Reputation Management & SEO
The internet has allowed businesses to connect with more people and to increase interaction with their client base. This increased interaction can come at a cost should a client/customer become dissatisfied with your service. Now more than ever, a disgruntled customer, with a few clicks of a button, may leave a scathing review online that can affect your bottom line for years to come. All is not lost, however, as there is a solution, Reputation Management.
Every successful business strives to make each connection a successful one, but as the saying goes, you cannot please everyone all the time. Occasionally something will go awry, and a client/customer will not get the best possible service from your company; some may seek “payback” via various online means. This can be done in a myriad of ways, and below is the best way to deal with them should they occur.
1/ Social Media Feedback
It is no secret that social media allows customers and businesses to interact with each other like never before, but this can backfire if you get a disgruntled customer and the situation is not handled correctly. Often they will post a bad review via your social media account, and your first reaction might be to delete it if possible; this, however, is often not the best course of action.
Use the negative review as feedback, work out where you went wrong, and work through the issues with the client to resolve the situation. The client has used a public domain to voice a complaint, so use the same domain to resolve the issue. Most people understand that mistakes happen, and if you are actively showing that you are willing to work through issues with clients, it actually gives more strength to all of your positive reviews, as you are showing that you are transparent and up front.
Social Media Management isn’t just about posting content, but managing interaction quickly and efficiently.
2/ Reviews on Third Party Sites
Third party sites that allow customers to review businesses and services are in the most part an excellent way to get verification and trust for your online business; the downside is, it’s also easy for customers to place bad reviews should they become disgruntled.
The main issue is that these sites often rank highly and can impact in your SERP result when people are searching for your services. Like social media, your first step should be to engage with the customer to resolve the issue. If a customer sees a bad review and it’s noted that you resolved the issue, it can actually work to your benefit.
Of course not every situation can be resolved, and the review needs to be managed through Reputation Management SEO. The aim is to promote positive reviews over any negative reviews, to push the bad reviews off the front page of search results; you can’t make them disappear completely, but you can manage it so it as little to no effect on your ongoing business.
Hiring an SEO consultant, to advise and implement such a campaign, means you need not fear your customers should things not go according to plan.