Positive reputation management is such a crucial part of your business. Trust is hard to come by these days, and customers are more cautious than ever before they give a brand or a business their trust. There is so much going on now behind a brand’s trust rating, and once you have a positive reputation online, you would want to continue building it up and improving it.

A negative reputation is not just something that can make your day gloomy. It has the potential of affecting your brand’s credibility, even if the cause of negative reputation may be biased or even untrue. Word of mouth through peer reviews are trusted more by customers than what brands have to say. And often, it takes a longer time to rebuild reputation than the time it took to break it.

In fact, in a poll conducted among 1,843 respondents from 60 countries, owning either private or public companies, rank reputation damage as a top management concern.

So, what are the things that can damage your reputation, and what are the ways you can build towards a positive online reputation for your business?

What Causes Company Reputation Damage?

Many factors can damage your positive reputation online. The most common would be the personal online reputation of the faces of your brand.

Anyone in your company widely known to represent your brand must learn that it is hard to separate personal identity from the brand you represent. We are in a digital age, and information is available and easy to attain.

People vet brands and their representatives more often than you realize. Authenticity is so important to consumers. Anyone that is deemed untrustworthy will have a hard time redeeming themselves if they do not change their reputation or work towards being acceptable to the digital community again.

Remember that consumers are looking for authenticity and not perfection. That is impossible to achieve. But they want to see brands—whether individual or corporate—to exude humility, originality, and truthfulness.

Make sure you and your team are minding your personal social media platforms so that it does not affect your brand.

Beware also of the pitfalls of bad social media etiquette because it can tarnish your positive reputation quickly. For example, post consistently, do not retaliate or fight with customers or peers online, respond to concerns and queries right away, and do not bombard your customers and followers’ walls with over-posting.

Also, be careful with your company and customer’s data, so you prevent any malware attacks and data breach. Know the best security software for small businesses so you can successfully guard your company’s positive reputation online through apt security protocols.

7 Ways to Better Manage Your Positive Reputation Online

1.    Avoid Data Breaches at all Costs

Identifying the cause of the data breach is as important is resolving the breach as soon as possible. Hackers will always try to breach systems or inject malware, but your responsibility as a company should be as immediate and thorough as can be.

Immediate dissemination of information is also needed. Inform customers right away about the breach and educate them on how to secure their accounts as soon as possible.

Reacting quickly and informing your affected customers shows integrity and accountability on your part. Putting plans into action right away to restore data safety can mitigate possible reputation damage.

You can also avoid data breaches by educating your employees and stakeholders and setting cybersecurity standards.

You also need to have updated data security controls. Limit data access to absolute necessity. It is a natural layer of protection you can add to your security protocol.

Even access to the internet and your company’s data should be limited. For instance, you can limit the kind of websites that employees can access on the company’s network.

Block websites that are not necessary for your operations. You do not have to give employees admin access to their computers to ensure the IT team or personnel will be responsible for every software download or maintenance.

Passwords to the internet or network can also be controlled. IT personnel can encode passwords unto devices to activate access without spreading the password information to too many people.

Simple measures like this done with other security measures all pile up into a robust cybersecurity and data privacy in place for your company.

You can also hire encryption experts to amp your cybersecurity measures. You can also use advanced cyber threat analytic tools that can detect malicious activity even before it can cause damage to your network and your data.

Make sure that you also have cybersecurity insurance and the best protection you can afford. Data breaches often lead to legal cases filed against you. You might need to compensate customers that were compromised for damages.

Being proactive in safeguarding your data is being productive in managing your online reputation.

2.    Track regularly all mentions of yourself, your company, and products

Trace whatever mentions you get for your personal accounts, your company, or your products and services. It may seem time-consuming but would be worth it. Word of mouth travels so fast, and monitoring your online presence consistently helps you mitigate negative comments before they get out of hand.

You can use tools that alert you every time your brand is mentioned anywhere on the internet. Brand24 and Isentia help you monitor your brand across different media in real-time. Tools such as these make positive reputation management, media monitoring, and tracking your competition easier.

Retweet or repost positive comments right away and thank the users that complemented your brand. You can also reply to a customer who may concern or complaint right away.

You cannot avoid complaints altogether, but your response can say a lot about your brand. If you value your customers, it will show in your response time and the quality of action or solution you provide.

3. Know What Customers Value and Deliver It Well

When you continuously work on improving your brand and your service, it helps maintain a positive reputation online as well. You need to keep ensuring you are meeting the current needs of your market and providing solutions they are looking for.

Keep the demand for your brand active by enhancing your service—both where you are already strong and where you may be weak. It strengthens your brand position and relevance in the market.

Always check where you can add value on top of your products or services. Generosity is a big come-on for consumers, which can improve your online reputation. Being aware of what is valuable to your target market helps you provide better results, keep a positive brand image.

You get your target market’s pulse through feedbacks, surveys, focus groups, and interviews. Optimise on these customer-centric tools to get to a grasp of your customer’s preferences and offer products and services that are relevant, even unique to the market.

4. Authority

Does your brand have domain authority high enough for you to be trusted by your target market? The higher your brand authority, the higher your credibility, and the more it will improve your positive online reputation.

Optimise of multiple assets you have from websites and social media platforms. Aim to rank consistently high on Google and other search engines. Maintain consistency in your posts’ performance to keep your trust level secure.

5. Push for more Google/Yelp Reviews

User-generated content like reviews is trusted more by consumers than what brands say about themselves. Customers who are in the beginning stages of the sales funnel rely on customer reviews to trim down their search for the right product or service.

Google reviews and Yelp reviews are common platforms of customers for reviews. If your brand shows up with positive reviews in these sites, it helps establish your brand as trustworthy, bringing value to consumers’ lives.

Whenever you provide a service or sell a product, encourage immediate feedback from your customers right away without being too pushy. If the customers are happy, they will not find it hard to leave a good review or even recommend your brand.

Optimise email marketing campaigns to encourage customers to write their reviews or comments as well. According to research, most customers leave a review when asked. You can also provide incentives in exchange for reviews.

6. Open accounts with your brand name on trending social media sites

Aside from securing your domain name, you also need to open social media sites with your brand name even before you launch. It is the same as paying for your domain name, so you get branding authority right away.

Prioritise securing ownership of your brand name on key social media sites. This boosts your positive reputation a great deal if you are known in a similar brand name across social media sites.

Use tools such as KnowEm or CheckUserNames to check if your brand name is on all key social media sites your target market goes to. Secure your username on all these platforms.

In the case that somebody else has taken your brand name on any of the social media sites, put something in your brand name that makes it unique. You can put “_NZ” “_official” after your brand name to identify it is your brand’s official social media site.

7. Practice Consistent Online Reputation Management

Reputation Management is not a one-time activity. You need to consistently monitor your reputation and avoid those things that can damage it.

Continue with improving your efforts and strategies to establish your credibility in your niche. Treat your brand’s positive image as an investment that will yield better revenues for your company.

Make it easier for your customers to leave testimonials or reviews on your site.

Build strong customer relationships by engaging with them through your website or social media sites.

Develop relationships with peers in the industry through collaborative efforts that serve your market’s needs or interests. Your peers can be a good source of recommendation too.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is also important to consumers. They want to trust a brand that is positively involved with the community. Are your products environment-friendly? Do you have humane practices in your production line? Do you treat your employees well? All these things are also necessary for your millennial consumers.

Highlighting things like this on your social media sites is part of positive reputation management.

Conclusion: Consistent Online Reputation Management is Key

Online reputation Management takes persistence and consistency. It will not be a perfect course, but if you keep at it, you will be able to maintain a positive reputation.

Actively track the impression that users leave on your site and social media accounts. Adjust your campaigns, even things as design and usability of your websites, if it does not align with the image you want your brand to exude.

There are many tools, especially in social media, to help you create appealing and relevant content consistently to keep your social media presence strong, which also boosts your online reputation well.

Whatever you do, be consistent about it, because consistency is key to positive reputation management.

This article is contributed by Mayleen Meñez, Content Writer for Softvire Australia and Softvire New Zealand.