In essence, online reputation management or ORM is all about monitoring and managing the reputation of your brand on the internet, and about making sure your business is well-presented and prospective customers leave with a positive impression about the person you are and what you offer. It goes much beyond the quotes about reputations you find on the internet and social media.
However, many channels fall under Online Reputation Management, and because it might seem daunting at first to accept all these channels, we’ll look at them from the perspective within what we call the PESO model.
Paid Media for Online Reputation Management
Paid media is the entire web-based content that requires the payment of a fee to promote your brand’s websites, services, etc. It includes channels such as social media advertisements, Google Ads, sponsored posts, or promotional posts by influential people.
It’s a fact that ORM is quite simple -You have complete control over the placements you make. You must be sure to check for any opponents are advertising “against” the brand you represent.
However, the majority of paid media websites have strict rules against these practices. A single complaint is enough to resolve the negative sentiment issue.
Earned Media
Earned media is the coverage your company receives from other platforms for without cost. These include:
- External Articles
- Forums
- Reportage from the press
- Blogs and Vlogs
Certain industry-specific listings from third-party sources (Glassdoor, Capterra, Trustpilot are all in the same category).
Google My Business would also be considered earned media if customers write reviews about your company without you having control over the reviews. Media earned should always be the main focus for every business. These sources create an optimistic outlook and build confidence with visitors to websites.
Owned Media
Media owned by you is mostly linked to your blog and website which are the assets that are yours to control. Therefore, if you are working to improve the rankings of your pages that are of the utmost importance to the brand’s reputation and image, you’re on the right path.
While your role in managing your online reputation is made easier when dealing with websites you own but don’t forget that you need to set up an all-encompassing ORM procedure. the Google’s Danny Sullivan has put it when discussing Google, “We’re not an honest engine. We’re able to give you information, but we’re not able to provide the truth about something.”
In essence, he says that Google will display only the most popular page on your brand-named search. Therefore, the popularity of your brand is important, and isn’t the only thing that matters. Therefore, you must concentrate on the various media outlets your brand’s name is talked about and attempt to maintain your brand’s reputation across them all.
Parted Media
To top off your website, your company’s accounts on various social networks are the online version of your business card.
It is crucial to keep track of the brand mentions that appear in other accounts, and deal with the mentions that portray negatively your business.
Unresolved complaints, negative remarks on Twitter and a low star rating on Facebook can severely damage your reputation and put off potential customers. It is important to pay attention to the content of your Twitter account in just as you take care of any other wall in your brick and mortar establishment.
Conclusion
Online reputation management is an example of this bottom-up communication, where your current and prospective customers can have the opportunity to speak about your company’s image. Thus, online reputation management is a crucial component of every business’s marketing strategy, and growth plan for every business that exists, even those that aren’t online yet. Your name is being mentioned and are likely to continue to talk about you. Your task is to set up a solid reputation management strategy that can navigate through all online discussions, offer solutions every now and then and create positive feelings.