What’s the most important asset a business has? It’s reputation. Given a good reputation and a business will enjoy customer loyalty and increasing sales. Get a bad reputation, and you will see sales drop and loyalty disappear. This has always been a truism, but in the age of the internet and with the overwhelming power of social media, managing and monitoring your business’s reputation is vital to success and an investment of resources that will pay for itself.

A business needs to be aware of how it is perceived and keep a finger on the pulse of public opinion. This can be a very fluid thing and needs to be under constant surveillance to ensure a company or brand is not unfairly represented in customers’ perceptions. So how do you go about managing and building a great reputation?

5 Ways to Manage and Build a Good Reputation & Why

1. Be Transparent

People like to buy from people. We all like to work with businesses that show they are real people and present themselves authentically, both online and off. When you’re honest and transparent with your customers you will garner that reputation, and new customers will feel more comfortable buying from you. Provide your customers with the information they need to make an informed purchase and don’t try to cover up mistakes – own up to them.

If customers feel or are aware that you’re not being transparent, they’ll go elsewhere.

2. Use Social Media to Interact with Your Customers

We all look at social media and review sites before making a big purchase or buying from a company we’re new to. Whether that’s buying a new car, finding a new accountant, or downloading an app, the opinions of others and the responsiveness of the company will dictate whether we decide to move forward or not.

Social media platforms are a great place not only to connect with customers, but also to professionally field questions and concerns. You can address any issues and put things right. All businesses experience hiccups with customers from one time to another, so how you deal with it in the public domain will affect how likely future customers are to buy from you.

3. Connect with Your Community

Businesses that give back to relevant communities are more likable and more trustworthy. It shows that they care and intend to be a positive force in the community for a long time to come.

For many businesses, their strongest customer base will be close to home. If you serve customers locally, make sure you manage your reputation close to home, as well as online. Consider getting involved with the community by hosting events if it’s relevant to your business, or sponsoring those hosted locally. You could also work with a local charity and look for ways to make positive press. Just make sure you’re doing it because it matches your values, not just because you want to make headlines.

You can also do this with online communities if you serve a global customer base. See if you can get involved with an online event or give them special treatment, such as a discount or extended free trial.

4. Ask For Reviews

Don’t forget to ask customers to leave reviews for you. Yelp, Google, and Facebook reviews and recommendations all help build your reputation, as can testimonials on your site or shared on your social media platforms. Don’t be tempted to leave it to chance – most happy customers will take the time out of their day, and you can always offer them something in return. Offering 5-10% off their next bill if they leave a review is a great incentive – just be aware that you can’t specify that it has to be positive.

Good reviews are worth their weight in gold – over 90% of people trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.

5. Monitor Your Reputation and Respond

The internet makes it easy to monitor what people are saying about you. This can be as simple as searching your business name in search engines, on social media, searching for terms you may believe your customers search for, such as “has anyone worked with [your business]?”

There are also paid and free tools you can use to help you do this. Some of the best free ones to use are:

Google Alerts – set up an alert for keywords (i.e. your brand name)
Hootsuite – manages social media and what people are saying about you
SocialMention – shows you real-time social media mentions about your brand

These tools can help you automate monitoring your brand. If you come across something negative and you want to respond, make sure you don’t lash out. Take a little while to write a well-thought out reply that isn’t dismissive of their opinion. If you don’t believe you ever did business with them, say so.

Start Managing Your Reputation Now

Having a great product is essential, but unless it’s something people can’t live without, they won’t buy from you if you have a bad reputation, even if it’s only in one area of your operations. Make sure you not only deliver a great product and service but monitor your reputation so your business can thrive.

If you need help managing your business’ reputation or repairing a damaged reputation, contact business coach David D’Silva

5 Ways To Manage Your Business’s Reputation Both Online And Offline