Online Reputation
[continued from home page] …respond can make all the difference in the world to your business. But consider, for a moment, this potential scenario:
Imagine that you’ve just left a business meeting with a potential client. You’ve pitched your services, impressed them with your portfolio and given them a competitive pricing bid. You’ve all but sealed the deal and are confident that with a follow-up call, you’ll have them signing the paperwork and faxing the contract over to your office.
Now imagine that you are the client. After a great meeting and a proposal that sounds great, you decide to run a quick search online for the company that just pitched you. You run their name through Google or Yahoo! and there, just under the company’s web site is a link to a message board. You click the link and find a posting by a disgruntled customer that claims to have had a bad experience with the company you are considering hiring. Is that search result going to taint your opinion of the company you were ready to sign a contract with? Chances are high that it will. (click here for more on reputation management courtesy of Jennifer Laycock)
The strategy for managing your online reputation is three-fold:
- consistent monitoring
- respond swiftly and appropriately
- implement an automated system for collecting and posting positive online client reviews and testimonials
Online ratings, reviews and conversations about your company are happening whether you are paying attention or not. Setting aside just a few minutes each month for online reputation management will help protect your business reputation and credibility you’ve worked so hard to build. If you’re not sure the best way to implement the process for your business, give us a call and we’d be happy to share some ideas and suggest some options that may be a good fit for you.
