Restaurant reputation management is more crucial now than at any other moment in history. Restaurants throughout the country are attempting to reopen after a year or more of being closed, if they were even able to stay open.
You must make every effort to establish and maintain a sterling reputation in your community. Unfortunately, knowing what steps to follow isn’t always straightforward. You might not even realize why reputation management is crucial in some circumstances.
This guide will explain why restaurant reputation management is so crucial. It will also advise you on how to improve your reputation. Finally, it will look into how you may get assistance with controlling your restaurant’s reputation. Here’s everything you need to know about it.
What is Restaurant Reputation Management?
The internet has ushered in a bright new world of advertising, information exchange, and customer social proof that a restaurant is good. People have terrible luck from time to time. Or they were in a terrible mood, and one minor incident set off a series of events that led to a negative dining experience.
As a result, one person resorts to social media to express their dissatisfaction. Anyone who has had a poor experience adds theirs to the pile after a negative review appears. It doesn’t take long for your reputation to deteriorate significantly. What is the reason for this?
People read these reviews and place a lot of faith in them. According to Inc.com, 84 percent of respondents trust internet evaluations as much as they trust recommendations from friends.
Fortunately, there are several things you can do to change the narrative and turn unfavorable reviews into opportunities for your company. It does, however, necessitate an efficient restaurant reputation management approach.
Why is Restaurant Reputation Management So Important?
“It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad one to lose it,” Benjamin Franklin reportedly observed. Unfortunately, a single allegation of wrongdoing can sometimes be enough to ruin a restaurant’s reputation.
Negative online evaluations have a far more harmful influence on your organization than you may imagine. However, how you respond to these reviews has the potential to affect the course of your restaurant’s tale.
Customers will select other restaurants over yours if your establishment has a terrible reputation. It implies that you will lose money. It also means that attracting talented employees to your business will be tough. Nobody wants to work at a restaurant with a poor reputation. Or one that is experiencing a drop in revenue. People who rely on tips for a significant chunk of their income, in particular.
Finally, a bad reputation might negatively impact your brand in ways you don’t want. That is why restaurant reputation management is so crucial. It’s also why it’s never too early to start managing your restaurant’s reputation.
Steps To Managing the Reputation of Your Restaurant
Controlling negative information about your restaurant is only a tiny part of restaurant reputation management. It’s also about dominating the discussion. Making it one that promotes your establishment positively.
Follow the steps below to change the way people talk about your restaurant. These steps will assist you in completing the following tasks:
- Improve your brand’s image.
- Change people’s perceptions about your restaurant.
- Boost your search engine visibility. More web traffic is generated as a result of this.
- Demonstrate to the world that you value your reputation.
- Build trust with those who have previously complained.
It’s a long list of achievements. One that will necessitate some time and effort. On the other hand, DIY reputation management is a worthwhile goal to pursue.
Begin With What Happens Inside the Restaurant
If you want to establish a favorable reputation for your restaurant, you need to start from within. If your restaurant has received poor reviews, use them to your advantage. They could be on any of the following topics:
- Service is slow.
- The food is of poor quality.
- Food quality is inconsistent.
- Rude employees.
What matters is that you improve your business to solve these issues. So that future consumers don’t have the same bad experiences as you did.
There are numerous potential solutions for these issues. You may need to reorganize your management. You may need to hire more people. You may need to fire existing employees who aren’t meeting your expectations. Until everyone is adequately taught, you may need to come in and perform the cooking yourself.
To begin, you must make changes within your business. Otherwise, no amount of restaurant reputation management in the world will solve your situation.
Make a Google My Business Account
As you begin to manage your restaurant’s reputation, the first thing you should do is set up a Google My Business account. This will ensure that your restaurant appears in mobile searches for restaurants.
It would help if you claimed the listing as your own once you have verified that your restaurant is listed. Filling in essential data, adding appealing food images, and collecting good reviews from delighted clients are all part of this multi-step process.
You should constantly encourage happy customers to leave positive feedback. It helps you build your company’s reputation while only costing you excellent food and service. Every day, most restaurants seek to achieve this goal.
Online Reviews Should Be (Appropriately) Monitored and Responded To
Some people believe that controlling online reviews is essential for restaurant reputation management. While this is a significant step, it is only a tiny part of the bigger picture. It is, however, something in which you will need to commit a considerable amount of time and effort.
You must be aware of what is said about your restaurant on social media. That’s all there is to it. You must read the customer reviews, even if some of the reviews are a little tedious to read.
Reading reviews may teach you a lot. It’s not only about what you’re doing incorrectly from your customers’ perspective. You can also figure out what you’re doing correctly. This will assist you in making future restaurant judgments.
You must also respond to these criticisms. Reading them alone will not be sufficient to assist you in managing your reputation. You must also respond appropriately to the messages that others send.
Begin by expressing gratitude to those who submit positive reviews and urging them to return. When it comes to unfavorable reviews, it’s critical to make an effort to contact the customer and rectify the problem.
People can tell a lot about you by responding to your restaurant’s positive and negative evaluations. They’ll notice if you reply appropriately and try to make things right. Many of them will view this favorably despite some unfavorable reviews and give your establishment a try.
Create An Engaging Website to Boost Your SEO
Another thing you’ll need to do is create a restaurant website. Then, in the form of a blog, you must give it a constant stream of updated material. This supplies Google and other search engines with a wealth of information about your restaurant, allowing positive ratings to rise to the top of the listings while negative reviews fall to the bottom.
The average search engine user only goes one page deep into the results. This implies you have complete control over the content that most people see if you establish an exciting website that attracts visitors and keeps them updated regularly, at the very least.
On the other hand, you must devote resources to your website’s SEO (search engine optimization). If you want your website to be the first thing people see when they search for your name, this is a must.
Develop An Active Social Media Presence
It’s all about social media these days! It is the single most influential tool you have at your disposal for swiftly communicating with your audience and potential consumers. Make good use of it. Make frequent use of it. The following are some excellent social media post ideas for restaurants:
- Specials of the day.
- The day’s soups
- Restaurant anniversaries.
- Highlights of the employees
- Milestones for employees (graduations, weddings, babies, etc.).
- New menu items that have been added.
You can also use surveys to ask consumers about the menu, uniforms, wine pairings, and a variety of other topics. After all, the purpose of social media is to engage and interact with your audience.
Remember to respond to criticism with a good attitude, even if sent over social media. A thoughtful and kind answer reveals considerably more about your company than a single complaint or negative experience.
When Should You Pursue Professional Help for Your Reputation Management Issues?
Restaurant reputation management is a time-consuming process. You already know how difficult it is to run a successful restaurant. That is why it may be preferable to hire professionals to handle the heavy lifting of reputation management. The ideal time to start is before you have a terrible reputation for coping with.