The rise of social media and the popularity of web services and ecommerce has caused companies to realize the importance of their online reputations and digital presence. Just like the content on online platforms evolves almost every minute, a company’s reputation also evolves simultaneously, and a small instance of wrongdoing or misconception can possibly damage the company’s entire reputation and diminish all of its efforts. Customers form an opinion about companies through the online and digital space prior to interacting with the company or its representatives at all. customer acquisition, purchase decisions and customer retention – all depend on your company’s online reputation to a large extent. Hence, companies should work towards actively improving their online reputation and listed below are a few things companies can do in order to work towards that goal:
- Companies should monitor their online presence
Companies should monitor their online presence by the help of an online reputation agency. It is essential that companies get professional help in order to find out where they stand in terms of their brand image currently, what strategies and working for them, which strategies are proving to be a failure, and to understand what can be done in order to improve. Monitoring online presence involves looking into what the general public has to say about your company on social media, on review websites and on ecommerce platforms that store or sell your products or services.
- Companies should have a strong social media strategy
A strong social media strategy is important for your company in order to build its online presence. Your online communications and digital presence essentially depends on what you put out on social media platforms, and on how your target audience interacts with that content. A poorly designed social media strategy would either get no or passive participation from your target audience, and in worst case scenarios could cause PR scandals. However, a well-made social media strategy would encourage active participation from your target audience and cause them to engage.
- Companies should have a online review strategy
Companies should have an online review strategy in order to keep their social media strategy and communications strategy aligned with customer interactions at all times. an online review strategy essentially works towards including online reviews of your products and services from happy customers. This is because customers rarely give out reviews on their own unless they are very disappointed with a product. you need to engage customers that are satisfied and happy with your company’s services, by either sending followup emails asking for reviews, or providing minimal discounts on their future purchase if they leave you a review.
- Companies should work with influencers
Companies should work with influencers that are popular within their target audience and post content relevant to their products or services. Big companies have been generating serious ROI by collaborating with influencers and bloggers for a while now, and all companies should do the same while remaining within their budget and complying with their marketing strategy. Companies should also take into account influencers from all different platforms while doing so and ensure that they don’t leave any social media platform or its audience untouched or unaddressed.
- Companies should maintain an online complaint redressal process
Companies should maintain a complaint redressal system on their website and on their social media platforms to address any concerns an unhappy customer may have. This is because while a happy customer may not brag about your company to every person they meet, an unhappy customer would be sure to complain about your services to every person they see. Hence, companies should have processes and systems in place to address unhappy customers and to solve their grievances as soon as possible.
