Ultimate Guide To Online Reputation Management

Ultimate Guide To Reputation Management

Table of contents:

  • What is online reputation management?
  • Why is reputation management important?
  • Online reputation management strategies you can use
  • Conclusion

What Is Online Reputation Management?

Online reputation management (ORM) refers to managing, controlling and influencing an individual’s, group’s, brand’s or business’s reputation online. 

Users research opinions and reviews about companies online before engaging with them on various sites and social media networks including Glassdoor, Trustpilot, Google My business,  Yelp, Linkedin, Facebook and many others.

 Any company that has negative reviews or opinions can lose potential customers if it does not manage its reputation online.

Why Is Reputation Management Important?

Reputation management is important whether your business is small, medium, or large. 

  • 82% of consumers read reviews for local businesses, including 93% of people aged 35-54. 
  • The average local marketer spends 17% of their time on online reputation management.
  • The purchase likelihood for a product with five reviews is 270% greater than a product with 0 reviews. [Spiegel Research Center, How Online Reviews Influence Sales]
  • According to experts, review signals make up 15% of Google’s local pack ranking factors. [Moz, Local Search Ranking Factors Survey]
  • Review ratings are the biggest driver of clicks in local search traffic.
  1. Builds customer trust and loyalty: Businesses compete when it comes to winning the trust and loyalty of the customers. What people say on the internet about your products plays a role in such a crowded marketplace as customers stick with and recommend the brand they trust.
  2. Don’t lose customers: You can lose customers if your online reputation is negative. Customers will not deal with companies having poor online reputation. They may deal with your competitors that have a better reputation online with lots of positive reviews.
  3. Insights about your brand: You can gather some valuable insights from what your customer has to say about your business. This feedback about your products or services can help you get an idea about what your customer wants and what can be improved. 

Online Reputation Management Strategies You Can Use

Online reputation management can be overwhelming considering a large number of sites including social media where your brand might be mentioned. Follow the five strategies explained below to manage the online reputation of your brand.

  1. Answer promptly and with empathy: Respond to the questions of the customers as fast as possible. It will prevent customers to post negative feedback in frustration. Also, answering with empathy will show them that helping your customers is your priority.
  2. Address negativity straight: Don’t ignore negative comments and reviews from your customers. You are doing a disservice to your business if you ignore unhappy customers. Instead, respond with patience. Responding to negative reviews will make your customers feel that you are there for them even if they had an issue with your brand.
  3. Admit your mistakes: Apologize if your company is at fault. You can diffuse tense customer situations and even improve relationships with them by showing regret.
    1. Owning up to your mistakes will show customers that your company is honest and transparent.
    2. Also, show the intention to resolve the issue. Issue an apology explaining the whole issue and describe what you are going to do to resolve the matter.
    3. The medium you choose for your apology is also important. For instance, if the majority of the negative feedback is coming from social media then you also need to release your apology on social media.
  4. Automate Online Reputation Management: Save time and effort by hiring professionals and systems that manage your ORM instead of going through your websites and social media manually. Managing ORM can be a full time job for some companies. Establish a process to respond to negative reviews asap.

Conclusion:

Strengthen the reputation of your business by properly managing your online reputation. Establishing a process and getting help from systems and professionals can make your business stand out from your competition with a positive “5 star” reputation.

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