When customers come to brick and mortar establishments these days, their minds are usually already made up about the product or service that they want to purchase. That’s because they have Googled a company or brand first to check its online reputation, to guide their decision.
But many organizations do not know exactly how to boost their reputation in the digital world. Here are three concrete steps to take, described in detail.
Step 1: Conduct a cursory search. The first step involves determining baselines: Knowing where you currently stand, so you see what your strengths are, and where there is room for improvement. Try to be in the shoes of your prospective customer: Use Google and other search engines to search for information about your organization and your brand offerings. Go to popular review sites and search for mentions of your brand. Check out Better Business Bureau listings, as well as forums where consumers, jobseekers, members of the press, and other internet users can potentially talk about your organization.
Step 2: Create a list of relevant spaces for building profiles. Now that you know where you are present, it’s time to know where you should be. Which prominent databases should you be in but have no profiles for at the moment? Do you have accounts on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and the likes? Do you have a page on Wikipedia? Are you listed in the local business directory for your neighborhood or city? Does your organization show up as one of the industry association’s members? If you’re a restaurant, is your menu up on restaurant review sites like Yelp or Zomato? If you’re running a hotel, is it listed in TripAdvisor? These are just examples of determining where your brand should have a presence in.
Step 3. Set up a team for “cleaning up” your name. You may encounter both positive and negative content during your search. To delete the negative material, you need a team, and a strategy. It may involve reporting the page or post to the site administrators, contacting the person behind it, or composing a response that addresses the accusation. Cleaning up should also cover deleting redundancies in profiles, or ensuring that you have a consistent description across the digital world. In short, it’s about streamlining your profile, and clearly conveying what your organization is about.
Partner with online reputation management experts today to learn more.
