It is obvious that a bad reputation is bad for your business. However, it can be really difficult to identify, understand, or control the signs that your reputation is in trouble. While you may be able to handle situations like an upset customer in person, it is significantly more difficult to do so when it is online. You can learn how to identify the signs of a reputation problem online and protect the future of your brand. Here are five tell-tale signs that you should look out for and invest in reputation management.
1. Significantly high bounce rate
When someone visits your website and doesn’t find what they were looking for, they exit the website and look in the search engine again. This means your website has a high bounce rate, due to one of the following reasons:
- Your website isn’t responsive or mobile-friendly
- Your website has overlapping content
- Your website has poor organization or navigation
These issues can be easily fixed by working with a content writer or web designer.
2. Increase in negative reviews
A streak of negative reviews can undermine your online reputation despite how strong your initial reputation was. Whenever you see a negative review, you should address it immediately, briefly and professionally to the concerned customer. Ultimately the best solution is to focus on giving such good service that the positive reviews overwhelm the negative.
3. Social media engagement is lacking
An inactive Facebook page is a missed advertising opportunity. However, excessively promoting posts may also give audiences a negative impression. Here are some things you can do to boost up your social media reputation;
- Share informational posts on recent news
- Provide updates relevant to your industry or community
- Engage with people through polls and humour
4. Your website is not seen as a leading authority
If your website is not ranked high on search engines, then it means that it has not established its authority in its field. One of the easiest ways to do this is to set up plenty of inbound links. Get your website mentioned in journals or rankings to increase its authority
5. Inconsistent branding
Here are some of the hidden signs of inconsistent branding that you may have not seen:
- You have two website urls
- You may have changed details about your company but it’s not being reflected on the website
- Your content is riddled with small grammatical errors
- Your logo looks different on marketing and promotional material (brochure, website)
Go through all your marketing and promotional material and ensure that you have the same branding throughout.
There were so many signs…
Too many companies make the mistake of missing signs that their online reputation is in trouble. Make the investment in reputation management early to catch these errors and fix them. The Bumblebee Branding Company is a digital marketing company in Chennai, India, that provides these services. Contact us if to help you get started in protecting your brand.
