5 Grievous Mistakes Every Reputation Manager Should Avoid Like the Plague

I wrote in a recent article that customers are judgemental.

I meant no offence.

Customers really are judgemental. They make purchase decisions based on certain cues or factors they perceive about a brand.

One of those factors is your brand reputation.

At the centre of price, quality products/services, marketing, and other things that affect your business is reputation. Your brand reputation either opens the door to new customers or slams it in the faces of both old and new customers.

Your reputation is simply how people see you or their perception of your brand.

But if you look deeper, you will see that managing your reputation entails two major set of activities. The first is influencing and monitoring your online reputation. The second is handling negative reviews in order to protect your reputation.

Building and managing your brand reputation is not an easy task. It takes hard work and patience. Some reputation managers get it right, others get it wrong.

Below are 5 terrible mistakes reputation managers make. You should avoid these mistakes if you hope to get it right and build a rock solid reputation.

1. Buying Bogus Reviews

Every marketer who knows his/her onion knows that online reviews are priceless. One positive review can influence tens of customers to buy from a brand. This survey report says that 92% of consumers read online reviews while 89% trust them.

It’s not wonder why some marketers get so desperate to get reviews, they’ll try to buy some.

The problem with buying fake positive reviews is that it will eventually catch up with you. Today, customers can smell fake reviews from a mile out. Plus, there are algorithms built into review sites that help them spot fake reviews. When you are caught, your business will be banned from the platform forever.

And so, whichever way you look at it, buying reviews is a bad idea.

The best way to get reviews is to give your customers a great experience and then ask them to leave a feedback.

2. Inspiring Internet Trolls

We have all heard of or encountered trolls on the internet at one time or another. They are everywhere. They get on business pages on social media looking for an opportunity to say hurtful things about them. The sad thing is that they do this to get a laugh or certain reaction from others.

The mistake most managers make is engaging them. They see the trolls’ comments and reply angrily in a bid to get back at them and have the last word.

Don’t do that. It’ll make you look unprofessional and can piss potential customers off.

Instead, tell them to get in touch with you privately if they have a real grievance against your business. A genuinely dissatisfied customer will get in tough seek redress but a troll will not.

3. Getting Into Astroturfing

Apparently, astroturfing is a thing and there are managers who get into it as an alternative to buying reviews. Astroturfing is creating several fictitious accounts on different platforms in order to run ads, write fake reviews or respond to a troll.

This is a terrible idea and will definitely hurt you if you are caught.

A positive review is a true reflection of a real customer’s experience with your brand. Posting fake reviews with bogus accounts is misleading and can damage your reputation for life when you are discovered.

4. Telling Lies

It’s so easy to tell a lie especially when sitting behind the screen of a computer. And many companies do tell lies. They lie about the quality of their products/services or about the results you will get when you buy from them.

This is a huge mistake. When customers buy your product or use your service and it falls short of your promises, you will get into trouble. They will write nasty reviews about your business and you will end up losing potential customers. In the end, this will tarnish your reputation.

Rather, you should be totally transparent about what exactly your products or services can do for your customers.

5. Ignoring Customers

This is one of the most common mistakes that many business managers make. When a customer leaves a negative review, most managers tend to ignore it. They do this either because they do not know how to respond or they think the customer is being unreasonable.

Ignoring a customer, especially an angry one, is a no-no. It makes them feel you don’t care about them. Other potential customers who may come across your reviews will take it that you do not value the opinions of your customers. Because of this, they will turn around and take their business somewhere else.

You want to respond to every review you get, both positive and negative. Seek to address issues unhappy customers may have with your business. Offer some compensation where necessary and ensure you let everyone see you do this. It helps potential customers see you in a positive light.

And that’s good for your reputation.

So there you have it, 5 grievous mistakes you must avoid at all cost. Making any one of these mistakes can cost you dearly. You want to pay attention to what you should do instead such providing a great experience, being transparent, resist the urge to buy reviews or tell lies, and lastly, respond to all reviews.

POSTED ON December 11, 2019