Step 25: Map Your Feedback

From testimonials and comments to reviews and brand mentions, customer and industry feedback is crucial to your brand and reputation.

When it’s positive, it can build a strong image of your capabilities and offerings.

So when you hear positive feedback from happy customers, ask them to formalise it by giving you a review, either on Facebook, Google, Amazon or on your site.

However, not all feedback is positive, so you should always be monitoring and addressing any concerns regarding your reputation on and offline.

How?

• Set up Google Alerts with your brand name and product / service names. In turn, you’ll receive a daily a notification whenever someone mentions your name or brand so you can address them promptly. Monitor the daily feed very carefully to find and address issues before many people notice them.

• Create favourable content - The best way to remove negative articles and reviews from your search results is to push them down the results pages using reasonable, accurate and fresh content. In the event of a crisis, work closely with your SEO team to push out constructive articles that will get on the first page of Google results.

• Respond to negative comments quickly and professionally – always remain gracious and polite no matter the amount of vitriol coming at you.

• Don’t lose your cool (easier aid than done) and if things heat up too much, step away from your computer/laptop/phone, take a deep breath and consider seeking objective advice from a brand strategist and/or your legal and PR team.

Also refer to Ambsdr’s Step by Step Reputation Triage Advice to guide you through any reputational or brand crisis.