Every day, the online world is becoming more and more intertwined with our reality. Many people consider the Internet not only their main source of information but also completely trust all that they read there, and make decisions based upon that information.
Negative online user opinions undermine brand credibility, and dealing with negative reviews is always a long and painstaking process. Online reputation management ensures that your company’s online image is positive and that your information is as accurate as possible.
How important is online reputation?
Whatever people want these days, they automatically turn to the Internet to find it. In fact, even our offline activities eventually lead us to using search engines. What we find on The Web often directly influences our perception of a person or brand. This is evidenced by numerous sociological studies and polls, which reveal that:
- Two out of three people consider the Internet to be the most reliable source of information about a person or company.
- More than 80% of the damage to reputation is due to rumours being mismatched over reality.
- When looking for local business services, 97% of people read online reviews to help in their decision-making.
Negligent work with reputation in the online space can therefore result in large losses for companies and it is crucially important not only to monitor reviews and track user communications on the Internet but also to take competent and timely steps to correct any inaccuracies. Overall, it is imperative for individuals and businesses to maintain and continuously improve their established reputation.
What does reputation work include?
Contrary to popular belief, this is not only about spreading positive information about the company. There are broader process involved, such as:
- Careful and daily study of all brand mentions on the Web. It is important to keep track of any trends or patterns, as even one negative review can grow out of control if not responded to in time.
- Regular monitoring. This is an extremely important step in building and maintaining a positive reputation. It’s human nature that people tend to be led by negative headlines more often than the non controversial ones and search engines interpret these actions as evidence of popularity and relevance. This inaccurate and damaging material can be carried along in search engine results, like a cancer spread. Therefore, it’s very important to competently and systematically work through negative mentions with the help of online reputation management experts. They immediately start with the withdrawal of the conversation in the online space and replace it with positive and accurate information.
- Creation of positive content for promotion. These are optimised articles, videos, images and messages that are published in accordance with the chosen strategies on key sites. Reputation work in this connection also includes displacing negativity and promoting positive content so that potential customers will see this when they launch their search enquiries.
- Editing and deleting inaccurate information. This aspect of the work is carried out using all relevant legal means and processes, usually in cooperation with the administrators of search services and key sites.
How does online reputation management differ from SEO and PR?
Most business leaders have already realised the importance of a positive company image on the Web. However, not everyone understands that search engine optimisation (SEO) and competent public relations (PR) can create and consolidate the highest quality results.
SEO is a tool for attracting organic traffic that affects the ranking of keywords. The goal of search engine optimisation is to rank a particular site as high as possible for as many queries as possible.
PR is ideal for creating and changing relationships between a company and its users. But its influence on the issuance of information in search engines is extremely limited. Online reputation management is a prime activity and majorly involves filling the first pages of search engines and key sites with positive content containing brand-focused keywords.
Therefore, the bottom line is that the best online reputation management strategy uses both specific techniques, SEO and PR, to achieve more accurate and varied content.
How to work with a reputation when it seems that there is nowhere to grow?
There are many misconceptions about online reputation management. One of them concerns the belief that, upon reaching a certain high level, you can stop, take a break and sit back and revel in the benefit from your cosy positive image. Wrong. It’s not only a foolish assumption it can be a dangerous one in the long run. Most search engines have algorithms designed to provide users with the best and most relevant set of search results for a query. Accordingly, if the active presence of the brand in the network is not maintained, information about it can eventually be knocked out of the ring by aggressive competitor material. Work with reputation therefore should never be complacent but carried out regularly to include:
- Analysis of the company’s rating on key sites, map services, specialised sites and blogs.
- Study of competitors. User reviews of companies with a similar product or service will show not only the possibility of improving reputation, but also outline the direction of movement.
- Work with negative reviews, which helps to identify weak links in the company, track the effectiveness of business processes and individual employees.
- Formulation and periodic revision of tasks that are set both for individual divisions and for the entire company.
- Selection of the most suitable tools for the implementation of the tasks, followed by assessment of the results achieved.
- Displacement or removal of negative.
The most effective way to maintain a positive online brand reputation in the long-term is to gradually build a stable and positive presence. For this, a set of steps is used, including monitoring the mentions of the company on the network, working to dispel the negative while promoting positive content. In addition, the reputation of any brand needs constant support and improvement. All this is achieved through the coordinated work of the company’s departments, optimisation of business processes, combining SEO and PR tools, all under the guiding light of hands-on online reputation management (ORM) techniques.