Why Small Businesses Need Online Reputation Management More Than Ever in 2022
Whether your small business focuses solely on e-commerce or operates from a brick-and-mortar storefront, online reputation management plays a crucial role in your business’s success and survival. It can even make or break your business’s marketing strategies since it can be near-impossible to sell to consumers who don’t trust your company.
Learn how to develop an effective online reputation management strategy with EZtransition, your digital marketing agency in Atlanta.
What Is Online Reputation Management?
Online reputation management, also referred to as digital reputation management, is the process of monitoring how consumers perceive your business online and creating a strategy to improve consumer perception.
There are many benefits for businesses that build and implement an online reputation management strategy. Some benefits include:
- Boosting customer loyalty
- Increasing sales and revenue
- Proactively rectifying situations that are damaging to your company’s reputation
According to research from BrightLocal, 97% of consumers search online for businesses before making a purchase either online or in person. Additionally, 86% of people will hesitate to purchase from a business with negative reviews, so you shouldn’t ignore consumer perception.
A typical reputation management strategy will monitor:
- Social media platforms
- Review sites
- Blogs
- Your business’s website
- Anywhere else where people talk about your business.
Once your team has identified the relevant channels to monitor, you can either boost your business’s public perception or address negative reviews before they have a damaging effect.
Why Is Online Reputation Management Important for Small Businesses?
Online reputation management is essential for all businesses and even for individuals. However, because small businesses are often less resilient than large corporations, negative reviews and bad consumer perception can have lasting effects on a business’s growth.
You may remember that back in 2017, United Airlines faced a lot of bad press after forcibly removing a passenger from a flight. As a result, the company lost close to a billion dollars in market value due to its damaged reputation.
Online reputation management works to minimize the losses of events like this one. While United Airlines is still around, such scenarios would put many small businesses under, even if losses aren’t as significant.
What Are the Key Ingredients of an Effective Reputation Management Strategy?
As an experienced reputation management company in Atlanta, we know that getting the best results for your small business starts with a comprehensive plan.
Below is an overview of our approach:
- Step 1: Generate more online reviews for your small business.
- Step 2: Get more 5-star reviews for your small business.
- Step 3: Strategize how to efficiently respond to all your Google reviews and grow your business in the process.
- Step 4: Implement strategies to amplify your best Google reviews, so they are visible everywhere.
- Step 5: Track and analyze sentiment over time, and take immediate and continual action based on review sentiment.
When it comes to small business marketing in Atlanta, developing effective reputation management strategies that pursue growth and resilience is key to increasing revenue while resolving situations online that harm your reputation. Digital reputation management works to fulfill this need, so small businesses can survive and thrive in the digital age.
Get started with EZtransition’s reputation management service, and use the code “rep15” for 15% off of your monthly subscription.
Image credits: Photo by PCH Vector on Freepik.
