Business owners have a plethora of options before them to convince visitors to become customers. SEO strategies are essential for ensuring that internet users can locate their websites. Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising and other internet marketing strategies enable business owners to enhance the visibility of their businesses. However, statistics highlight the increasing influence of online reviews on consumer purchases. Statistics reveal that:
- Approximately 81 percent of consumers do their research on the internet prior to making a purchase
- Nearly 88 percent of consumers read reviews posted online for determining the quality of a business and,
- Around 61 percent of consumers check online reviews before making any purchases
This makes it clear that any positive reviews of your products and services will convince consumers to become customers. Similarly, any negative reviews will direct these consumers to the competition. Therefore, it goes without saying that anything that your customers express about your business will influence the success of your business. This is why managing online reputations has become so important in contemporary times. Business owners need to monitor online mentions of their brands because:
This could enable them to learn a lot about their businesses
- For instance, business owners could share in the experiences of their customers and discover what they are doing well, their areas of improvement etc.
This could help them foster a spirit of trust in their brand
- Many consumers don’t deal with business enterprises and as such, interacting with someone on social media networks could help demonstrate that, as a business, you care for your customers and that there is a real human being they can converse with online
This could complement your other online-marketing initiatives as well
- Customers who mention your brand online might link to your website as well
- In addition, if bloggers mention your brand online, you could use them for capitalising on guest blogging opportunities as well