manage this reputation, or improve it? Thankfully, there are some simple things you can do to monitor your online reputation. In this post, you’ll find everything you need to know about online reputation management for small businesses, along with some handy tips to get you started.
What Online Reputation Management Consists Of
Your small business’s overall reputation online is made up of a few different things. Knowing what these things are, and where to find them, is a smart first step. Then it’ll be much easier to check up on them regularly, and if needed, figure out how to respond.
In the most basic terms, your online reputation is defined by what is said online about your business. Here are some of the things that can contribute to your online reputation:
Reviews - These can be found on your site if you offer that option to customers. Or, they’ll appear across the internet, on search engines like Google, and sites like Trustpilot. If you sell your products on Etsy or Amazon, you’ll be able to find your reviews easily, as they’re already built into your store.
Blog posts - A huge number of people read blogs and trust what bloggers have to say about products. A blog post that affects your online reputation will be opinion based and might include a product trial, or review. Or, your small business might appear on a listicle, such as favorite, or least favorite things this month.
Traditional Media - While this might be less common when it comes to small businesses, news sites can also write about your products or services. Usually, this is a great move for your online reputation, as it adds a touch of professionalism to your brand and increases visibility for your business. However, if a news site isn’t writing specifically about your business, it may be writing about your industry niche, and market trend analysis such as this can also influence your online reputation.
Social Media Comments - Finally, you can gain an insight into your online reputation by searching through the comments on your social media. While many comments will be from those who like your business, you can count on the fact that people tend not to hold their tongues on social media. If something is amiss with your business or service, reviews, and social media comments are likely how you’ll find out about it.
Why Is Online Reputation Important?
Even though you can chalk it up to ‘talk’, you shouldn’t underestimate the power your online reputation has. Up to 93% of consumers say they read reviews online before deciding whether to purchase a product.
It Gets You Customers and Leads
In many cases, people view your online reputation just like they do a friend’s opinion. In fact, 91% of 18–34-year-olds trust reviews equally as much as a recommendation from a friend. If your small business has impressed before, a positive review will help bring more customers to your site, or store, who already have a positive impression of your business. However, this means expectations are high, so providing each customer with a top-notch experience is the best way to maintain a positive online reputation.
It Lets You Know what to Improve
When it comes to improving your online reputation, it often starts with improving your service, or offerings. There’s nothing better than customer feedback to guide you to areas of potential improvement you can focus on. However, negative reviews and reactions to your small business can often be raw and emotional. Deciphering actionable points for improvement from a not-so-nice review is the real skill here.
How Small Businesses Can Monitor Online Reputation…
Now that you know what makes up your online reputation, and why it’s important, how can you monitor it? Keeping on top of what people say about you online, is actually quite easy. In general, you should keep a close eye on any chatter about your small business online.
You can create accounts on online review sites, and this will also give you the option to respond to reviews about your small business. You can set up alerts for your business’s name and keywords on search engines, and this way, whenever a news site writes about your small business or your niche, you’ll be one of the first to know. Finally, if you have the resources to spare, a social media manager will not only keep your accounts active but will monitor comments to determine what potential customers want from your brand. This is invaluable information when it comes to everything from improving user accessibility on your site to launching new products or branding changes.
How to Improve Your Small Business’s Online Reputation…
Monitoring your small business’s online reputation is one thing, but improving it is a whole other story. However, if someone writes a negative review or social media comment about your business, it’s not the end of the world. In fact, this is your chance to show that their experience was one of a kind and not the experience you intend to give your customers. Here are some tips for improving your online reputation:
- It All Starts with Service - Prevention is always easier than cure, and this is true when it comes to negative online reputations too. Providing each of your customers with top-notch service the first time around will prevent negative reviews from cropping up. However, great service will also help to combat any negative press you’ve received and decrease the ripple effect of negative opinions.
- Respond to All Reviews, or Comments on Social Media - A great way to improve your online reputation, is to be active in your community. Responding to comments and reviews, whether they are positive or negative, will let potential customers know how accessible you are. This way, if someone has a bad experience with your small business, they’ll be more likely to come to you for a resolution, than post about it online. Responding to negative reviews correctly does take some practice, though. An apology, an assurance that this is not the standard your business holds itself to, along with an offer of compensation for their bad experience, is usually a good way to go.
- Provide Customers with Lots of Contact Points - Following on from the above, a good way to mitigate negative talk about your business online is to get customers to come to you first. Providing a support page on your site, or a dedicated complaints email, allows you to get a handle on negative situations, and work to mitigate them. This can also alert other customers that you are more than willing to discuss and work through potentially difficult situations and prevent negative reviews.
- Provide Testimonials - When you receive a positive review of your products or services, highlighting this on your site is a great way to go. If potential customers have a neutral perception of your brand when they visit your site, testimonials will assure them that you provide a top-notch customer experience. This also saves the customer from scouring review sites themselves and provides all the benefits of positive reviews and recommendations, without a lead ever leaving your site. However, not everyone is going to like your business, so never hide or delete negative reviews. Instead, face them head-on and change that customer’s mind.
- Consider an Influencer Marketing Strategy - We’ve covered how you can improve your online reputation after a bad review, but what about when it comes to blogs and social media? Reaching out to influencers in your industry niche for an honest review of your small business can help build your online reputation. Offer a free product, or trial of your services, in return for honest opinions. This exposure for your business is useful and is more wide-reaching than basic reviews. But be warned, just because you’ve given your product to an influencer or blogger for free, doesn’t guarantee a great review. Building up a sound partnership with influencers first and providing them with the great service you should be known for, will help create a positive final post. If they do create a positive review, share their work on your site, or on your own business blog - that way everybody benefits from the exposure.
Online reputation management can determine your business’s success and growth rate, but it’s not the only facet that contributes to opinions about your business. Providing every customer with great service from the start and tackling negative reviews with kindness and dedication to rectify the situation, are two surefire ways to ensure a great online reputation. However, everything from the ease of use of your web design, to the packaging you use for your products can have an impact on a customer’s experience. No detail is too big, or too small, so focus on customer experience first, and handling any negative contributions to your online reputation when it comes to it. This will ensure a balance between the way your small business operates, and the perception of it your customers choose to create online.
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