Is someone posting all negative about you or your brand on the social media? Are you getting feedbacks wrongly that you know could tarnish your image? Are your competitors playing with your reputation with fraudulent activities?
Importance of Online Reputation
Well, your reputation, not just in the real world, but in the virtual space too matters a lot. In fact, when you buy a product or service, you also give a lot of thought on the ratings and reviews of the company, and reputation of the people involved. And so, why others won’t be paying heed to this factor? Bad online reputation impacts buyer’s decisions which ultimately affect your business success and growth.
Online Reputation Management (ORM)
When you find that your reputation in the virtual space has been compromised, or if you don’t want any negative vibe around your name or brand, then Online Reputation Management is all you need – a process to manage and monitor how you appear across the web.
Key Areas for ORM
1. Paid Media
This is where your competitors can ploy against you, tarnishing your image, putting up elements and info that is against your brand.
2. Earned Media
This is the most widespread of all, and it includes mentioning of your brand across review sites like Glassdoor, forums, posted articles, blogs, press coverages, and so.
3. Owned Media
This includes your own channels and media productions like your blogs, podcasts, webinars, websites, and so. Whilst you won’t write anything wrong yourself, you can be given negative comments or feedbacks here which you have to manage.
4. Shared Media
As the name suggests, it includes the channels where some info or posts are shared regarding your brand, like social networks.
How to Implement Online Reputation Management (ORM)?
1. Track Where & How You are Being Mentioned
It is related to mentioning of your name, your brand, your products or services. You should be monitoring what others are saying about you and your brand. To ensure how to react to the negative feedbacks, and how to get the fake ones removed, you must keep ahead and track regularly.
2. Implement Right Social Media Marketing Strategy
Make sure to register your brand on all the key social media sites. Securing your brand name on all the social channels is the first step, so that on one else can impersonate you that can ruin your brand name and value.
Not just your presence, but you should also ensure that you are keeping consistency across all the social channels that ensure credibility and reliability like keeping the brand profile theme same, using same color schemes, and so. Posting schedule and the style you follow for your content publishing should also be kept in a consistent order.
3. User Reviews are of Great Value
As we have mentioned above, as a customer you would yourself depend a lot on customer reviews and ratings, make sure that you are receiving good customer reviews for your product and services. You should encourage reviews online on your website, on review platforms, on social channels and more, from your genuine customers. Also, like positive feedback, sometime, you can also get negative feedback because of some unforeseen factors. Make sure you respond to them at the earliest, and have the problem sorted and solved, so as to convert the unhappy customer into a happy one.
4. Make Sure to Remove Spam Links
Sometimes, because of a grudge or because of ill-desired tactics of one of your competitors, your online reputation and Google ranking could be hurt with negative SEO. This happens when poor links are created. Using a tool and a right strategy you should find those poor-quality backlinks and remove them at the earliest.
5. Create Your Positive Influence
You cannot deny the potent of content to engage people, create opinions and influence buying decisions. This is what you have to do as an important step for online reputation management, implementing strategic ideas and methods that help to gradually build brand authority.
Make sure you are following the right SEO and social media marketing strategy, and keeping up with the reviews, feedbacks, engaging with readers and users timely, and creating a positive impact all across the web.
