It’s important to establish the difference between an offline and an online reputation. Your business needs to separate the two, as they really don’t have much bearing on each other. The work you do in the local community to become a respected business is one thing, but the online world is a very different marketplace. If you hope to succeed there, you’re going to need to adopt different tactics.
So, let’s take a look at six things you can do today to boost your online reputation a little further.
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Encourage Your Customers To Leave A Review
You have to look at the world of online business as a completely separate entity. There, people will stumble on your business from all corners of the globe. They don’t know if they can trust you, and they need to be given reasons to. This is why encouraging your customers to leave a review is incredibly beneficial. Give them an outlet to express their opinions in the first instance, and then hope they’re positive ones!
Publish Your Testimonials
Let’s say you’re getting some fantastic feedback from clients and business acquaintances. What are you doing with that feedback? It’s nice to display it around the office and mention it in conversation, but you need to do more! Your website and social media pages offer the perfect place to publish all that great stuff. Be proud of your company and display your successes online.
Boost Social Media Engagement
If you’re not up to scratch on social media, you’ll fall behind in all areas of your online reputation. You need to establish a good base of viewers and followers along the way, and it’s not easy to do that. You might want to purchase Instagram views or buy Facebook likes, for example. Alternatively, you might want to include share buttons on your website to allow others to share your content via social media.
Respond To Constructive Criticism
I know this sounds like a bad thing to do, but it really isn’t. First, you want to separate the constructive stuff from the downright rude and offensive stuff. Don’t respond to the latter, and either delete or ignore it going forward. However, constructive criticism is important to respond to. As long as you carry yourself in the right manner, a well-worded response will actually improve your reputation as a caring company.
Host A Competition
The act of hosting a competition online isn’t what boosts your online reputation directly. However, the publicity and increased brand awareness that you get from this activity are very beneficial in the long run. You might want to host this via Twitter or another social media platform. Be sure to spread the word as much as you can, and don’t forget to make mailing list sign-ups or social media ‘likes’ a requirement.
Switch To A New Hosting Provider
Have you ever thought that your website might be deterring potential customers from online purchases? If your website runs particularly slowly, this is probably the case. We’re no longer willing to sit for more than a few seconds until we click off a page nowadays. Be sure to check your analytics and make a change if necessary.
