1. Your Staff
  2. Your Competitors
  3. Your Customers
  4. All of the Above

What is the correct answer and does it matter? That of course depends on what is being said and by whom the important question here is; are you in the conversation? If not why not? What can you do about that? Can you? Should you?

Reputation Management & Leveraging Social Media

Consumer generated content is the most powerful force on the web today; when it comes to your business you avoid or not participate in the conversation at your peril. The ability of your Customers to disseminate their good opinion, good and bad is open to any with a PC browser and internet connection, and those opinions are accessible to all. Often showing up in search results for your comapny name.

The good news is that you too can communicate with them in the same forums, this gives you the ability to counter negative comment and promote positive response. Most important of all is  the opportunity to engage directly with your Customers and prospective Customers.

Socially savvy business owners can leverage these conversations to deepen their relationships and increase customer loyalty. An opportunity to turn negative experiences into positive outcomes. The prospect of turning unhappy customers into brand ambassadors.


Highway to Hell or Stairway to Heaven

The online space can be a Highway to Hell or a Stairway to Heaven  and U turns randomly occur. Once your ready to embrace the reality of public dialogue and you understand customers are talking to their friends, associates and anyone who will listen. Welcome it is a rocky road but here are some guidelines to get you started.

  1. Listen, Really Listen to your customers most are realists who recognise that things happen, what is the root of their real dissatisfaction?

 2. Be prepared to read only, monitor some comments: rants or rages, plain bashing sometimes happen do not engage unless there are factual errors.        Often your fans will debate and engage on your behalf

  3. Act on misrepresentation  and truly negative Customer experiences dispassionately provide the facts, empathise and rectify negative customer experience with reasonable solutions that  exceed their expectation

  4. Timeliness, Tone, Recognition and Influence; be aware of the importance of these elements in your response

Where to Start...

A better question is where do you want to end up?  Online  is unlike any other part of your business, it is new  territory the rules and idioms are still developing, changing almost daily, what was fine six months ago may now be fully naff!

The best place to start is with a map of where you are and where you want to go, you must have a strategy; a game plan.  Contact Brendan at Victorian Internet Consulting for a free analysis of your current position and some ideas on the best starting place for you.

START WITH THE BASICS

Until a few years ago, having a great internet site was thought to be an effective tool to market your business online . That myth was speedily disposed of  when search engines like Google, Yahoo!, Bing and others became one-stop-shops for anything and everything a consumer was looking to find. From searching for info to creating a travel itinerary or simply purchasing a new dress, search engines were the starting point for all web searchers. 

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Pay-per-Click (PPC) have been the predominating hot topic words of Internet Marketing over the last three or four years. As a business proprietor, you have plausibly explored these for your online business as well, which is a bang up head start. Getting your website on the front page is most likely the result of a solid SEO strategy diligently executed.

Hundreds of clicks coming in to your specially designed landing page is perhaps the magic of a successful paid listing or sponsored link. The question is, how much of this is impacting your bottom line through increased conversions and sales?

If the impact is not visibly great, you are probably missing critical elements of your SEM strategy.

Define  your Marketing Objectives, Identify whats Missing & refine the Strategy

What is it that your business needs to market effectively online and enhance your revenues significantly? Maybe it's an interactive video. Could be an email marketing campaign, a blog might be the one thing your business could really benefit from, (all business would benefit from a blog). 

How about an RSS Feed or a podcast? Whatever it is you are missing, Victorian Internet Consulting can help you analyse your business needs and guide you towards an appropriate SEM strategy. To help you move your online business to the next level, VIC can provide you with a comprehensive mix of Search Engine Marketing (SEM) tools and techniques.

While the goal of SEO and PPC is primarily to increase traffic to your website, the goal of a good SEM mix strategy is much more than that. 

The Web is a Community

Before you buy a book online, you read reviews by people who have read it before you. Looking for a good hotel deal on your next vacation? The first thing you do is look up reviews by previous traveller's. Searching for the best place to have your daughter's 10th birthday party, you visit a popular parenting blog. You want to stay on top of all the latest research about health and nutrition so you sign up for an RSS Feed to get relevant information in a timely manner. The podcast you received about tax tips for small business owners helped you optimise your tax benefits.

For all the claims of the Internet giving people independence and allowing individuals to be themselves, and so on, it goes without saying that the Worldwide Web is a community. 

Social Marketing is about reaching out to this community and leveraging the power of word-of-mouth publicity. RSS Feeds, Podcasting and Blogs are one of the most effective tools that you can use to reach out to your customers. 

NOW it's about Social Media

Social Marketing is as simple as talking to your Customers online, talking to your marketplace, people who show an interest in the products or services you sell everyday.

And who better to talk to if not your marketplace?  It is as simple as getting a facebook business page(don't confuse your personal page with your business page), posting information of interest to your prospective clients and starting a conversation around that topic. 

Not in the B2C market? Then you should be using Linkedin.com  professionally again your own page and a business page and start hooking up with your peers  B2B is big and getting bigger on LinkedIn.

It's whole new ball game with an entirely different set of rules!

Google Victorian Internet Consulting now we're here to help.

Promote podcast

I got a website already, Thanks Mate I'm set !

"Fantastic, how is that working for you?"  "Oh its good, you just look up  Carlsupthebacklanepanelbeating.com.au  and I'm right there on the first page of Google."

You have the picture already, many business websites are no different to business cards. Only valuable when it is available; when your potential client needs you service.

In a world full of digital communication technologies, companies of all sizes and industries are expanding the reach of their messages using social media.

Social media has the potential to attract many people in your neighbourhood who may one day need you products or services. It has the ability for little or no investment other than your time to drive traffic to your website and Customers to your door.

With the click of a button your existing Customers can share with their friends their experiences with your business. Building more credibility and reputation for your business than you could generate with $1,000's of advertising.

Are you engaged with your Customers online; how about your competitors?

Time to get engaged:  Engage Brendan now, no commitment no charge.

PS Do it today and you get 3 free answers to your 3 most pressing online questions.