When it comes to your business, you simply can’t allow your online reputation to be severed by unhappy clients!
Online reputation management is the process of swaying your company or an individual’s reputation by taking control of both positive and negative information found online. What it entails is the improvement of a business’ online perception by silencing or wiping out negative comments; whether it be an online review on sites like Google, Yelp, or on social media sites like Facebook or Twitter.
Business moves at almost warp speed now and the consistent shift towards digital marketing and mobile has completely shifted the online reputation management landscape. With the emergence year after year of social media and online review sites, your customer’s voice and opinions are standing out more than ever before in history. So you can bet it’s essential for your company to invest in reputation management services. Just one bad review whether your brand is local or nationally recognized can have a major impact on consumer’s perception of your brand.
In fact, according to recent studies performed, 90% of consumers read online reviews to determine the quality and trustworthiness of a local business before patronizing. Just one bad review whether your brand is local or nationally recognized can have a major impact on consumer’s perception of your brand. In fact, according to recent studies performed, 90% of consumers read online reviews to determine the quality and trustworthiness of a local business before patronizing.
What’s Really Happening With My Online Reputation?
In today’s environment, the vast majority of customers conduct online research before heading to a store, so it’s obvious that consumers are vetting a local business before making a buying decision. To top it off, most people have their smartphones on them at all times and research shows that over half of all shopping trips involve some type of mobile search. Businesses who aren’t monitoring their online reputation are at serious risk of losing sales to competitors who do monitor and manage feedback and comments said about them online.
Reviews of your business online, especially ones that are positive, can really help improve your company’s local SEO. Reviews can help to increase your company’s local search rankings, allowing you to show up higher in the search engines. Ideally, positive reviews that lead to higher search result rankings will increase the number of actual clicks your business receives on your website. This naturally leads to more sales with the spike in traffic.
Are You Treating Your Customers Right?
Globally, hundreds of billions are spent per year on marketing, but only a tiny percentage of those billions are spent on good customer service. This huge gap exists even though just a mere 5% increase in customer retention can increase profits 25-90%! Setting your business up with happy repeat customers begins with online reputation management and addressing everything that is being said about your company online.
According to many different marketing and customer service experts, one-third of customer complaints are never addressed and most of these take place online. Saying “nothing” is, in fact, saying a lot. You’re saying you don’t care about customer’s feedback and complaints whatsoever.
What Should I Do Next?
Becoming aware of this, makes it’s critical for entrepreneurs and organizations to stay on top of what’s being said about them online and to be sure to respond to each and every review or message so that their reputation remains solid. Building a positive online reputation may sound like a daunting task, but every company should concentrate on a few key things for starters:
1. Take the time to claim and manage your local business listings, as well as profiles on review sites and your social media accounts. By working with the tools SurgeTick Digital provides, your company can update local listing information in real time, across hundreds of sites, with the click of a button!
2. Begin keeping an eye on your online reputation by looking at review sites and various social media platforms. SurgeTick’s review monitoring capabilities enable you to search customer reviews by location, including Yelp, Facebook, Citysearch, and Google all in real time. You will get notifications for new reviews, reviews by location, and data on how customer feedback changes over time and across your locations.
3. Respond to all reviews (both good and bad) as well as complaints and questions on your social media accounts.
4. Ask your most loyal customers to leave a positive review for your company on sites like Yelp, Facebook, and Google.
5. Gather your positive reviews and post them on high traffic websites for all to see and become familiar with your brand. SurgeTick’s reputation services allow you to grab those positive reviews that favorably show off your business and share them in relevant locations helping boost your company’s trust with consumers.
Does Any Of This Honestly Have Any Effect On My Business?
In summary, if your company isn’t managing your business listings along with managing what your customers are saying about your brand online, you are at risk of suffering the negative after effects of lost sales with a poor online reputation. Negative reviews, lack of exposure and confusing or old business name, address and phone number (NAP) is hurting your business online. SurgeTick Digital provides the solutions your company needs, making Online Reputation Management a walk in the park.
Take back control of your online reputation today with our Online Reputation Management services and continue to grow your business online.