Complete Guide to Brand Reputation Protection

You want to do everything you possibly can to keep your company safe from harm. That includes maintaining a positive sentiment for your company. Part of that effort includes monitoring what happens online with respect to how people perceive your business. Discover this complete guide to brand reputation protection as a way to improve your customer service.

Why You Need Brand Reputation Protection

The internet is the top reason why your company needs brand reputation protection. Online review sites, social networks and Google's vaunted search engine all reveal what people think of your company. When someone decides whether or not to buy products or services from you, those platforms appear on people's smartphones as they search for the best companies to patronize. Think websites like Yelp, comments left on your company's Facebook page and the number of stars your firm receives on Google Reviews. All of these things impact your brand's reputation.

Statistics

Around four out of every five American consumers say they research online reviews before making a purchase decision. This means examining products or services and making sure they don't walk into a scam. A full 83 percent of consumers discover new businesses on social networks. Meanwhile, two-thirds of shoppers find local businesses while performing a local search, with at least half of those searches leading to a purchase. With so many people finding out about you firm, brand reputation protection becomes a large endeavor in terms of your business model.

Best Practices

For local searching, make sure you enter your business information into Google as accurately as possible. This includes the name, address and phone number, but also put in your company's hours of operation. Manage your business listing properly, because it builds your ranking within Google's search. The more people find your company through the business listing, the more Google's algorithm notices and then bumps your company to higher search positions.

When dealing with ratings and reviews, it's important to handle negative reviews promptly and effectively. That means making the customer happy. Apologize to the customer, and explain that this issue isn't normal for your brand. Promise to do better next time, and maybe offer the person an incentive. If the negative review comes from a chronic problem that stemmed from a lack of customer service, then consider implementing changes within your department to mitigate future snafus.

Social media allows you to perform brand reputation protection by responding quickly to any concerns, praise and negative reviews. When you resolve an issue on social media, in the view of the public, people see that you're responsive to your customers' needs.

Investment

Invest some time and effort into tracking how people perceive your brand. This leads to savings in the long run, finding problems with your customer service model, making appropriate changes and even saving your company.

This complete guide to brand reputation protection is just the beginning. Once you embark on this task, you should keep going with your efforts as your reputation protection evolves and adapts to how customers perceive your company.

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