Elevate your online reputation with these 10 essential strategies, from asking for reviews to sharpening your brand’s online presence.
You’ve almost made it to 2025, congratulations! Don’t let out that sigh of relief just yet.
If you’re a small business owner eager to improve your online reputation over the next year, now is the time to prepare.
With consumers increasingly turning to reviews for recommendations and information before making a purchase, a positive online reputation can enormously contribute to your success.
Below we’ve listed 10 essential strategies that every small business owner should make to improve their online reputation.
Start by claiming and optimizing your business profiles across all relevant platforms. This includes:
Once you’re in control of your online profiles, regularly update your company's website and socials to ensure that all information is accurate, complete, and consistent across all platforms.
Consistency in your branding is crucial to maintaining a positive reputation.
If you are unable to keep up with all your listings, consider using listings management software to efficiently maintain accurate, consistent, and trustworthy listings across the web.
Positive reviews are key to a stellar online reputation.
It sounds simple, but one of the best ways to get positive feedback is to ask every customer for a review. We’ve found that customers, particularly happy ones, need encouragement to leave a review.
Ask your customers for reviews at every opportunity; like in person, via email, or text. Proactively asking customers for a review is a low-effort strategy that will result in a higher Google star rating.
While this will inevitably result in some unfavorable feedback (you can’t please everyone), the positive reviews will outshine the negative if you’re committed to providing a top-notch customer experience. Plus, any negative reviews you receive can also be used to gain insight into areas of your business that need improvement.
Lastly, receiving more reviews has positive SEO benefits, further boosting your online visibility and reputation.
Analyzing customer feedback manually is time-consuming and ineffective, especially as your company grows. Instead, implement a scalable system to gather and analyze customer feedback for continuous improvement.
By analyzing review sentiment using AI topic analysis, you gain an objective and deeper understanding of customers' experiences; you can efficiently learn where your business is excelling and where you can improve.
Tracking topic trends over time gives you data-driven insights into your customer perceptions that can be used to improve your business and online reputation. If your negative reviews consistently mention specific topics, that is something to take note of and work to improve on.
Employees are the backbone of your business. They spend the majority of their time helping grow your business and supporting your customers so it’s very important for them to have a positive attitude while they're at work. Further, happy employees are more likely to stay with your company for the long haul, providing the consistency that loyal customers love.
Overall, increased employee engagement leads to increased profitability.
Make a promise to get to know your team better, acknowledge their needs, and celebrate their accomplishments.
One of the most effective ways to resonate with your customers is through the voices of their peers.
Sharing positive customer testimonials and feedback is a persuasive form of social proof that can improve your online reputation. Dedicate a section of your website to showcase positive experiences and reviews.
You can also showcase positive feedback across your social media channels, building trust with both current and potential customers.
Leveraging User-Generated Content (UGC) across your website and social media is another powerful way to enhance your online reputation. UGC reflects firsthand customer experiences rather than polished marketing messages. It’s more relatable and authentic to the average customer.
Acknowledging positive feedback not only strengthens customer relationships but also creates a favorable buzz about your products or services.
Ultimately, if the customer is not satisfied then your business will not be a success. The best way to find out what customers think is to talk to them. Not only will this help you learn what aspects of your company need improvement, it will also demonstrate that you are truly invested in their experience. A great source for customer feedback and sentiment is online reviews.
In 2025, set aside more time to listen to your customers, both in the store and online.
As a business owner, your priority is growing the business and guiding the business in the right direction, stepping in when issues arise. This is impossible to do if you are constantly distracted by less-than-strategic, daily tasks. It’s time to go through your to-do list and select three items that can be delegated.
Yes, it can be hard to trust others to take over a chore you have owned for years, but it will free up your time so you can focus on what’s most important. Whether it’s assigning more responsibility to an employee you trust or hiring an outside service, make it a goal to lighten your load.
Google Business Profile (GBP) is pivotal for small businesses. The GBP is often responsible for making the first impression on prospective customers.
This is where they come for basic information like your company’s phone number and location. They also spend time trying to understand what your past customers think of your product or service by reading reviews.
Take advantage of this free marketing. Post videos and pictures, answer customer questions, and of course, respond to reviews.
Pro tip: make sure to monitor and engage with customers in your GBP’s Question and Answers section of your website.
A negative review or spam event can quickly spiral into an online reputation crisis. How you respond to the event could potentially strengthen or erode customers' trust in your business.
When dealing with an online reputation crisis it’s essential to respond swiftly to mitigate any immediate threat. Prepare a clear, consistent message and share it throughout your business’ online channels.
By being honest and owning up to your mistakes, you can start to rebuild trust with your customers. In your response, make sure to outline the steps you are taking to make things right.
While a negative review crisis is possible to manage in-house, a seasoned online reputation management company will be prepared to take rapid action to protect your brand.
You should be tracking your company’s online presence at all times. Now more than ever, customers and prospects depend on the internet to help them determine which business they choose to patronize.
In fact, half of consumers trust reviews as much as personal recommendations from friends and family.
Keeping tabs on what customers are saying about you online is pivotal to gaining market share. Reviewers now expect companies to respond: over half expect a response within a week.
For the coming year, make it a priority to monitor and respond to your online reviews. An easy way to do this is by hiring a reputation management service such as Widewail. We will ensure that you’re always in charge of your online reputation!
Utilize these 10 online reputation management strategies and 2025 will be the best year yet!
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