WHAT IS ONLINE REPUTATION MANAGEMENT?
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Even if you wield the best customer service as a weapon, the reputation of your business is bound to be attacked once in a while. Vigorous management of your reputation online will reduce negative feedback from customers and keep your online prestige safe. Online Reputation Management (ORM) is the active monitoring of the comments & reviews of your brand or business on social media sites and websites. This is done to handle any bad or false comments or reviews. With ORM, you respond to the negative feedback that paints your business in a bad light.
Scrutinizing your site alerts you to an issue but it does not improve your star ratings. What you need to do is take active steps to resolve these issues. This is where online reputation management i.e. ORM becomes helpful. You need it to take care of little complaints before it causes significant damage. Many businesses have no idea how much negative reviews impact their sales. You need ORM to create a positive image for your brand.
Now that you are aware of the efficacy of conducting a periodical ORM, these are five top ways to do so.
1. Tackling Spam or Fake Negative Reviews
There are situations where individuals maliciously leave fake reviews on a company’s site. This could be the work of people hired by your competitors or individuals who never even tested your products. Undertaking a swift investigation can help you fish out these miscreants. You dig out these spam reviews and get all their negative reviews deleted. This way, you can properly cleanse your site. You can also encourage real, contented customers to leave favorable reviews for you.
2. Get the Services of Professionals
If you can afford it, it is always a worthy investment to seek professional help for online reputation management. ORM can be tricky and doing it yourself can weigh a lot on you, asides from the duty of managing your business. No business can satisfy every single customer one hundred percent. You are always at the risk of getting a negative review online. Getting professionals to tackle the problem immediately will protect your business.
3. Deal with Negativity immediately
By now, you should know that it is detrimental to ignore negative feedback. It can be tempting to do so but it is inadvisable. Ignoring an unhappy customer will come back to bite you in the back. Therefore, try to deal with the negative comments before it escalates. There is a big chance that an unhappy customer would have contacted your customer service before leaving a bad review. Note these and appeal to the customer before an negative comment is posted. If customers message you directly on social media to ask questions or table complaints, respond promptly and empathically.
4. Customers Unfavorable Reviews and other Emergencies
Over 80 percent of customers study online reviews before purchasing. They also end up believing these reviews. This could very much affect your business hence, tackling these reviews is better for your brand. One negative feedback can break the good perception of your business. You should know that once negative feedback resurfaces, there is always a source. It could be a result of a customer’s bad experience which is justified or you’re being targeted by competitors.
5. Negotiating with Discontented Customers
All some customers want is for you to rectify their problems. They earn nothing from denting your image. You cannot be certain that all negative reviews will be expunged from your site. However, you can revamp the negative review to a positive one by negotiating the subject with the customer. Appealing to them and resolving the issue they have would simply take care of the problem. You could even remedy the issue with gifts for all their troubles.
CONCLUSION
Giving proper attention and maintenance to your business is the secret to the longevity of a brand. To do this, you need to protect your brand’s values and reputation. Your efforts can easily go to waste with a single comment that could start an unquenchable fire. ORM tools work towards dealing with the online threats that could be of danger to your brand.