Regardless of whether you have a top of the range product or service, there will always be someone out there that is unhappy with it. It could be the wonder product that stops wars, protects the planet and miraculously transforms everyone into svelte beauties – but there will still be that disgruntled unhappy customer that has only bad things to say about it. Perhaps they called up the customer service line and didn’t like what they had to say – you only need one dissatisfied customer and your online reputation can come crumbling down.

All businesses require online reputation management. It’s not just a ‘nice to have’ or something only the big boys can afford. The online environment is a perfect platform for critics to post negative comments and reviews. There are specific sites such as complaints.com and Ripoff Report that encourage consumers to voice their unhappiness. There are also plenty of other reputable sites such as Google Maps and Yelp that also allow customers to post comments about their experiences with products and businesses.

Internet reputation management can be employed in a reactive way or as a long term strategic approach. It can become a vehicle to interact with your customers and ultimately protect your business on the internet.

Cyberspace has ears
Before the internet really established itself well-established companies with huge marketing budgets would glean customer opinions from surveys and focus groups. They would often poll a small cross section of their target audience making the accuracy of results somewhat questionable. However the true opinions of customers can be ‘heard’ loud and clear on the web.

You can tap into this stream of information by using some of the manual tools available online. Google Alerts and Yahoo! are great ways to access this information and to search on your company name or specific keywords. However if you are serious about understanding what your customers think of you enlisting the help of an SEO company to monitor their comments is a great investment. Customers leave their opinion on a wide range of platforms including Twitter, Facebook, review sites, forums and blogs to name but a few. These results need then to be evaluated and quantified.

What is the level of threat
Once the web has been scanned and negative results have been unearthed it’s time to look at how serious a threat they pose. If you have a high profile brand you are highly likely to get several. This can only be seen as a positive thing – your brand plays a large role in people’s lives. You now need to decide whether the comments need attending to. Some have low visibility so are unlikely to need much attention. Others however will require you to put some action plan in place.

If you can find the author’s identity then a direct approach can be effective. You should post a comment explaining why the bad experience could have happened and how the experience could be avoided. If your company is plainly at fault apologise and offer a resolution.

Always make your comments professional and clear and never pretend to be a customer.

At www.searchengineoptimization.co.uk we offer help with online internet management strategy to ensure your brand remains protected.

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