Online Reputation Management (ORM) is a process of monitoring, managing and building your brand’s online presence when your customer or client starts to searching your name or something that you sell.
ORM in Digital Marketing influences people’s decisions before making a purchase or calling you to hire.
Are you still don’t have clarity in ORM? Then you need to think this way:
- Will people be able to find your brand online?
- What do people see when they search for your brand?
We still make it simpler for you to understand: Does your brand’s online presence bring you business? Sometimes, online reviews are all about your position on a listing, the number of your followers, your search ranking and the online reviews you have.
Why a brand needs ORM?
Nowadays, people are making their decisions by just having a look at your reviews in Google search without any interactions. 70% of customers read your brand’s online reviews before making decisions or hiring you as per the report from Sciencedirect. This is the first step towards positioning your brand and what you want to be known for.
When a person goes through a complete analysis, they will have feelings that might be either good or bad about your brand and what you sell.
ORM is not only bringing positive reviews but also reducing negative reviews, it goes through a process of building your brand’s foundation stronger than your competitors.
How to check my Brand’s Reputation?
Before thinking about improving your online presence, you have to analyse your current situation where people search for your brand.
Search:
Can you able to discover your brand in the search?
If not, start to work on your website and index your website in the search engine.
Are you in the top 10 positions of the search or on the first page of your search for your brand name or related keywords?
Nothing ranks easily in today’s competitive market, you have to work in website SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
Do you find your office or the outlet on the map?
If you are struggling to find yourself on the map, then obviously your potential customers will. Start creating a Google Business Profile (Google My Business)
Do you see missing pieces of information on your Google Business Profile?
Then, you should fill in the missing information and complete the business profile including business name, phone number, address, map location, opening hours etc.,
Reviews & Media:
Does your Business Profile have positive reviews?
Not everyone becomes your happy customer. But try to keep your profile updated on all the possible review platforms such as Google, Just Dial, Facebook etc. In case you are a software.
Are you responding to your customers and negative reviews?
Genuinely address all the reviews, queries and sentiments. In this way, if a new customer reads even your bad review, they understand and get convinced to engage with you.
Has your brand been featured in media sites and recognized?
Start featuring your brand on multiple media sites to gain people’s trust in your brand and make feel them it’s an established or an innovative one in the market.
Social Media:
Are you consistently posting on social media?
Try to be consistent in creating interesting and engaging content that helps you get people recognition.
Do you get messages? What about your average reply time?
Keeping a better average reply time will bring a responsive approach toward your customers and keep your reputation higher.
How many followers do you have on social media?
Create a community by bringing loyal followers to your social media handle by creating niche-based content that adds value compared to others.
Are there any influencers featured in your brand?
Featuring your brand on other’s social media regularly not only brings conversion but also improves your audience’s trust.
What needs to be done to improve my online presence?
Work on your Google Business Profile:
When a person is serious about their hiring a service or purchasing a product, they look for the offices or the outlet to make calls or reach the location.
- A well-optimised Google Business Profile is the secret techniques to rank top in local SEO. Fill in all the possible information including name, address, phone number, opening hours, website and category.
- Positive reviews have the potential to attract more first time customers. Try collecting reviews from your satisfied customers and reply to all the reviews including the bad feedback.
- Use Google Posts to keep your customers informed by posting regular updates about your news, service or product, events etc.,
Improve your search ranking:
Search is the first place where people start finding your existence. Working on search engines will help you capture potential leads and bring sales conversion.
Taking progressive steps is the only possible way to stand out in your business market and kill your competitors who don’t put effort into ORM
- Indexing the website is the foundation of SEO. Start indexing in search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing etc.
- Use relevant keywords without stuffing and write high-quality content addressing the people’s needs and queries which make them feel genuine.
Create profiles on Multiple sites:
When other people speak about your brand, it increases the credibility and recognition of your brand.
- Connect with other credible and reputed websites to guest mention your brand and provide backlinks that might boost your website more than your competitors.
- People search on every directory and other information site. So start creating your profiles on multiple information sites such as Crunchbase, Trust Pilot etc.
Build your social media presence:
These website helps build your reputation outside of your handles and forward your desired target audience to your website for lead or sales conversions.
The best way to reach your target audience quickly and easily is only through social media. Social media builds a community or tribe of like minded people around your brand with higher relevancy.
- Boost your social media by asking every happy customer to mention your brand profile or tag the location.
- Keep monitoring your brand mentions and sentiments by using tools like Hootsuite, Buffer etc. This is one of the quickest ways to track and address the negative feedback.
- If you are into B2B, then start working on your LinkedIn personal branding profile and leverage your connection. LinkedIn has the potential to build a network of target audiences around you and increase your value as a business founder.
Hire some ORM person or an Agency:
- If your schedule is busy or unable to focus on online reputation management, then you should consider hiring an in-house person or an agency of experts.
- Too many bad reviews will damage your reputation, so it is better to have someone to take care of all your profiles to manage and respond to all the messages, reviews and issues.
