How People View Your Business in the 21st Century
For centuries businesses were defined by word of mouth advertising and in many ways still are. With the rise of internet based ratings, rankings, and reviews, however, those words, both positive and negative, gained the power to stay around longer and impact business in ways that were never thought of before. This is why reputation management has become such an important part of marketing in the digital age. Below we’ll take a look at just what reputation management consists of, why it’s important when operating a business today, and how you can provide your organization with the best possible reputation management available.
What is Reputation Management?
Essentially reputation management can be defined as keeping your online presence looking as professional as possible to attract new clients and customers. There are a variety of ways that reputation management teams do this including making sure all of your information is accurate and is portrayed in a reputable manner, ensuring your digital persona matches that of your business values, and addressing negative reviews that may have been made against your business. Due to the emerging number of digital platforms, social media sites, review forums, and other channels, reputation management is now more important than ever and can provide you with some detrimental advantages when it comes to coordinating business in the 21st century.
What Can Reputation Management do for Me?
In addition to the job responsibilities listed above, reputation management teams act to grow, influence, monitor, and manage what’s being said about you and your business online in multiple capacities.
Responding to Bad Reviews
When our business receives a bad review it can be easy to get caught in our ego and deliver a knee jerk response. This reaction can be one of the most fatal moves for a business’ reputation online. Whereas it can take years to build a healthy, productive reputation online it takes only seconds to undo it. Positive management is responding to negative review as best as possible while not ignoring or blaming the customer. With a knowledgeable and reputable reputation management team which focuses on positive management every move is carefully considered and calculated to grow your business online.
Data Aggregators
Data mining systems called data aggregators collect and share business information with a variety of sources including search engines and specialty sites. This can provide business beyond local shoppers and is essential in maintaining an online business. However, when information is outdated or false we run the risk of losing clients to competitors. Assuring that this information is correct when being represented online is one of the many facets of reputation management that should be handled by your team.
Local Citations
Local citations are simply any mention of a specific business online. Typically local citations consist of the name, address, and/or phone number (or NAP) of a business. Though back-linking to your page or social media profile may provide important marketing opportunities, these local citations play a vital role in SEO optimization and boosting visibility online. A quality reputation management team should take note of your local citations and serve to enhance them in much the same way that is done with data aggregators.
The Empowered Pulse Advantage
Would you believe that only 14% of people are likely to buy from a business who has a one to two overall star rating online? This should exemplify the imperative need for reputation management for your online business. Empowered Pulse provide the knowledge to take on your reputation management from an proactive angle of positive management and accurate and factual information. To find out more on our services contact us now or get your free reputation report to see how you stand online!