Having an excellent internet reputation will offer your business a myriad of advantages. Your risk rate will be a lot lower, you will attract better talents, and enjoy a higher trust rating. Nonetheless, the benefits of a good online reputation are more than that. People tend to treat companies who have a higher online authority better. Consumers will also give them a chance to repair their mistakes.
Top Benefits of a Good Online Reputation
Digital reputation can be improved or damaged over time. It will take years for you to build your brand image but only a couple of minutes to tarnish it. Luckily, there are ways on how to repair your online reputation. By ensuring that you and your business have a healthy reputation, there will be countless benefits awaiting you.
Better Reputation Leads to Higher Trust Rating
Brand, business, and people with better online reputations enjoy a higher trust rating. People tend to listen to the opinion of others. As your trustworthiness increases, other consumers will follow the trend since they believe you are a reputable company. If you find it challenging to convince people to trust your brand, it won’t be easy to attract business opportunities. Running a paid advertisement won’t be enough; you will need to rely on consumers’ opinions. For instance, you can encourage people to leave reviews about your business. Based on the report, at least 91% of consumers will read reviews before purchasing a product. 70% of the customers rely on public opinions, and 83% of the consumers will listen to the recommendations of their friends. Perform an online reputation repair today if you want the public’s perception of your business to be positive.
Good Online Reputation Will Increase Your Profits
Companies with a good collection of positive online reviews will capture more business opportunities. Today, it is imperative to have relevant, new, and accurate reviews online. Based on the reports released by Harvard Business School, an increase in your star rating at Yelp can improve your revenue to at least 9%. Control online reputation through organic reviews, and you will notice a dramatic improvement in the company’s bottom line.
It Enhances Your Visibility
Online presence is also critical these days. You can achieve this through Search Engine Optimization, like having a content-rich and professionally designed website. You can also boost your authority on social media sites to attract audiences. LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook are all excellent platforms to market your business. Nonetheless, it would be best if you had someone who will manage your account to enjoy the benefits of a good online reputation. You can use a range of software to monitor the visibility of your website.
It Improves Your Business Insights
If you know how to repair your online reputation, you can collect some smart metrics that will help you improve your brand awareness. You can use ORM tools that will help you monitor your online mentions. Listening to customer feedback is crucial since it can be vital in reaching out to new customers. It can help you find ways on how you can refine your business offering. It is also critical for your plans. For instance, you could be planning to launch a new service or product. By paying attention to the public reviews, you can find out what you lack and better ways to provide solutions to the people.
Excellent Online Reputation Helps Build Your Brand
Once harmful content about your business surfaces in the online world, people can access it anytime, and you are bound to lose business opportunities and loyal customers. You will notice how it will detrimentally affect your company’s revenue. Control online reputation, and you can develop a perfect brand image. You can achieve this by being proactive in monitoring different online channels. Moreover, people will be more aware of your brand. Your online authority will gradually improve as your visibility increases, and people will think of you as a credible business.
It Attracts Good Employees
A good reputation will not only attract customers, but it will also help you draw the interest of skilled employees. Having a team of professionals will be fundamental in building a stable workforce. Applicants will flock to a company with an excellent reputation since it will offer them career opportunities. All businesses in different industries would like to attract top individuals. Talented candidates will research the companies before sending their applications or before they accept the position offered by the company. Attracting skilled and qualified employees is one of the benefits of a good online reputation. Based on the research, only 1/5 job seekers will choose to work for a company with a 1-star rating.
It Lowers Your Risk
A house with a broken door and window will attract more trespassers. It means that if a company has a bad reputation, you are at risk of earning a worse reputation. Online reputation repair might sound like an overwhelming task. However, some steps will help you save your damaged reputation and will manage your risk.
- Suppression Strategy– It is the process of pushing down the negative articles to the last page of Google search results. At the same time, you are helping new and positive articles to crawl up using modern SEO methods.
- Removal– There are instances when it is possible to remove content from the web entirely. It should always be the case on sites like YouTube, Scam Group, and Complaints Board. You can also remove articles on personal blogs and local news. For page removal, you will have to reach out directly to the source or through Google.
- Protection– Protection is the process of defending the reputation of your company. Challenging the negative articles can be done by producing content that negates the previous content. It should be relevant to your target market and should be posted on high-domain sites. The visibility and authority of these sites will protect your reputation from any future harmful content.
- Review Management– Encouraging your verified customers to leave an inspiring review about your company. There are a bunch of ways to do this. Start by creating a review management plan. Train your staff to know the right time to ask your customers to leave a review on your company.
- Automated Monitoring– You need to know first that malicious content exists before proceeding with the online repair. You can use an automated monitoring tool that will comb different online channels and platforms.
How Does Your Online Reputation Affect Your Revenue and Sales?
The internet age has increased the level of competition in the business environment. Therefore, public perception will have a direct impact on your revenue and sales numbers. To start, if you know how to repair your online reputation, you are bound to control your expenses. Having a good reputation will reduce your costs on marketing. It is not just related to getting good reviews and posting relevant articles online. It means building a solid brand image that speaks directly to your target market’s primary needs and core values. Once you do this, it would be easy for you to build your list of loyal customers.
What Are the Other Benefits of a Good Online Reputation?
If you enjoy a positive reputation online, you should also be noticing these direct and indirect benefits.
- It improves your authority. It establishes you as the ‘go-to’ or a thought-leader in providing related solutions to a specific industry problem. In a way, this is like free marketing and puts you ahead of your competitors.
- If you have a high online reputation, it translates to increased trust. It also means that there is a higher chance that cold calls can transform into sales.
- A solid online reputation repair highlights the strengths of your business. Consequently, it also serves as the best defense against the malicious propaganda of your competitors.
- A good reputation will also leave a positive first impression on your prospects.
Business Reputation Based on the Latest Reports
If you need more convincing why it is necessary to control online reputation, check the latest stats released by some of the most trustworthy organizations.
- About 84% of marketers today believe that improving the trust rating should be the focus of all marketing campaigns.
- 58% of the executives that work in the Fortune 500 companies believe that ORM must be the center of the branding and marketing strategy.
- Personal recommendations and online reviews influence 79% of consumers.
- 86% of the public will rely on the internet when researching information about the company before purchasing the product.
- 65% of the netizens believe that online content is their trusted source of information.
- 90% of the consumers will likely purchase from a company that has positive reviews.
How Do You Build a Solid ORM (Online Reputation Management) Strategy?
An excellent online reputation management strategy is more than just reviewing the sentiment of the corporate. It should be a comprehensive strategy that involves all essential metrics and continuous monitoring of your reputation. It is how you can enjoy the benefits of a good online reputation.
Research
The first step is to research. As we mentioned, you can not repair something if you don’t know that it exists, where it exists, and why it exists. Google would be an excellent place to start. You can use different search terms such as the variations of your company names, brands, and product names. Be sure to document the result. Your primary goal in this stage is to get a slight idea of the public perception. You need to identify the negative and positive coverage, the industry influencers, and competitors in this industry. It would be best if you also looked at some of the review sites like Yelp. The social media platform is also an excellent source of information.
Integrate
Now that you have a complete understanding of the public sentiment, you now have the power to integrate it into your online reputation repair. You can now answer the questions that have been bugging you before. Comparing your ORM to your competitors would be reasonably straightforward. You should have a clear view of your brand story and what part of it is within your control. It would be best to create an average rating of your review and some of the most common feedback of the consumers. Identify your competitors who are enjoying the best reputation. Determine the steps that they are doing to achieve this.
Build a Plan
The best thing about formulating an ORM strategy is that it is organic. The best method is out there, but it will not just magically reveal itself. As you analyze the collected information, you will eventually realize the best possible techniques to implement. You should create a list of actions that you must take. Identify some of the most damaging articles or reviews online and make a list of possible solutions.
- Create Step-By-Step Process- Be sure that you will systematically address all your problems. You should put it in a spreadsheet and arrange it according to its level of concern. Also, include the actions that you plan to take.
- Know Your Assets– You should identify the most vital asset of your reputation. Focus on the strategies that will provide you with the most significant benefit or improvement in your reputation. For instance, you may have a lively and proactive social media follower. You can probably use them to improve your organic traffic.
- Identify Your Vulnerabilities– All companies have some level of risk related to their reputation. Determine the weaknesses of your businesses and find out how you can strengthen them.
- Spy Your Rivals– If you are running a business, you need to be aware of the ORM that your competitors are using. Most of them will have a point where they are strong. Choose your rival with a solid online presence and authority and reverse engineer their techniques.
Every business should understand the benefits of a good online reputation. Companies that will employ an outstanding ORM should expect to harvest the perks of all their efforts; this includes a higher profit, better employees, lower risk, and increased trust rating.