Your online reputation through consumer reviews can either grow your business exponentially or damage your brand reputation thoroughly.

In this age of social media, where good reviews can easily widen your reach, a single bad customer review may also reach a global audience and trigger a chain reaction. This risk is especially true due to increased consumer activism and troll farms that can mass-generate fake content.

It is essential now more than ever to constantly monitor your online reputation in your existing social media platforms and online forums, and third-party review websites.

In this article, we will run you through the key points of managing your online reputation.

Staying Updated

Protecting your online reputation means being on the lookout for anything being posted about you. However, it can be difficult and time-consuming to oversee every publication, especially if you are a big brand with a broader reach.

Luckily, there are now reputation management tools available online that assist you in identifying reviews and feedback trends.

Ensuring Speedy Response

Given how fast information can spread through social media, it is essential to ensure speedy responses. This response system should apply to both positive and negative reviews. Negative reviews that are left with no response can immediately cause negative engagement that can ripple across a broad audience.

Looking Out for Negative Comments

While the old marketing strategists may have lived by “all publicity is good publicity,” that is no longer true in the age of social media. False positives and false negatives can be detrimental to your brand. A negative comment can easily influence a large number of people and maybe significantly damage your business.

Look Out for Third-Party Reviews

Some consumers may be skeptical about trusting reviews on a brand’s homepage, so they often turn to third-party review websites to make informed decisions. It is essential to keep track of the reviews published on these sites as they can either make or break your business or brand.

Differentiating Genuine Feedback and Fake Reviews

While it is essential to look out for negative comments, consumers are still entitled to their opinions. This is true for negative feedback. It’s best to respond to this feedback with an acknowledgment and a discussion on how you can improve your services in the future.

However, for feedback that is not from a genuine customer, it’s best to identify and remove them. For some businesses, this may include geo-blocking, which prevents troll farms from bulk submitting fake reviews.

Sending Out Take-down Notices

You may be able to take down reviews with misleading and deceptive content depending on the laws in your state or the regulations of the sites the reviews are on.

You can send a take-down notice to both the host website and the publication’s author if they are identified. You should do so if the review goes beyond legitimately held opinions, such as the customer experience not occurring in the first place or the nature of the transaction being overstated.

Conclusion

Keeping watch of your online reputation is essential in this age of social media. While an online review can quickly build your brand reputation and widen your reach, it can also leave you susceptible to fake reviews and defamation.

Although monitoring your social media presence and brand reputation can be time-consuming, automated reputation marketing systems are available to make this process easier.

Are you on the lookout for the best reputation management software? Based in Boca Raton, FL, we at Turnkey Reputation can help you take control of your online reputation easily. Head on to our website to get your free trial today!

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