An Owner’s Guide to Online Business Reputation Management
Marketing looks radically different today than it did decades ago. Digital marketing has evolved from a niche strategy to an essential part of almost every company’s approach. Websites, social media, and online advertising are now fundamental to any business strategy.
With the increase in digital connectivity, the line between your business’s online reputation and its real-world reputation has almost completely blurred. How customers perceive you online now heavily influences how they engage with you in person. This makes managing your online reputation more important than ever.
Why Your Online Business Reputation Matters
Every business, no matter the industry, is being talked about online. Whether it’s through social media posts, customer reviews, or blog articles, your customers are creating narratives around your brand. Naturally, you want those conversations to be positive, and that’s where reputation management tools like Weave’s Reputation Management Software come into play. (click here to check out Weave’s Reputation Management Software, or watch a free demo).
In a perfect world, your business would address every customer’s needs flawlessly. But in reality, mistakes happen—sometimes big ones. Even a minor error can escalate into a PR crisis, damaging your brand’s image. A negative reputation can drive away customers, hurt sales, and harm relationships with investors or partners. Managing your online reputation is essential.
What Is Online Business Reputation Management?
Online business reputation management is a combination of strategies and tactics, including reviews, SEO, and social media monitoring. This includes responding to reviews, engaging with customers on social media, handling negative publicity, and improving search engine results.
The goal of reputation management isn’t to create a false image of perfection, but to present an accurate representation of your business while addressing concerns in a way that fosters trust and credibility.
How much does Business Reputation Management cost?
Reputation management costs can range from $30 to $5,000 per month, depending on whether you handle it in-house, use tools like Weave’s Reputation Management Software, or outsource to agencies. Neglecting it can lead to lost customers and long-term brand damage.
Benefits of Business Reputation Management
Builds Transparency and Trust
Consumers today place a premium on transparency. They want to do business with brands that are open, honest, and responsive. When you publicly acknowledge mistakes, address customer concerns, and show that you are learning from criticism, you build trust.
Showing vulnerability can be a powerful tool. If you demonstrate a commitment to your customers’ satisfaction, even in the face of criticism, they are more likely to stick around and recommend your business.
You Have More Control Even When Customers Aren’t Happy
Businesses are run by human beings, and it is the nature of human beings to make mistakes. Most of the time, those mistakes are small and don’t impact your business in any significant way. Sometimes, however, those mistakes can be big, or a small mistake can grow and grow until it reaches a big audience.
When that happens, brand reputation management is your first defense. When there’s a negative conversation about your brand, you can join in on that conversation to defend yourself, clarify information, or make amends. You have much more control and can shape customer perception at the moment when it matters the most.
Reach New Customers & Strengthen Your Relationship With Existing Ones
When prospective customers search for your business on Google, they’re going to see more than just your website; they might see a review from an industry influencer, a comparison article between you and your competitor, or some Yelp reviews. If all (or most) of those search results are positive, that could be the tipping point that converts that person into an actual customer.
The customer journey often begins and ends at an online search. Make sure that your online perception is a positive one.
Reputation Management 101
In this section, we’ll cover the basic concepts of online reputation management.
Where You Can Monitor Your Online Reputation
Before you get into online reputation management, first you need to know what makes up your “online reputation”. What makes this difficult for most beginners is that your online reputation can be spread across different platforms, and it’s hard to keep track. Below are some of the platforms you need to monitor as a business.
Social Media
Whether your target market skews older or more millennial/Gen Z, your customers are on social media. Customers can reach out to your brand on Twitter for support, leave a rating on your Facebook business page, and share their thoughts about you on Instagram. With huge social media platforms being home to millions or even billions of users—all of whom will be able to see and join in on the conversation—neglecting social media is not an option.
Forums
Forums are often thought of as the older “sibling” of social media. Forums operate a little bit differently from the likes of Facebook or Twitter. Some forum sites, like Reddit, are incredibly popular. Others, like niche or industry-specific ones, are targeted to a smaller yet very passionate subset of the internet.
Reddit has a tight-knit user base and will often talk bluntly about their experience with online services. A good review from Reddit is generally a trusted source for other ‘Redditors’.
Generally, forums have a smaller reach than social media, but that doesn’t mean you can discount their influence. The nature of forums is that they promote discussion, and they can be a hub for information. Fitness forums, tech forums, or car forums (for example) get thousands of hits a day from people seeking out advice and recommendations from people in their communities.
Forums are a great place to interact with your customers, learn more about their perception of you, and gain insight into their interests and needs.
News Sites
Features from established newspapers/journals (think The New York Times or The Washington Post) are a double-edged sword. On the one hand, that’s the kind of publicity that most small businesses can only dream about.
On the other hand, negative coverage can be difficult, if not impossible, to counter. Whether positive or negative, how a news site frames you will have a huge impact on how customers perceive you months or even years down the line.
Blogs
Most blogs won’t have the same reach as a news/feature site, but the right blog can be even more powerful. Blogs still get a lot of traffic within their target market because they’ve established themselves as authorities within their communities.
Although niche, large blogs are very authoritative sources of information on business services.
If there is an industry-specific blog that’s popular within your niche (such as Pitchfork is for music or TechCrunch for technology/gadgets), then getting a favorable feature from them can significantly change how their readers—your actual target market—perceive you or your product/service.
Review Sites
A huge part of online reputation management is your rating: a quantifiable, measurable number that reflects the collective perception of your brand. If you have a Facebook business page, a listing on Yelp, or can be found on Google My Business, you’re probably already aware of the impact and significance of review sites on your online reputation.
Most people consider online reviews before purchasing a product or patronizing a business. Since your customers can weigh in on your business—and go into detail about their experience with you—online reviews are one of the most trusted sources of information about your brand. In fact, according to surveys, a good review from a stranger is almost as good as a recommendation from a friend. (2)
A business with a 5-star rating with hundreds of reviews is naturally going to be more trusted than a business with a lower rating or no rating at all. Positive online reviews could convince customers who are on the fence, while a negative review could dissuade potential customers from buying your goods/services.
What Online Reputation Management Involves
One of the biggest mistakes most small businesses make when DIY-ing their reputation management strategies is not taking a multi-faceted approach. You need to support your online reputation in different ways to get the best results. Below are some of the most important elements of any reputation management plan.
Media Monitoring/Listening
Monitor the conversations around your brand on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and other social media networks. Take content from all around the internet, including news sites and blogs. Get a bigger picture of how people really feel about your brand and find out if there are any problems you need to address.
To make the most out of media listening, be proactive and do it regularly—not just when a crisis is already unfolding. Check industry and consumer sentiment at least once or twice a week. Better yet, set up an alert to get notifications whenever your brand is mentioned online.
Manage And Collection Of Online Reviews
As we’ve previously established, online reviews are a huge part of online reputation management. Whenever a new review is posted to your Facebook, Yelp, or other profiles, take the time to read through it and respond. Encourage your existing customers to leave you a review.
You can do this on your own, or use a review software/reputation management system to automate some of these processes, giving you more time to focus on actually running your business.
Using Search Engine Optimization To Influence Your Online Reputation
Search engine optimization is the catch-all term for anything you do to boost your ranking when people search for your business name or other related search terms. SEO is critical in boosting your visibility, but it can also be used to influence your online reputation. By getting positive content to rank higher than negative content, you can minimize the impact of a bad review or unfavorable coverage. (3)
SEO covers a wide range of practices, such as creating good content, establishing and claiming your business directory pages, and building quality backlinks to your website.
Company Culture in Business Reputation Management
Employees and work culture play a huge role in shaping your business’s reputation. Positive customer interactions from your team lead to better reviews, while poor service can quickly damage your reputation. A healthy work culture boosts employee satisfaction, which translates into better service and consistency for customers.
When employees act as brand advocates on social media, they help spread a positive image, and fostering open communication internally ensures you can address issues before they affect your customers. Ultimately, aligning your team’s values with your business’s core principles helps build a trustworthy, reliable reputation online.
Conclusion
Effective reputation management isn’t about hiding negative reviews or creating a perfect image; it’s about addressing issues transparently and controlling the narrative around your business. By regularly monitoring reviews, engaging with customers, and leveraging SEO strategies, you can strengthen and maintain a positive online reputation.
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Frequently Asked Questions
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Resources
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanerskine/2017/09/19/20-online-reputation-statistics-that-every-business-owner-needs-to-know/#491f01cdcc5c
- http://themagnetoeffect.com/84-percent-of-people-trust-online-reviews-as-much-as-friends/
- https://moz.com/blog/reputation-management-seo-6-advanced-tactics