Have you ever had a question or comment for a business and turned to social media for answers? If you’re like many customers, your messages probably went unanswered. This pattern of behavior from business accounts can leave a sour taste in the mouths of consumers. Patrons or potential patrons are turning to you for help or to reach out, and are being ignored.

You wouldn’t stay friends with a person who ignored you, so why would a customer remain a follower and patron of a business who does? While being a responsive business does take commitment and time, it can do wonders for follower happiness, page engagement, and customer retention.

The Importance of Online Reputation Management

As a business owner, you have almost certainly heard that it is extremely important to manage your online reputation. Most people take this advice and turn it into “you need to manage things that damage your online reputation.” This, however, is not the whole truth. Yes, it is important to respond to bad reviews and negative comments, but it is just as important to respond to positive customer interactions as well. Responding to reviews, both good and bad, shows customers that you read your page comments and care about what is said. This is crucial in social media management if you hope to retain or increase follower count, engagement, boosts SEO or customer interaction. There is more to reputation management than reviews, of course, so let’s take a look at all of the key areas of communications.

Manage Reviews

Let’s get the obvious one out of the way, shall we? Reviews are the best and worst things to happen in terms of online reputation management. Generally speaking, people will only leave a review if they had an exceptional experience or a terrible one. Responding to reviews will help keep your reputation where you want it. If you receive a bad review, politely and sincerely offer your apologies. Offering to discuss the experience further can create a line of communication with the unhappy customer and will allow you to better understand why the negative review was given. It also shows that you genuinely care about your customers and that you hope to use their experience to improve.

Responding to reviews that are positive will encourage customer interactions on your pages. Show that you appreciate their patronage and they will show you that they appreciate the service you provide. Remember that any person who leaves a positive review makes your life easier. A positive post from a customer can help negate the negative reviews you received earlier. Consumers trust one another’s opinions more than they trust company claims, so it is super helpful to have patrons support your business online. If you start to thank customers and react to their positive reviews, more people may be encouraged to do so as well because they know that anything they write will be viewed and reflected on by the company. For tips to improve your review score, check out our blog: https://bsyl.ink/BoostYelpReviewScore

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Manage Comments

We all know that a large part of social media management revolves around increasing customer interactions and engagement. Besides likes, an easy scale of engagement is the number of comments left on posts. Much like reviews, it is very important to keep tabs on what customers say in the comments section. Most comments will be related to the post they are written under, but sometimes they will reflect the business as a whole - positively or negatively. Reply to as many comments as you see appropriate. Again, this will encourage customer interactions on future posts and improves your online reputation. It depends on the situation, but for the most part, you can treat comments like reviews, especially negative ones. So really, once you know how to manage reviews, you can also manage comments.

The Do’s and Don'ts

Social media management has subtle nuances that can make or break your company. Here are some tips on how to manage reviews and other customer interactions.

DO: Have some review templates to use as a shell when responding to comments and reviews.

DON’T: Cut and paste said template reviews. All of your responses are viewable online, and if people see cookie-cutter responses, they know you are not actually concerned with the review or doing anything to fix the problems.

DO: Include names in your responses. Most reviews or comments come attached to a username. Whenever possible, include the name in your response. Again, this makes your response more personal and shows that you didn’t just cut and paste an answer.

DON’T: Have grammar or spelling mistakes. Nothing looks more professional than incorrect grammar. If you’re trying to win back a customer who was disappointed by your service, using improper English is not the way to do it.

DO: Respond quickly. There is no need to constantly be looking for messages and comments but check regularly in case the review/comment is important.

DON’T: Respond harshly to negative comments. Responding to reviews is very difficult. They can feel like personal attacks, but as business owners, we must be able to remain professional in how you respond.

DO: Hire a social media management team! Some teams even specialize in online reputation management.

DON’T: Hesitate to give BusySeed a call! We are a social media management team with extensive experience in online reputation management, management of customer interactions, and review management. Let us handle the stress that comes with reviews and comments; you focus on your business. Give us a call today at (888) 353-1484 to learn how we can make your business grow.

Find more Do’s and Don’ts here: https://bsyl.ink/DosAndDontsOfResponding

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