Are you paying attention to what people are saying about your business online?
Along with social media networks, people will talk about your business anywhere online… both the good and bad.
Think about it… people do not hesitate to go online to voice their concerns about a business instead of contacting the business directly.
Even worse, sometimes business owners have NO idea that the content is out on the web. This can truly hurt a business’s reputation, which is unfortunately; especially when the complaints are not even warranted.
Imagine one of your potential customers Googling your business name and up pops a negative post from one of your customers about how much they hate your service.
If this is the first thing your prospects see, do you think they will be quick to do business with you? No, they won’t. In fact, most people will automatically decide against doing business with you solely based on this other person’s complaint.
It’s just a fact… people rely heavily on the opinions of others when deciding whether or not to do business with you.
This is why customer reviews and testimonials are so powerful in converting prospects into buyers. When people see that others love your products, services, or business, they will have no problem doing business with you.
On the flip side, as soon as they see unhappy customers, they will avoid you like the plague.
Is this something your business can afford during these tough economic times? You probably answered, “absolutely not” and you are correct.
So how do you, as a business owner, defend yourself from the negativity surrounding your business online?
One way is to do a Google search for your business name to see what type of information is coming up.
Another way is to join and engage in social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter. People will definitely say what they feel there.
But it’s up to you to catch it and do something about it – even if it’s just to post a reply to the complaint to defend yourself. If not, you are leaving your business vulnerable to negative publicity, which is not good.
One way to combat a negative online reputation is to get your happy customers to post more positive reviews and testimonials about your business online.
This will help overshadow the negative comments and help you clean up your online reputation.
