Why should online monitoring be your business priority?

The increased access to the internet and online channels can however cause huge problems for your company. It can open you up to criticism, allowing disgruntled customers to post negative content regarding your brand via social media and popular consumer forums.

Company pages on Twitter and Facebook can become a channel for customers to comment on the services they have received. It’s highly important that these questions and problems don’t go unanswered, as they can escalate and inflict significant damage to your company’s online reputation.

Importance of social media

Many companies fail to keep track of the content consumers post online, meaning the problems often go unnoticed and are left to escalate. It’s important to monitor what your customers and target audience are saying about you for the following reasons:

• Spot the downfalls – No business model is perfect. You can spot the flaws and problems within your business if they are pointed out online. Take the opportunity to review re occurring issues and resolve them.

• Positive interaction – Take the opportunity to respond to both positive and negative feedback. Others will notice this which will foster positive consumer sentiment towards your brand. Therefore, keeping track of positive interaction concerning your company online can allow you to improve your corporate reputation.

• Appease – Monitoring conversations also allows you the opportunity to resolve issues and regain customer loyalty, particularly if you can respond swiftly and appropriately. This allows customers to feel valued and shows that you prioritise customer care.

Monitoring conversation

One of the easiest ways to monitor your online reputation is by using Google alerts. It allows you to enter a name or company and set up regular email alerts, showing you when the search term is found on the web. Make sure you add common misspellings of your name too, to ensure Google Alerts tracks any online conversations as effectively as possible.

Social media tools are also useful for monitoring online conversations. Make full use of the tools on social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, as well as following hashtags closely. Try searching for your company and similar businesses to see what your potential consumers are looking for, as well as what they’re finding. You may come across some online conversation which you’d otherwise have missed.

Failure to monitor online conversation can leave customers feeling undervalued and as though their complaint has fallen on deaf ears. This will only go on to aggravate them further and allow the problem to escalate.

Protecting your online reputation

By monitoring what people are saying about your brand, you can ensure that you’re one step ahead. An effective and responsive strategy can help you retain your current customer base, as well as broaden your target market and encourage positive discussions about your brand online.

Managing conversations is just one of the many simple steps your company could take to improve its online reputation. Contact me on +44 (0)203 542 8689 or email me at simon@igniyte.com in confidence for more advice.