You know you need a reputation management plan for your business but aren’t sure where to start.
Let’s start with the basics. What do we mean by online reputation management?
Online reputation management (ORM) is monitoring and responding to comments and reviews online. You actively check these platforms to see how your brand is portrayed.
Since online reputation is crucial, having a reputation management plan in place is good so that no one reacts and potentially causes harm to your reputation or an online account.
Let’s get into how to create a plan!
Monitor All Activity
It’s essential to monitor what happens with all your accounts and any platform your business is listed.
The easiest way to go about this is to set up an excel sheet with all the information listed, and whoever in your company is in charge of your ORM can oversee this spreadsheet regularly.
Checking every couple of days is the best way to monitor activity properly.
Respond vs. React
There’s an important distinction here: to respond to a negative comment or react. Reacting is usually impulsive and not thought out, whereas responding requires more time and thought.
Sure — it’s easy to react when you see a negative review or comment that doesn’t reflect your business. However, reacting can often make situations worse.
It’s imperative to remain calm and think before you write. Maybe give the response an hour or two, but it’s important to respond within 24 hours.
If you need some advice on ways to handle negative feedback, check out our previous post!
Respond Within 24 Hours
Always respond within 24 hours. Even if you need to think about what you’re going to say, wait a little before but always respond.
Even with positive comments, it’s essential to respond. It can help boost your SEO with additional keywords from the testimonials.
Rules for ReimbursementÂ
If you have a negative review, you might have to reimburse the customer for poor service or provide an incentive to make things right.
We do not advise incentives for reviews, but we do believe if a customer is angry, it’s essential to make things right. It’s good to have a standard protocol for any customers and how to rectify the situation after you’ve addressed the negative comment.
Use Management Software
While managing online reviews can be challenging, there’s the technology that can help. Using online reputation software is the easiest way to manage your online reviews. You don’t even need a plan in place since it’s all streamlined and automated for you.
Online reputation software, like ReviewInc, monitors all online reviews on all platforms. It allows for immediate attention to help reduce negative consequences. Your customers can get their issues resolved while protecting your online presence.
Online review software, depending on the version, can be costly. Alternatively, you’d be investing time to hire an employee to manage reviews, or you’d need to take time yourself. Either way, there’s a cost. However, only one won’t require your time.
Using reputation management software offers you peace of mind to run your business effectively.
Whether you choose to manually manage online reviews or utilize online reputation software, to keep your business running, you will have to consider your online presence.
