Definition of Reputation Management:
It is nothing but the activities performed by any individual, institution or organization which attempt to create or maintain certain frame of mind regarding themselves in the public eye.
To be very clear, reputation management is the process of identifying what other people are thinking or saying about you or your business. People, institutions and organizations mainly use different forms of social media to monitor their reputation among the public.
Negative Reputation about your business or brand is equal to the kiss of death. That’s why businesses give more importance to online reputation management.
Social media is helpful in many ways to give immediate feedback about your business resulting in an explosion of comments, complaints, ratings, reviews and recommendations. So, it is necessary to be aware of what is being said online either about you or your business.
Here are 2 suggestions to overcome negative reputation of your business online:
1. Respond in a helpful way for negative feedback, reviews and comments:
Keep in mind that, if anyone comments about you/your business badly or review your products in the worst manner, you can’t remove them from Google, Twitter, Facebook, etc. But you can remove it if anyone comments/reviews negatively on your own page since you are the owner of that page.
So, what can we do in such situation? It’s simple! Instead of trying to delete it, resolve the problem in a positive way.
For example:
If any of your audience or customers left negative review or bad comments about your products online, don’t start arguing with them or ignoring them. Instead, it is advisable to apologize and resolve the issue offline.
How can you resolve the issue?
You can give your name, phone number or e.mail id and ask them to give you an opportunity to set things right. By doing this, other people will know that you took an effort to resolve a problem, and will eventually start believing you or your products.
In case the negative content is anonymous, don’t worry; just leave a generic message with your contact information and ask people to contact you. It will encourage people to let you know if they have any complaints or queries.
2. Deal with negative results that show up in Google:
When you search your business name in the search engines (Google) and find that the links with the negative information are in the top 10-20 results, it is frustrating. Google will never remove those links. One option is that you bring in more positive content about your business online; it will rank higher than the negative content.
How should I do it?
Just claim your accounts on different famous social networking sites and make them active. It will start to rank for your business name and will help to push the negative links off the page.
Another way is to add pages to your website like “My Business Name Customer Service or Compliant Service”, “My Business Name Reviews”, etc. By doing this, you are making a way for people to leave their feedback on your own website when you start ranking for these phrases.
You can even claim your business listings in free online directories and ensure the information over there is accurate. Many times these directories show up your website in the search results; so, it is again beneficial for your business.
Finally, make it easy for your customers to give positive feedback about your business.
Final words:
If anyone is commenting about you/your business in a negative manner, then you can take a legal action. But instead of that, you are advised to handle your reputation management wisely and effectively without going to court. Responding to those negative comments instantly and honestly shows other people that you are serious about resolving the problem. It helps to turn a negative comment into positive for your business.
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