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Simple Strategies to Manage Your Online Brand
Your online brand is vital to your long term business success. But what exactly do you need to do? Here's a few tips to make this easier:
Start with a few simple alerts
* Set up a Google Alert for your name, your company, and key employee's names. This is free to set up and will email you when your name is used around the net.
* Set up a Twitter Search for the same information. There's lots of ways to do this - you can use one the applications such as Tweetdeck or Seesmic Desktop to make it simpler to track.
Next Work out Your Response.
If the comment is positive, a thank you note is appropriate. Just a quick "Thanks - glad you liked it" goes a long way.
If the comment is negative - first stop and breathe. The temptation will be to leap in and race off an answer. Unlike when you get an angry customer at the counter, you have time to make sure you give the best possible response to resolve the situation - so stop and plan your response.
If you get a negative comment you have six options:
1. "Flame the troll" (online speak is so wonderfully colourful). This means you take great delight in getting into a slanging match with the negative person. This is not a good look for a business - so avoid this one at all costs.
2. Remove the comment. If the comment is out and out defamatory or a lie, you can ask the site owner to remove the offending comment/picture/post. This rarely works and depending on the site can leave you open to additional comments about your bully-boy tactics.
3. Ignore it. An OK strategy if the website is a very low ranking one and appears on page four million on the search engines when someone looks for your company.
4. Deal with it. Find a way that you can deal with it in a positive way. Post your own response expressing concern and apologising. Make an offer for the person to contact you so you can refund or do whatever is needed to make it right. Thank them for sharing this information so you can make sure it won't happen again.
5. Learn from it. You can post a link to the comment on your own company blog or website and invite comments from other customers on how you can do better next time and if anyone else has had the same experience. Great free market research!
6.Drown it in positive reviews. Find ways to encourage happy customers to also place their reviews or comments. Some clever strategies include You Tube contests involving video clips using your product, adding in a review us section to your website, link to positive reviews on other sites, ask for reviews in your newsletter.
Make sure you respond to feedback regularly. Dealing with feedback both positive and negative is an integral part of doing business - it is not an add-on. Build it into your everyday business processes and you will soon create a positive and strong online brand presence.
About the Author Ingrid Cliff is a freelance writer and the Chief Word Wizard of Heart Harmony - a writing services studio that helps put your business into words. For a free copy of the "7 Secrets of Compelling Copy & Powerful Words" visit her website www.heartharmony.com.au .
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