Why You Should Use Reputation Management And How To Get Started it in 2021
Your corporation is working hard to make your clients happy. You communicate with your customers one-on-one and constantly introduce new products and features to satisfy the demands of your customers.
But even with the highest level of customer service, a company is expected to see its reputation hit every once in a while.
A customer is writing an angry review for the whole internet to see. And a fewer media report spreads well beyond your expectations.
That’s where online reputation management steps in.
By constantly maintaining your reputation, you can reduce negative reviews from your customers and keep your online presence as constructive as possible.
To aid you to get started, we’re going over why you should use Reputation management, and how to handle your online reputation—including tactics that you can use for your brand.
Let’s dive in!
What Is Online Reputation Management?
Online Reputation Management (ORM) is where you constantly track the brand’s mentions on blogs and social media to fix any negative or misleading statements.
ORM operates primarily by reacting to negative customer feedback online and responding to reports in the media (both social and traditional) that portray the business in a bad light.
For example, you may make a public comment about the content of the article or you may publish an answer to a social media post.
How PR is different from Reputation Management?
Both have the same goal: to represent the business in the best possible way. The biggest difference between the two is how they accomplish this goal.
PR companies act publicly, such as advertising and structured media marketing activities. It’s more a proactive attempt to improve brands instead of mitigating corporate assaults (though PR companies do sometimes handle damage control).
On the other hand, online reputation management is more commonly responsive. It involves knowing and reacting to potentially offensive material from other individuals or businesses.
Almost all of the stuff that goes into ORM is performed internally by brands rather than by an external company.
Why do you need to maintain your online reputation?
The attacks that a company gets online may be multiple, but they are mostly minor attacks—a negative review here, or a low star rating there.
Neither of these blows is worth an entire PR campaign, but they add up quickly.
You need online reputation management to take control of any of these minor fires before they do significant harm.
ORM is also crucial for retaining transparency—a vital component of brand recognition in 2021.
Although there is definitely still space for organised PR campaigns, yet today customers are still searching for spontaneous experiences with businesses. They like to hear from companies in personalized communications, such as a direct message or an Instagram reply.
With online reputation management, the company battles against negative claims by answering them directly and publicly.
How to Get Started with Online Reputation Management in 2021?
With the sheer number of social media and other sites where your brand might be listed, online reputation management (ORM) can seem daunting.
But don’t worry—we’re here to help you out! We’ve brought together five-sound tactics that will help you start maintaining your brand’s online reputation.
Respond Promptly and Empathetically:
Perhaps the best ORM emerges before a negative statement or review is made. When people ask questions, whether they’re sending you a message directly or sharing it on social media, you should respond quickly.
A survey finds that 83% of people expect replies to social media messages in a day or less, so don’t leave it too late. Prompt answers discourage frustrated users from sharing negative feedback and show the client that you put a high priority on assisting them.
It is equally necessary to respond with compassion.
Let the consumer realise that you’re involved in solving their problems and that, ultimately, you’re there to support them. Responding quickly and empathically to inquiries is an easy way to please consumers and develop a good online reputation.
Address Negativity Up Front:
It can be easy to dismiss negative customer feedback. After all, why would you like to attract attention to them by replying? But the fact is, you are doing your business a lot of harm by ignoring dissatisfied clients. Of the 82% of customers who read web reviews, 97% have read company responses. Addressing negative feedback is a way to show consumers that even though they have a problem with your business, you will be around to keep track of it.
When customers leave bad feedback, they always respond. Fix their issues with patience and dedication. Peloton and the Machinery Manufacturer pursue this line of thought by regularly reacting to the critical feedback reported on their website. Through these responses, Peloton lets dissatisfied consumers know that their complaints have been noticed and provides a way for the customer to approach the help team directly to resolve their concerns.
The lack of answer on your part will come as a confirmation of the negative publicity. So taking care of it is a necessity.
Own Your Mistakes:
When the organization faces an actual or alleged scandal, it always works to apologize.
Showing remorse reduces tense client situations and improves consumer relationships. It also indicates that the business is honest and open.
So craft an apology with a willingness to depend to own up to and fix the situation. Answer the key issues raised by customers and the media specifically and explain what you are trying to do to rectify the issues.
Everyone makes mistakes—even businesses. To state what you’re going to do to correct that mistake or keep it from happening again tells customers that you’re an accountable business that’s going to own up to its faults. It will build trust and customers loyalty towards your brand.
Try Your best to Rank on Top of Search Results:
Most advertisers see SEO as a way of keeping their brand visible. But it is also a useful technique to mitigate the exposure of negative news and content associated with your name.
Preferably, you expect your company’s website to appear first while your company’s name is searched. Overall, the number one result on SERPs is getting more than 31 per cent of all searches, and consumers are 10 times more likely to press on the very first search results than 10 no. page gets.
Use an incognito mode to track the brand’s search results so that you can see what consumers see. Competitors can bid on your branded keywords to let their information appear higher than yours, so you should also have to bid on your own unique keywords to keep the top position.
Another way to boost search results is by motivating happy customers to write positive reviews on ranking review sites. This increases the overall ranking, which is what prospective buyers see when clicking in to take a look at individual reviews.
Automate Online Reputation Management:
Instead of manually scouring through blogs and social media on your own, save time by automating ORM activities using apps.
Google Notifications is one of the easiest methods for tracking. Simply insert your brand name in the tool and get updates from the media and news reports that speak about your business. That way, you’ll know straight away when your business is being talked about, and you can reply quickly if necessary.
Wrap up:
Customers judge the brand from what they hear, read and see on the media.
Use online reputation management to improve the public picture of your company that you have worked very hard to build. Answer questions and negative comments and show the existing and future clients that your business is there to address whatever issues they may have. By introducing ORM tactics, you will have more control over how customers view your business.