The latest digital marketing trend is for companies to fervently protect and improve their online reputation as best they can. According to Harvard Business Revue, a one star difference on a typical review site can make a 5-9% difference in a business’ revenues. That’s a hefty price to pay if you’re losing ground with your online reputation.
This could be because consumers are actively seeking out reviews before they purchase a product or service. According to BrightLocal, 88% of consumers read reviews to determine the quality of a local company. Want to learn how you can influence customer feedback and pro-actively manage your online reputation?
Check Out These 5 Ways to Master Online Reputation Management:
Step 1: Listen to Your Customers
Your customers are the best resource for discovering how to make improvements to your business, so establish a system to genuinely listen to and engage with what your customers are saying about you.
Step 2: Target Relevant Review Websites
You can refine your monitoring process by focusing on the review websites that matter most to your target audience – knowing which review sites are most influential will help you plan an appropriate reputation management process.
Step 3: Gather Customer Feedback
Don’t leave the review process to chance; request customer feedback from both online and offline customer touch points. Be creative, be polite and be direct.
Step 4: Share Your Customer Feedback
Positive customer reviews make excellent marketing content, so make sure to publicly thank customers for their time and their comments – your social media profiles are an ideal place to share your customers’ praise.
Step 5: Learn and Improve
Be ready to learn from negative feedback, and make improvements. Remember to respond quickly and positively to bad reviews and your reputation will be enhanced rather than damaged by the poor review.
Online review sites are growing in popularity as customer feedback has become a key factor in customers’ buying decisions – you can either leave it to chance, or take steps to manage your online reputation and gain the marketing advantage.
If you’d like help establishing a process to listen, gather and share reviews to improve your on-line reputation, get in touch with your Delaware WSI Digital Marketing Consultant today.
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