You may be asking yourself, “why is online reputation management so important, and why do I keep hearing about it?” The answer is simple: the age we’re living in is run by digital, which equates to the finding that online reviews have replaced word-of-mouth in terms of products, brands and businesses alike. What does that mean for you and your business or brand? It means that consumers and customers are searching the depths of the web for reviews in every vertical that exists on this here earth.

Today, the internet provides consumers with a wealth of knowledge to pull ideologies and create opinions from. Just because you have a brick and mortar store or location doesn’t leave you exempt from the searches of millions on a daily basis. The fact of the matter is that if you don’t have an online presence, you’re losing business. If you’re losing potential business, you’re decreasing your conversion rates when it comes to sales. Overall, you’re unintentionally causing harm to your business, which in turn harms you — the hard-working owner extraordinaire.

In other words, your online reputation has more influence and pull than you may be aware of if you’re not closely monitoring your standing on the web. If your business has a negative online reputation via poor reviews or even entire blog posts regarding your operations, you could be losing out on customers, while also missing out on valuable feedback. Simply updating your social channels isn’t enough to maintain the various platforms your business appears on to be rated and reviewed by consumers.

Blogs and reviews help to better inform consumers about your product, others experiences with your product and staff and ultimately; gives them the red or green light on whether to move forward and invest or to not. Though there isn’t an official guideline stocked full of best practices and how to win over certain clientele, there are a few tricks of the trade that are highly influential and beneficial for your business.

1.Choose an Online Reputation Management Solution

There are multiple ways to manage your online reputation single-handedly, but it never hurts to have a little help. With software platforms, such as ReviewPush, you are able to monitor over 50 different review platforms across the web, allowing you access into the mind and thought process of consumers and current customers. This will allow you to open up the door to conversation with this users, target any valuable feedback to implement, and show off your personable skill-set by having the ability to instantly respond to reviews through one single dashboard. This helps you monitor the conversations that are occurring around your business, and allows you to join on the conversation and alleviate any concerns.

2. Respond to All Comments and Reviews

Though we understand it may be more difficult to muster up the nerve, patience and respect it takes to hear out, validate and respond to a negative review; the fact of the matter is that it’s crucial you do. Potential customers are constantly browsing through good and bad comments, looking for responses from the business when things go poorly to see how they’d react if they were to ever fall into a similar situation with your business. Though every negative review may not be valid, it’s important to reach out to those reviewers and ensure they know you do care about their experience and value their time, as well as their feedback. This will put you in good graces with the general online review population, and showcase your stellar customer service. Who wouldn’t love that?

3. Practice and Implement Positivity

We know, we know: you’ve heard this many times. From your parents to the HR department, positivity is just like negativity: it spreads like the plague. Rather than focusing on all of the negative you may be receiving, take it as an opportunity to positively respond to any naysayers out there, and spread the message that even under crisis, your company remains cool, calm and collected. Just because you’ve received a negative comment, review, email or phone call doesn’t mean your business will be forced to close its doors. An easy way to drown out the impact of a negative review is by acquiring numerous positive ones from satisfied customers. Don’t be afraid to ask for a review on a site of the customer’s choice, either. Feedback — whether it’s positive or negative — can result positively if handled the correct way. If you receive negative feedback, react with an open mind and an immense amount of gratitude and respect. You never know how quickly one could change their tune all by way of positive reinforcement.

Are you searching for someone to help manage your business’s online reputation seamlessly? Getting started with ReviewPush has never been easier. Added bonus? Getting started is free and easy! 

Lee McNiel