Basic Tips for Bing Reputation Management
Having an online presence means that there’s a good chance you’ll need Bing reputation management at one point. The radical democracy verging on anarchy of the Internet means that anybody can express an opinion or share an idea. While this normally works in your favor, there are plenty of examples of times when your business can be hurt by an errant tweet, poor handling of a scandal, or just an angry customer that also happens to be entertaining enough. Proper reputation management can help you weather almost any online storm and prevent you from making mistakes that will cost your business.
How Bing Reputation Management Works
When it comes to search engines, reputation management is a matter of trying to make sure that you have enough positive information to counteract negative information. You want your search results to reveal a thriving business that cares about its customers, not a page that lists complaints about your company and suggests that you might be a scam. There are many ways to ensure that you will have a lot of positive reviews and commentary. One of the best ways to do so is to make sure that you’re engaging your customers both in the real world and digitally, finding ways to link those two things. You should make sure that the customer service that you provide in person is reflected in your online persona, which often takes a different approach.
These are just some basic ways to handle your Bing reputation management.
1. Be judicious in the way you respond to criticism online – The advantage and disadvantage to a wide open Internet is that it’s easy for anybody to express their opinions, including those about your company. It can be done through any number of media and can range anywhere from a gentle suggestion for improvement to a cruel and nasty rebuke. You, as a business owner, need to address these concerns in as professional a manner as possible. That means that you should never respond to something while you’re still angry, for example. Angry people say things that are sarcastic and rude, which will only make things worse for you.For a very recent example of this, look at “Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli, who purchased the rights to Daraprim (a drug for treating parasitic infections used in AIDS and cancer treatments) and immediately raised the price by astounding amounts. When called out for it on Twitter, he was rude and sarcastic, mocking the people accusing him of price gouging. He is now considered the face of everything wrong with the US healthcare system, and almost universally characterized as cruel, out of touch, and in some cases flat out monstrous.
2. Respond to negative criticism, but do not confirm or deny the claims being made – Trying to determine the truth of an online claim is a fool’s errand, and withholding assistance based on whether or not something happened will only make you look stingy. When responding to online criticism, make an honest effort to find out what the problem is and fix it. Don’t confirm that something happened, because then it looks like you knew about it and did nothing until a complaint was made. Don’t deny it, because then it looks like you’re calling somebody a liar. Instead, listen carefully to that person’s complaint, find a way to contact them in private (giving them a phone number or email address at which to contact you is a great idea), and work on ways to solve the problem. When you’re done, ask them if they’re satisfied and, should they say they are, request that they post an edit or update to their criticism reflecting the efforts you took to fix the problem.
3. Cultivate positive feedback – Responding to negative feedback is only one aspect of reputation management. Perhaps the best thing you can be doing is cultivating positive feedback on a regular basis. That means that you should be asking your clients and customers to give you good reviews online at various outlets that are important to your business. One of the best ways to do this is to engage your customers in the physical space. For example, one restaurant provides a business card with the check that has the URL to their TripAdvisor page on it and a request that, if you were pleased with the service, you go and leave a positive review. The card makes it easy to find the location, and it’s not a very obtrusive request, but it works. If you look at their page, you’ll find a handful of negative reviews, but they are nearly lost among all of the positive ones.
Get Somebody to Help You
These are only some of the ways that you can better manage your reputation online. The best thing you can do, however, is to get a professional service that can look at the state of your search engine results and find a way to improve your reputation and keep it high. A professional service can help you build the image that you want and provide you with guidance during a crisis, so that you don’t inadvertently make things worse. Don’t want until an emergency hits. Contact RepManagement.com now to help you with your Bing reputation management today.