Why Reputation Management is Important for Your Local Business
Wondering what your customers are saying about your business?
Are those reviews on Google actually important to your business?
You bet they are.
Questioning if the image your brand wants to portray is the one people are actually seeing?
In a digital age, managing your online reputation is vital to gaining customers and building relationships.
In this guide, we’ll teach you what reputation management is, why it’s important, and how we can help you maintain your reputation.
What is Reputation Management?
Whether you’re a brick and mortar business or an online one, your reputation is important.
As a business owner, it is vital that you know the impressions your business is leaving on consumers. Prior to the days of the internet, businesses relied on word of mouth to build an image.
Today, customers have access to the internet at the tips of their fingertips.
If someone doesn’t like how a business treated them, they can let the world know in under thirty seconds.
If you Google a business, the first thing you’ll see on Google is their location, as well as the reviews people leave about the company.
Your business tells a story to potential customers based on reviews left on Google, Yelp, Facebook, etc. It’s important that you know what customers are saying.
Reputation management allows you to be in control of the story your business tells.
Need help managing your reputation online? Circletown can help! Keep scrolling to learn how.
Why is Reputation Management Important?
Reputation management plays a major role in maintaining relationships with the customers your business already has, but gaining more customers, as well.
Today, people don’t just go by word of mouth from a friend or neighbor.
In two minutes flat, potential customers can see what the world thinks of your business by doing a simple search online. Because of this, online reputation management is more important than ever before.
How is your reputation being built? Let’s take a look:
Reviews. Reviews. Reviews.
93% of people look for online reviews before making a buying decision.
48% of consumers said that a business must have at least a four-star rating in order for them to shop with the company.
According to Forbes, when a business receives one negative comment on the first page of Google’s search results, they risk losing 22 % of business.
This is why online reputation management is so important.
If you never see the negative review, you’d never know why you lost a customer.
Responding quickly and finding a solution can not only win back that specific customer, but it also shows potential customers that your business cares about the impression it is leaving on people.
Interestingly, consumers aren’t as likely to leave a review on a business unless significantly bad or great happened during their encounter. Consumers are more likely to leave a review if they’re asked to.
Aside from gaining or losing customers, as a business owner looking to scale, you also need to consider your hiring potential.
Are you planning on hiring help?
84% of people looking for a new job, would consider leaving their current employer, for a company whose reputation was superb.
Reviews Play a Role in Online Reputation Management
Losing customers over one negative review that you didn’t realize your business had could be devastating.
Part of online reputation management is combating any negative reviews, and finding ways to keep them from happening.
Paying attention to your competition matters. Consumers are more likely to purchase from a company that has more reviews than a company that has two or three reviews.
Keeping Up with Social Media Trends to Help Build Your Business’ Reputation.
Social media platforms are great reputation management tools. They open up new doorways to connect with new customers.
Is your business on Social Media?
If not, it’s a good time to consider starting a Business page. On average, people check Facebook eight times a day. Facebook is a great way to reach more people, gain more customers and reviews, and build a better reputation.
What are the benefits of using social media for businesses?
- Social media allows you to interact and communicate with customers easily and on a personal level. Consumers love building relationships.
- It allows you to learn what potential customers want.
- Increases brand awareness.
- Increase customer loyalty.
- Create a better user experience.
- Gain greater ROI (Return on Investment).
Google My Business
It’s another important platform that you make sure you have updated. With Google My Business, your local customers gain more access to you and your business.
Google my Business allows you to:
- Connect your business to Google Maps
- Respond to reviews on Google
- Post promotions
- Add more visibility to your business
Be proactive. Utilize different social media platforms to manage your online reputation. By doing this, you’ll not only enhance customers’ experience with your business, but it allows you to tell your story the way you want it to be told.
How Can We Help with Reputation Management?
At Circletown, we know how important it is to manage your business’s reputation.
Running a business requires enough of your time. Instead of adding another list of to-do’s to your weekday, let us take care of it for you. We’ll come up with a reputation management strategy that works best for your business!
Our Reputation Management Package takes care of the following:
- Monitor reviews
- Embed review functionality in email newsletters.
- Embed review functionality into your website.
- Set up review streams for your websites.
- Share five star Google Reviews on Facebook
At Circletown, we want to see your business succeed.
Time is money. Instead of stressing over what online reputation management tools you should be using or worrying about how to increase your reviews, you can focus on providing top-notch service to your customers. Let us take care of the hard stuff.