Defending Your Online Reputation

Many of us believe “If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.” This may be true in our personal lives, but when it comes down to business, it’s a whole new ball game. Let’s just step back and think about it for a second. If you were doing business with a company and found that, for whatever reason, that this business fell short of your expectations, what would you do? Many of us would try customer support. If that failed, then we go higher up the food chain and try to speak to someone who has the authority to do something, such as a manager. If we hit a brick wall, we typically are left frustrated, angry and determined to save the rest of mankind from the heartache and stress of doing business with this company and vow to do whatever it takes to make sure not one other soul does business with that company. Some take it out on blogs, they write articles, they share their stories and concerns in online forums. There are even those who take the time to create a video to talk about what a horrible experience they have had with this company. (If you don't believe me, do a simple youtube search on any major company and you will see what I’m talking about). The fact is, regardless of your customer support efforts, you will still have disgruntled customers. For example let’s look at Apple, INC., their physical store locations and Genius Bar which provides live support and training for their products. They have a product warranty that is unmatched in its industry. Apple provides a standard 1 year replacement warranty as well as extended service and other warranties. With all this support, Apple still has customers that just aren’t satisfied. So what do you do about it? What kind of marketing solutions will correct this problem? There are many new marketing strategies and tools out there that can help your support team stay on top of customer reviews. Customers are more likely to share HONEST opinions and experience with their peers than they are with you through an online survey. Taking an active part in social sites such as Twitter, Facebook and MySpace will give you the best up-to-speed research on your customer’s opinions and experiences. The next step is to address these concerns as quickly as possible on your company blog and forum. When prospective clients use search engines to find reviews about your company, you want them to come to your blog first and to see openly addressed issues before they read about negative and unresolved problems on other sites. This is one of many proven effective business marketing strategies that will help recoup good will with your customers.