Social Media — Your Company’s Secret Weapon (Part 2: Reputation Management)
In our Social Media — Your Company’s Secret Weapon blog series, we dive deep into the intricacies of social media. At first glance, social media seems relatively simple. However, it is much more complex than it appears. This series provides you with bite-sized, easy to digest content in separate blogs allowing you to retain the information better and wrap your head around how to take advantage of this behemoth we call social media. We already touched upon the importance of Social Listening in our first installment of this series. In this particular blog, we will be taking a closer look at reputation management:
Reputation Management — Running parallel to social listening is reputation management. This aspect refers to how your company’s image is viewed in the online space and how your company addresses comments and/or concerns about your products, services, etc. Social networking platforms like Facebook, Google My Business, Yelp, and many more allow users to leave reviews of businesses so other people can get an idea of what to expect when dealing with your business. These reviews and maintaining a positive reputation online are extremely important for every business.
“93% of customers read online reviews before buying a product.” — Qualtrics
Do you find yourself checking Amazon reviews before buying something or Google My Business reviews before going to a restaurant? These reviews left by total strangers on the internet help shape how we perceive a business before ever even giving it a chance ourselves.
When it comes to these reviews, it is important to make sure you respond to all of them in a timely manner. This will show that your business is active online and ready to address any feedback thrown your way. For positive reviews, it is great to keep track of the certain aspects people point out. Are a large number of your positive reviews praising a specific employee? Are they complimenting your new product line? Tracking these trends will help you project where to put more resources or marketing into. Responding to positive reviews is as easy as you want it to be as well. A simple thank you with contact information in case they need anything else will suffice. However, putting in the time and effort to craft a genuine response will go a long way in showing your customer base that you really care about their opinions.
Negative and average reviews are a bit trickier to analyze and tackle. While no company enjoys seeing negative reviews posted about them, they should be embraced for a few reasons. Firstly, they give your brand a feeling of authenticity in the digital space. A potential customer that sees only 5-star ratings may be more skeptical and feel there are some fake reviews for your company.
“95% of customers get suspicious of a rating if there are no negative reviews.” — Reevoo
Secondly, these types of reviews show you where to improve your business. People aren’t writing these reviews because they are trying to waste your time or defame your company’s name. They want you to know what disappointed them when dealing with your business and how you can avoid leaving others dissatisfied. This is very valuable information and will help you create a game plan for the future. Making sure your business responds to all negative feedback and amends anything that you can is crucial as it shows your customer base that you truly care about them. Nobody likes being ignored when they have an issue and reaching out a hand will speak volumes. Dealing with any reviews left for your company shows potential customers how you deal with feedback and can paint your company in good light depending on how you resolve issues. Have you ever left a negative review for a business and they righted the wrong? It can help in regaining the confidence you have in them which is very powerful.
Are you having trouble keeping up with all your company’s reviews? Need some consulting for how you should approach a certain review? iMedia is here to help! Contact us to learn what we can do for you.
