The growth of the internet and social media has made it easier than ever for customers to find information about your company. Unfortunately, not everything they find on the internet will be complimentary, or even true, and can cause a great deal of damage to your company’s reputation. Maintaining a good online reputation can be critical to the success of any company.

Here are 5 tips to help you get started on improving you online reputation.

1. Use the power of Google

Google offers two free tools that can help you manage your company reputation online, Google My Business and Google Alerts. Google My Business allows you to control how your business appears across the Google environment, such as Google+ and Google Maps, and ensure that correct information such as business hours, locations, photos and other details are correctly listed. Google users are also able to leave reviews to your business. You can also see real-time information on such statistics as how often users are clicking on the phone number or other details or links in your listing.

Google Alerts will e-mail you each time your company name is mentioned on the internet, which can be invaluable in heading off potential problems that may harm your reputation.

2. Reserve your name on as many social media platforms as possible

Avoid potential reputation-damaging embarrassment or social media disaster in the future by locking down and reserving your company and brand name on social media platforms. This should include platforms such as as Facebook, Twitter LinkedIn, Instagram and Google+.

3. Monitor social media

You need to carefully monitor social media to see how your company is being portrayed. Update your social media profiles and create brand transparency to develop trust amongst your customers.

4. Manage your online reviews

Online reviews can have an enormous impact on how customers and potential customers view your product and your business. One way to manage online reviews, and encourage good reviews, is to always treat your customers with respect. If a customer posts a question or a, respond truthfully, respectively and with positivity.

Your job is to make your customers happy, and to meet their needs – everything else that will make your company successful flows from this. Make all your online interactions with customers positive, and they will reward you. A negative review can quickly become a positive review if you simply take care of the customer. You should also encourage customers to leave reviews.

5. Have a strong website, and keep it up to date

You only have one chance to make a good first impression, and, for many potential customers, your website is that one chance. Your site should be both engaging for current customers while enticing potential customers to find out more about your company and your products. Your site needs constantly evolving content that is frequently updated. A stale, poorly maintained site reflects badly on any company and can cost both reputation – and sales.

Establishing and maintaining a good online reputation for your business is critical to your success.

Contact us for more information on how we can help.