5 Online Reputation Management Mistakes You Can’t Afford To Make

It takes time, patience, and efforts to pick up recognition within the industry. And to preserve that recognition is definitely a difficult task.

No matter how stunning your website is. But the minute you fall flat to meet the requirement of your customers, your brand will naturally confront a decay in reputation.

In addition, if a potential customer searches for your brand and get affected by remarks such as – horrible service, regretted the day I bought. Just one dissatisfied customer can scare off hundreds of potential customers.

It’s crystal clear that what happens online affects your real-life decisions.
See how amazon reviews and ratings influence customers

Note: Positive reviews produce 18% uplift in sales.

You don’t have to stow away the negative comments. What you’ve got to do is progress your engagement in online communication, which will naturally improve your customer reviews and by the conclusion you will have a positive brand new online image.

It’s called Online Reputation Management……ORM.

Internet is becoming powerful day by day, it can construct or crush a business in seconds. No business owner would wish to see their image degrading in front of their eyes. But if you are making the mistakes listed below then I am afraid to say that your worst nightmare is about to come true.

1. Not Controlling The Brand Image

Earlier when ads on TV never even used to mention their competitor’s name. But this was until one day I saw a commercial in which Pepsi straightforwardly mentioned their competitors’ name i.e Coke, where a kid steps on coca-cola to seize a can of Pepsi (if you haven’t seen it I will put the link below). I thought to myself “Whaaat?, Pepsi just straightly bashed Coke. By name and everything. ” It was my first time when I saw a brand specifically calling out the competitors’ name.

Now advertisers started utilizing the facts to directly bash the competitors. Political advertisements are also following the same path. Earlier politicians used to avoid to take the name of the opponent. But the picture has changed now they come forthright and talk sh!t about each other.

So what you need to control is, at whatever point something happens to your brand make sure your brand itself should be the first one bringing it open. You obviously don’t want other brands to make a news about you because,

1. Even with good intentions, they might send a wrong message.
2. Or they might not like you from the beginning and intentionally trying to brush off your image.

By making sure the first news comes from you gives a perception about how truthful and transparent your company is.

2. Responding To Each n Every Critic

Let’s face it: You can’t make everyone happy and that’s perfectly normal.

Everyone’s different, everyone’s desires are different only with a few changes. According to MarketingCharts Article, 95% customer shares bad experience stories more than the good ones.

When someone becomes offensive to your work, it can become hard to resist the desire to respond and guard your company. But it’s so important to differentiate between displeased clients and anonymous haters.

It says that you don’t need to take responsibility if you are genuinely not at fault.

Responding to each and everyone can do more harm than good. No one likes being criticized but at the end of the day you can not charm everyone. So, it’s superior not to provide the same level of significance to each comment.

3. Posting Fake Positive Reviews

When most people find a business online they go through the star rating of Google and make a choice.

Unfortunately, fake positive reviews are frequently used in any business to post fake client reviews to increase their star rating on Websites like Google and Yelp, because they feel that writing or having someone to write fake reviews is the best way to overcome the effect of negative ones.

Fake reviews can be easily tracked. Google and Yelp have algorithms and methods that can eliminate feedback from fake customers’. Rather than downgrading yourself to that level, you can ask a happy, satisfied customer of yours to post favorable feedback for you. And they will be happy to do that because you have already gained their loyalty. This will affect your online reputation much more genuinely and eventually your company development.

4. Responding on the defensive

Negative criticism could be a blessing for your business as it enables us to monitor our performance. But processing and reacting to negative criticism isn’t always simple. It can irritate us or make us angry and defensive.

Even with the best intentions, criticism can make most people defensive. I am not a therapist but here with all the reading and observations I have collected five tips to assist you:

a. Zip Your Mouth &  Listen

Many times even the most painful comment can also teach you something about yourself that indeed you’ve never thought of. So it’s fair to zip your mouth, stop your resistances and tune in carefully to what they have to say.

b. Ask Questions

By asking clarifying questions, you are actually communicating with a critic. And this can lead the transformation in a positive way.

c. Respond

If you don’t agree then instead of using an angry tone you can respond by saying “From my perspective _______”. This one line can give a full stop to all the problems.

d. Absorb It

Say it with me: I am not perfect and I know it.
Learn to absorb the criticism. Feel that in your bones. And then take charge of what went wrong. Own your mistakes and learn from them. Most people blame others for their mistakes, once you own it, you get better.

When we get defensive we try harder to make it listen to the other person what we are saying.

5. Letting Someone Else Hold The Steering

It’s your baby (I mean your “business”), you’ve put blood, sweat, and tears into raising. So, why would you handover it to someone to tear apart?

A great brand takes years and millions of dollars to build, and a small carelessness can affect your bottom line. It is even worse if you don’t know what’s happening. Very often, businesses start to crash when their proprietors become too busy to take time and oversee their online reputation.

Most often, the job to manage the online reputation is given to the least busy representative since he has free time to do it. In this digital age, online reputation has become a crucial part of your business. Having someone who doesn’t even know your trade, isn’t going to do anything great for you.

You can monitor the search results, social media platforms and blog post using various digital marketing tools.

If you truly want to hire someone to do that job, then make sure that’s what they do. You don’t want a newly hired employee to manage the entire reputation of your company in his free time? Do you?

Your Reputation, Matters

Building and retaining an online reputation is a must for business operating in this revolutionary age. Just because today is great for your business reviews and search results doesn’t mean that the same will happen tomorrow as well.

The more work you put into ORM the more control you will have on what appears online when people search for your brand. But while doing so make sure you don’t make the above mistakes.

Also Read: 8 Effective Tips for Successful Online Reputation Management