Brand reputation can make or break a company or business. According to a paper by Harvard Business School, for every additional one-star rating on Yelp, business revenue declines by about 9%. That makes online brand reputation management a crucial strategy in the modern e-commerce era.
However, keeping your reputation spotless can be difficult,
time-consuming, and expensive. You must actively monitor your brand’s online
presence and ensure it’s well-represented by all parties and stakeholders.
So, what steps can you take to ensure you’re on the safer
side? Here’re five ways to protect your online brand reputation and keep a
positive image among customers and the general public.
Brand reputation management is the process of monitoring how
customers perceive your brand or business and taking strategic actions, if
necessary, to improve the image.
Online brand reputation management focuses on the online
space, targeting all online channels where your brand is visible and
accessible. Therefore, modern brand reputation management centers on online
reviews, social media presence, and Google.
Brand reputation management is a continuous process that
allows you to maintain customer loyalty which is a great driver of growth and revenue.
A negative reputation damages customer retention and sales. However,
you can use the negative press to learn the likes and dislikes of your
customers and improve your service delivery or products to meet the needs of
your consumers better.
The Internet
Advertising Bureau defines brand safety as the process of ensuring that advertisements
and their content or any other content shared by a brand are appropriate and
not linked to negative consumer opinions.
Therefore, brand safety falls under brand reputation
management, with positive brand safety leading to a positive brand reputation.
Take ad placement, for instance, which falls under brand
safety. You don’t want a publisher placing your ad next to offensive content that
may trigger the consumer and make them perceive your brand negatively.
You also want your advertisements to be related to what you’re
selling. If a customer clicks on an ad selling a gaming monitor, they want to
be directed to the relevant product and content, not something unrelated.
Brand safety contributes to brand reputation in two ways.
Firstly, it protects your business from harmful outside sources. Secondly, it
protects your customers from malicious business practices that may cause loss
of money or exposure to harmful content.
As long as your advertising practices are legitimate, consumers
won’t feel deceived by your brand or have to second-guess your business and
what you offer.
You can use several steps or strategies to ensure you have a
clean online brand reputation. They include:
Family and personal information should be kept private. Your
family members and children should understand that any exposed personal data
can lead to identity theft which can be used to tarnish your brand’s reputation.
Your family’s social security number, email addresses, bank
and credit account numbers, birth dates, phone numbers, and current location
should always remain private.
If fraudsters get their hands on this information, they can
use it not only for identity theft but also creating a synthetic identity.
Social media sites are some of the biggest online platforms
in the U.S. According to statistics, 81%
of the U.S. population operates a social media profile on Instagram,
Facebook, Snapchat, or Twitter.
The risk of having family on these platforms is that they risk
causing reputational damage to your business if they post something
inappropriate. For instance, it may be their drunk photo, bullying behavior, character
assassination against another social media user, or sexually explicit content.
Take the time to discuss the importance of maintaining a
positive social media presence with your family, especially if they’re
well-known to the public or your customers. Ideally, the family “brand”
should share similar ethics to the business brand.
Your website is still the first place people will source
information about your business when researching it. Therefore, you must leave
a solid first impression on your website’s visitors.
Typically, you’ll want well-drafted contact, landing, and
service or product pages. A strong bio or “About Us” page will also powerfully
convey what your company is and showcase your staff. Writing a solid bio will
humanize your brand and make it more relatable to customers.
Optionally, you can also have a very active “Blog”
page to give your customers regular updates about recent business events. You
can also use it to expound on issues the public feels your brand should address.
Online reviews are persuasive and powerful. According to
statistics, 88%
of consumers accord online reviews the same level of trust as personal
recommendations. Therefore, effective online reviews management leads to a
positive brand reputation.
Through proper online reviews management, you ensure that
satisfied customers positively review your business on popular platforms such
as Google reviews, and you’re tackling negative reviews immediately after they
pop up.
The best approach is enforcing a policy of respect for the
customer. Your business should respectfully respond to its customers on and
offline. Customers pay attention to these responses and use them to judge how
well and respectfully the brand takes feedback.
Appearing to be sarcastic or rude can damage your brand’s
reputation.
Also, report inappropriate comments on platforms such as
Google reviews that may be damaging to the company to avoid reputational
damage. This requires active monitoring of the reviews posted on your Google My
Business profile and other pages to ensure no offensive or malicious content is
targeted at your business.
A consistent reputation management strategy will help you
stay on top of all content and processes that may affect your brand’s
reputation. Typically, your plan should address:
·
Who will be consistently monitoring online
conversations?
·
How will you decide which reviews, comments, or
mentions to respond to?
·
Which tone will be the most appropriate for responding
to customers?
A reputation management strategy will give your business the
framework to maintain positive engagement with its customers and a positive
public image.
Developing a robust, well-structured reputation management
strategy needs the experience and insights of a professional. Instead of
playing a gamble with your brand’s online reputation, get the services of an online
reputation management company today and stay in the public’s good books.
© RepDefender Pty Ltd. All rights reserved | ABN 53 656 738 322 ~ Designed by JC Digital
