A Beginner’s Guide To Online Reputation Management

Reputation is everything… 

Although this phrase was coined in the 1800s, it aligns perfectly with today’s era as well. After all, everyone wants to do business with brands they know and trust. Customers want to feel confident that their money will be well spent on products or services they purchase from you. Hence, your online reputation is the key that helps you win partners and potential customers. In the past, customers would only either say something good or bad about a company and that too on limited platforms. Today, they can anonymously post negative reviews on websites and social media platforms which can hamper the online reputation of your business. So, how can you take care of your online reputation? Well, here are 5 handpicked tips for you!

Here's #TipNo1: Build an online presence by posting consistently. Don’t miss any chance to post about your brand, products, services or work culture and attract potential customers.

#Tip No 5: Ensure a flawless online reputation and to know all about the what, when, how and why of Online Reputation Management keep reading this article.

Wait…wait... where are the rest of the tips?

Fret not, the rest of the tips along with a detailed overview of Online Reputation Management will be revealed in this article. Make sure you read till the end!
 

What Is Online Reputation Management?

Online Reputation Management (ORM) is a way for companies to not only mitigate the effects of negative aspects (say viral videos, negative reviews, negative content, etc.) but also create proactive marketing strategies to enhance their online visibility. There are many approaches that ORM takes such as using positive material (namely sharing positive reviews, branded content, etc.) to counteract negativity or influence search engine results pages (SERP). One broad approach ORM uses is generating large amounts of content about the company which will add more "positive points" than negative. Other methods involve developing a positive image on multichannel platforms such as email, social media and review websites.

Not just that but Online Reputation Management has become a very important part of the marketing and advertising industry. It is the process of improving or managing the brand’s reputation through Search Engine Optimization (SEO), social media and content creation. The goal of ORM is to positively influence your brand’s perception on Google and other search engines, as well as on social media sites such as Facebook and Instagram. A strong online reputation improves a company's credibility and pools potential customers (or target audience) toward the brand. So, it doesn't matter if you're an individual entrepreneur or run a massive business; it's important to pay attention to your online reputation.

Now it’s time for #TipNo2!
 
#Tip No 2: Engage with other brands on social media platforms by commenting on their posts, liking posts and following them. This will help you attract maximum social media engagement.

After this noteworthy tip, let’s flip some pages and dive down into the past.
 

Evolution Of Online Reputation Management

Here we present the timeline of Online Reputation Management.

Before the era of the holy Internet, traditional Public Relations (PR) was the only way brands used to communicate with their audiences and potential customers. Print, electronic media, events and networking campaigns were part of PR. It was essential to manage the image and brand reputation. Fortune 500 companies were the driving force behind this movement since the beginning of the 21^st century.

After the glorious entry of the Internet in 1998, a new marketing and advertising avenue evolved with Google being founded. Although, before 2001 it had very limited scope for sorting, searching and learning about the products, services, or businesses. Also, searching for people, brands or their products was a very simple process and a secondary feature offered by ISPs (Internet Service Providers) like MSN (Microsoft Network) and AOL (America Online).

With the growth of search engines, algorithms became more technical and complex, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and SEM (Search Engine Marketing) had begun to harvest more value and strength. Besides this, the popularity of the internet introduced new marketing and branding opportunities such as customer feedback on social media platforms, user-generated content, blogs, review sites and eventually, these concepts gave rise to consumers’ voices.

After this little detour of the evolution of Online Reputation Management, let’s understand its process.
 

Process Of Online Reputation Management

Here’s all you need to know about the process of how Online Reputation Management works. Well, read carefully cause every step matters!
   

• Step 1: Fetch The Right Ingredients:

  Suppose you have planned to bake an apple pie, the first thing you will need is - apples (duh! What a secret we revealed.) Truth be told apples will do just for a regular apple pie but to bake the authentic apple pie, you would need good quality apples, don’t you? The same goes for the recipe of Online Reputation Management, you must do extensive research regarding reputation monitoring by choosing the right source and analyzing what’s being cooked, uhh we mean talking about your organization online.

• Step 2: Cook! Cook! Cook!

  The next important step to cook a perfect dish is to have the right quantity of ingredients. While in the context of Online Reputation Management you will need to evaluate and interpret online content (the ingredients) from the cookbook (social media platforms, review sites, etc.). The messages can be divided into categories such as positive, negative, branding, personnel, industry-related, etc. These messages or information will help you evaluate and act on your Online Reputation Management, which is your next step.

• Step 3: Garnish And Serve!

  Hurray! Your dish is ready, we mean, now you are done with reputation monitoring and you have the whole list of categories you wish to address. You can address these issues in the form of comments on your blog, social media handle or website. On this note, let’s share the next tip with you!

#TipNo3: Keep track of what people are saying about you on social media sites. This helps you analyze the graph of your online presence and sentiment around your brand reputation.

After this amazing tip and a masterclass in the step-by-step recipe of Online Reputation Management, let’s decode its benefits.
 

Benefits Of Online Reputation Management

Here we present the bits and bytes of the benefits of ORM. Munch on!
   

• Credibility:

  Adopting ORM strategies in your business is probably the best approach to building trust between businesses and customers. Positive reviews and customer feedback on your online platforms are the smartest way to advertise and ensure the credibility of your brand. While your impromptu replies to the queries of the customers also help you create an active image.

• Budget Friendly:

  Staying consistent with ORM enables you to get deep insights into your brand image in the market. Hence, ORM strategies save you a lot of effort and money as it cuts down the additional expenses of PR or advertising.

• Online Visibility:

  Do you know that a decent ORM tool helps you enhance your website’s visibility on search engines? Not just that, this tactic is a great tool to create positive reviews and authentic postings on various social media platforms. So, what are you waiting for, adopt ORM and create vibrant online visibility!

 

Future Of Online Reputation Management

Wrapping It Up