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Online Reputation Management – Why Critical to Your Business?

Posted on by Yvonne A Jones

Your good name and reputation are like prize possessions that you want to guard carefully as they can become like a sweet-smelling fragrance or a foul-smelling odor to others.
You have very little control over what others may say about you and your business, and the Internet makes it very easy to post comments – negative or positive — anonymously.  A sad truth is that people who are unhappy with your service for whatever reason are more likely to tell others offline, and will readily utilize the Internet to share their discontent. The unfortunate truth is that whether the comments are valid or not, they can tarnish (θαμπώσουν) your reputation and the reputation of your business and can contribute to loss of business to your competitors.  It’s therefore important to practice good online reputation management.

What is Online Reputation Management?

Online reputation management refers to creating a system of monitoring what is being said about you and your business online. It also involves doing everything possible to provide a positive image for your company.  It means taking action on an ongoing basis to minimize negative feedback, being notified when your name and the name of your company is mentioned online, and taking swift action to minimize the impact of negative feedback.

Why Your Online Reputation is Important

According to statistics published by http://marketingpilgrim.com “more than 80% of adults are more likely to purchase a product or use a service that has been recommended by their close friends and family.”  Even more relevant to your online reputation is “more that 90% of consumers put their trust in other consumers.”

Beyond any question, more and more consumers are going online to search for products and services even before they leave home to shop in local businesses.  People read reviews carefully and to a large extent –90%, according to the above findings—rely on the reviews and feedback they read online.
For example, if you own or operate a restaurant, potential customers will do their due diligence by checking your menu, your location, any photos online…and any comments.  If they receive positive feedback from relatives and or friends regarding the restaurant, these will have a greater effect on their decision to eat at your restaurant because they are relying on people they know, like and trust. Where there is no personal recommendation involved, they are going to rely on reviews of your restaurant by other consumers.  Sometimes it only takes one negative comment to turn away potential customers.

Continuing with our example of a restaurant, you may have a great restaurant which serves excellent food and the service may be beyond expectations but if your online reputation is tarnished with negative comments, this could have serious consequences on your business.
Online reputation management is critical to the success of your business, and in my next post (Part II) we’ll consider the “how” to implement an effective system for managing your online reputation.