Managing Online Reputation

We had an interesting note from a client a few weeks ago, which I think is worth discussing. He had purchased a home services company and had a series of not-so-good reviews on HomeStars. He asked us to remove them because he said that they were the fault of the previous owner. He makes an interesting point, but the reality is corporate reputation is actually what you buy when you purchase a company. The reviews of past customers are the legacy you are purchasing when you buy an enterprise, and it’s then your job to change course, acquire new reviews - really a new reputation - which eclipses the old, poor performance of your predecessor.

Leslie Carothers writes for Furniture World magazine and makes some very good points our customers should be aware of. We also suggest setting up a Google News Alert with your company name, so you can see when you’ve been mentioned in the press or by another blogger or customers.

We harp on this point here at HomeStars, but it’s worth making again. The more you get your happy customers to write reviews - and you know you have lots of them - the less impact the negative ones will have on your reputation online.

Posted by BrianS