What To Do and What Not To Do in Online Reputation Management?

Many people are aware of the importance of online reputation management but do not really know the proper ways to do it. Many have been doing reputation management for a while but never seem to see any desirable improvements, and thus, they are left with no choice but to outsource the job to a professional reputation management provider because they are believed to have better knowledge about it.

In online reputation management, there are definitely a lot of right and wrong ways to do it. If you opt to not leave the job to reputation management services and do it yourself instead, you must do some thorough research first about how to do reputation management effectively for an amateur like you. People’s perception towards your brand is definitely something to give high importance with, as it is one of the main factors that affect sales. Online reputation management is definitely not a trial and error; once you have made mistakes, undesirable results are going to take effect right away, and thus, you need to be very meticulous in doing the job.

If you are after a successful reputation management, read through the end of this article to know the basic dos and don’ts when doing ORM. And see a list of the Top reputation management providers that will help you do reputation management successfully the easy way.

The Dos

1. Do Claim Your Google Listing – one of the very first steps to online reputation management is to claim your online profiles on various reviews sites mainly Google business. According to the article The Importance of Claiming Your Google Business Listing – Xudle.com, Google business listing allows you to manipulate the details being displayed on Google business including your business hours, business location, feedbacks, and images. When optimizing your Google business profile, it is recommended to add good quality images, excellent company descriptions, detailed contact information, video clips, and a link that would direct the audience to your website.
2. Do Take Advantage of Social Media – having a business nowadays is never complete without having social media presence. Social media is one great avenue where reputation managers can publish good reputation management campaigns as there is greater chance for people to give comments and share your campaigns. Most people nowadays tend to publish their feedbacks and complaints towards a certain brand through social media simply because it is where they find it the easiest; and as a reputation manager, you need to be informed about how people talks about your brand for you to easily address and resolve such issues.
3. Do Create Quality Content – content is the main tool that you must incorporate in your reputation management strategy. It is the best possible way for you to tell a story about your business to the public. Positive contents can help you decrease the negative contents towards your brand published in search engines, thus helping people have a better perception about you. A good reputation manager publishes a good amount of quality campaigns in proper timing. Do publish these contents to your company’s blog and share it on your social media channels to ensure a good number of audiences will be able to see it.
4. Do Listen to Your Audience – taking the time to listen to your audience is very important in online reputation management. People always appreciate whenever brands respond to their concerns because it instantly makes them feel that they are being valued. Also, listening to people’s feedbacks gives you the opportunity to have a snapshot about how the public currently perceives your brand, thus enabling you to gain ideas and suggestion to better improve your products and services. Be sure to address people’s feedback politely; you may stumble upon rude customers and that is completely normal. Make sure to keep a professional attitude when talking to customers, whether they are nice or naughty.
5. Do Ask for Genuine Reviews – your reputation management campaigns are great tools for increasing positivity in your brand’s image. However, this may never be enough to convince people; therefore, asking satisfied customer to make reviews about great experience is a great idea. People are more easily convinced if they read posts about a certain brand from a fellow customer; the review tends to be more reliable and honest that way. Most customers are easy to make reviews if they encounter bad experience through a certain brand but few are those who make one for an excellent customer experience, and thus, you need to be wise enough on how you are going to make this people scribble a brief review about that good experience.
6. Do Be Thankful – your company’s lifeblood is within your customers, thus, it is important to keep a good relationship with them. Gratitude is one of the main things that keeps it; a simple thank you message can help you make your customers feel that they are being valued and appreciated. There are also other ways to say thank you to your customers; you may offer them next purchase discounts, give a freebie, or other customer rewards. This will help increase positive perception towards your brand and encourage word-of-mouth.

The Don’ts

1. Don’t Pick the Wrong Audience – as an effective reputation manager, you need to make sure you reach the right audience for your reputation management campaigns. All your efforts and time dedicated to creating quality contents will be put to waste if you don’t publish it to your target audience. Be sure to match people’s interest, behavior, and preferences according to what your business has to offer that is how you will reach the right people.
2. Don’t Ignore Feedbacks – people who give feedbacks and reviews are the ones who are most interested to the type of product or service you provide. It is therefore important that you address their concerns. Never ignore feedbacks whether they are positive or negative. You must set yourself a goal to respond to all feedbacks and provide them the best possible solutions they need before they get disappointed and choose to shift to one of your competitors and leave with a negative perception about your brand.
3. Don’t Respond Negatively – whoever is right or wrong, the public’s sympathy always goes to the customer versus you. Therefore, you need to keep a polite and professional attitude when responding to customer feedbacks and queries. Even if the customer is obviously wrong, never make them feel that they are wrong and that they need to shut up, instead, address their complaints and come up with the best possible way to resolve their issues. It would be better to send them a private message inviting them to talk about their concern in private.
4. Don’t Pay for Fake Reviews – a fake and solicited review is a massive no-go when doing online reputation management. If people find out about it, it will not only ruin your brand’s reputation, but it can greatly hurt your sales as well. Solicited reviews are manifestations about how cheap and unreliable your brand is; as a reputation manager you don’t want people to think like that towards your brand. The damage caused by fake and solicited reviews is one of the hardest reputation dilemmas to resolve, thus, never even think about doing it.
5. Don’t Invest on Cheap Services – many business owners and marketers nowadays choose to outsource the job to reputation management providers because they basically have so much on their plate already, and reputation management is not a job that requires less effort. However, not every service provider you will find online are reliable, some may give you promises that they can’t actually deliver. It is ideal for you to do your own research and read reviews of reputation management providers first to ensure you only get the best service you need.

Is Reputation Management Necessary?

You may have heard about online reputation management a heck ton of times already but never really understood its importance. Below is a list of some of the many benefits of reputation management according to the article 5 reasons why you need an online reputation management strategy – InteractMarketing.com; which might make you want to start today.

1. Increase Sales – most purchases online or offline nowadays are brought about by online research; many customers nowadays choose to browse the web first before coming up to a purchase decision. If your brand has a good reputation management, there is a higher chance of people choosing your products and services in the end.
2. Establish Trust and Credibility – trust among your customers is one of the main keys to business’ success. However, you cannot easily impose trust and credibility, you have to earn it. Having a good brand reputation helps you in building a strong bond and trust among your valued customers.
3. Show the Best in You – having a good reputation online allows customers, investors, and associates to see the best your business can give. Through quality campaigns and positive feedbacks, people will generally see the great things about your brand.
4. Online Insights – bad press, speculation, negative reviews, and gossips will take seconds to destroy a brand. If not addressed ASAP, these negative contents towards your brand could hurt your sales big time. Having reputation management allows you to be updated about the current news and conversations pertaining to your brand, thus, making it easier for you to address them on the very first opportunity that you can.
5. Recruitment – reputation management is not only about molding a better perception among the public, it also concerns with your people. Having a good business reputation allows in demand professional staffs to reach you easily. Your human resource serves as the blueprint of your business, and it is indispensable for you to take care of it.

There you go! Those are the things you should and should not be doing in online reputation management. What reputation management provides solely depends upon how you do it; therefore, it is important to keep in mind its basic rules.

Seeking answers on how to improve reputation management? Review of reputation management providers from CrowdReviews.com can help you in selecting the Top reputation management providers to invest to.

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Jeev Trika

Jeev is an executive leader with successful experience building research portals which recommend the best products and services in various highly competitive verticals.

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