Do you remember Burger King’s social media post for International Women’s Day in 2021?
If not, that’s great reputation management in action.
To “celebrate” the holiday, Burger King shared a tweet that read, “Women belong in the kitchen.” In a thread underneath the first tweet, the fast food chain explained what it meant — that any woman who wanted to work as a chef (a male-dominated industry) should feel empowered to go for it using Burger King’s new scholarship. But the damage was done. Burger King was mentioned over 140,000 times online that day — and those mentions were not favorable.
Within a few days, however, everyone had forgotten. Burger King deleted the tweet, apologized, and the world moved on… all because the brand recognized the importance of reputation management.
Does your business focus on online reputation management? Should you do reputation management? And if so, what does that look like?
Learn some of the most common reputation management myths floating around the industry, and what you should be doing instead.
Myth #1: You don’t need reputation management
Some business owners don’t think they need to spend time actively managing their online reputation. But nobody is immune —even the best businesses get bad reviews, and if you don’t take steps to address them, your revenue and brand trust is going to take a hit.
Shoppers are more likely to make larger purchases from businesses with glowing reviews, with an average increase of 31%. Simply raising your rating from 3 stars to 5 stars can lead to a 25% boost in clicks to your business. And since only 15% of business owners and executives proactively do something about their company’s online reputation, this is a place where you can get ahead.
At its core, online reputation management (ORM) is about creating a positive perception of your brand online. You’ll take specific steps to monitor, address, and influence this public perception to make sure anyone who interacts with or reads about your business online comes away feeling impressed. Reputation management is important for businesses of every size.
Myth #2: Your reputation can’t be controlled
Many business owners think their reputation can’t be controlled. You’re at the mercy of whatever your customers decide to say about you online. There’s nothing you can do — your reputation is like a wild horse that can’t be tamed.
This isn’t entirely true. No, you don’t have complete control over your reputation —you can’t control what people are saying about your business. But you can influence your reputation little by little by interacting with reviews, monitoring social media mentions, and providing prompt customer service. This demonstrates to people that even if some of your reviews are less than stellar, you’re actively trying to make things right.
And of course, the best way to help your reputation improve is to offer a service that’s so top-notch, people can’t help but write glowing reviews.
Myth #3: No reputation is better than a bad reputation
“No reputation is better than a bad reputation” is a common phrase that you may have heard cited by a manager or expert. In fact, however, this generally isn’t true.
Think about it: If you have a bad reputation, sure, you might not make as many sales. But your name is still out there online.
If you have no reputation, however — zero online presence at all — your customers will start to get suspicious. People want to read online reviews before they decide which business to go with. If you don’t have anything online, this will be an immediate red flag to anyone trying to research your brand. You need some kind of reputation online — and if it is a negative one, you can start implementing ORM strategies to change that.
Myth #4: It’s too difficult and time-consuming
Online reputation management can definitely take a little elbow grease. And the larger your business becomes, the more reviews and mentions you’ll have to handle.
But reputation management might not be as hard as you think. You don’t need hundreds of five-star reviews for a good reputation. Even a handful of detailed, authentic reviews will do the trick, reassuring potential customers that your business is legitimate and ready to serve.
If you truly don’t have the time to interact with reviews and manage your reputation online, consider working with an expert. We’ll talk more about how to outsource reputation management later in this article.
Myth #5. You can do ORM as needed
Don’t wait to tackle your reputation until a problem comes up. For best results, you need to be proactive and consistent, doing regular maintenance on your online reputation.
By regularly monitoring your online presence, you’ll be able to identify and address any potential issues before they blow up. You can nip these problems in the bud before they do major damage to your reputation.
You’ll also be able to stay up-to-date on what people are saying about your business. You can engage with your audience and build stronger customer relationships.
Make it a part of your daily or weekly routine to monitor and engage with your social media accounts, website, third-party review platforms, and anywhere else where people are talking about your company.
Myth #6: You should delete negative reviews
Deleting negative reviews might seem like an easy way to sway public perception in your favor. In reality, though, this isn’t a smart idea. Deleting bad reviews might make it appear as if you have something to hide. And it’s evident that you aren’t listening to your customers and trying to fix their problems. What’s more, some online review platforms only delete reviews that violate platform policies, so you might not be able to delete a specific review even if you wanted to.
What should you do instead? Don’t remove negative reviews, but respond to them as quickly as you can. Use a professional tone of voice and restate the problem (“Hi [customer name], I see you’re feeling frustrated because your order did not arrive on time”). Apologize for what went wrong (“I’m so sorry about that shipping delay”). Then, take the conversation somewhere else to make the problem right. (“If you’ll send us an email at [email address], I’d like to send over a gift card as a thank-you for your patience.”)
Myth #7: You only need to address problems
Addressing negative reviews is important. But don’t stop there. You should also be replying to any positive online reviews or brand mentions that you see.
If someone took the time out of their day to write a thoughtful, genuine review of your company, the least you can do is thank them in return. Plus, by doing this, you’re building a stronger relationship with your customers — and hopefully, they’ll continue shopping with you (and leaving more good reviews) in the future.
Myth #8. You can handle reputation management on your own
Depending on the time and the skills available to you, #8 may or may not be true. Some companies choose to handle ORM on their own. But there are also reputation management companies that do all the heavy lifting and may be a good fit for you.
These solutions help businesses monitor their reputation and create a positive perception online. If you choose to work with this kind of company, you’ll get access to their expertise, resources, and specialized software to help you manage your reputation.
Myth #9: Reputation management is limited to a single platform
Your customers are talking about your business online. So you need to be online, too. Address your reputation in places such as:
- Your website
- Your social media accounts
- Third-party review platforms (such as Sitejabber, Google, or Yelp)
- Forums
Meet your shoppers where they are to better influence your target audience. This allows you to stay on top of issues you want to remedy, but also reshare in realtime the great experiences your customers are having.
Myth #10: You don’t need SEO
At first glance, you might not think that SEO and online reputation management go together. But in fact, these two aspects of your business are intrinsically linked, with SEO functioning as an important part of reputation management.
If your online content is optimized for search engines, this will improve your visibility, making it easier for people to find info on your business (and to find the information you want them to find).
Optimize your website and blog posts for SEO so your website comes up higher in search results, pushing negative content further down. You’ll be more likely to be found by potential customers and to create a positive online presence.
Myth #11: It’s too hard to get people to write good reviews
Asking your customers for reviews might feel unfamiliar. But it’s really not that hard. After a customer makes a purchase, reach out and ask them if they’d be willing to leave a brief review about their experience. Give them a direct link to the platform where you’d like the review to live.
You could also consider offering an incentive, such as bonus points or a discount on their next purchase, in exchange for writing a review.
And remember, providing an excellent customer experience is the best way to get good reviews.
Educate yourself on reputation management best practices
Reputation management does take a lot of work. There’s no way around that. But whether you outsource this job to an ORM company or do it yourself, it’s completely possible to guide your online reputation and impress both new and existing customers. Every minute of work you put into your reputation will be 100% worth it for your business’s bottom line.
