An effective reputation management strategy involves regular monitoring.
Reputation management is akin to physical health. Just as you can’t just go to the gym one time and expect to be in great shape for the rest of your life, you can’t expect your online reputation to get strong by merely claiming your listings or responding to a single review.
And, just as building physical strength and maintaining that strength takes constant vigilance, so does building and maintaining a strong online reputation for your business. It’s not an overnight thing; it takes time, hard work and, maybe most important of all, consistency.
In order for your reputation management strategy to truly be effective, it needs to be about staying up to date on how your business’s online reputation is doing on a regular basis.
A negative review is really not a big deal and can sometimes even be a beneficial thing for your business, but only if you’re able to turn the situation around with your response. And, the longer you leave a negative review unresponded to, the more weight and truth you’re giving it, at least in the eyes of anyone researching your business online.
You don’t have any control over what other people say about your business online, and you also never know when someone is going to surprise you with a one-star review. That’s why monitoring your online reputation should be a regular thing in your schedule.
Tips for staying on top of your online reputation
#1. Check review sites
It may be obvious, but one of the most critical parts of monitoring your online reputation is checking any review sites your business is listed on regularly. Responding to reviews, whether they’re positive or negative, is a great habit to get into, and what’s more is that your customers expect a response from you. That means that you need to be in the know about any new reviews by checking on your review sites.
Not only do your customers expect a response from you when they write a review for you; they expect a prompt response. If you only check your review sites sporadically, you can’t possibly respond to them in a timely manner.
#2. Keep track of social media accounts
Most business owners know that they should post on their social media profiles consistently. But, even if you don’t post on social media every single day, you still need to login and check on your social media accounts.
Just as people expect you to respond when they review your business online, they also expect you to respond when they engage with you on social media. And, the only way that you will keep up is if you monitor your social media accounts consistently.
In addition to logging into your social media profiles, it’s also important to be aware of any mentions of your handles or any time your hashtags are used. This will help you avoid using a hashtag that overlaps with another business’.
#3. Keep up with your blog
Blogging is an essential part of ensuring that your website stays visible online, and it’s important that you are publishing new blogs on a regular basis. Blogs should be informative, original, and helpful to your audience. Blogs should be your outlet for sharing your knowledge and expertise with the world. What they shouldn’t be is totally self-promotional.
Not only should you publish new blogs to your website regularly, but after you publish blogs, you should watch out for comments if you’ve left them on. There are pros and cons to leaving comments on. When people legitimately comment, it gives you valuable insight into what people think of your content. However, leaving comments open also leaves you open to spam comments, which can hurt the legitimacy of your blog.
#4. Set up Google Alerts
One of the best available tools for monitoring your business’ online reputation is Google Alerts. With Google Alerts, you’ll be in the know every single time someone mentions your brand online. It can also notify you when new content is published that contains keywords you’re targeting.
In addition to using Google Alerts to keep up with any mentions of your brand online, you can also use it to help you stay on top of what people are saying about your competition. This will give you a competitive edge when planning your digital marketing strategy.
#5. Harness the power of Marketing 360® Reputation
There are so many things you can do to stay on top of your business’ online reputation. Unfortunately, monitoring four different social media accounts and six different review sites can get exhausting, and there’s a good chance that you don’t have a whole lot of time in your schedule to stay on top of a lot of different sites. Luckily, there’s a solution — the Marketing 360® Reputation app.
Marketing 360 Reputation is your one-stop shop for reputation management. Get real-time notifications of new reviews, so that you won’t have to check review sites individually for new reviews. You’ll also be able to send out review requests, respond to reviews and more.
Another benefit of claiming your Top Rated Local profile is that you’ll be able to put a badge on your website that will make it easy for people to read all of your reviews from one convenient place. Furthermore, having the Top Rated Local badge on your site will help to give it authority and establish trust in your visitors.
Monitoring your online reputation doesn’t have to mean visiting dozens of reviews sites and social media profiles. Stay in the know about your online reputation with the Marketing 360 Reputation app.
Originally published on 1/29/20
