In the virtual world, it is not enough to churn out content and keep your fingers crossed to hope things would work out in the end. There are many pitfalls and traps that brands can fall into if they don’t keep a perpetual vigil to monitor online chatter regarding their business and name. If that […]
In the virtual world, it is not enough to churn out content and keep your fingers crossed to hope things would work out in the end. There are many pitfalls and traps that brands can fall into if they don’t keep a perpetual vigil to monitor online chatter regarding their business and name.
If that vigil is kept through a team of professionals continuously looking over the internet, it would be a waste of time and effort. Instead, companies go for hybrid solutions where online software and tools do the heavy lifting and professionals control the things behind the scenes.
Perhaps, you have come across the term often, online reputation management, and you have wondered what it is exactly and why people are always talking about it. Simply put, online reputation management or ORM is about monitoring and responding to online chatter surrounding a brand, its name, products, or services. It is about scouting online resources such as social media platforms, forums, and blogs to see what people are talking about the brand and how to keep it in its favor.
In recent times, online reputation management has gained a lot of traction because of the changing users’ perceptions and inclinations toward brands. Now, users want to know more about the companies and their owners and managers, especially in terms of social and economic approaches.
When a user approaches a new brand, he will go through the online reviews and feedback to ensure that the brand is indeed legitimate and offers what it promises. The data affirming this mindset is staggering, with over 90% of users relying on word of mouth by strangers.
That’s the reason businesses need to stay on top of the developments and ensure that naysayers remain marginalized in the virtual world.
Before starting to either create or sustain the online reputation for your brand, you need to know where your brand stands in terms of online currency. This section will help you define the baseline reference for your brand before you get started. You will know what to do and how to achieve the targets for optimal brand recognition.
After going through this phase, you will have a better understanding of where your brand stands and how you can manage its online reputation further.
In this section, we will take a hard look at some of the dedicated steps to manage an online brand’s reputation. It is best to cover all the steps and ensure that everything is where it should be. This helps managers to predict their next move in managing and saving online reputation.
This is the step that we have covered in the above section. It is logical for brands to start with a preliminary audit before moving forward. They should monitor and analyze the current standing of their brand and then devise a strategy based on the results.
From searching the online mentions to the intent and associated brands and content, everything should be accounted for and implemented in the strategy for future returns.
Brands are mentioned across the internet, from forums such as Reddit to blogs to social media platforms. It is hard to keep an eye on these platforms through manual monitoring only. But by implementing online tools and software such as TrustAnalytica, managers can have a better grip on the upcoming chatter and can respond to it in a timely and effective manner.
Brands need to stay on top of the feedback they receive from customers to send positive signals to the search engine. Google looks for the best practices in the brands’ dealings and rewards the best performers with higher SERPs.
Since there are two distinct types of feedback, positive and negative, the response of the brands should be custom and on point.
Things get tricky when brands receive negative reviews. Here is a simple guide to dealing with poor reviews and trying to work them out in the brand’s favor:
We have seen many cases when brands played this card right and turned a poor “one-star” disaster into a “five-star” review.
Search Engine Optimization is about following the best practices prescribed by search engines so that the brands are rewarded with better online search rankings positions. However, when SEO is designed for the online brand reputation, there are certain differences with its general form.
In this case, SEO is used for both proactive and reactive purposes.
On the other side of the spectrum, there are reactive or punitive measures which include, but are not limited to:
Keep in mind that Google prefers quality over quantity and always rewards trustworthy and high-standard resources.
Just like statesmen who stimulate their PR machinery during election season, a brand can get the public relations resources in motion to enhance its online reputation across the internet.
PR comes in many forms, shapes, and sizes. Based on your brand’s worth and reach, the following resources can bring exceptional returns:
We have already stressed the reach and scope of online reviews. Before getting positive reviews, it is necessary to get customers to leave reviews. There are many benefits to peer-generated content, irrespective of its quality.
Since we have covered the importance of online reviews, it is time to share some tips on how to encourage users to leave reviews:
In the end, promoting and showcasing positive content encourage others who are still on the fence to get on the bandwagon and leave positive reviews.
Here are some amazing ways to promote positive sentiment:
Online brands are the businesses and individuals who command excessive online traffic. These include companies and personalities such as statesmen, executives, and celebrities.
Managing online brands can be a daunting task but using artificial and machine intelligence, managers can keep the brands from smear campaigns or any isolated incident of negative sentiment.
Online reputation covers the following areas:
There is a plethora of both internal and external factors that can determine a brand’s online reputation. The internal factors include owned social media profiles, content across blogs and forums, and so on.
When it comes to external factors, brand mentions by users on different platforms, smear campaigns by competitors, or other malicious entities can affect the brand’s online reputation.
Using a dedicated monitoring and response tool, managers can tackle all the challenges before the damage is done.
A brand reputation management strategy allows managers to chalk out a path to promote a brand and preserve its online reputation. That’s why devising a solid strategy is a very important step. Still, even before doing that, managers need to take a view of where their brand stands today.
By gauging its present potential and reach, it will be in a much better position to come up with better solutions.
Users’ preferences and mindsets have changed in the past couple of years. They rely more on user reviews and feedback than marketing materials. Through online reputation management, brands can ensure that only positive sentiment gets to see the light of the day. In turn, this will affect their engagement and conversion, resulting in a higher bottom line and consistent sales.
A reputation management policy is a set of rules that a brand set to fight smear campaigns and respond to online feedback. Mostly, it is about setting a specific tone and voice for the brand with infographics and logos.
It also covers responding to users’ reviews and always striving to paint the brand in a positive light. Online brand reputation management policies can differ from one brand to another but the goals remain the same, more or less.
Brand reputation management is a dynamic process. Not long ago, it was all about creating a couple of online profiles and connecting occasionally with users. Today, it is about keeping a sharp eye on the virtual horizon and tracking brand mentions across the web.
For those who want to learn the basics or spearhead an online reputation campaign for a brand, it is best to start with this simple yet in-depth guide. We have discussed the whole notion of modern online brand reputation management and how to play it to the brand’s advantage.
