When it comes to growing a business, brand management is essential. An estimated 98% of consumers read reviews of local businesses, according to a 2023 survey, and many of these reviews begin – and perpetuate – in the social media realm. In addition, 55% of consumers learn about new brands on social media. Additionally, an estimated 76% of customers peruse a company’s online presence before visiting their brick-and-mortar location.
For small business owners, social media serves as the gateway for growing and maintaining your company’s stellar reputation, and brand management begins in the online world.
However, protecting and enhancing your brand’s reputation is a multi-pronged and ever-evolving process. It can take years of brand reputation management to crack into new markets and demographics, and one poor review can devastate an online reputation. Business owners often do not have enough time in the day to monitor all the online chatter, reviews, and comments that shape your brand’s reputation without your input.
The smartest move is to partner with a marketing expert specializing in brand and reputation management services. Our marketing experts can ensure that your business’s reputation is a cut above your competitors and is a key driving force behind gaining new business.
Meanwhile, business owners can plant the seeds of a broader reputation management strategy by paying attention to important factors. For instance, policies and social media management strategies will help ensure your brand’s reputation remains pristine.
What is the Impact of Social Media on Brand Perception?
Social media posts go viral every second in every market and corner of the world. Unfortunately, it only takes a few bad comments to destroy a brand’s reputation and subsequent business. Consider the last time you read a poor restaurant review or a negative comment about a service provider you were considering. Chances are that you started to explore other options and put these businesses on the back burner. We’ve all done it, and you are not alone.
In fact, more and more internet users are turning to social media to dig up dirt on local companies and businesses. Additionally, more than half of 18–35-year-olds state that they trust social media for business reviews just as much, if not more, than they trust their friends and people they interact with every day.
How to Manage Your Reputation on Social Media
Managing your reputation on social media is a difficult and time-consuming task. Brand management requires multiple steps, starting with understanding the many platforms where reviews flourish.
Identify the Key Social Media Platforms for Your Brand
You likely already have business pages on big social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and TikTok. So, reviewing your existing sites is an easy enough, if lengthy, task. Check all your social media accounts and recent posts daily to monitor reviews, comments, likes and dislikes, and other chatter that originates on your own pages. You don’t want bad reviews or feedback to linger, so daily checking is necessary to nip any issues from the start.
Expand Your Social Media Search
In addition to your page, there may be other community social media pages, review pages, or other outlets where chatter about your brand is beyond your control. Most social media platforms have easy search options to identify posts, comments, media, and other content that revolves around your brand outside of your company-owned channels and platforms.
Conduct thorough searches on every social media platform, not just on Google or other internet-wide search engines. While these larger search engines may be able to identify some negative or company-related posts, they often won’t find every instance where your brand is mentioned in a positive or negative matter, especially when it comes to specific social media channels.
Responding to Customer Feedback and Reviews
One of the best ways to generate positive feedback is to respond to every review and especially positive reviews. Customers are wowed when a business owner takes the time to thank them for sharing their positive experience. Additionally, you’ll create plenty of goodwill with your existing customers and potential new customers.
Bad reviews can be a little trickier to navigate. It can be easy to respond to a positive review with a “Thank you!” but bad reviews require a lot more nuance. A good rule of thumb is to respond to a bad review publicly. That way, the reviewer and the public know you’re on the case and want to solve the problem. Therefore, you can protect your brand on a consumer level while letting the world know you care about your customers and reputation.
Always Engage with Users on Social Media
Responding to reviews is just one aspect of a social media reputation management strategy, and another key component is to engage with users constantly. Add new posts and respond to comments and questions that flood your social media platforms. Highlight your brand values throughout your posts and messages and encourage your followers to share their thoughts. You create a sense of community and inherent loyalty by actively engaging with your followers and fans. Your consumers will feel more connected to your company and brand.
Achieve Excellent Social Media Brand Reputation Management with C1M
Creating a stellar social media presence and an exceptional reputation isn’t something that small business owners can accomplish overnight. It takes an expert pair of guiding hands to create a broad strategy that will show results.
At C1M, we are leaders in reputation marketing services that allow your websites and social media channels to shine while naturally attracting a loyal and growing fan base. Reach out to our team of experts to discuss your social media questions and challenges. Take the next step to embrace a new reputation management strategy to allow your company to grow.
With C1M at your side, you can constantly find new opportunities in the social media realm and beyond to ensure your company stays in the spotlight and maintains its well-deserved reputation for excellence.
