A Beginner’s Guide to Online Reputation Management

Have you ever been in a situation when someone writes a negative review about your online business, that could be misleading or inaccurate?

If this puts you in a worried situation, then you must consider online reputation management (ORM) very seriously, but you must be thinking about what this ORM is and how it can help you to protect the reputation of your online business?

It could take 20 years to build a reputation and 5 minutes to destroy it. If you know about it, you will do things very differently. Warren Buffet

In this detailed guide you will get everything related to online reputation management, and you will also get proven tactics to secure your business's online reputation efficiently.

What is online reputation management?

It is in your best interest that you should know about online reputation management. Online reputation management acts as a key factor in utilizing digital marketing tactics, in which a process of monitoring, managing and importantly influencing positively the ideology of your business across the internet. While digital PR and ORM may look similar, there is quite a difference between the two. ORM is more focused on responding to customer reviews and removing false information that could damage your company's reputation.

Also inviting customers to contact you directly if they have any issues, maintaining your internet reputation shows them that you appreciate their opinions.

ORM focuses on social media, websites, and Google because customers leave reviews there. Therefore, if your business has a negative review on any of sites, it may appear in Google's search results. That you should not overlook at any cost if you are serious about your online reputation.

What is the importance of online reputation management?

Online reputation management is especially important as it plays a significant role in your online presence. If this is done as it should be then it will help you gain the confidence of your existing customer base and protect your business's integrity.

ORM is also important due to the following:

1. Some online places may carry unequal influence.
2. Writing a review for an online business has become easy.
3. Replying to the reviews by taking them positively works wonders, as it helps you to gain back the confidence of your customers.

Now, let us dig deep into these concepts and learn more about them

Some online places may carry unequal influence

The first thing that comes to mind when someone thinks about online reviews is Google reviews. This is because Google has made it simple to write a review for any company, which makes them a key area of interest for ORM.

The "write a review" button is easily found in the search results, all a customer needs to do is search for the brand.

This highlighted star rating can be seen on Google maps, these ratings are important as these can make or break your business's reputation. It is necessary for businesses like hotels and restaurants to maintain a good star rating and especially for small businesses.

For instance, if there is someone looking for a local restaurant, they can get filtered results from Google Maps to only show the businesses with specific ratings.

If there are bad reviews or your business does not have a good star rating, then there is a greater chance that you might miss out potential customers and sales based on your online reputation.

To manage, check and respond to your customers review it is suggested to sign up for Google Business Profile

Google is also adding new search forums to the search results, that is the reason you may have seen Reddit has started to appear more frequently in Google search results.

Here is what it looks like:

In the search results, this function displays forum results from websites such as Reddit where diverse individual experiences have been considered advantageous.

Because they may be highlighted in the search results, these personal interactions could endanger your company's reputation, which is one of the causes for ORM.

For managing your online reputation, you can no longer afford to overlook sites like Reddit. You will need to keep an eye on and keep replying to your customer, at the very least.

Writing a review for an online business has become easy.

As we have seen, now it has become easy to search for a brand and write a public review for it. Now a days anyone can do this by selecting one of the following.

1. Google local reviews
2. 3rd party review sites e.g., Trustpilot
3. UGC sites like Reddit, Quora

Replying to the reviews by taking them positively works wonders, as it helps you gain back the confidence of your customers.

It is quite common that customers leave their reviews, sometimes those could be bad ones, in this case ignoring them is not a clever idea. This will show that your business does not care about its customers. Therefor it is important for online reputation management purposes that you respond to them positively.

This is an example where a customer left a negative review, but the owner of the business took it positively and responded in a decent way.

To put it another way, replying to customer reviews shows a dedication to their needs and can minimize the damage that could cause by a negative review. Additionally, it can help in keeping current clients and drawing in new ones.

Now these were a few of the potential damage a bad customer experience could do to the businesses. Let us now learn how you can manage your online reputation on Google and social media.

How to Manage ORM on Google and Social Media?

So far, we have learned how important online reputation is for businesses. The following are six proven tactics you can use to improve your online reputation.

1. Pay Attention to Online Discussions

Pay careful attention to what your customers are saying about your brand online. This covers blogs, industry forums, social media platforms, and review websites. To monitor mentions about your company, you can get help from Mention, Brand24, or even Google Alerts. You can react swiftly and efficiently if you stay aware of these discussions.

2. Establish Valuable Relationships with Your Customers

Customer engagement depends on building loyalty and trust. Spend some time responding to messages, reviews, and comments, no matter if they highlight your brand's strengths or suggest places for development. In addition to proving your commitment to client happiness, a positive and humble response to criticism can help you win back customers.

3. Highlight the Best Aspects of Your Brand

It will be a wise move if you take charge of your story instead of waiting for someone else to tell it. Provide updates on your accomplishments and remarkable events. You can create genuine, excellent content for your website and social media accounts to build a favorable impression of your business.

4. Appreciating Positive review

Satisfied customers act as backbone for success of your business. You can urge them to post reviews on industry-specific websites or on search engines like Google and Yelp.

5. Invest in SEO

To guarantee that positive content about your company appears high in search engine results, for this purpose invest in search engine optimization (SEO). This can lessen the effect of any negative information.

6. Keep all your channels consistent

Make sure the brand image and messaging of your company are the same on all internet platforms. This covers your website, social media accounts, and any other online spaces where your company is active.

Final Thoughts

Consumer perceptions of your company are influenced by online reviews. Remember that your company's reputation is influenced by both your own statements and by what customers have to say about it on internet review sites.

You can improve your brand's reputation and even increase financial results by responding to reviews that are neutral, negative, and positive and by using the best practices and examples mentioned above.