With each passing year, Google and the internet, in general, become more and more relevant in our daily lives. Thus, the importance of an excellent online reputation becomes increasingly more critical. The vast majority of the world has easy access to the internet. That makes negative content more accessible than ever to locate. Positive and negative content can be the difference between your company being successful and your business failing. I understand the importance of having a positive online reputation. Therefore, I will share with you why it is essential and how you can set out to improve your online reputation.
People Will Look You Up
Every day that goes by, more and more people are looking up a company before they do business with them. Considering the times in which we currently live, it could mean the difference between life and death. While most decisions are not that intense, it is still essential for businesses to have a good reputation.
A 2018 survey concluded that as many as 90% of customers regularly read about a company before making a consideration to make a purchase. That seems like a lot of people. However, when you look at customers between the ages of 18 and 34, that number jumps significantly to 98%. That goes to show you that each generation is becoming more reliant on online reviews that the generation before it.
It seems that it couldn’t possibly get more than 98%, but as Generation Z start making buying decisions, that number is expected to climb even higher. There will always be a percentage of the population that won’t care about online reviews, but the number will be largely insignificant.
If you have any expectations to make your business successful, you are going to have to make sure that you have a positive internet reputation. When people see negative reviews for your company, they are not willing to hand over their hard-earned money to you. Unlike the news, the internet can keep stories relevant for far longer than most would be interested in. That means that if you have a bad day, it will not fade away in just a few days or weeks. Some people have been dealing with things they said or done for the better part of a decade after the fact. The internet has a way of rehashing old stories to make them relevant again. So, my advice to you is to think about what you post before you post it. It has the potential to be there for many years to come.
People Want More Than Just A Corporation
People don’t want just to look up your company, find out if you are good or bad, and then make a decision about the product or service they are going to buy. They want to see that they are more than just another transaction. They want to feel special. They want to know that you care about them as a customer.
To help your customers see that each of them is important, you will have to take to the internet. You are going to have to interact with your customers in an environment they are comfortable with. These days, that is on their phone or other mobile devices. That means you are going to have to make content that is compatible with those devices. It was good enough to have a website and a couple of review sites on your daily list of things to check in the past. That is no longer the case.
If you have not already claimed your review sites, you are going to want to do that. Your customers have an opinion, and they are not afraid to share that opinion with others on the internet. There are review sites for nearly every industry out there. For example, if you want to find out about how a restaurant is, you are naturally going to go to Yelp or Zomato (previously Urbanspoon). For reviews on hotels, you will visit TripAdvisor. The point is, you need to figure out what industry your business falls into and find review sites that you can keep up to date with what your customers are saying. Simply having a place, they can leave comments or suggestions at your store or on your website is not good enough anymore.
Develop A Brand Personality
I am sure by now, you have seen the crazy things that Gordon Ramsay and Wendy’s get up to on their Twitter accounts. While this style may not work for everyone, people have come to expect certain things to come from these platforms. On a side note, I am in no way suggesting that you start this style of interaction with your customers. Other people and companies have tried it, and they got quite a different response from their customers.
That is not to say that you cannot develop some sort of personality for your business. Anything that can set you apart from the hundreds of thousands of other accounts that are on the platform. Sometimes just being honest and friendly can be the difference. The fact that you are there interacting with your customers shows you care more than most other companies. I have waited for weeks to hear back from a company on their social media or review pages in my personal experience. That tells me a couple of things. First, they are not regularly checking their platforms. Second, if they check their media regularly, they don’t care enough about their customers to respond. If a customer reaches out to you about a bad experience they had, the worst thing you could do is ignore them.
Conclusion
The internet can make or break your business. The reason is, people are going to look you up, they are going to see if you care about them, and they are going to want to know you are helpful and friendly. Take the time to show your customers that they are more than just another transaction, and your internet reputation will land you more business than you ever thought possible.