Businesses are always in the mode of fight or flight. They understand that they need to stay relevant and connected with their target audience if they want to survive, let alone thrive, and beat the competition. Online reputation management helps them stay afloat but many do not understand the value of real ORM vis-a-vis poor […]
Businesses are always in the mode of fight or flight. They understand that they need to stay relevant and connected with their target audience if they want to survive, let alone thrive, and beat the competition.
Online reputation management helps them stay afloat but many do not understand the value of real ORM vis-a-vis poor ones. Many companies end up spending a fortune with the worst service providers only to learn the truth the hard way. Of course, you want to avoid that pitfall and land on your feet higher than where you are standing now. That’s why it is necessary to learn how to distinguish the worst from the best, relying on bright flags to avoid.
Even if the business and brand concept, online reputation management is everywhere and happening every time. When a person posts a picture of himself on social media with an eye-catching caption, this is brand building or management at its base.
Online reputation management or ORM is concerned with actively monitoring and interfering with online chatter to make sure that the public perception of the brand stays positive. This is the core of ORM. Professionals use both human and machine intelligence to keep tabs on the developments happening and unfolding in the virtual world and act accordingly.
There is a common myth surrounding ORM – it is a luxury that only large, multinational brands can afford. It is a necessity because a person of interest or even a small business depends on the virtual goodwill of people. If it is lacking from the equation, local enterprises will find it hard to secure new business.
By understanding the impact and scope of online reputation for a brand, it is easy to see the far-reaching benefits of staying in the good books of online users. Still, to help you connect with the brass tacks, this section is dedicated to shedding ample light on the benefits of solid reputation management before we move on to work on the red flags you should avoid in your potential ORM company.
In the past, the content strategy of brands revolved around posting sporadically or periodically in a predictable manner. There was no community and posts were almost announcements for new products or services. Today, customers want to engage with the brand they love or want to know and love. There are deeper ties to be made and maintained to thrive as a brand. Online reputation management helps professionals make policies that can check all the boxes to ensure maximum engagement with customers and prospects.
Businesses often struggle with customer acquisition, especially when they do not have the next best and the brightest thing in their inventory. Since modern consumers believe in experience and vibes more than the product or service itself, brands can acquire more customers by staying transparent and active on online portals. Online users want to see the brand as one of their own to trust it and do business with it. This is something that you can always trust good online reputation management to deliver.
There are always external forces working in the favor of and against a brand. Competition can be one of the most dominant factors that give even large brands sleepless nights. Good online reputation management does not operate in a vacuum. It measures the extent of its success or failure based on your brand’s position concerning competitors. That’s why it is worth it to spend a sizeable amount of good online reputation management to stay at least one step ahead of the competition.
Just like its prospects, businesses should not secure deals with a brand on the very first go. There is a whole process of browsing, shortlisting, connecting, deliberating, and then deciding with potential online reputation management companies. As the owner or manager of a brand, it is your responsibility to explore the field and settle on the best option.
However, in this section, we will help you identify a poor choice so you can avoid it at all costs.
One of the myths surrounding excellent online reputation management is that it costs a fortune. That is simply not true. There is truth in that the pricing for a certain package will rise sharply when you add multiple locations, dedicated staff at the base camp, more resources, and so on. Still, there will always be a sense of proportion that you can gauge. Before conducting some analysis, especially price to value ratio for your brand, it is not prudent to get an ORM company on board.
Almost all aspects of digital marketing come in the sphere of online reputation management, and more. It is a multi-pronged service with many moving parts. This is necessary because professionals need to cover all the bases to avoid potential PR disasters. In this scenario, when you come across a company that offers an extremely poor range of services, and even you can feel what is lacking from the deal, there is no need to move forward with the prospect. Exceptional ORM companies are operating and we will tell you how to secure services from one in a dedicated section.
There is no denying that much of data collecting and processing for online reputation management is done through automated processes. The results are then kept in mind to formulate new policies and strategies. No matter how sophisticated an automated process is, it will always need a human expert at the helm. ORM companies with no dedicated staff for specific clients cannot provide the promise. Variables need tweaking and automated processes require supervision. So, this is a big red flag for you to remember if you ever come across it in your search.
Since online reputation management is about creating and maintaining a good name and public perception of a brand in the online world, feedback and testimonials create the backbone of the whole thing. We have seen many companies flipping the script while handling feedback and criticism from users. This is not only detrimental in terms of human users but also wreaks havoc through search engines and bots. That’s why every brand needs a composed and well-trained feedback-handling mechanism that only a good ORM company can provide.
After going through the things that companies should avoid, it is time to shed light on the traits that make a player perfect in this game. These attributes are subjective and should be gauged according to a brand’s size and needs. But one thing is clear, you will see the difference in companies handling clients, developing strategies, and so on.
Pricing is a variable that must be dealt with with extreme care. Businesses struggle with resources and there is no such thing as free lunch. When you connect with a good company, you will see the best price-to-value ratio. The pricing will be different across different packages but it will be proportionate to what they are bringing to the table. As we have mentioned earlier, it should not cost a fortune to secure good online reputation management services. So, the pricing should be speaking to you and you will know when it does.
Professionals in the online reputation management field are well-equipped with the knowledge, training, and tools to help businesses stay in a positive light, as far as virtual avenues are concerned. Depending on the level of services and scope of the brand’s operations, you should expect dedicated staff from the perfect company so that they can run daily diagnostics and ensure that everything is going well. Vigilance is a must because PR disasters should be nipped in the bud. You can say that it is the ultimate test of a company claiming to be the best in business.
Apart from the grim side of averting PR disasters, the proactive duty of an online reputation management company is to excel at posting and promoting content that can connect customers and prospects with the brand. This includes content generation as well as handling sensitive content such as reviews and testimonials. When it comes to the best companies in online reputation management, they have this aspect of the job covered with great care and dedication. In your search to get a star player on board, you should not miss this point.
An online reputation management company actively monitors and interferes with the online chatter surrounding the concerned brand. It employs tools and professionals to ensure everything stays positive so that the standing of the client does not take a hit.
There is no set pricing for online reputation management for a small enterprise. As per estimates, it can cost in the range of $300 to $2000 per month, depending on the needs and requirements of the brand.
Here are some of the things that you need to do if you only want to cultivate positive reviews:
The mere act of collecting positive feedback does not do much. Brands need to showcase the positive sentiment of the customers and prospects at every rewarding avenue. This can induce a bandwagon effect in others and a positive dominoes effect leads to better and more engagement.
These are the red flags that you must avoid while looking for a great online reputation management company:
Since a person and a business are different in their nature and personas, both online and offline, online reputation management for the two will be different. For instance, the requirements for a celebrity or a CEO in ORM will not match those of the company or the brand he belongs to.
As an owner of the brand or a manager entrusted with choosing the right ORM company, you cannot be too conscious and sure. There are both good and poor players operating out there. It is your job to find and vet the right company before signing a contract.
In this blog post, we have taken a deep hard look at the things that make a company worse, and then the things that should be in your ideal company.
Speaking of the ideal online reputation management company, TrustAnalytica is one of the perfect players in the market, especially when it comes to a diverse range of services and capabilities to handle clients of different sizes. Learn more about the pricing and services today!
