As a business owner, you know that your reputation matters. Managing your own reputation in your personal interactions is easy. All you have to do is conduct yourself well, treat people fairly, and deliver your products or services well. Mistakes happen, and making amends is generally straightforward.
You put a lot of thought into managing your reputation, whether you realize it or not. However, it is equally important that you put the same kind of effort into managing your online reputation. Without the right expertise, managing your online reputation is trickier than managing your in-person reputation. For this reason, you need an expert in online reputation management.
The internet is incredible and terrifying at the same time. On the one hand, it’s one of the most valuable resources in the world. Where would your business be if it weren’t for the internet? Would you have been able to find the same answers and tools that helped you build your business if it weren’t for the internet?
On the other hand, the same space that boosts business success can also destroy it, especially if your business is small and less likely to recover from a major fallout. Nothing said on the internet ever really goes away, especially now that we’ve reached the age of screenshots. Even the smallest mistakes online can last a lifetime.
The reviews that people post online can make or break your business. People simply don’t like to take risks, and that’s why we’re generally hesitant to try a new product or service without reading a lot of positive reviews first. Sadly though, your online reviews won’t always be a true reflection of your business quality. See, while we’re all quick to seek out reviews before we try something new, very few of us will actually write a review once we’ve tried a new product. As a matter of fact, some products suffer from being too good.
If a person is satisfied with a product, and that product fits seamlessly into his or her life, the chances of that person remembering to write a review are slim. It takes a lot to convince people to write a positive review. Unfortunately, you cannot say the same about negative reviews. The slightest mishap can drive a person to leave a bunch of one-star reviews faster than you can say “I’d be happy to replace that for you.” One person’s disgruntled review can drive a lot of people away from your website.
Social media is an incredible tool that you can use to establish rapport with your clients and bring awareness to your business. If your business isn’t using social media, then you are missing out on one of the best resources available for advertisements and connection. The downside to this is that social media can also damage your reputation if you’re not careful. This can happen in two significant ways.
First of all, social media sometimes acts as its own culture, and it’s not very forgiving to people who make mistakes. One poorly-timed tweet can destroy a reputation within minutes. Remember how we mentioned that nothing on the internet ever goes away? Saying the wrong thing on the internet can land you in serious trouble.
Second, people love to complain on social media platforms. When people aren’t using social media to share cat videos, they’re using it to share negative experiences. Now let’s say a Facebook user was having a bad day and decided to take it out on one of your employees, who was new to the job and still learning the ropes. That can mean bad reviews all across Facebook, and nobody is going to bother to ask for context before they decide whether or not they’ll let this review influence their buying decisions.
The most prominent issue with the internet is that it offers instant gratification. Usually, this isn’t a bad thing, especially when it comes to loading YouTube videos. But it’s a dangerous thing when it comes to misdirected anger.
Everybody needs to blow off some steam every once in a while, and since the internet is at our fingertips all the time, we make it our first stop when we want to complain about something. It’s far easier to tweet or post or write a review than it is to wait for a few minutes to cool off and take a deep breath first. By the time we realize that we’ve made a mistake, the damage has already occurred.
Managing your online reputation can feel like trying to keep sand from slipping through your fingers. But the good news is that it doesn’t have to feel this way. There is something you can do about it. KiLLit OnLine has a brand new service called online reputation management. Although this service is new, we pull information from our years of experience with SEO and social media marketing to take the burden off your shoulders.
We also offer social media management to help you communicate with your clients online. Not only do we help you set up your social media accounts, but we also manage those accounts for you so that you don’t have to divide your focus. Click here to find out more about our social media management.
When you’re already doing everything you can for your business, there’s no reason why you should lose sleep over your online reputation. Give yourself some peace of mind and let KiLLit Online take care of it for you. Contact us today so we can talk about your online reputation management needs.
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