An online reputation, or e-reputation, is the reputation of a company, person, product, service or any other element on the Internet and digital platforms. This online reputation is impacted by the content an the organisation distributes, the reactions of and interactions with web users, activity on social networks, etc.
For e-commerce brands, online reputation is very important, as it can affect their online store’s credibility and visibility. What do you see when you type your company’s name into search engines like Google? Ideally, you’d see your company’s site, your various social profiles, and maybe even a news article or two discussing your recent successes.
But that’s not always the case, and you may find some unfriendly reviews or critiques among the search results. You may think that these results are completely up to chance and that there’s nothing you can do to change the irrelevant or unflattering results that appear below your site. Fortunately, that’s not the case at all. So if a search for your company’s name brings up pages that have nothing to do with your business or – worse – negative reviews, you can change that with reputation management strategies.
Reputation management involves monitoring every aspect of your brand’s online presence and doing what you can to improve it. And in some cases, it also involves handling negative press or reviews in a professional manner. But in order to be effective, your strategy should be proactive and not reactive. Many companies choose a reactive approach and only think about their reputation when it’s threatened.
Unfortunately, this makes handling issues much more difficult when they arise, and it means missing a huge opportunity to build a positive name for your business online. After all, reputation management isn’t just about damage control — it’s about improving your image as a whole. Online reputation management is the process of removing negative mentions, monitoring brands image and creating a positive reputation.
Understanding ORM
There are a lot of misconceptions about online reputation management. Some people think it’s just social media monitoring, while others believe it has something to do with public relations, and still others literally have no idea how it can impact business and sales.
In this guide, I’m going to explain the role of online reputation management in today’s business and media landscape. Companies of every size can benefit from having a clear outline of its main concepts.
What are people saying about you? Good online reputation management is not only about reacting well to what people say about you, your brand, or your products and services, but also about whether to react at all and, if so, when. Sometimes a reaction is not necessary, and sometimes a reaction that is too late can cost you millions.
A proactive approach to the matter consists of monitoring your public reputation on a regular basis, and not just when you come to know about a specific event to deal with. How do you do this? The magic tools invented to solve this problem fall under the name of “social media monitoring.”
Online reputation management in a nutshell
This guide is long enough as it is, so I’ll keep my concluding thoughts short and sweet. Maybe it’s just me, but when I first encountered the term “reputation management,” two words came to my mind: expensive and complicated.
As I’ve tried to make clear, my first impression of reputation management was completely misguided. Perhaps it’s a pricier, more complex endeavour for multinational corporations, but for a small business like yours, it couldn’t be more straightforward. That’s fantastic news, considering how much of a boost it can drive in your revenue.
Step one is identifying the online resources that potential customers use to learn about your business. I’ve taken care of that for you: Google, Google My Business, Facebook, and Yelp. All that’s left for you to tackle is step two: taking steps to ensure that those online resources cast your business in a positive light. I can’t do that for you, but if I’ve done my job right, this guide will make it a heck of a lot easier.
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