In the digital age, businesses need to be very careful with their Online Brand, and how they are portrayed on various social platfroms as wel as SERP. Business want to make sure that their online presence is as positive as it can be. This is because the modern customer likes to be infromed and aware about the brands that they are purchasing from. As such, when they buy a brand, their first instinct is to do a quick google search, or a social media search to look at reviews and publicity about the brand. People trust a business more after reading positive online reviews. In fact, positive reviews make 74% of consumers trust a local business more. (Anderson, 2017) Additionally, a whopping 97% of consumers search online for local businesses. (BrightLocal) Online reputation of the business is continously evolving as new blogs, reviews, and social media posts pop-up about the brand — and it can become very tedious to continouslythink of this. Thus, there are a few tips that you as a marketer can follow in order to help with the work of managing the online brand.
- Brand Monitoring
Online review sites, directories, social media sites and blogs etc are a way for users and consumers to share opinion about the brand, and its products. (Larson & Draper, 2021) This content can appear in so many places, that sometimes it can be diffiicult to track it. The company can use brand monitoring technologies and tools such as HootSuite, Sprout Social, Brand Mentions etc, and look out for words such as “brand name + “keyword for negative conotation” such as scandal, unethical, scam etc. (Larson and Draper, 2021) Additionally, using Google Alerts in order to use negative keywords to beware of so that the company can try and minimize or respond effectively and timely to bad online press. Additionally, it is important to monitor the Search Engine Results page to see the major conversations that are happening about the brand.
- Responding to the Reviews
Reviews can be posted on various websites such as Yelp, Zagat, and can also be posted in terms of Press articles. (Larson and Draper, 2021) Responding to negativity is important, but it is just as important to do it in an effecient manner so customers do not feel as though their reviews are taken for granted. A deleted review may result in a new review from the client claiming that you removed it, making your firm look even worse. When you have a disgruntled consumer, time is of the essence. As a result, take sure to respond to bad evaluations as soon as possible. According to the RevLocal blog, more than half of customers expect a response from a business within a week after submitting a bad review. Negative feedback is difficult to deal with. You put in a lot of effort to make sure your company is successful, so hearing someone critique it can make you want to shout. Regardless of how you feel about the poor review, you must respond to the customer. Here are a few explanations for this: If you fix the problem, 70% of unhappy customers will continue to patronize your company. (Smith, 2022) Consumers investigating your company will see your reaction and understand that you care enough to make things right for dissatisfied clients.
- Creating Good and Positive Content
Content creation aids in the development of a relationship between your company and its target audience. You can connect with customers and answer their inquiries. (Hubspot, 2021) Your audience is more inclined to trust your advise and suggestions if you provide value without expecting anything in return. Additionally, creating positive content is important because that will rank higher in the SERP as compared to the negative press or negative reviews site. Some ways to create positive content about the brand that will rank higher are (Larson, and Draper :
- Corporate Website
- Corporate Blogs
- Social Media Profiles of the Brand
- Customer Support Site
- Product Microsites
