Since the digitalization of our businesses and trades, the next big thing has been online business reputation management. Once a business is all set run online, there is a pressing need for managing online reputation. After the quality of your product or service, the second immediate aspect any customer considers is the online image of a business. But before getting into the nitty-gritty details of managing online businesses. Let’s begin by understanding better what exactly is Online Reputation Management (ORM)?
What Is Online Reputation Management (ORM)?
ORM comprises largely of monitoring and managing the online reputation of a brand. And ensuring that the image of the given brand or business is presented in such a way that it attracts and engages a potential customer and gives them a clear impression of what product or services one has to offer. If we engage and approach ORM in the right way, it can do wonders and potentially expand a business by impacting the buying decision of the consumer. According to a research, 81% of customers do some online research before making a purchase. Hence, the online image portrayed by any business can make or break the buying decision of a customer. So, here are three things that can help manage the online reputation of a business.
Perform an Audit of an Online Reputation:
Before getting started with the ORM process, one is advised to go through an extensive reputation audit. This is to know the underlying issues of the business or brand. And to get a clear picture of how the brand is perceived online and what kind of changes are to be made and worked on with. To begin with the same, a brand monitoring exercise should be carried out in the following way.
- Open Google and switch to incognito mode, then enter the name of the brand or business.
- Analyze the sites on the very first page, which appears after the search.
- Look out for what Google My Business-related features shows on that page and assess the presence of the business there based on the ratings, comments, reviews, user-generated photos, etc. displayed there.
- On completing the exhaustive reading of the reviews on these sites. Try to figure out the common factors which can be seen throughout the evaluation of these websites.
Formulate an Online Reputation Management Strategy:
Once the present state of your online business or brand is clear, it is much easier to work on the OR and establish a clear cut strategy needed to deal with exactly what is needed. For establishing an online reputation strategy following things must be considered carefully:
- Policy Documentation
- Urgent/Non-Urgent response
- Response Templates
- Tone of Voice
- Crisis Management Strategy.
Manage Negative Online Reviews:
Once you have a solid strategy in place, managing online negative reviews can be a piece of cake. But still, these negative online reviews and comments can do insurmountable damage to a brand’s name and reputation, if not dealt with urgently and effectively. To defame and degrade the reputation of a brand or a business objectionable content is leaked over websites such as revenge porn sites, and false truth is reported over websites like ripoff report removal which can be detrimental to the reputation of the business. It can be a tedious task to keep a watch over such instances but surely it is worth every second and penny you spend on the online reputation management of a brand or business as its returns can highly beneficial to the overall business and its reputation.