Your Social Profiles
You have established your company, and your new personal profile page looks like a million bucks. However, remove any crazy party photos and potentially offensive memes from your social profiles. Once you have done that, generally clean up your photo album and profile. People will research your profile, primarily if they invest in you or your company. And if you are applying for an employment position, you can be sure the person hiring will be checking out your numerous social media profiles. Don’t let distasteful images or comments on social media ruin the hard work that you have put in. Use your online reputation to your advantage, not to your detriment. After you ensure your social media profiles are cleaned up, you must establish your brand on social media platforms. It is essential each social account is consistent with the other and that you stay “active” on your accounts. If your company has various social media accounts that are never updated, your social profile will appear as a digital ghost town, which is detrimental to your profile. Ensure you provide quality content to the online community (i.e. potential clients). This quality content could be in blogs, promotions, videos, pictures, podcasts, etc. However, whatever you select to post, you must ensure a consistent brand message and that your company values are communicated well. The content itself must be entertaining and valuable to your target audience. Publishing quality content frequently is critical to maintaining a reputation of being an active company – as opposed to a company that looks like it is going out of business. Once you set up and post content regularly, it is vital to capitalise by building and nurturing social media relationships by promptly responding to questions, comments and feedback. When you provide quality content and are active on social platforms, you offer your audience a better opportunity to connect with you. Similarly, you can connect with other companies and existing brands. Some other businesses might enjoy working on content with you and your startup or offer valuable advice and cultivate a brand-new working relationship. These opportunities for strategic partnerships have proven to be invaluable for many companies.Online Reviews
Online reviews are essential. People read them. Facebook and Google have review and rating systems built into their platforms and many independent websites like TrustPilot and online directories like Yelp. A positive online review is a great way to validate your business quality and promote it simultaneously. The inverse is also true of negative online reviews. Negative online reviews can be positive as they allow your company to respond positively to negative feedback. People respect companies that are responsible and will listen to them. The worst thing that can happen is that negative comments are brushed aside. Online reviews can get out of control before you even know there is a problem. For this reason, I recommend automating the monitoring process. It is almost impossible to manage this yourself, considering the vast number of platforms available online.“Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.”
Bill Gates
Several companies offer software that will monitor your brand online. The software will send you alerts and notices if someone posts a review on major websites or across social media. The software monitors people talking about your brand and what those people are saying about your brand. This type of monitoring software is a valuable tool for startups. You can see what users are having problems with, and you may respond in real-time and react to your customers’ needs. Getting feedback faster allows you to continually improve and confirm you are directing your company in the right direction.