Managing your business's online reputation means positively influencing the conversation surrounding your brand, preventing content that harms your image, generating increased brand recognition, and attracting more customers to your establishment.
Did you find it interesting? In this post, we'll discuss how to build a strategy to manage your business's online reputation in 3 steps.
To find out, keep reading.
Step 1: Initial Settings
a) Mapping online reputation sites
Within your market, what online reputation sites can your business be reviewed on? Google My Business and Facebook are two platforms where your company should be present.
In this post, "What are the main online review sites," we present the most relevant review sites for each market. Take a look and select the ones most relevant to your segment.
b) Creating a professional profile on online review platforms:
Once you've selected your online reputation sites, it's time to create a profile on each of them. This is a very important step, so make sure you:
- Fill in the NET (Name, Address, and Phone Number) exactly the same across all your profiles. Many businesses are missing out on rankings simply because of discrepancies in this information. Add payment methods and opening hours, as well as other information that would be useful to your customers: free parking, children's play area, etc.
- Don't be lazy when it comes to your business description. Write a compelling text that clearly presents your key unique differentiators. Remember to include keywords relevant to your business; this will help your establishment rank better on Google.
- Take great photos. Don't just focus on photos of your facade or facilities. Invest in a good professional to convey the unique atmosphere of your place. If the review platform allows it, upload some videos as well. Learn how to do this on Google My Business here .
c) Communicating your presence on review sites to your customers:
Once you've successfully registered with online reputation sites, it's time to communicate this to your customers and make it clear that you want to be reviewed by them. To do this:
- Distribute (without exaggeration) graphic materials (stickers, signs, posters) throughout your establishment informing your presence on review sites;
- Consider which media you can leverage to publicize your presence on these sites. For example: menus, employee uniforms, packaging, coasters, and more. Get creative!
- Train your team on the importance of reviews and how to ask customers to rate your establishment;
👉 Check it out: How does getting more reviews help you sell more?
d) Establish a guideline for dealing with reviews
This guide should contain behavioral guidelines for assessments. Furthermore, it will make the task easier and faster.
It should align with the company's mission, vision, and values. Meet with your team and discuss the following questions:
- What should the structure of a review response be? For example: Start by thanking the customer, mentioning the customer's name, etc.
- How to deal with negative reviews;
- Which reviews to respond to first;
- What tone of voice should be used when responding to reviews;
- Problem identified, what to do?
- Opportunity for improvement found, what to do?
In this post we focus specifically on how to deal with negative reviews .
Step 2: Setting up metrics for online reputation management
Quality of evaluations
What is the proportion of reviews with comments versus reviews with just a star rating? Reviews with comments are more valuable because, in addition to the rating, they offer written feedback. Furthermore, the sentiment of the review also matters. What are the predominant feelings in your reviews: satisfaction, discontent, anger, happiness?
Volume of evaluations
The more reviews, the better, right? Exactly! The more positive reviews, the greater the social proof of your business's credibility. An establishment that consistently receives a high number of positive reviews will have a greater advantage over its competitors in a local search. However, the secret is in "constantly." And that's what the next metric is all about.
Current assessments
Reviews lose relevance over time. Having 1,000 reviews from last month isn't as relevant as having 100 reviews from this week. This is because the more recent a review is, the more relevant it is, as it's more likely to reflect the current experience with the establishment. Therefore, having a large number of reviews isn't enough; they need to be current. You need to receive reviews regularly.
Response rate
When a company responds to customer reviews, it demonstrates a greater commitment to delivering a positive experience. This results in a higher profile on reputation sites and in local search rankings.
Additionally, responding to your customers is a great opportunity to include important keywords for your establishment, improve your Local SEO, and attract more customers to your establishment.
👉 Check out: Local SEO: what it is and how to increase the chances of your company being found by local consumers
Also listen to our podcast about Local SEO
Step 3: Setting up recurring actions that will keep your online reputation high
This is the final phase of your strategy to monitor your business's online reputation. Once everything is up and running, these are your next tasks:
a) Establish a routine for requesting reviews:
When it comes to the online reputation of establishments, it's basically about online reviews. Define how you'll get them.
For example:
- Request to be evaluated by email or SMS.
- You can even train your team to ask customers for reviews.
- Create attractive calls to action on your website to be evaluated
- Run marketing campaigns on social media asking for reviews from your customers;
- There are several options!
b) Establish a response routine
Remember, responding to them appropriately is just as important as receiving reviews. Don't forget to have the guide we discussed at the beginning handy. This post details the process of responding to reviews . It's worth checking it out because, besides making your job easier, it will save you a lot of headaches from mistakes that could have been easily avoided.
c) Establish a monitoring routine
Once a month, meet with your team to discuss the goals you've set for the business. If you don't have any goals yet, start by:
- Did the rating on each of the sites improve or worsen?
- Has the volume of new reviews increased or decreased compared to last month?
- How many negative, positive, and neutral reviews did you receive this month? Was it more or less than last month?
- How many reported issues were resolved?
Based on these numbers, set your goals to improve month by month.
d) Establish a culture of focus on customer experience
The key to positive reviews is managing customer expectations. People are driven by expectations and become frustrated when they aren't met.
Many establishments make the mistake of setting their customers' expectations too high, only to fail to deliver when the time comes. It's safer to promise only what you can guarantee and then strive to deliver what wasn't promised. That's how you delight a customer.
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Try to ensure that your expectations are being met—is there a chance you can exceed them? Start by analyzing the following points:
- Do the photos posted on your website reflect reality?
- What are your consumers complaining about that you can adjust in your advertising to avoid creating false expectations?
- Do you actually deliver everything you are offering?
- Contact your company's customer service department, posing as a customer. How were you treated? Do the same with after-sales service. Also, browse your website, putting yourself in your customer's shoes. How would you rate this experience?
Conclusion
By monitoring your business's online reputation, you can identify problems early and prevent potential damage to your image by taking early action.
Additionally, they increase your chances of getting ahead by identifying trends and opportunities before your competitors.
We've seen how it's completely possible to start managing your online reputation in just 3 steps. So gather your team and put this into practice now.
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