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Online Reputation Management for Business
Updated: May 2
NCFE Level 2 Award in Digital Promotion for Business (601/6671/X)
NCFE Level 2 Certificate in Digital Promotion for Business (601/6673/3)
Unit 12 Online reputation management (M/615/8542)
Samantha runs an event management company that specialises in customising surprise events for personal occasions like wedding proposals, surprise parties etc.. Her business is very niche as she consults every customer about their likes, dislikes, budgets and other preferences and accordingly customises an event experience. Her innovative ideas and fresh take on surprise event category has made her everyone’s favourite.
While Samantha has a beautiful website that goes with the theme of her business, she also maintains very lively social media business profile. Every time a new experience is curated for her customers, with their permission, she posts small snippets of the event highlights on her social media channels. Sometimes her customers also tag her company in their online posts with words of appreciation. Samantha had been actively managing the online reputation of her business so far. However, with her business expanding, she has now hired Ruth to manage the online reputation bit of her business. Samantha is training Ruth in efficient management of a businesses’ online reputation, let’s go through their conversation during this training!
What is the purpose of ‘Online Reputation Management for Business’?
What all activities are part of online reputation management for a business?
Which platforms can be harnessed to manage the online reputation of a business?
How can I ensure that all online channels project a positive image of our business?
What could be the possible impact of a business’s positive online comments on its reputation?
How should a business respond to positive online comments?
Can positive online comments be used to enhance a business’s reputation?
Is online reputation management meant only for online businesses?
Ruth: What is the purpose of ‘Online Reputation Management for Business’?
Samantha: The purpose of managing online reputation of a business is to ensure that a business maintains a positive & encouraging profile on internet. Most customers turn to internet for exploring options about a required product or service. Maintaining a visible & positive online profile, provides better confidence to new customers and they are less hesitant to engage with the business. Also, a good online reputation can foster a sense of community for the business which ensures high repeat customer rates. Online reputation also plays a huge role in branding and positioning of a business.
What all activities are part of online reputation management for a business?
Which platforms can be harnessed to manage the online reputation of a business?
Online reputation management for a business encompasses a range of activities.
These could be keeping tab of the
a) SEO rankings: is your business reflecting early on the organic search page results? Do your customers find you in the first 3 pages of search results when they are looking for your kind of product or service? If not, work on your SEO.
b) customer ratings on the selling platform as well as search engine platforms like google & trustpilot
c) customer comments, likes & dislikes on social media channels
d) product reviews on 3rd party platforms like Quora etc. or on the business website
e) customer feedback and testimonials sent directly to the business
f) listing status on local business aggregator platforms like Google Mybusiness, Nextdoor etc.
You have to make sure that all these channels project a positive image of your business
How can I ensure that all online channels project a positive image of our business? There will always be happy and unhappy customers!
Let us break down this process into simple steps.
First step- Constantly monitor all online channels to keep track of the positive/negative comments, feedbacks, ratings etc.
Second step- read all the reviews, comments, feedbacks patiently and try to understand what is making a customer happy or unhappy about our products & services.
Third step – develop appropriate response strategy. Thank the customer providing positive feedback and take corrective actions while apologising to customer with negative feedback.