Today, far too many companies are unaware of the potential negative impacts of social media on business. By avoiding, ignoring or never learning the effects of poor reviews, damaging posts and negative comments, brands can suffer irreparable consequences.
Think you don’t care what others say about your brand on social networking sites? We urge you to reconsider.
This article will cover the real reasons why you should be concerned about the negative effects of social media on business.
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3 of the Biggest Negative Impacts of Social Media on Business
Social media can be excellent for your online reputation. Or, it can wreak havoc, especially if you don’t catch what’s happening on social sites or know what to do when you find negative content.
Here are three of the biggest negative impacts of social media on business.
Negative Reviews On Social Media Make You Lose Business
One of the biggest negative impacts of social media on business happens when bad reviews turn away potential customers.
A person who thinks they might be interested in your product or service can immediately change their mind if they come across negative feedback from disgruntled customers.
Reviews on a popular social network like Facebook or YouTube are taken seriously by people who are researching brands or products. Those reviews may even carry as much weight as advice from a trusted friend.
That means that even if the negative publicity about your company isn’t justified, it can influence buyer behavior enough to affect your sales, profitability and business growth.
To combat this, you can work with an online reputation management company. ORM professionals will show you how to appropriately respond to negative reviews and encourage more positive content to circulate online. All of that good coverage can improve your business.
Ignoring Negative Social Media Content Impacts Your Customer Service Reputation
The last thing you want to do when you have a poor social media presence is destroy your online reputation even more.
Your company’s reputation greatly depends on how you handle existing negative content. Interactive platforms like Instagram provide the perfect opportunity to communicate with your audience and change the way they view your business.
Quickly, professionally and kindly responding to negative reviews and comments shows others that you care about providing stellar customer service. But not responding or responding in a way that’s defensive instead of constructive can do more damage to your online reputation.
Also, keep this in mind: If you simply ignore poor feedback on social media, the problem won’t go away. It could grow to the point where it feels uncontrollable. At best, it will stagnantly live online, regularly influencing the opinion of whoever looks up your brand.
Most importantly, you won’t be proactively building a positive business reputation during this time.
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Your Online Community May Abandon You
One of the reasons why businesses like to have thriving Facebook pages is to create a community of people who love their products and services. This creates a hub where you can meet with your audience, listen to what they have to say and find out what they’re looking for. This arms you with insight that you can put back into your brand, developing products, services and processes to meet their needs and wants.
However, if your social network community is filled with negativity, who’s going to want to remain in it?
Not only will you lose existing community members but it will be nearly impossible to encourage new ones to join. And when even your most loyal connections see others jumping ship, they’ll feel like they should do the same — and who could blame them?
What If the Negative Content Isn’t True?
When it comes to your online reputation, both legitimate information and unfounded information can cause problems — and your audience probably won’t take the time to figure out which one is happening.
Fake news travels fast on social media sites, especially when that news is negative or juicy. No matter how many times you try to defend yourself, you won’t be able to stop the floodgates.
What you can do, though, is use tried-and-true ORM strategies to improve your reputation over time.
For example, provide excellent customer service and produce your own content that illustrates your brand’s strengths. Also, improve the way you run your business. By focusing on customer service and giving people an excellent experience, you’ll be in the best position to improve your online reputation.
This is a lot to handle on your own, which is why there are professional online reputation management companies like NetReputation to help.
One of the first things your ORM consultants will do is set up listening tools so you’ll be in the know about what others are saying about your brand. Whenever there’s a negative comment on social media, you’ll have the chance to respond to it right away. This can limit the spread of false information.
Want to get a head start on this strategy? Set up Google Alerts to be notified whenever your brand name is mentioned online.
ORM Companies Can Help With the Negative Impacts of Social Media on Business
Does it feel overwhelming to manage negative feedback on social media, especially when it’s damaging your reputation?
We get it. This can be an emotional topic even for the most professional business owners.
The last thing you want is to watch your brand falter because you don’t know how to get a handle on your social media presence.
The good news is that there are a lot of ways to lessen the impact of negative social media coverage. Most importantly, do the following:
- Monitor for mentions and respond to negative comments immediately
- Encourage positive content, reviews and news coverage to suppress negative content
- Improve the way you deal with customers so there’s less reason for them to speak negatively about you
You don’t have to handle all of this on your own. Online reputation management companies can help you get control of how you’re viewed and talked about online. They’ll repair your poor reputation and work to maintain your new and improved one. Ultimately, ORM professionals open doors that you thought would be closed forever.
At NetReputation, we have the experience and tools you need to avoid the negative impacts of social media on business while creating a positive image for your target audience. Call us today at 844-461-3632 for a free consultation.
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by Net Reputation