The Concept of Online Reputation Management: Definitions, Value, Rewards, Tools, and Tools; Step-by-Step Process for Companies.
Introduction
Due to the rapid spread of information on the Internet, the reputation of a company can be created or destroyed in just a few hours. Just one negative review, a viral tweet, or a complaint without resolution can greatly alter how a potential customer sees your organization. So, it’s not surprising that ORM has become one of the major foundations of digital marketplace strategies.
What Is Reputation Online Management (ORM)?
At Digit Cure, we see ORM as more than just an act of managing negative publicity; we believe ORM should be used proactively to establish and maintain a positive reputation on the internet. We have seen the difference between firms who actively control their online reputation and those who do not; firms that successfully manage their online reputations out-perform those who do not, particularly in highly competitive situations.
The Importance of Online Reputation Management for Your Business
Having a reputation online is one of the most critical aspects of your company and should be an important component of your overall digital marketing plan for the following reasons:
- Customers do research on you before they buy from you: Most (90%+) customers have researched or looked you up online prior to making a purchase decision. This means that what they find out about you online, whether it is positive or negative, can influence their decision to purchase from you.
- Trust drives revenue: Establishing yourself as a trusted brand creates a reputation for you as a business and allows you to gain credibility with new customers and maintain your good standing with current customers.
- Negative reviews and search results can cost you potential customers: If you have a negative review or search result, you may lose potential customers to a competitor.
- Reputation helps with your site’s SEO (Search Engine Optimization): According to Google’s E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) guidelines, brands that have a strong reputation online receive Google preference for being listed higher in organic search results.
From our experience with working with clients in a variety of industries, we’ve seen that companies who invested in online reputation management early have fared better when navigating crises and maintaining a consistent growth strategy.
Advantages of Using Online Reputation Management
Using Online Reputation Management (ORM) is useful because it brings many measurable benefits:
- More Creditability: Having a consistent image of your brand across multiple online sites creates trust in your customers.
- Increased Visibility in Search Engines: When you reduce, hide or suppress negative reviews of your business and put more emphasis on positive things about your business on the web, your position in search engine results can improve.
- Better Relationships With Customers: Answering customer reviews (both positive and negative) shows the public that you care about their opinion.
- Competitive Edge: Companies that have an excellent online reputation will usually get more inquiries than companies that don’t have a good reputation.
- Resilience to Crisis: Having a planned ORM strategy in advance can give you some breathing room when an unplanned negative situation arises.
At Digit Cure, we provide ORM as part of a more complete digital strategy; we combine ORM with SEO, content marketing, and social media to increase the equity of the brand we represent.
Online Reputation Management (ORM) Tools
ORM can be organized and based on evidence through utilizing various tools. In particular, monitoring tools (e.g., Google Alerts, Mention, and Brand24) allow you to monitor multiple sources of information in real time. Review management tools (e.g., Birdeye, Podium, and Trustpilot) give businesses the ability to manage all their reviews from various sources in one easy location.
SEO and content management tools (e.g., SEMrush / Ahrefs and BrightLocal) help businesses identify how they rank in search results and identify content damaging to their reputation; they are especially useful for companies with local presence. Through experience, we have discovered that utilizing both monitoring and SEO tools provides the most comprehensive picture of a brand’s overall digital reputation.
A Checklist for the Management of Your Business’ Online Reputation
This is a useful ORM checklist that can be used when auditing and managing your company’s online presence:
Step 1 – Auditing Your Current Reputation
- Search Google for the name of your company and list out everything you see on page 1.
- Look at all major review sites, such as Google, Trustpilot, Yelp and G2.
- Check the mentions and comments of your business through your company’s social media channels.
Step 2 – Claim and Optimize Your Profiles
- Claim your Google Business Profile and be sure to have accurate information about your business.
- Make sure you have optimized your LinkedIn and Facebook accounts, as well as any other relevant social media account for your company.
- Include your business in relevant authority directories.
Step 3 – Monitor Consistently
- Set up Google Alerts for both your company name, your executives, and your product names to ensure you are receiving alert notifications when anything is published about any of these terms.
- Use a social listening or monitoring tool to check and track your company’s reputation in real-time.
Step 4 – Respond to Reviews
- Respond to all reviews, both negative and positive, using professionalism and timeliness.
- Use empathy when addressing complaints and offer solutions to your customers’ complaints.
Step 5 – Produce Positive Content
- Produce high-quality, authoritative blog postings, case studies and published PR content related to your industry and area of expertise.
- Ask satisfied customers to submit reviews about your business and/or your products or services.
- Build quality backlinks from reputable websites to provide your brand with an even greater SERP presence.
Step 6 – Monitor and Improve
- Evaluate your ORM metrics frequently (at least once every 30 days) to determine how your ORM efforts are progressing.
- Modify your ORM strategy according to any trend in sentiment or newly identified reputation threats.
ORM Best Practices to Utilize by Businesses
When utilizing ORM tools or checklists for your business’s online reputation, remember that ORM should not only involve these types of methods but it should also involve creating a reputation culture and maintaining consistency among your business’s employees. At Digit Cure, we have created the following ORM practices based on results from our clients:
- Be proactive – do not wait until you have a crisis; build reputation equity long before you need it
- Respond to negative reviews quickly – waiting too long to respond can erode trust in your business
- Train your employees – so that they understand the relationship between customer service level and an organization’s online reputation
- Integrate ORM with your PR efforts – combine your press efforts, working with influencers and sharing trusted information about your brand through thought leadership to create a consistent brand story
- Don’t fake reviews – authentic reviews and authentic engagement with customers will always create a better return than phony reviews; Google can distinguish phony from legitimate reviews
Conclusion
Establishing and monitoring your business’s online reputation is critical in today’s increasingly complex and competitive marketplace. Being visible online directly impacts customers’ purchasing decisions, the ability to form new partnerships, and long-term success for your business, regardless of size (local vs. global – small vs. large).
Since forming Digit Cure, we have been providing businesses (of all sizes) with data-driven online reputation management (“ORM”) solutions for over seven very successful years. Our ORM team will help you establish an online presence that you have total control over by implementing effective ORM strategies specific to your target audience (customers) in a way that is strategic, authentic, and sustainable.
