Listening To The Online Community
There are thousands and hundreds of businesses and companies in America who are striving to win over their competition and gain loyal customers
. Many of these companies are realizing that they need to be aware of the online community even if they do not own or maintain a website themselves.Unfortunately some companies learn this the hard way. More word of mouth communication occurs online than offline these days.
It is vitally important to know what these word of mouth conversations are saying about your company. If they are talking well about your company, you will want to encourage it.
However, if they are talking poorly about your company, you will want to discourage it. With all of the social media and blogging options it is almost definite that someone is talking about your company every day.
It can take years and years of hard work to build a strong brand image. However, a strong brand image could be destroyed in a few days.
The reputation of your brand needs to have constant protection in order for it to keep growing. There are so many different ways for this reputation to be destroyed.
Today, one stray blogger who did not receive excellent service or is upset with the quality of a product could write a damaging blog that will harm the launch of a new product. It could take thousands of dollars in advertising to make up for this one mistake.
However, one blogger that was pleased with his experience in your store and how your product performed could write an amazing blog that will go viral and benefit your company greatly. This is one of the most effective ways to rise above the competition.
Even if you have a great brand and the online community loves it, you will need to keep listening to the online community. If you stop listening it is likely that you will not be aware of what your customers want and are looking for.
It is likely that their desires will change throughout time and your company will have to change to produce products that meet these desires. The customer is the one who really rules the market place.
If you do not listen, you will not be able to cater to these desires, and your customers will look elsewhere for products to fill these desires. Everything you have done to build up your brand will then be lost.
There is so much online that it can be difficult to know what to keep track of. In general, you should be keeping track of everything that might be related to your company.
This will include names of top employees, products or services titles, and brand names as well as any other key word that may be related to your company and what you do. You should also be interested in what people are saying about your competition and your industry as a whole.
The sooner you start listening to the online community, the better. Social media tools are a great way to glean the information you need about your company, the competition and the industry.
The best way to keep track of everything you need to is to start using an RSS reader. Email alerts are also very useful in monitoring your online reputation.
If you come across a reoccurring complaint, make sure that you delve into the situation in your company to find out whether or not what is being complained about is really happening. Sometimes a competitor will to start rumors about your company by spreading untrue complaints.
No matter what the complaint is and whether or not it is true, it will be vital to your reputation that you are always honest. If your company is guilty of the issue, fix it and explain what you have done to fix the problem.
If it is a true complainer with legitimate complaints, try to contact them personally to discuss the problem. Most likely you do not want these conversations occurring online, but they can provide invaluable insight into how you can improve your company.
Many companies try to create fake online personalities to support their company. However, most of these companies are caught and their reputation is damaged as a result.
When pursuing a great reputation always do it in honest, straightforward methods. This and becoming aware of what the online community is saying about your company will help your reputation more than anything else.
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