The advent of endless ways to always be accessible through smartphones, tablets, Google Glasses and so much more has had many implications for businesses and individuals alike. On an individual level, we now get the pleasure of knowing everything we never needed to know about our family, friends and connections: their political and social views, where they went to lunch, when their child or pet does something adorable, reprehensible, or just plain entertaining and their completely random thoughts (not all of which are gems). For businesses, this age of constant connection has opened many instant venues for marketing and relationship building but it has also made it exponentially easier for individuals to share their views on your company, whether good or bad. The truly poetic thing is that the very thing that has created this constant stream of real-time reviews is also the thing that has had a major impact on reputation management.
Wait…what is Reputation Management anyway?
It is exactly what it sounds like…managing your company’s or your brand’s reputation. Mobile and increased accessibility has made this a lot more difficult in recent years as there are now infinite places where customers can post opinions, reviews, and suggestions online. Monitoring and managing these sentiments can prove very frustrating for many businesses.
So, how does Mobile fit into the picture?
According to Pew Internet, 56% of American adults are smartphone adopters and 34% of American adults own a tablet computer. The growing mobile customer base has made company information more readily accessible to consumers and the increase in mobile friendly website designs has made it easier and quicker to engage with these companies. Therefore, consumers can now engage with your company from anywhere quickly and easily. If they have a bad meal at a restaurant, they may be blowing up your Facebook page with reviews right after they leave the restaurant. If they have a negative experience with Sally’s Beauty Salon, their Twitter can instantly be inundated with complaints for the world to see. Of course, this also reigns true for positive raves and reviews! While those are equally important and valued, combating the not so stellar reviews is more of a time sensitive issue that requires a quicker response. Thankfully, mobile also allows you to quickly and efficiently monitor your company’s reputation. This is possible not only because you are most likely one of those 56% with a smartphone but also because companies have introduced mobile apps and programs that streamline reputation management.
One such app is called Skweal. This mobile app offers companies the ability to resolve negative reviews offline. Whenever someone makes a complaint about your company, the complaint is routed to the right person and you are then able to resolve the issue privately via email or text message.
Google Alerts is the perfect way to monitor your company’s online presence as they allow you to get alerts when your company name is mentioned online, thus giving you instant notification and ample time to respond.
There are an endless supply of other apps that are perfect for reputation management and social media monitoring including:
Swipp- The app that helps you to monitor and to aggregate opinions…discover what others are saying and track the global sentiments related to your brand.
Reputation by Five Blocks- This app allows you to track your brand’s online reputation on Google, Yahoo and Bing as well as recent mentions on Twitter, Blogs, YouTube and news feeds.
V-hab Comment Converter – Okay, so this is more of plugin for your web browser but it certainly combats negative comments and has a little fun with it. V-Hab is actually a British energy drink company that developed this browser extension which crawls for abusive or angry words and replaces them with nicer terms like love, cupcake and unicorn.
The Bottom Line
Not everyone cares that you had a tuna sandwich for lunch. But, people may care if that tuna sandwich had adverse effects on your digestive tract, especially if you share this key piece of information online for everyone to see. Fellow patrons to that restaurant may care. Family and friends may offer sympathy. And the business in question certainly has the tools to address the issue and maintain their reputation. Thank you mobile.
