Reputation Management 101 - What You Need To Know

Building a solid business reputation is important to your overall success. If you fail to do this, customers will not trust your brand, and they will instead do business with the competitors. Things are bound to happen occasionally, and its important that you know as much as possible about reputation management.

Follow through with your customers to keep your reputation good. This is especially true if you have a larger business. You need to make them feel important. Automated systems can be used for following up. Also, ask them to give feedback for recent purchases.

One good way to improve the reputation of your company is by asking customers who are happy with your service or product to post positive reviews on your blog or website. You can also ask them to say something nice about your company on sites like Linkedln, Google Places or Yelp.

Establishing a strong presence in social media will help improve the reputation of your business. Creating a Twitter account, blog or Facebook page will help your interaction with prospects and customers. Nowadays, most people expect companies to have a social media presence. This is a great way to post relevant contents about your company and monitor what its being said.

Some people are simply impossible to please reasonably. If you believe your customer has a irrelevant or untruthful complaint, do what you can to make them happy. As a business owner, sometimes you have to suck up your pride and think about how your customer or client is always right.

If you come across a negative comment or review about your company, do not ignore it. Post a response to it and defend your position. Sometimes people who post negative comments only tell one side of the story. It is up to you to present your side of it so the readers will get a fuller picture.

If you read a negative comment about your business, it is understandable to get resentful at the writer, especially when the writer is stretching the truth. It is best to remain calm and professional. As people read both views, they will be able to judge for themselves who is the more accurate poster.

If the company has made a mistake with a customer, dont hide it. Your customers will not be fooled. Freely admit your mistake, and humbly apologize for it. If you are humble, theyll forgive your firm.

To keep a good online reputation, you must monitor places where your firm is likely to be discussed. Learn where customers usually post comments and reviews in your business industry. Respond respectfully to all complaints and criticism, and post links along with the positive comments.

Maintain good communication with your customers to develop a good reputation. Customers do not like to be in the dark about things. When you keep them updated and informed, they will appreciate this good service from you. Their trust in your company will grow and your reputation will improve along with it.

Customer comments on something like Twitter can make or break a companys reputation. Word travels so quickly across the web that if a major company makes a blunder, people around the world will know about it within minutes. Monitor what is being discussed in Twitter in regards to your company and respond when appropriate to protect your companys reputation.

Exercise

Always exercise good customer service skills when you are online and in person. Many people focus on the Internet portion and allow the other part to fall to the wayside. Both of them are very important since they affect the way you and your company are viewed by the public.

After having read some about reputation management, you should start putting a plan into action. Its only going to be more in-depth as your business grows, so you better get a hold of everything now. Otherwise, you might find yourself treading water one day when you get some negative publicity.