Monitoring, managing, and safeguarding your online presence and reputation is the practice of online review management. One of the most important variables defining your success in the modern digital age is your online presence. Potential clients and consumers, whether you’re establishing a Digital Marketing Team for your business or looking for a job, frequently research candidates online before making judgments.
We’ll provide you with a definition of online reputation management and list the top 12 advantages of using it for your company.
Online Reputation Definition
The term “online reputation management” (ORM) refers to all the actions a company takes to monitor, manage, look into, and reshape leads’ and customers’ impressions of a brand. online review management requires constant monitoring and reaction to brand references across a variety of digital interfaces.
- Social media platforms
- Sites that review products (both on Google and platforms like G2 and Capterra)
- Websites, such as news sites & blogs
- Videos
- Press coverage
- And Others.
Main Benefits of Managing Your Online Reputation
The following are the main justifications for thinking about adopting an online review management procedure for your company:
1. Improving Brand Credibility
No matter how much time and effort you spend making sure your consumers are happy, negative reviews will eventually appear. Customers can also be harsh; according to PwC, 32% of customers would stop doing business with a particular company after just one bad experience.
Having said that, the important thing is how you react when a negative brand reference occurs. Maintaining your online reputation and responding to both positive and negative comments, reviews, and mentions are necessary for developing trust. Responding politely to criticism and, where appropriate, issuing an apology are the best ways to show your concern for your customers.
2. Boosting Customer Engagement
The more channels your company monitors and participates in, the better your chances of increasing client engagement rates. By employing both a proactive and reactive strategy for client engagements, this is made possible. You can keep clients interested in your company by being active online, offering them discounts, and promptly answering their questions and comments. They will be less inclined to leave and join your rivals as a result.
3. Increasing Sales
Even while we still occasionally shop on impulse, most of us have researched products online before. 81% of buyers agree that they use the Internet to research products they intend to buy before making a purchase. Sometimes it just takes one unfavorable review to have us change our opinions and tilt further in the direction of alternative products. A strong web presence and more sales are related; the more favorable company mentions that surface, the better the chances of making a sale.
4. Optimizing Online Marketing to Trigger Reactions
Keeping an eye on your internet reputation can be a terrific way to get ideas for new marketing strategies. You can check how your audience responded to your previous content and marketing activities via a service like sentient. Here’s an illustration of how people responded to two announcements made by a bank, one of Poland’s largest banks.
5. Building Trust
Trust is the foundation of enduring client relationships, which supports corporate growth. Replying to brand mentions in your owned media alone won’t be sufficient, as was stated before in the reputation management definition. Even though your business currently has a positive reputation, you shouldn’t take it for granted because several dangers are just around the corner. Just imagine what may happen if you disregarded a prominent website’s unfavorable review of you!
6. Showing Customers that You Care
You may show your concern for your customers by monitoring what they are saying about your company online and responding to both positive and negative comments. Naturally, we all want to hear only compliments, and it’s much simpler to reply to them. Negative feedback, meanwhile, can also work in a brand’s favor over time. Customers are a crucial source of feedback, so pay attention to what they say and address any problems. Never disregard depressing opinions since doing so could cause a social media disaster. Building better relationships with customers will result from your ability to respond to both positive and negative feedback.
7. Encouraging Recommendations
Did you know that 90% of consumers trust recommendations from friends when it comes to brands? Given that customers casually discuss businesses 90 times every week, managing your internet reputation is unquestionably something you should be concerned about. It’s crucial to ensure that you receive a steady stream of recommendations via word-of-mouth because people prefer to trust other people more than they do advertising. This can be done by managing your online reputation strategically.
8. Increasing Web Traffic
Positive information or viewpoints have the potential to spread quickly, especially when they originate from reliable sources. You can find a reputable news outlet praising your service, for example, by using an internet reputation management tool. This will cover any sudden spikes in organic traffic. This will help you acquire more momentum. To improve your reputation, share favorable reviews or brand mentions on all of your online networks. If done properly, this could increase conversion rates.
9. Attracting Employees
Positive online review management can increase sales, but it can also attract a lot of interest from potential employees. The top applicants are eager to work for organizations with a strong reputation, and given the fierce talent competition, it might assist businesses in attracting the best staff.
10. Easier to Deal with Potential Crises
Brands that try to keep a positive internet reputation are generally better prepared to handle any crisis. particularly if they employ an ORM service that notifies them whenever terms associated with a crisis are spoken in connection with their brand. Additionally, if a company’s reputation is generally excellent, customers will be more willing to overlook a minor slip-up.