I work with a large number of small to medium sized enterprises within my job role and much of what we do focuses around how we can help them to reach their goals and take their business to the next level. Something which never ceases to amaze me when we are working with business owners is how little most of them understand about their online reputation and how this can impact their company. In fact I often find myself pointing owners to reputation management consultant reviews to see how they have changed the fortunes of many, but often this falls on deaf ears. And so if you aren’t sure, or aren’t aware of what your online reputation means for you, let me break it down into two scenarios, the first is if your reputation is poor, the second are the consequences of a great reputation.
Negativity
A negative online reputation can come about in a number of ways, it could be that customers have written negative reviews about your business, it could also be that ex-employees have written negative reviews about working for you, you can also have a negative reputation because of damaging content, poor social media management or even guilt by association. Regardless of how you have gained a poor reputation online the consequences are very much the same, damage caused to any ideas you have had about growing a brand, customers deciding against using your company and negativity growing exponentially, all of which lead to a huge reduction in sales and lower chances of your business succeeding.
Positive
A neutral or positive reputation is what you should be looking for, this will include great content on your website which people are freely sharing, a social media profile which is being engaged with and shared, people waxing lyrical about your business on review sites and even the odd piece of content such as a write up about your business. In this positive world you can count on creating a real buzz about your business which will get people talking, bring them in to the business and ultimately, that’s right, more sales and a richer brand for your company which in turn will lead to even more sales. This is where you should be aiming for and with a reputation like this you will find much greater success in business.
Addressing the Issue
The good news is that even if you have a negative reputation online it can still be fixed but the key is to take action sooner rather than later because these things can spiral out of control. Contact a reputation management company and they will be able to help you identify what kind of online reputation you have, and then put a plan in place to ensure that it ends up as positive as it can possibly be, which will bring far more success to your company and your bottom line.
