Four Online Reputation Mistakes You Shouldn’t Be Making

So, get prepared to get occasional negative feedback and reviews. But when you have a systematic online reputation management (ORM) system, you can manage all this with precision and efficiency.

Are you afraid that you will get caught up in a thread of negative comments and reviews? Are you fretting the consequences of angry customers? If yes, then you need to seek professional assistance from an expert SEO or online marketing service provider. To know more on the same, you can get in touch with Rise Online Birmingham.

However, you should also steer clear from ORM mistakes that most businesses make. There are plenty to point out. Discussed below are four major mistakes that you should not be making.

1. Leaving the profiles unreserved and not claiming your listings

Do you want to take complete control of the first impression your business makes? If yes, then you need to update and also claim all the relevant business data in platforms like Yelp and Google. Customers generally chance upon these listings first when they search for a brand or service provider. You need to furnish all the details mentioning your business address, operation hours, website address, phone number, email, and the like.

Till date, there are business owners who don't leverage these local listings. Based on a study done in 2017, almost 56% were yet to claim their local listings. But sometimes, these local listings can prove to be fatal than a missing listing. There isn't a yardstick that will determine the wrong data from a correct one. Your potential customers, who take these listings as an essential truth about a business or brand, might fight it upsetting when the data doesn't match. For instance, if they have called your company during office hours, reading from the listing that they can reach you at that time and finds no one to attend their call – it is likely that the customers will get upset. And this can lead to a negative review online in social media or elsewhere as well.

2. Never ignore any social media notifications

Gone are the days when a customer reports a complaint via a phone call or email! Today, people give way to their thoughts and complaints online. Also, 60% of millennials today share their views on social media. It could be praise as well as criticism. Even 47% of buyers make use of social media to report issues and complaints.  Hence, it is essential that you stay synced into what your customers have to say online. If you have a social media account, chances are your customers will be sharing their thoughts and complains via a direct message or through comments. Sometimes, they can write a post on their wall and tag your brand name as well. You will get to know of it all through social media notifications. Hence, it is essential that you take heed of these notifications than overlooking or ignoring it.

Nothing annoys a customer more than a complaint that went unnoticed and unattended. So, what could have been a mild complaint becomes serious negative feedback when you don't attend and respond to it. Make sure that you respond to any complaints and queries that your customer might have.

Also, sometimes you get to hear negative feedback about your brand through a shared post. Nevertheless, you should reach out to that user as well and understand the issue at hand. This way, you can turn a negative review or a negative opinion about your brand into a positive one as well.

3. Be careful about online reviews

Sometimes, businesses employ content writers to curate positive reviews about their brand. And gradually, all these reviews get posted and shared online in Google reviews, online testimonials, and the like! All this might work best for you, till such time, the audience decides to look carefully. Superficially, a brand that has the best reviews will attract the audience. Everyone wants to get associated with a company that is known for its positive customer goodwill.

Consumers will analyse the reviews keenly, and they might understand that these are forced reviews as opposed to organic ones. And this is where the disconnect will start. Though no customer might explicitly write about it, but they will become aware that your company engages in false reviews and won’t take a real positive review seriously as well.

There's a specific tone and feel to a happy customer writing a review as opposed to a doctored review. To combat this situation, you can always encourage users and customers who have used your product or service to share an honest review. You can post this review online, and that will enhance your online reputation management.

4. Assigning accountability to someone under-qualified

There are times when a business realizes that it requires online footprints. Generally, they search to deploy the correct staff within the organization. Else, they join hands with those firms that specialize in online reputation management and online branding.

There are times when they wish to assign roles and responsibilities for this in-house! A thorough assessment of the staff, their qualification, and experience are essential. Else, there can be functional hazards. Also, when you allocate the duty to someone under qualified, that's the nature of the outcome you get, i.e. low quality and not up to the mark. And this can add a negative badge to your online reputation. Sometimes, it can lead to reduced organic leads and conversations. So always ensure that you appoint the correct person for a work, who has the necessary qualification and expertise. That way, you don't have to worry about any negative after-effect.

Wrapping it all up:

These are the four essential mistakes that you shouldn't be making if you want your online audience to perceive you as a good brand amongst others. The online world is competitive. And you should be very careful about your brand's reputation and do all that it takes to manage it well.