The word Reputation has always been a concern for individuals, organizations, businesses, etc. Reputation is a social construct based on the opinion other people hold about a person or thing. To have a good reputation in society, people worked hard in olden days in order to achieve respect and recognition from their fellow beings. Times have changed and people are moving to online platforms and forming groups, forums, etc. Having said that, Online Reputation is gaining popularity as well.
Before there was internet, customers did not have much freedom to search about the business or products and words from known people were trusted more. If someone had a bad experience, the wind would flow in that direction towards the people he/she knew and the world believe the assumption without acknowledging that requirements are different from person to person.
When Google was founded in 1998, it widened the opportunities for various marketing methods and branding strategies. Originally, Public Relations included events, print media, and campaigns for networking. After the internet access was given to the public, PR had become a part of Online Reputation Management (ORM). Journalists were the only source of content before after Social Media came into existence, it gave power to common people to put their opinions upfront, regardless of their qualifications.
Importance of ORM
Online reputation management focuses on the management of product and service search results within the digital space. It is very essential for an organization to have a good reputation in the digital world since the audience and influence are huge. ORM includes Search Engine Reputation Management (SERM) which encourages positive content in the search results. It is not just about web development or website optimization anymore but many other things that come after the website goes online.
As seen in today’s world, one hashtag or comment, positive or negative can change the perspective of the audience completely. This is where ORM is helpful since it attempts to shape public opinion and perceptions towards an organization or an individual by influencing, sometimes manipulating information about the business, product or person. For businesses, reputation management usually involves an attempt to bridge the gap between how a company perceives itself and how others view it.
Examples of successful Reputation Management campaigns
Remember when Airbnb has changed a few years ago, the company was hit with heavy criticism for its suggestive shape and its startling similarity to the existing logo of an 11-year-old IT automation company. Introducing a new logo for an already successful company with significant reach and brand value is bold and often met with a lot of backlashes.
Though many designers from Google, Medium, etc came up with their views on the logo and they appreciated the efforts and bringing the real meaning of the company in their new logo- Belo. It has many aspects of a great logo — strong, clean lines that read well both large and small. You can clearly see the intended symbolism: the “A” and two “B”s, a shelter, a heart, a paperclip. It comes with a bright coral color that’s very of the moment, and not yet overly used. It’s easy to draw and memorable was said by a designer from Medium.
However, despite all the judgment, the brand knew how to deal with the criticism by creating this sarcastic infographic of the results. After the criticism received, the company was upfront and bold and believed in its PR which is why it is famous, globally.
The strategies
Having said all of the above, let us now look into the best 5 strategies you can follow for your ORM campaigns:
- Separate customer support handles.
It is equally important to give full attention to your customer’s feedback and queries. Also, responding quicker makes it easy to gain trust from your clients. All famous brands have separate twitter handles for their customer care which takes care of the problems as an entirely different department while you can still continue to create something amazing and not worry about the complaints. - Quick but polite and understanding replies.
As I said earlier, fast replies are always a good way to create an impression on your customers. But the replies must not just be fast, it must be polite too so that your client can openly put forward their concern. - Recommendations
72% of the people believe in the peer recommendation according to a survey. This means all the content that is being published should be brushed off. Replacing the content with positive and user-based content. Should contain all the things that a user will want. This is one of the important strategies of ORM. - Identifying the influencers that can change the perspective of the audience you want to target.
Know who are the influencers because these are the people who can drag or divert the attention of the influencers. Publishing content that is of high quality like blogs, articles, reviews while being also active in forums. Search for the negative commenting people and gather all the positive comments and then release them online. - Invest in Guest blogging
Guest blogging is the cornerstone of reputation marketing. It has several goals such as attracting inbound links from external websites with high Domain Authority (DA) and other metrics of quality that link to positive reputation-related web pages. Also, boosting your image as a thought leader in your niche or industry. Creating an overall positive image for you or your company. And it draws traffic to your owned web properties
There are other tactics such as
• Creating an online presence in all possible social media platforms.
• Usage of tools to keep track of online reputation and activities.
• Requesting to remove negative comments.
• Participation in Forums and other Networks.
• Getting mentions of the business or individual on third-party sites that rank highly on Google.
• Creating fake, positive reviews to counteract negative ones.
• Proactively responding to public criticism stemming from recent changes.
If you are a business owner, I’m sure you know that having a good reputation is important for business growth. The same goes for your digital reputation, as most people in today’s digital business lifestyle go online when they have a problem or require information regarding a specific product or service.
At Future Revolution, we provide you the best ORM tactics and help you increase sales, build trust along with creating a good online presence. Providing one of the best web services in Bangalore, we provide you with SEO friendly websites and Social Media Marketing with other services as well.
As a Website Design Company Bangalore, we have a capacious domain savvy persons, with vast experience in technology. So, come join us for your success
To Know More:
- +91 8448449784 / 7760556363
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