8 Steps to Protect Brand Reputation

Research shows that 45% of business owners don’t like their online presence. Most people who feel this way aren’t equipped to handle the aftermath of a customer dispute, or disgruntled employees. Your brand represents who you are to consumers. Your brand is your greatest asset and most visible. Your brand reputation and image will be damaged. This can affect your social proof, influence, and capital in the market.

When you’re attempting to develop social proof as a business strategy, keep in mind that social networking has its pitfalls. We’ll go into more detail below. A simple phishing attack can quickly ruin your reputation and make it difficult to recover.

97% of businesses can be found online. 90% of respondents said they are influenced by customer reviews, word of mouth, and customer feedback, regardless of whether they’re positive, negative, or both.

What is reputation management in a nutshell?

While the business trends for 2019 might change, what you post online about your company can stay with you forever. You need to be able to manage your brand reputation and take proactive steps to be the best face you can be for the public.

Brand reputation management means engaging positively with the public, deleting inaccurate or false information, and dealing with negative comments or reviews head-on in order to promote a win-win relationship. It involves transparency, Genuine interactions, and some retroactive PR.

We all know that everything we say and do can end up online. Hot mic mishaps, holiday parties that were caught on video, and people who are just looking to cause discord for payback or fun are all examples.

You don’t have to attend a public event or leave your office. There are practical ways you can influence public perceptions and present yourself as a positive person.

8 Steps to protect brand reputation

1. Keep your employees and associates happy.

Disgruntled vendors and employees are a major source of negative online reputation. It is possible to avoid this by being honest and transparent in your business dealings.

It helps you keep your business partners and team happy. Employee satisfaction is an integral part of the branding and should be part of your overall business strategy. Here are some ideas:

• Start a satisfaction program for employees.
• Establish a culture of feedback that encourages staff to feel involved in the company’s success.
• Create a volunteer program or match donations for causes important to your team.
• Choose a cause you want to support, and invite your entire team to get involved.

2. Google your business at least once per week.

How many times have you Googled your company in the past? You can discover a lot of information by simply typing your company name or professional name into the search bar once per week.

You can see the internet through the eyes of a customer. This could lead to online reviews you don’t know about, gossip about your business on social networks, and other public comments that pop up when someone mentions your name or your business.

Potential customers can be affected by bad reviews that you find when you search for your business using Google, Yahoo Search, and Bing. You don’t have the obligation to allow negative comments to sit around and ruin your reputation. You can make it a habit to monitor your online reviews and take charge of them in a structured daily process.

Take note of the date and location of any inaccurate or misleading information, and then delete it. Talk to the site owner if you are unable to remove the information or allow a rebuttal. You can make positive, SEO-optimized blogs and content to replace the information that is not possible to be removed.

Originally published on The Tech Trend