Online Reputation Management

A single negative review from a customer on your Google My Business profile or an unsavory story peddled against your brand can draw unwanted public attention to your business and discredit your brand if the right steps are not taken to address the issue on time.

This is where proactive online reputation management comes in.

By actively managing your reputation, you can eliminate or minimize negative customer feedback and keep your online reputation as stainless as possible.
In this article, you will learn everything you need to know about online reputation management, what it is, why it’s important and the strategies you can adopt to keep your online reputation tight in every situation.

What Impact Does Reputation Management Have On Your Business?

According to Brightlocal, 3 in 4 shoppers say they trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. Another study reveals that 49% of consumers need at least a 4-star rating before choosing to use a business.

Your online reputation determines how your existing and prospective customers perceive your business when they find you online. An effective online reputation management in the form of positive rating ensures that your business is projected in the positive light.

For example, using various ethical tactics, you can remove negative reviews from your Google My Business listing, while encouraging happy customers to leave positive reviews. Likewise, you can push harmful content further down Google search engine result pages (SERPs) while pushing your best content to the top spot of #1 page on the search engine.

What Are The Channels For Managing Online Reputation?

There are various platforms you can use to control the narrative about your product or service. Some of the channels include:

Paid Media
Paid media refers to all marketing platforms that require payments to promote your product, service or business on search engines, social media and external websites. For example, you can run an ad or Google or Facebook, or promote a sponsored post on Instagram to project your business’s brand, while building relationships with partners and customers.

Earned Media
Unlike paid media, earned media are free coverage of your businesses on other websites, blogs or industry-based publications. Earned media often comes when your business achieves a notable feat or creates a piece of valuable content that is worth sharing, reviewing or reposting. A twitter post from an influencer in your niche could count as earned media if the tweet was done in recognition of the great things your company is doing rather than when they are paid for it.

Social Media
According to Pew Research Center in a post titled Social Media Use In 2021, 72% of Americans say they use social media sites. It was found that a majority of Americans say they use YouTube and Facebook, while use of Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok is common among adults under 30.
The figures point clearly to the prevalence of social media in today’s world and in today’s business environment, especially. With your Facebook or Twitter account, you can easily engage your target audience with interesting content, respond to customers’ complaints and interact with stakeholders.

Owned Properties
Your owned properties include your business website, blog and other digital assets you have control over. These platforms allow you to provide accurate information about your business to customers while building a positive online presence. For example, you can include a section for customers’ reviews, including video testimonials showing how your product or service helped customers to solve specific problems.

Here are some of the main benefits of a successful reputation management plan:

Improved Visibility – A good reputation management plan will help increase the visibility of your business on popular search engines such as Google and Bing, helping you reach more potential customers and build a loyal following.

Increased Trust – If managed properly, a solid reputation will give customers more confidence in doing business with you, making them more likely to return for repeat purchases or recommend you to their friends or family members.

Improved Customer Relationships – A good relationship with your current and potential customers is key to achieving long-term success in business. With effective reputation management in place, you will be able to promptly address customer concerns, fix problems quicker, answer inquiries faster, and provide better customer service overall.

Improved Brand Image – With a good reputation comes greater trust from customers, which leads to improved brand perception over time. This makes future marketing efforts easier since there’s already an established level of trust between the company and its clients prior to launching advertising campaigns or other promotional initiatives.

Having an effective reputation management plan in place is essential for any successful business nowadays. Unfortunately, many small businesses don’t think about this until it’s too late! Luckily, Brooks Internet Marketing has developed tailor-made solutions that help companies track their online presence while also actively improving it through various strategies such as SEO optimization, content creation, social media management, etc.; all these elements are used together in order to provide our clients with comprehensive services that ensure they always have a positive image on the web regardless of any setbacks they might experience along their journey towards success!

How Is Online Reputation Management Different From PR?

Online reputation management (ORM) is a critical component of any successful business model in today’s digital age. It is the practice of controlling how your brand is perceived online and ensuring that there are plenty of positive mentions and reviews associated with it. While ORM may sound similar to public relations (PR), they are two very different concepts.

The primary difference between ORM and PR is that ORM focuses solely on online channels, while PR covers both online and offline venues. ORM deals exclusively with managing your business reputation on the Internet, which includes websites, social media profiles, web listings, review sites, search engine results pages (SERPs), and more. This means keeping an eye out for potential negative mentions or reviews by responding promptly to address concerns or complaints from customers. ORM also involves aggressively promoting positive messages about your brand across all digital platforms to offset any negative press you may receive.

Another key distinction between ORM and PR is the objective each strives to achieve. The goal of PR campaigns is usually to attract attention to a particular event or product launch, either within the company itself or through external sources like newspapers and magazines. On the other hand, ORM focuses solely on improving or maintaining a brand reputation, regardless of whether there has been a specific launch event or not.

Finally, there are differences in terms of tools used as well. With PR campaigns, companies often employ traditional media outlets such as print ads, television commercials, radio spots, etc., whereas online reputation management typically utilizes far more creative tactics such as SEO optimization techniques, blog contributions in relevant industries/topics related to their industry; influencer marketing; content syndication; videos; podcasts; social media posts; website design elements; email marketing campaigns; online surveys & polls; customer service initiatives; pay-per-click (PPC) advertisements and more.

Clearly then, when it comes to managing your company’s digital presence in today’s competitive landscape, it pays dividends to understand the differences between Online Reputation Management and PR, so that you can maximize your success with both approaches accordingly.  By leveraging both traditional media outlets alongside modern digital methods such as those listed above, you can ensure favorable outcomes for your organization’s overall footprint on the internet for years to come.

Social Media Marketing And Online Reputation Management

Online reputation management has become an important asset for businesses in our digital age. Keeping a positive online presence can make or break the success of any company, so it is critical that companies invest in social media marketing and online reputation management to ensure their brand is perceived positively by their customers and competitors alike.

Social media marketing is essential for any business wanting to succeed in our highly connected world. It allows businesses to reach out to existing customers and potential new ones, as well as provide a platform for customer engagement and feedback. Through proper use of social media platforms, businesses can increase their online presence and build credibility with current and potential customers.

In addition to creating an effective social media presence, businesses must also be aware of what others are saying about them online. Potential customers search the web before making purchasing decisions, so any negative reviews or articles could drastically reduce their chance of doing business with a company. To combat this issue, businesses should invest in online reputation management services that monitor search engine results and other websites for mentions of their brand name or products/services. If negative reviews or articles appear, these services can help formulate strategies to improve the visibility of more positive content associated with the company’s brand name.

Another way to maintain a positive online presence is through quality content marketing. Companies should create engaging content related to their industry that provides value to readers while simultaneously promoting their products/services. Content such as blog posts, white papers, e-books, infographics, and podcasts—just to name a few—can generate interest in a product or service while also informing potential customers about the company’s offerings. Quality content demonstrates expertise on the subject matter which helps build trust between a brand and its consumers.

To sum up: Online reputation management requires effort from both sides—the business itself as well as its consumers—to promote an accurate reflection of the company’s brand image across the internet. Businesses must make an effort to create a strong social media presence through quality content marketing as well as engaging with existing and potential customers on various platforms; on the other hand, loyal customers should spread awareness of their favorite brands by sharing positive reviews about them on relevant websites (e.g., Yelp). By taking these steps into consideration when creating an online presence strategy, companies can rest assured that they will maintain a favorable image among those searching for information about their brand online.

1. Respond Promptly and With Empathy.

Sometimes, a proactive approach such as responding fast to a customer’s complaint over late delivery or poor customer service can prevent negative comments or reviews.

According to a Clutch survey, 83% of people expect responses to social media comments in a day or less. Waiting too long before replying to a message either sent privately to you or posted on your page can spawn frustration and cause the affected customers to resort to posting negative feedback.

BUT it’s not just enough to respond with promptness. Response should be provided in an empathic way, showing that you genuinely understand their disappointment and you are sorry about their experience.

Also, let the customers know that you’re committed to solving their problems and are there to help them. You should express your desire to fix the problems and, if possible, provide an easy means through which they can directly contact you so their issue could be solved as quickly as possible.

Replying quickly to messages, complaints or enquiry with palpable empathy is a simple but effective way to satisfy customers and build a positive online reputation.

2. Don’t Ignore Negative Feedbacks

Oftentimes, businesses face the dilemma between whether they should reply to a negative feedback or simply ignore it.

In most cases, the latter option appears to be more tempting and appealing. This is because many businesses believe that replying to negative feedback does no good, but rather draws unnecessary attention to the customer’s feedback.

In fact, according to Womply, 75% of businesses don’t even respond to their reviews. However, a study by Chatmeter reveals that not replying to customer feedback puts companies at risk of increasing churn by 15%.

Negative feedback can be hurtful, but ignoring them isn’t the best way to handle the situation. A study published on Brightlocal shows that of the 82% of consumers who read online reviews, 97% also read the business responses.

Replying to negative feedback or comments is a good way to show the customer that even if they have issues with your offering, you remain committed to taking care of it. This approach not only portrays you as a responsible company, but also sends a signal to other customers that you care about customer satisfaction.

Conversely, not responding to the comment or feedback can come across as a confirmation of what the customer said about you. You can turn the situation around by replying with kind, cautious and empathetic words.

Remember that a business that replies to at least 25% of their online customer review, on average, earns 35% more revenue according to this study.

3. Remove Negative Reviews from Google

No matter how long they have been there, bad reviews can have a negative impact on your reputation and badly affect your bottom line. According to PowerofReviews, 82% of customers actively seek out negative reviews when at the point of making a buying decision.

Also, a Brightlocal study shows that negative reviews can stop an average of 40% of buyers from wanting to buy from a business.

Effective online reputation management is about managing how people perceive your business. This also includes encouraging customers to leave reviews and removal of negative reviews that can have harmful impact on your business.

But the question is, is it possible to remove bad reviews from Google?

The answer is YES. You can delete Google reviews, although this can be a little tricky given that Google is explicit on situations where removal of reviews can be allowed. Google only allows you to remove reviews that violate their policy.

Some of the types of content Google disagrees with include the following:

• Spam and fake content
• Off-topic
• Restricted content
• Illegal content
• Terrorist content
• Sexually explicit content
• Dangerous & derogatory content

Reviews that violate any of the Google review policies can be removed from Business Profiles on Google.

So, how do you remove bad Google reviews?

If you flag any review, check the Google policy to be 100% certain that the review’s content and intentions are prohibited by Google’s inappropriate content policy. Once you confirm that, go ahead and flag the review in your account.

You can learn about how to proceed with flagging and requesting the removal of an inappropriate review from Google by following this guide.

Alternatively, you can ask a customer to edit or delete a negative Google review on your Google Business Profile. Although this isn’t an easy thing to do, it’s certainly not out of options. The success of this option boils down to your approach and how fast you respond to the review. If you’re successful, the customer will remove the negative review and may possibly be converted from an unhappy customer to an ardent promoter of your brand.

4. Stay on Top of Your Search Results.

Search engine optimization (SEO) does more than brand visibility, it plays a crucial role in building a strong and positive reputation for your business online.

By implementing a combination of on-page and on-page SEO, you can increase the ranking of your website and determine which information shows up when customers are searching for the kind of product or service you offer. Likewise, you can push harmful content further down Google search engine result pages (SERPs), ensuring that only the positive information shows up on the first page of Google.

According to multiple studies, the #1 page of Google receives up to 75% of search traffic clicks and has been predicted to be as high as 95% in recent years. The second page only receives 6% of all website clicks.

You can run a simple Google search for your brand name or selected keywords to see what information shows up to customers when they come across you on the internet.

Although the full Google ranking algorithms are not known, there are several ways to improve your ranking on SERPs. These include backlinks, reviews, internal linking, and more.

5. Automate Online Reputation Management.

Keeping up with your brand mentions across digital platforms manually can be extremely tricky. You can save time and effort by using tools or software that automate online reputation management tasks.

One of the easiest ways to keep tabs on mentions is by using a monetary tool like Google Alerts. This tool is very easy to use: simply enter your brand name in the tool and you will receive notifications of media and news stories that mention your company. This way, you can have full knowledge of what people are saying about and quickly respond to comments that can potentially harm your online reputation.

Brand24 is another great tool that offers you the necessary information you need, such as when and where you are mentioned. Not only does it crawl news stories, it monitors social media such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for brand mentions. It can also perform what is known as “sentiment analysis” by looking out for emotion words in reviews to let you know what people think and feel about your product or service.

Online reputation management is a complex and multifaceted process that requires someone with the expertise to do it correctly. When you’re looking for a reputation management company, it’s important to find one with the experience and resources to properly analyze your site and clean up any factors that need attention. Brooks Internet Marketing SEO has been providing effective reputation management strategies for years, making us the perfect choice when you need professional reputation management services.

Having someone on your team who understands this particular field is essential for anyone serious about protecting their online reputation. What sets us apart from other marketing companies is our ability to provide an in-depth analysis of all factors affecting your online presence. We look into things like searches, reviews, and other data points to give you a clear idea of how your brand is seen by people online.

We believe in taking a comprehensive approach when it comes to managing your online presence. This means we will also look into branding elements and present you with a report which outlines what needs to be done for greater success in the future. Our team can help you implement these strategies so that all of your hard work doesn’t go unrewarded in terms of increased visibility, positive reviews, and customer engagement.

At Brooks Internet Marketing, we understand that everyone has different needs when it comes to managing their online reputations—which is why we are flexible enough to create custom strategies tailored to each individual client’s requirements. With our expertise and knowledge of the latest marketing trends, we can assure you that we will create an effective plan that will help you achieve success quickly and efficiently.

Anyone interested in learning more about our services should feel free to contact us directly with any questions they may have; our experienced staff will be more than happy to answer them promptly and accurately. Don’t hesitate to invest in quality online reputation management today!