Online reputation management (ORM) is the practice of crafting strategies that shape or influence the public perception of an organization, individual or other entity on the internet. It helps drive public opinion about a business and its products and services.
To break it down ORM is a multi-faceted concept that is aimed at creating a positive public perception of a brand, business, or person over internet platforms. Online Reputation management includes monitoring reputation, addressing any content or customer feedback that could damage the brand, and using strategies to prevent and solve problems that could damage an entity’s reputation.
More than half (54%) of digital marketers consider ORM “very necessary” to their company’s success.
Online reputation management is critical for businesses to maintain positive brand identity in the eyes of customers. As more digital marketers understand the value of ORM in growing their business, they choose to devote more time and energy toward monitoring their brand online.
Online Reputation Management is when one addresses, monitors, or mitigates the search engine results pages or mentions in the website content. Keeping this in mind, it’s extremely important for every company to not only monitor their web presence but how someone or something is viewed based on an internet search. Every single second, users are posting comments, blogs, pictures, videos, and other web content that always changes internet search results. Knowing this from experience, many users as business owners will want to influence those results.
Having your NAP (name, address, phone number) on your website is extremely important, but it’s also important to have an account across major directories like Yelp, Yellow Pages, and directories for your specific industry. Having these citations not only makes it easier for your customers to contact you, but to improve your rankings on the search engines.
Blogging is another great way for adding content and maintaining strong citations. Adding content about trending topics or what is new about your business will engage your readers and even make them want to share it. There’s free marketing right there. Overall, this will drastically improve your online visibility and get a positive online reputation.
It’s common for businesses to have various names, phone numbers, and even addresses online. But this is not recommended for SEO and reputation reasons. Check all major search engines, directories, and online review platforms and ensure that they have the same business name, phone number, and address. This will prevent any customers from going to the wrong address or calling the wrong phone number, all while getting rewarded by Google with a high ranking.
You can encourage positive reviews by sending your customers an email asking them how they like your product or service, and to rate your company based on their experience. It’s also important to not wait too long before sending the email as many won’t have the motivation to respond. Many won’t respond, but the more emails you send, the higher your chances will be of getting the positive reviews you wanted.