Reputation Management

When it comes to reviews, comments, and other feedback online, we’re not so sure about the phrase “all press is good press” anymore. Not when you actually care about your customers, rather than just securing a sale. How you react (or don’t react) to customer response and feedback can affect your relationship with both new and current customers. While you can’t control what people are saying, it’s important to realize that managing your online reputation is in your control — in what, when, and how you respond. 

Social media has amplified the reach of word-of-mouth marketing. Jeff Bezos said, “It used to be that if you made a customer happy, they would tell five friends. Now, with the megaphone of the internet, whether online customer reviews or social media, they can tell 5,000 friends.” That’s a lot of reach to manage. 

 

It’s Not Just What You Say, But How and When You Say It

Many are quick to think that reputation management is separate from their social media strategy when it can (and should) be one of your social strategy’s anchors. Reputation management is about being self-aware of your brand — using social listening for hearing what people are actually saying about you. Sites like Yelp (with 140+ million users) show us that people care about reviews. In fact, 91% of 18-34-year-old consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations, according to BrightLocal’s Local Consumer Review Survey. Unfortunately, not all reviews are positive, with customers being more likely to speak about a negative experience than a positive one. Bad experiences can happen to the most careful company, so it’s imperative to respond to these criticisms promptly to show your customers that yes, we’re not perfect, but we’re doing our best to be and make things right. 

Reputation management can go so much further than just review management. When you use audience data to plan social campaigns directly, you’ll be able to create content that aligns with what your audience is interested in. Let’s look at Aerie — recently, one of their OFFLINE leggings went viral on Tik Tok, causing the store to sell-out. Not only that, but thousands of customers were emailing about restocks. With this information, Aerie is taking control of the conversation by creating content based on updates and re-launches of the popular leggings, letting people know they’re listening and actively doing something about it. By learning from customer behaviors and reviews through social listening, you can enhance internal processes and continue to show that your brand cares for their opinion. 

 

4 Ways to Manage Your Online Reputation

  1. Figure out your online reputation. Do social listening and see what people are saying about your brand. There’s technology out there to find your sentiment value, the positive and the negative put together. 
  2. Stay on top of company mentions. If you don’t have a reputation manager, choose someone on your team to lead this initiative. You should have someone continually monitoring, and you’ll want to give quick and personal responses.
  3. Be proactive and positive with your responses. In the past, just letting things “blow over” worked for some, but in an age where consumers hold brands accountable, sometimes saying nothing is worse. The key is to offer quick and personal responses.
  4. Create the narrative you want. Include testimonials, reviews, or user-generated content in your social media strategy so that these positive experiences and organic marketing can easily showcase the reviews you want people to see. In addition to your customers, your employees can be one of your best brand ambassadors. It’s imperative to remember, though, that you can’t control the narrative. Sherwin-Williams got into hot water when one of their employees’ paint-mixing videos went viral on Tik Tok, and instead of embracing this employee’s content, they fired him. So, @tonesterpaints’ over 1.6 million followers went from intrigued about Sherwin-Williams to angry, fast. 

 

When You Work With Cosmitto 

Social platforms have allowed consumers to place value on brands with as little as one Tweet. At Cosmitto, we implement reputation management into all aspects of marketing and social media strategy. This way, your content will seamlessly work together with reputation management strategies to create spaces to help your brand stand out and enhance interaction with your audience.  It’s not just about creating customers but managing them, which takes time and experience. To hear about our recommendations, give us a call.