7 Tips for Building a Positive Internet Reputation
A company’s internet reputation has the full ability to make or break its success. The way their customers view them, their services and policies, is a huge deciding factor in how much they purchase.
This is an accepted fact across all industries but the way to build a positive reputation is up for much more interpretation.
There are many thoughts, strategies, and practices used by businesses that are thought to increase their rapport with the public. It takes a fair amount of trial and error to find what works for both you and your audience. But we’ve created a list of the top seven tips to get you started on the right track to positive reputation management.
1. Gather Customer Feedback
The only way to build and maintain your online reputation (or digital reputation) is to gauge where you’re at, to begin with. This can be done quickly by gathering customer feedback on a regular basis.
Customers should be asked how pleased they are with the service or product you provided and the interactions with your company. They should also be asked how likely they’ll be to continue working with you and if there is anything they’d like to see improved. All of these opinions can help you see where you’re doing well, where you can improve, and how you’re being perceived.
The best companies take to heart the feedback they get and work from there to create the ultimate positive experience.
2. Focus On the Brand Identity
Generating a positive reputation will go hand-in-hand with building your brand identity as well. A brand identity boils down to the way the world sees and knows your company. It encompasses your story, values, and contribution to the world.
As you work to develop your brand identity, it should completely emphasize all of the good things about your business.
Once you’ve decided what your brand identity is going to be, it must be incorporated into every aspect of the business. Every decision should keep the focus on the story you want to tell and the face you want to present. When you can successfully develop and keep your positive brand identity, your reputation will follow.
3. Expand Circle of Influence
Reputations aren’t built through the experience of just a few people. Instead, they come from the collective experiences of a large group. The greater the group the more influence they’ll have on the public’s perception of your company.
That’s why it’s so important to continually work on creating a large community of supporters.
When you can successfully create this type of community, you are also providing opportunities to showcase the good about your company. The more involved your audience is in your story, the more loyal they’ll become. That loyalty almost always leads to a more positive reputation as people come to know they can count on your company.
4. Create Interesting Content
No one is going to stick with a company for the long haul if every interaction is boring and lackluster. Creating interesting, engaging content is one of the most helpful reputation management services.
Content that helps tell your story and build your reputation is the kind that makes the audience feel a part of the group. It could be behind-the-scenes looks at the company or giving insider information about new products. Once you find the kind of content that resonates with your audience, give them what they want!
5. Regularly Check-In
Everyone knows how vast the online world is, it’s almost impossible to keep track of everything that’s put out about your company across the web. The most reputation-savvy companies regularly check in with what’s being said about them.
This most often looks like doing an audit of Google searches and other search engines to see what comes up when potential customers search for your products.
Having this kind of information can help to influence your decisions and get you on the right track to building a positive internet reputation. The most successful campaigns are ones built on solid intel.
6. Design an Easy Customer Experience
Our world and society are moving at an ever-increasing pace. Everyone has places to be and people to see at all times, they don’t have time to worry about figuring out a difficult customer experience.
An easy way to build a positive reputation is to make every interaction as efficient as possible. This helps the customer feel like you value their time and effort more than anything. It also helps to ensure that they follow through with a purchase because you’ve eliminated any sticking points.
It’s a good idea to regularly walk through how interactions go with your customers to find any issues and get them resolved as quickly as possible.
7. Address Problems Quickly
Resolving problems within your system quickly is a no-brainer but sometimes that’s not the case with other issues that may arise.
In the world of controversy and offense, chances are your business will be involved in one at some point. It can be tempting to put off addressing the problem until things have cooled off. In most cases, that will have a negative effect on your reputation. Doing the opposite helps customers feel like you care about the issue and are doing what you can.
These are great opportunities to double down on your brand identity to come out with your positive reputation intact.
Building a Positive Internet Reputation
So many factors go into if a company is successful or not but their internet reputation is a good indicator to start with. This reputation helps everyone gauge how connected an audience is and how likely they’ll be to stay loyal.
In today’s world, it’s easy to lose a positive reputation with one action. That’s why using a reputation management agency is so crucial to help you prevent those issues and tackle them head-on when they do come up. Having an expert in your corner to help you make the right decisions is the ultimate advantage in the online world.
If you’re interested in a more in-depth look at our services and opportunities, check out our options today and contact us at 941-259-4554 with any questions!
