Businesses work long and hard to build their reputation. A history of great products, excellent customer service, and consistency are all necessary to establish a good reputation.
Unfortunately, a reputation is much easier to tarnish than it is to establish. A few unsatisfied customers can do a lot of damage with negative online reviews. Since 88% of customers trust online reviews, the criticisms of a few can spread quickly.
But just because your reputation has been harmed doesn’t mean it has to stay that way. Online reputation repair can help businesses regain the trust of their customers.
Monitor Your Reputation
The first step to repairing your reputation is not letting it get away from you. When something goes wrong for your business, you need to get out in front of it as quickly as possible. This way, you can acknowledge the problem, and work on correcting it.
In order to do this, you need to know what folks are saying about you. An easy way to monitor this is by setting up a Google Alert for your business. This way, you will be immediately notified whenever something is written about you online.
You should also have a profile on every social media channel, including review sources like Yelp. This will give you access to reviews about your company.
Don’t Fight With Customers
Sometimes, you may read negative reviews that you think are unfair. In some cases, you might know for a fact that the reviewer has embellished their account with untrue details.
Even so, it’s important to never fight with your customers online. This makes your company look defensive, which can harm your reputation even more. If a reviewer is truly abusive, report them to the website where the review is posted.
Tell the Truth and Be Transparent
Making mistakes is inevitable. In many cases, companies harm their reputations more by responding badly to mistakes than they did by making the mistake in the first place.
If your business did something wrong, own up to it, and apologize. Then, take steps to make the situation better. This will help your business to take control of the narrative, rather than letting a bad story get away from you.
Encourage Positive Reviews
One of the frustrations with online reviews is that unhappy customers can be the loudest. Often those who leave reviews feel the need to air out grievances or get even with a business.
A good way to counteract these reviews is to encourage satisfied customers to leave their own reviews. You can do this by offering discounts or other incentives to customers who review your business. This way, you will have more balance in your online reviews.
Building Your Business with Online Reputation Repair
While you can’t necessarily change your business’s reputation overnight, you can repair it. With these strategies in hand, you will be on your way to regaining control of your business’s narrative.
Do you want to learn more about how online reputation repair can help your business? Our free reputation audit can help you identify areas and strategies for improvement.