For any modern business, online perceptions can be a deal-maker or a deal-breaker. Consumers have options and time to choose between most types of products. If your potential customers are quickly shown too much negative content about your brand, they might just move on.
To have a good brand reputation, you need to stay on top of negative reviews, social media backlash, and other negative coverage. 93% of Americans read customer reviews at least sometimes when considering buying a product. If you don’t manage your brand well, you can lose customers. But positive coverage is also important, so you need more good reviews and positive coverage as well!
This can all sound a bit overwhelming to businesses just getting started with their online marketing. There’s no way around the fact that it takes time and effort to manage a brand reputation on the internet.
The good news is that we have many effective strategies and tools for you to use! You can maximize your brand reputation with the best practices for brand reputation management. These professional tools enable you to react to changes quickly with data-based decisions.
In this article, we will explore 14 best practices for brand reputation management. Then, we will highlight the top tools that can help you maintain and improve your brand’s image.
Main Takeaways From This Article:
- Effective brand reputation management translates to proactive customer engagement. You do this with strategic online feedback management across all media platforms
- Regularly monitoring your online presence and responding promptly to feedback helps maintain a strong brand image.
- Encouraging positive reviews while tactfully managing negative reviews is crucial to building trust.
- Creating and publishing high-quality content, using solid SEO strategies, and getting involved with community initiatives are the key practices for a strong brand presence.
- Reviewshake is a leading online reputation management software for comprehensive review management. You can use a suite of robust features for generating, managing, and analyzing customer reviews.
What Is Brand Reputation Management?
Brand reputation management refers to how your business monitors how your brand is perceived by customers and how to make it better. The “management” part refers to your strategy for improving your brand reputation.
A company’s online brand reputation management will include processes for:
- Maintaining a consistent and positive image across all platforms.
- Online feedback & sentiment analysis.
The goal of brand reputation management is to maximize the positivity with which online users view your brand (or brands). A modern brand reputation management plan is centered around online reputation indicators like:
- Reviews
- Social media mentions
- Search Engine Results
Brand reputation management is an ongoing process. As time goes on, you will find new opportunities, especially if you’re using the tips we’re about to go over. But you will inevitably also face challenges to your brand reputation and will have to adjust your responses to them.
Brand Reputation & Target Markets
Managing your brand reputation means comparing your brand’s values and messaging with the values of your target audience. Modern audiences can hold your brand to wildly different expectations. For example, pay attention to your target audiences’ demonstrated values regarding:
- Affordability
- Value
- Health
- Convenience
- Robustness
- Sustainability
A brand reputation can only be managed along the lines of your stated values and those of your customer demographics. So, market research always plays a role in forming a brand reputation that lasts. After that, there are many metrics of your brand reputation online.
Reputation Management vs Brand Reputation Management
Brand reputation management is the correcting and optimizing of a specific brand’s reputation.
Reputation management is the correcting and optimizing of how your business as a whole is perceived.
Most small businesses can ignore this distinction after they have committed to a brand identity. With a business with one brand that is complete, these two terms are interchangeable. However, if your brand reputation isn’t creating a spark with your target markets, you can change your brand. This will restart the brand reputation management process, building up a new brand with different values and appearances.
14 Brand Reputation Management Strategies
Your brand reputation management plan will require proactive strategies. Here are 14 actionable strategies that help you maintain a positive brand reputation.
1. Monitor Your Online Presence
Your online presence includes every part of the internet where customers are exposed to your brand. A business’s online presence will normally include social media, review sites, and search engine results.
To make sure you’re monitoring your online presence:
- Use Monitoring Tools: Leverage tools that provide live alerts for new brand mentions and reviews.
- Track Review Sites: Follow reviews on Yelp, Google, Facebook, and other sites relevant to your industry.
- Monitor Search Engine Results: Search your brand on search engines and review the top results for negative content.
- Use Tools Like Reviewshake: Make sure you’re monitoring as much as possible and not missing any updates.
2. Respond Promptly to Feedback
After your customers leave feedback, your timing demonstrates a lot about your brand. Customers gauge your response times as a measure of how much you care. Faster responses to customer feedback enhance your brand’s reputation.
To ensure fast responses, use every alert system we listed above. Also, remember to keep your communication professional!
The key is that you need a plan for how to respond to negative reviews as well as positive ones. A plan, with a few templates, for each kind of review, makes it possible for you to respond faster.
3. Leverage Social Media Effectively
Leverage social media to boost your brand’s reputation. A strong social media strategy can be a game-changer for your brand’s reputation. Social media provides you with many possibilities for positive (or negative) feedback.
To use social media to boost your brand reputation:
- Share Content on Social Media: Connect with your audience on social media through visually appealing and interesting posts.
- Engage With Followers: Respond to user comments to foster online communities around your brand.
- Share Positive Reviews: Post testimonials and success stories to build trust with potential customers.
- Utilize Influencers: Collaborate with influencers to amplify your brand’s reach and credibility.
- Analyze Sentiment: Collect and aggregate data on how your brand is mentioned in social media comments.
4. Encourage Positive Reviews
Gather more positive reviews to enhance your brand’s online reputation. Positive reviews build trust and help offset negative comments, reviews, and articles.
To inspire positive reviews in a way that is practical:
- Request Reviews After Purchase: Politely and promptly ask your happy customers to leave a review after a purchase or service.
- Make Reviews Easy: Include direct links to your review pages in follow-up emails or on your website.
- Offer Incentives: Consider offering discounts or rewards for honest reviews, but make sure you follow all platform rules.
- Show Appreciation: Thank customers publicly and privately for their positive feedback.
5. Manage Negative Reviews Tactfully
You will need to address negative feedback to turn a dissatisfied customer into a loyal advocate. Experiencing at least some negative feedback is inevitable. You can put in place standard procedures for responding to them.
To respond to negative reviews tactfully, make sure you always:
- Acknowledge the Issue: Always acknowledge and focus on the customer’s concerns directly.
- Apologize: Apologize for the negative feelings your customer is experiencing. You should empathize with them unless you have strong reason to believe the review is fake.
- Respond Promptly: Fast responses show that you value customer feedback and are committed to resolving issues.
- Offer a Solution: Provide a clear plan or step to rectify the situation, without getting wrapped up in arguments or unrelated details.
6. Publish High-Quality Content
Create a content plan to establish your brand as an authority in your industry. To build a better online brand reputation, remember to:
- Publish Informative Blog Posts: Create posts that answer common questions, provide industry insights, or share valuable tips.
- Customer Testimonials: Highlight positive reviews and case studies on your site and social media to build credibility.
- Provide Insights: Distinguish your brand with thought leadership content that stands apart from what your competition offers.
7. Engage in Community Involvement
Get your brand involved with community activities to increase your visibility and build customer relationships. To effectively engage with your community:
- Sponsor Local Events: Sponsor local events and show support for your community, gaining exposure for your brand.
- Participate in Charity Work: Involve your brand with charitable activities and donate to local causes to demonstrate your brand’s commitment to social responsibility.
- Organize Community Events: Host events such as workshops, seminars, or fairs that can bring people together and add value to the community.
- Volunteer Time and Resources: Get your brand and employees engaged with volunteer and community service opportunities.
8. Implement SEO Strategies
Integrate effective SEO strategies to improve your brand’s online visibility and build authority. The search engine optimization fundamentals for improving your online visibility include:
- Keyword Research: All SEO decisions must start with research into the keywords relevant to your audience.
- On-Page SEO: Optimize each of your webpage’s meta tags, headers, and URL structures.
- Local SEO: Local SEO is especially important, so claim and optimize your Google My Business listing.
- Backlink Building: Secure high-quality backlinks to boost your site’s authority and credibility.
9. Train Your Employees
Make sure your employees are trained well enough to make every customer touchpoint a positive experience. Specifically, focus on these key employee skills:
- Customer Service Excellence: Train and/or test your team for the skills to handle various customer scenarios with strong interpersonal skills.
- Brand Awareness: Ensure consistency by training employees to understand and communicate your brand’s history, vision, and objectives.
- Online Feedback Response SOPs: Train staff to respond professionally to negative feedback or public relations issues.
- Continuous Learning: Implement regular training and testing sessions to update employees on new tools, technologies, and strategies.
10. Use Crisis Management Plans
Every big brand faces at least one serious crisis. Your ability to respond swiftly and effectively determine a crisis’s long-term impact on your brand. To start implementing a strong crisis management plan:
- Identify Potential Risks: Conduct a professional risk assessment to list and categorize possible threat scenarios for your brand’s reputation.
- Build a Crisis Team: Assign a dedicated team with clear roles and responsibilities to manage public relations
- Compartmentalize Crisis Management: Include specific plans for monitoring and responding on social media, review platforms, YouTube, and other places.
- Develop Communication Protocols: Establish guidelines for how and when to communicate with stakeholders, customers, and the general public during a crisis.
11. Monitor Competitors
Keeping an eye on your competitors can provide invaluable insights into your brand’s standing. You can find areas where you’re weak and find unique opportunities to set yourself apart. To effectively monitor your competitors:
- Track Local Competitors: Use specialized tools to track competitors’ activities, such as marketing and customer engagement strategies.
- Specific Keywords or Mentions: Monitor specific keywords or mentions of your competition to gauge public sentiment and spot opportunities for your brand.
- Monitor Social Media and Review Sites: Monitor social media platforms and popular review sites like Facebook, Yelp, and Google.
- Brand Visibility Score: Compare your brand visibility score with competitors to understand your market standing.
12. Establish a Strong Brand Voice
Set a solid brand voice that your company will always follow in all content and customer interactions. To establish a strong brand voice, remember to:
- Know Your Audience: Build a brand voice that is grounded in research into your target market, considering their preferences and expectations.
- Create Brand Guidelines: Develop a comprehensive style guide that outlines your brand’s voice, tone, and messaging principles.
- Train Your Team: Educate your employees on the importance of maintaining a consistent brand voice and provide training and reference materials.
- Consistency Across Channels: Ensure all communication is on-brand on all platforms, social media, and customer service interactions.
13. Inform Your Stakeholders
Keep your stakeholders up to date to maintain their trust in your brand. There are a few formal but simple things you can do to keep their confidence:
- Newsletters: Provide periodic newsletters that cover updates such as company news, milestones, and upcoming projects.
- Detailed Quarterly Reports: Share detailed reports quarterly to ensure stakeholders know your progress and plans.
- Social Media Updates: Announce significant events, accomplishments, and changes on social media to demonstrate transparency.
- Stakeholder Meetings: Arrange regular meetings to discuss performance, answer questions, and gather direct feedback.
14. Protect Customer Data
Cybersecurity is a top concern for consumers and company stakeholders. To keep up with privacy and compliance laws and safeguard sensitive information:
- Implement Strong Security Measures: Use firewalls, encryption, and secure protocols to protect data from unauthorized access.
- Regularly Update Software: Keep all software, including antivirus and anti-malware programs, up to date with regular patches and updates.
- Conduct Regular Audits: Have periodic cybersecurity audits of your data protection strategies to identify and fix any weaknesses.
- Limit Data Access: Restrict access to sensitive data with the principle of least privilege so employees can only access the data they need for their roles.
Top Tools to Boost Your Brand’s Reputation Management Strategy
Implementing a brand management strategy on your own isn’t practical anymore. Want to take advantage of all these best practices with the lowest cost and maximal returns? Use a brand reputation management tool.
From review monitoring to sentiment analysis, these solutions help you track your online presence. You can get a birds-eye view of your brand’s online reputation and ensure your online presence remains positive. Data is everything, so let’s go over the top tools that provide data-driven opportunities to optimize your brand’s reputation.
1. Reviewshake
Reviewshake is an advanced all-in-one brand reputation management tool. The platform comes with professional, regularly updated features to help you generate, manage, market, and analyze customer reviews across various platforms.
With a comprehensive suite of features, you are empowered to proactively manage your online reputation and enhance your brand image.
Key Features
Reviewshake is a powerful all-in-one platform that equips you to take complete control of your brand narrative. Use our comprehensive solution to manage your brand reputation effectively. With Reviewshake, you can:
- Centralized Review Management: Monitor and manage reviews from over 100 platforms in one convenient dashboard, ensuring you stay on top of all feedback.
- Automated Review Requests: Send personalized review requests via email and SMS to encourage more customers to leave positive reviews.
- Showcase Positive Reviews: Highlight your best reviews on your website and social media using widgets and Rich Snippets, boosting your brand’s credibility and visibility.
- Leverage Advanced Analytics: Gain insights into review performance, conduct sentiment analysis, and benchmark against competitors to make informed decisions.
Pricing Plans
Reviewshake offers flexible pricing plans tailored to fit different business needs:
- Individual pricing is set at $79 per month.
- Professional pricing is set at $139 per month.
- Business pricing is set at $179 per month.
You can take a 14-day free trial to test Reviewshake’s features.
Ready to take control of your brand’s reputation? Try Reviewshake for free today and discover how our platform can help you manage and improve your brand’s image effectively. Reviewshake offers flexible pricing plans tailored to fit different business needs. Individual pricing is set at $79 per month; for professionals, it’s $139 per month; and for businesses, it’s $179 per month. A 14-day free trial is also available to test the platform’s features before committing to a subscription.
2. Brand24
Brand24 helps businesses monitor various digital channels, providing detailed insights that allow you to respond to customer feedback in real time.
Key Features
- Social Listening: Brand24 comes with advanced social listening capabilities, capturing mentions and conversations across social media platforms, blogs, and forums.
- Influencer Identification: Brand24’s is able to pinpoint key influencers who impact your brand, allowing you to engage strategically.
- Sentiment Analysis: The sentiment analysis features assess public opinion about your brand and categorize mentions as positive, negative, or neutral.
- Custom Alerts: Brand24 enables customizable alerts that create instant notifications for specific keywords or phrases. You are able to act quickly on vital mentions and feedback.
Pricing Plans
Brand24 offers several pricing tiers with a free 14-day trial:
– Enterprise plans cost $399 per month.
– The Individuals plan costs $79 per month.
– The Team plan costs $149 per month.
– The Pro plan costs $199 per month.
3. Reputology
Reputology offers robust reputation management software with a specialty in fast review monitoring. It is particularly beneficial for multi-location businesses such as retail chains, hotels, and restaurants that manage their online presence across multiple platforms.
Key features
- Multi-Location Review Monitoring: Track reviews from multiple sites and locations in a centralized dashboard.
- Automated Response Templates: Reputology offers pre-made templates to respond efficiently to customer feedback. These features help you maintain a consistent brand voice.
- Sentiment Analysis: Analyze customer sentiment to gauge overall brand perception and address areas for improvement.
- Integration With Major Platforms: Easily integrates with platforms like Yelp, Google, and Facebook for real-time review updates.
Pricing Plans
Reputology offers tiered pricing plans tailored to the number of locations. For a single location, it’s priced between $29 and $49 per month; for multiple locations and agencies, it’s priced between $10 and $49 per month.
4. Broadly
Broadly is a reputation management tool designed to help small to medium-sized businesses enhance their online presence.
Key Features
- Text Message Review Requests: Requests reviews via broad text messages, making it convenient for customers to leave feedback.
- Client Messaging: This feature enables businesses to manage customer communications directly from the platform, ensuring prompt and personalized responses.
- Website Feedback Integration: Broadly integrates with business websites to collect and display customer reviews, enhancing transparency and trust.
- Automated Review Monitoring: Track all your reviews from various platforms in one place.
Pricing Plans
Enterprise pricing varies depending on the package desired and the number of locations. The Standard plan is $249 per month, the Pro plan is $349 per month, the Elite plan is $449 per month, and the Enterprise plan’s pricing varies depending on the package desired and the number of locations.
- The Standard plan is $249 per month.
- The Pro plan is $349 per month.
- The Elite plan is $449 per month.
Maintain a Positive Brand Reputation With Reviewshake
Forget just maintaining a good reputation – unlock a stellar one with Reviewshake. This powerful all-in-one platform equips you to take complete control of your brand narrative.
Reviewshake offers a comprehensive solution to help you manage your brand reputation effectively. With Reviewshake, you can:
- Centralize Review Management: Monitor and manage reviews from over 100 platforms in one convenient dashboard, ensuring you stay on top of all feedback.
- Automate Review Requests: Send personalized review requests via email and SMS to encourage more customers to leave positive reviews.
- Showcase Positive Reviews: Highlight your best reviews on your website and social media using widgets and Rich Snippets, boosting your brand’s credibility and visibility.
- Leverage Advanced Analytics: Gain insights into review performance, conduct sentiment analysis, and benchmark against competitors to make informed decisions.
Ready to take control of your brand’s reputation? Try Reviewshake for free today and discover how our platform can help you manage and improve your brand’s image effectively.
