Your business's online reputation may be digital, but that won’t stop it from making a serious impact IRL. A strong reputation management strategy can attract new customers and deepen existing relationships. A lax approach, on the other hand, can alienate both audiences.
Make sure the web is working for you, not against you. Use this article to learn how to establish a comprehensive online reputation management strategy.
What is online reputation management? Online reputation management involves actively monitoring and influencing how your business is perceived online. The main goal of this process is to control the online conversation surrounding your brand using various strategies to ensure that when people search for you online, they come across information that paints a favorable picture.
Why does online reputation management matter? Your online reputation management impacts more than just your marketing team. Do it well, and teams across your org chart will feel the benefits in the following key areas:
Brand image: When people search for information on your business, everything they find works together to paint a picture of what it might be like to be a customer. Strong brand reputation management practices ensure that the picture is a good one.
Risk mitigation: Managing your online reputation requires you to be proactive. That proactivity plays a major role in crisis prevention and risk mitigation—two must-haves for growing businesses.
Business expansion: A good reputation has a snowball effect. The better your reputation gets, the more customers you attract. In the past, this work was relegated to slow-moving offline endeavors. Today, the internet can get this process going faster than you can say “avalanche”.
Investor relations: Your business’s online reputation matters to more than just your customers—investors also use the internet to vet potential investments.
Consumer insights: At the end of the day, your business’s online reputation is made up of feedback—praise, ideas and concerns ranging from “inconsequential” to “absolutely vital”.
What factors contribute to online reputation management? The internet can be a bit of a double-edged sword. There are so many ways to build your business’s reputation online. There are also a lot of ways for that reputation to be damaged.
Social media: Social media has brought a new level of transparency into consumer conversations.
Review sites: Your business’s star rating follows your brand across the web.
News publications: News publications impact more than just traditional public relations initiatives.
Influencers: In a way, influencers are like their own digital publications.
Better online reputation management in 5 simple steps Whether you’re introducing these practices for the first time, or you have a few online reputation management processes in place, these tips will help strengthen your approach to better protect your business.
Identify the channels used by your market segment Where is your reputation being forged online?
Monitor your online reputation through mentions When a user tags your brand handle in a social media post or leaves a review on a business page, they expect a response quickly.
Identify the topics around your business needs Once you’ve got reacting to mentions down, it’s time to get more proactive with your approach.
Take charge of the narrative As you gather insights from your online reputation management processes, you’ll begin to identify trends in consumer sentiment.
How to choose the best reputation management software for your business The internet is a big place. If you rely on an individual or even a single team to manage your reputation online, chances are you might miss something vital.
Take a smarter approach to online reputation management. Your time is valuable. Don’t use it to sift through the countless comments and posts made about your brand on the web. Instead, leave that to professionals like us at CIELO Agency. We specialize in creating and maintaining positive online reputations for businesses like yours. Contact us today to learn how we can help you establish and maintain a strong online presence across all channels.
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