Nathan Liao January 20, 2022 Nowadays, our customers are ever more online — they love reading online news websites, sharing their favorite products and services on their social media networks, and leaving online reviews about brands. Thus, it is vital that us entrepreneurs have a grasp of how our businesses are being talked about online. This is because if we aren’t regularly monitoring our company’s online reputation, we may be completely unaware of a negative news story or bad review about our product or service that could be turning away potential customers.
In my own business journey with CMA Exam Academy, a Certified Management Accountant exam review program, I’ve discovered a few quick and effective ways to monitor your business’s online reputation:
Use Google Strategically
One simple and effective way to monitor your enterprise’s online reputation is by strategically searching the company’s name (enclosed in quotation marks) on Google. You can look for mentions of your business’s name after a certain date by selecting “Tools” and then the dropdown arrow next to “Any Time” — this will allow you to choose a range of time (Past Week, Past Month, Past Year, etc.) you would like results for. After selecting the date range, you can then check out the “News” tab (underneath the search bar) to see media mentions about your company, and then click on “All” to see any other possible mentions.
If there are negative articles about your business or online reviews that share unsatisfactory experiences with your products or services, don’t just ignore them. Release a public statement in response to any negative news stories and reply to every single bad review with an offer to rectify the negative experience. Being proactive is key!
Do Regular Social Media Research
It is vital to regularly check how your brand is being talked about on social media, as it is so easy for a negative post about a business to “go viral” and damage that company’s reputation. On Facebook, this can be done by simply searching your company’s name (in quotation marks) in the search bar and selecting “Posts” — this will bring up public posts that mention the brand. Make sure to respond to any posts that are negative, letting the person know to reach out to your business’s customer service email or phone number to ensure that their concerns are addressed right away. Also respond to any negative reviews on your business’s Facebook page.
To see how your brand is talked about on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok, research the hashtags for your brand name to see tweets and posts about your business. Look through the mentions, “like” ones that are positive, and respond to ones that are negative (again, directing the person to reach out to your customer service department to fix any issues). Make sure to monitor social media mentions on a daily or weekly basis to ensure that you are able to reply to negative posts and fix any issues before they spiral into reputational damage.
To Wrap It All Up
With the world becoming ever more online, it is crucial to stay on top of how your business is being talked about on the internet. Use Google strategically to search for online mentions of your brand, and research social media to see what customers are saying about your business. By doing this on a regular basis, you will be well aware of any negative news stories or posts and can fix the situation before they damage your business’s reputation.
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