Company owners and leaders have been focusing on common business operations like marketing, customer service, and product development since the origin of the business world. What many fail to focus on, however, is online reputation management. Online reputation management is becoming a crucial business operation, one that can even be compared to the likes of marketing and product development. 

There is a lot of grey area when it comes to the top of reputation management, particularly because many people assume it simply means creating fake online reviews. Yes, some companies are developing and posting their own 5 star reviews, but this is by no means the proper way to go about online reputation management. 

There is a lot involved with this essential business practice, but don’t just take the easy way out by creating fake reviews to give the public a glowing perception of your brand. Read about these smart online reputation management practices, some of which you might not have known about. 

Reputation Management is More About Building than Anything Else

Although the term is called reputation management, it’s actually all about building and growing rather than managing. Of course, once your reputation has been built up to the point you were hoping, management is a key step. But before managing can take place, the key is to get the word out there about your brand. 

The best way to do that is through search engine optimization, which is actually a key element of the top reputation management agencies of our time. Try not to hire a professional rep management agency that does not offer some sort of SEO support or service. In order to manage, you must first experience growth, and optimizing search engine rankings is the best way to do that. 

Bad Reviews Don’t Have to Be the End All

The most common perception of reputation management is that is is synonymous with review management. In a way, this is true, and a major aspect of reputation management is to monitor, manage, and respond to reviews – especially the bad ones. A bad review can ultimately lead to your brand taking a hit, and multiple bad reviews can be even more detrimental. 

However, try not to let one bad review freak you out too much. When responded to in an appropriate way, the negativity spewing from a customer can be resolved. You might not be able to change the customer’s overall opinion on your brand or product, but you can show that you respect this person’s opinion and will do what you can to make them happy. 

This might mean offering a refund, a replacement product, or just flat out apologizing and showing you care. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to please everyone, and you’re bound to have an unhappy customer. But the way you react to appease this unhappiness speaks volumes. Basically all we’re trying to say is that you shouldn’t cry over a negative review, just do what you can to make things better for the customer.