In business, bigger isn’t necessarily better. There are advantages to being small, including the ability to provide service that’s truly personal. Small businesses can easily monitor what customers are saying about them online and use the information to provide better service. They can also use social media to foster strong connections that lead to more sales.

On the down side, any negative information appearing online can be harmful to your reputation. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to find out what people are saying about you and minimize the impact of any damaging remarks.

Monitor – First, monitor the internet for potentially unflattering information about your business. Do a search for your business name and see what comes up, and set up Google Alerts to be notified of online mentions.

React – If you find negative and untrue information, you can ask the owner of the website to remove it. If that doesn’t work, create more positive content about your business to push the negative comments down in search rankings. The lower down on searches an item is, the less likely it is to be seen. Positive content could be new pages on your website, blogs, and social media posts.

Respond – Respond to negative comments as soon as possible after they appear. Resist the temptation to reply with anger when someone criticizes your business. Keep the interests of your customers in mind, and determine whether a public or private response is more appropriate. Imagine the impact on a dissatisfied customer of being personally asked by a company president for a second chance.

Respond to positive mentions as well. Thank people who compliment your company, and engage them further by asking for an opinion or letting them know about new product offerings.

Whether positive or negative, look for patterns in customer comments and use them to guide the future direction of your business.

Participate – Actively participate in social media to establish relationships and build a reputation as an expert. In addition to offering opportunities to connect directly with customers, strong relationships on social media sites make negative information less likely to be believed.

Madison Communications enjoys building a community on social media. We invite you to follow us on Facebook, X, LinkedIn, and Instagram.