Social Media has a number of uses and purposes, one of the uses is Reputation Management.
Conversations about you and your business are occurring on Social Media (all platforms) whether you are on those platforms or not. Use your Social Media profiles to get involved in the conversation. Use it to manage the negativity and promote the positive. If you don’t have a Social Media profile for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tiktok, Reddit, LinkedIn, and some other 100 social platforms, what the hell are you waiting for?!?! It is 2022 after all.
If you think people aren’t talking about you, google your name and your company name. The conversations are there, time to get involved.
If the negative conversations are present (and if you tell me nobody has anything negative to say about you and your business, you are sadly mistaken and in for a major wake up call). We all have at one time or another had a customer who has been unhappy, no matter what we do to satisfy them, to make it right, they will say something negative about you.
Use social media to get into the negative conversations, to manage and show potential customers/clients that as a business owner, you are concerned about the reputation of your company. That when there is a negative experience, you do what you can and what the customer expects to make the situation right.
I’ve read where people recommend deleting the negative comments in social media. DO NOT DELETE the negative comments/situations. This only adds fuel to the fire. The upset customer or negativity will find another outlet for release. If you aren’t seeing these comments/situations because you aren’t on a Social Media platform this is just as worse. It makes potential customers see you as a business that doesn’t care about it’s reputation, so why would you care about them as a customer.
The best thing you can do for your business and for your potential customers, is to monitor your reputation. Get into the conversation, create the social media platforms that allows you to give your customers a place to share their story (negative or positive), and for your to control and manage the conversation. If it’s negative, you manage the conversation and show your customers that you care. If it’s positive, promote those conversations, use them to show potential customers, that you provide a stellar product or service, and your current customers are pleased.
Gone are the days of “website recommendations”, customer feedback cards, and telephone surveys. Business owners and customers are using social media to share their experiences. SHARING is what Social Media is about. Use that sharing to manage and control your reputation.
