A reputation management plan is vital for businesses to ensure their online presence is virtually unblemished. A solid plan should be able to address common issues and be robust enough to get you through the holiday season, which typically yields more online traffic and sales.
In 2021, Oberlo found a 14.1 percent increase in holiday retail sales year-over-year, bringing the total holiday retail sales to $886.70 million. This number surpasses the 2020 record of 8.2 percent annual holiday retail sales growth.
All those sales are tied to customers. Every customer has the potential to say good things or bad things about your work and the products or services that you offer.
There is no safer time for consumer exposure than the holiday season. It means you must start planning how to manage your online reputation before consumers start going online to do their holiday shopping.
What should your gift-wrapped plan include? We have some ideas, but before that, let’s first look at reputation management and why it’s crucial for you and your business.
What Is Reputation Management: A Quick Rundown
Reputation Management is the process of monitoring your organization’s image. Its main goal is to protect and improve the reputation of an individual or organization and counter negative online reviews and public perceptions.
Reputation management can use many strategies, such as social media monitoring, SEO, and crisis communication planning. A reputation management action plan is an ongoing process and not something that you can do one time and forget. You need to continuously monitor and manage your online reputation as it constantly changes.
It is important to maintain your online reputation to attract more clients and customers, improve customer loyalty, enhance your brand image, and rank higher in search engines.
How To Manage Your Online Reputation for the Holidays
Now that we know why reputation management is important, it’s time to take active steps to build a positive brand image and increase the quality of what people say about your company. Here are some tips to get started on your reputation management action plan this holiday season.
1. Keep your staff happy.
A well-trained and motivated staff is the key to an excellent company reputation. A happy employee will do whatever it takes to ensure that customers are also happy. These people interact with customers, help them make purchases, and return their products. These people can give delight or punish with ire. It makes sense to place their happiness at the top of your list.
Below are some recommendations to keep your staff happy.
- Offer employees an end-of-year bonus. These bonuses don’t have to be extravagant. These payouts might only be a small portion of the regular salary to add to their holiday cheer.
- Increase trust and respect in your workplace. Respect for all employees and trust between management and employees are essential factors in job satisfaction.
2. Hack your website.
Once you have established that you are working with professionals who want to help your company succeed, you can look at the search engine component of your reputation management strategy. This means that you will need to deal with review websites.
Oberlo found that 89% of customers read reviews before making a purchase. To help you get through the holiday season, you will need to keep a steady stream of positive reviews.
You can do this by ensuring your customers know which review sites they should visit. You can increase your chances of success by making it easy for customers to find those sites.
Look for customer touchpoints on your website and find ways to encourage a review after completing that step. Customers who make an appointment, pay a bill or purchase a product can quickly receive a flash screen with links to your review pages and a request for reviews. This little prompt can increase the positive reviews you receive and help you ride out the season in style.
3. Assign staff online.
Your website will be busy during the holiday season, and so will your socials. Hence it is vital to assign a team to monitor what’s going on in your social media accounts and other sites, including:
- Yelp
These are the places where a minor attack could take root and grow. These attacks can occur anytime, even beyond business hours.
As much as possible, have someone monitor your online reputation, look out for new attacks, and work with the team to respond to them. You can spot-check your online reputation every four hours, every six hours, or any other schedule that works for you and your company. Ensure you keep your reputation in check throughout the season.
4. Devise a system.
An effective monitoring system can help you detect an attack. Once you spot it, you will need to respond. You’ll need to prepare a response plan describing how to respond appropriately in the event of an attack.
Remember: Your reply should be concise, sweet, professional, accurate, and precise. Sometimes, it’s necessary to ask others to talk to you offline about the problem so that you can have an opportunity to explain the situation without being scrutinized by others.
5. Publish more content.
Even though you may have many things on your plate, you still need to be creating blog posts and social media posts. Each piece of content you create can tell your company’s story in an entirely new way. That content could also help to counter a reputation attack.
Consider hiring content writers and other staff if you struggle to find the time to create content. It is crucial to get help when you need content.
Boost your online reputation with the help of ADMS!
Reputation management plans are more than just a one-size-fits-all solution. This action plan we shared can bring you success during the holiday season. It will allow you to provide prompt service that offers solutions and encourages customers to leave positive reviews about you.
If you need help keeping track of your progress and adjusting your strategies, Clearwater SEO company Advanced Digital Media Services can help you get started on your journey to holiday success. ADMS can design a reputation management action plan for your business that builds relationships with customers, engages them, and keeps them for the years to come. So, get started! Contact ADMS now.
