What Threatens Your Business’ Online Reputation

These days, a business’ online reputation is everything, and every savvy business owner needs to know what can put it at risk.

Successful business owners understand the importance of a solid online reputation — and what threatens it.

It used to be that, when consumers needed to hire a plumber or replace their roof, they’d ask their friends or neighbors for a recommendation. Word of mouth is still a powerful tool today, but more and more, the conversation is happening online. Reviews are the future of word of mouth, and they’re an essential part of a business’ overall online reputation. Your business’ online reputation is — undoubtedly — a key component of your success.

You can’t control what people say about your business online, and you can’t simply wish away a negative online reputation or hide reviews you don’t agree with. Your business’ online reputation will reflect the work that you put into it, for better or for worse.

Like it or not, your business’ online reputation will determine whether consumers work with you or with your competition, and unfortunately, there are many things that can put it at risk. Knowing what threatens your business’ reputation will help you better maintain it, and if you take the right steps, you may be able to sidestep the threats altogether.

Seven Things That Puts Your Business’ Online Reputation at Risk

#1. Negative Reviews

As we mentioned, word of mouth is a powerful tool, but online reviews have quickly become a close second. Most people in the United States — 90 percent in fact — will read a business’ online reviews before visiting, and studies have shown that online reviews have an impact on almost 70 percent of purchasing decisions. Not only do most people read reviews and use them to make purchasing decisions, but people overwhelmingly trust online reviews as well. Believe it or not, 84 percent of people trust online reviews just as much as they’d trust a recommendation from a friend or family member.

Getting reviews on a regular basis is an important part of a strong online reputation, but not every review is likely to be a positive one. Negative reviews will happen from time to time, dragging down your business’ star average and tainting its online reputation. Even if you work hard every day to meet your clients’ needs, you’re not going to please everyone.

You can’t control what your customers are saying about your business online, but you can control the kind of service you offer and how you respond to negative reviews. You might also be surprised to learn a negative review or two can actually be a good thing, especially if you respond to it the right way.

Want to learn how to respond to negative reviews like a pro? Check out our previous blog — How to Handle Bad Reviews.

#2. A Disgruntled Employee

Creating and maintaining a positive working environment where your employees are happy and well taken care of is important for so many reasons. It will reduce turnover and help you save money by holding on to the best people. It will save you time and energy spent on training new employees. It will lead to more productive employees who take pride in their work. Best of all, it will help you to keep your business’ online reputation strong.

While you should absolutely treat your employees well, compensate them fairly and provide them with opportunities to shine, that doesn’t mean that you have to give into every demand or allow an unproductive employee take advantage of you. Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, some employees aren’t going to be happy. And all it takes is one rogue employee with the password to the business Facebook account for disaster to strike!

What can you do to limit this kind of damage? Well for one, be in the know about how your employees feel about your business by regularly asking them and anonymously surveying them. You can also limit the login information and access to your business’ social media profiles. Instead of designating the responsibility of running your social media presence to several employees, give that responsibility to one or two people you can trust.

#3. Overly Expressive Upper Management

Your employees are the face of your business, and oftentimes, what they do in public can reflect back on your business for better or for worse. This is true of every person you employ, but it’s especially true for the people in upper management.

A great example of this is the Gilbert Gottfried incident. Gilbert Gottfried is a comedian who used to be the voice of the famous Aflac duck. After Japan’s most powerful earthquake hit the coast of Tōhoku in 2011 and triggered a massive tsunami that left more than 19,000 people killed, Gottfried tweeted, “Japan is really advanced. They don’t go to the beach. The beach comes to them.” Gottfried must not have realized that Aflac was Japan’s premier insurance company. Needless to say, he was fired.

You can’t police what your employees are saying on social media, but you can make guidelines for how you expect your employees to behave online, particularly when they identify your business as their employer. You can also make sure that your employees know that their activity on their personal social media account reflects back onto the business.

#4. Subpar Service

There are a lot of things about your business’ online reputation that are either out of your control or that you have very little control over — for instance, what your management says on their personal Twitter accounts or what kind of reviews your customers give you. However, there’s one thing that is totally and completely in your control — and that’s the type of service you provide your customers day in and day out.

Your business’ online reputation doesn’t come out of nowhere. It’s forged one customer interaction at a time, and although a few of those reviews might not be a fair reflection of your service, the vast majority of them will be an honest look at how your customers see your business. In order to earn five-star reviews, you need to make sure that you’re providing your customers with five-star service.

If you have multiple negative reviews, chances are, the world isn’t conspiring against you. There are probably things about your business that require your attention, and your reviews give you unparalleled insight into what you can do to make your customers happier and better meet their needs. You just have to make sure that you listen!

#5. A Similar Domain Name in the Wrong Hands

Registering for your domain name is important, but did you know that you should do so for multiple names? It’s important to register for any and every domain name that could be associated with your business, products, services or brand. This will help to prevent other people from acting on behalf of your business without your knowledge.

There’s a lot of competition out there, and some people are so desperate to direct more traffic to their website that they will buy a domain name associated with their competition, and redirecting the link to their own website. Buying domain names for your brand, products and services will also help to protect against typos and misspellings that might otherwise send people to your competition

#6. Wrong Social Media Tone

Of the many things to worry about when it comes to your business’ online reputation, your tone on social media can seem like the least important thing on your to-do list. Believe it or not, your tone on social media can play a vital role in your business’ online reputation, and it’s important to get it right.

Many business owners make the mistake of hiring the wrong person to manage their social media presence. A lot of times, these social media managers come from public relations or journalism background, and though they might know all of the ins and outs of the platform, they may not have a good understanding of who your audience is and what they’re looking for.

It’s important that you get the tone right on social media, and a big part of accomplishing that is simply listening to what your customers are saying online and being willing to make adjustments to keep them happy.

#7. Failing to Maintain Your Online Reputation

It’s tempting to let your online reputation fall by the wayside. After all, you’ve got a lot on your plate, what with running your business and all. However, your business’ online reputation isn’t a “set it and forget it” type of thing. You can’t work hard on it once and let the chips fall where they may. If you want a strong online reputation that lasts, you have to put in the effort continuously.

Keeping your business’ online reputation healthy involves responding to every review you receive in a timely manner. You should also make sure that you are regularly in the know about what people are saying about your business online, which means that you should regularly google your business. It also helps to set up Google alerts and sign your business up for Top Rated Local® so that you’re notified when you get new reviews. Another important part of reputation management online is ensuring that your website and social media profiles rank highly in the SERP for your business name and other keywords.

Would you like to learn more about how to maintain a powerful online reputation? If so, check out our previous blog — Tips to Keep Your Online Reputation Healthy.

Become a Top Rated Local business today!

As you can see, there are a lot of things that can put your business’ online reputation at risk, and keeping your business’ online reputation in great shape is an ongoing thing that takes a lot of hard work. Luckily, you can get the tools that you need to build and maintain the kind of online reputation you want are available with Top Rated Local!

Signing your business up with Top Rated Local is free, easy and a step in the right direction when it comes to reputation management. Get started today!

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