What is Reputation Management and Why You Need It
The wise Warren Buffet once said, “It takes twenty years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently,” and boy is he right. Word of mouth has always been a powerful influence when it comes to shaping what customers think of a business and in today’s growing digital world, social word of mouth has become a pivotal factor for businesses to pay attention to when it comes to managing their reputation.
Social media sites, such as Twitter, Facebook, and Yelp, have made it easy for consumers to talk about your company and sway the tone of your business’s reputation. What customers are saying about your business online should be on your business’s radar, for what they are saying about your business and how you are reacting to their commentary is either going to bring in or turn away potential customers.
Although it may seem impossible to influence what consumers are saying about your business, know that it is not. A brand management agency, such as Bright Age, can help turn a business’s negative brand image into a positive one.
What is Reputation Management?
First, let us define what reputation management is so you can better understand why your business needs to prioritize it. According to Sprout Social, reputation management is a business’s response to a consumer’s positive and negative reviews as well as a business’s usage of these reviews to improve its products and/or services to then influence its reputation for the better.
Galaxy Theatres is a great example of a company that manages its reputation by reviewing and responding to its customer reviews regularly. Galaxy responds to all of their Facebook and Yelp reviews to help relieve any guest issues and to show future guests that they are a worthwhile business that properly handles conflict as well as listens to their customers to maintain their brand image. Bright Age can help you strategize how to respond to customer reviews to manage your business’s reputation.
Why Reputation management is important for your business:
Customers are talking about your business with other potential customers and if you want to paint your business as trustworthy and customer-friendly, then you need to be aware of what they are saying. A Yelp study showed that “ 85% of Yelp users share the business they find on yelp with friends frequently.” This means if you pay attention and engage with your customers’ reviews then you will be working towards building strong customer relations which in turn will spread your business’s positive reputation through word of mouth and will bring you new customers. A great example of customer word of mouth can be seen in Galaxy’s post below.
Reputation management is not only crucial for its ability to build strong customer relations, but it can impact conversion rates. Sprout social shares that, “the average consumer needs to see about 10 positive reviews prior to trusting a business.” This means that your business’s online reputation heavily sways your business’s well-being and monetary flow. If your business has negative reviews from customers and your business is not engaging with these reviews to address customers’ concerns, then your business is showing potential customers that you do not care and they therefore will take their money elsewhere.
How to manage your reputation:
Engaging with customers through thoughtful communication is key to managing your business’s reputation. Engagement with customers shows current and potential customers that your business cares about what they have to say. Lastly, monitoring what content your business posts is highly important when it comes to reputation management. When drafting social media posts it is important, to think in advance, how posts will be perceived. One poorly reviewed post can ruin a brand’s reputation within minutes. Bright Age can help your business create a game plan before posting social media to avoid content disasters.
Learn how Bright Age can help your business during these crucial times of building and maintaining a positive reputation. Contact us today!
