The vast majority of people who purchase goods and services today will conduct an online search before doing so. Not only are those consumers looking for positive reviews on the product or service, but they also want to know about the company as a whole. Having a positive online reputation should only boost your business, while a negative one can significantly hurt the bottom line. The most effective online marketing strategy is managing your online reputation to improve your company’s brand. Here’s why this is so important and impactful on your business.

Build Trust And Credibility With Customers

The reviews you have about your business online is a direct reflection of how you treat customers, whether you believe it to be true or not. People are more willing to try out a new product or service from a company they’ve never heard of if the company has a positive online reputation. If you have mostly great reviews on Yelp, Facebook or other platforms, then you’ll have the perception of being trustworthy and credible in the eyes of most consumers. At that point, you simply have to manage your online marketing to continue building the trust.

How To Manage Your Online Reputation

If you aren’t sure what your overall reputation is, do a Google search for your company’s name and read several of the top results. The first results will likely be from websites like Yelp, Google Reviews, Facebook, Twitter and others depending on your social media promotion strategy. You first need to look at how your brand is being presented and clean it up if you don’t like what you see. Just be careful about deleting any negative reviews you see on these sites, though. Doing so could cause more unexpected damage to your reputation than you could imagine, especially if the negative reviewer finds out about it. 

Turn Negative Reviews Into Positives

Believe it or not, successful online marketing involves both positive and negative reviews. One thing you have to do is respond to all of them. Thank people for leaving positive reviews and reach out to the people who wrote negative reviews and offer assistance to make the situation right. Your social media promotion efforts can be enhanced tremendously if you can take a disgruntled customer and turn their experience into a positive one. In some ways, handling situations like this appropriately does more good for your online reputation than an initial positive review.

Blazing Social is here to make your social media and marketing efforts easy and effective. Our focus is on building a positive online reputation for your company by increasing engagement, customer loyalty, driving positive social media promotion and more. Managing your online reputation can be a full-time job on its own, so allow us to take some of the workloads off of your shoulders. If you’re ready to take your online marketing efforts to the next level, contact us today to see how we can work together.