No matter what type of business you own, be it a small, locally based brick-and-mortar, spread throughout the nation with several chain locations, or even solely online as an e-commerce shop, your business has a very real digital presence and online reputation. If you have ever wondered what that presence or reputation is, you need only do a quick Google search to find out. Be warned, though, that you might be surprised by what you find. What appears toward the top of those search results is the digital reputation your business has at the moment. If this is less than ideal, or you simply want to make sure it stays positive, then you want to adapt to the dynamic digital scene with evolving reputation strategies like those offered at Status Labs through online reputation management.
What Is Online Reputation Management?
Known in the industry as ORM, online reputation management is a type of reputation management that specifically addresses the online or digital reputation of your business. In essence, your business’s online reputation is what customers think of your brand, which is communicated through reviews and other online activity. Managing this narrative, whether it is fairly earned or not, is where online reputation management — like it is offered through innovative services such as Status Labs — comes into the picture. Management strategies can be proactive or reactive, depending on what type of ORM your business needs to address.
Why Your Reputation on the Digital Scene Matters
Today’s consumers are highly intelligent and eager to home in on exactly what they want, be it a certain type of product or service, or even an overall mission of a brand. As a result, they place a great deal of importance on the way a business is portrayed online through consumer reviews and the like when choosing whether to give them their hard-earned money through a purchase. In fact, according to stats on Zippia, 81% of shoppers choose to research a business online before they make a purchase. And according to Trustpilot, 90% of consumers said they would not consider frequenting a business with a bad reputation.
Therefore, if your business has garnered a few negative reviews here and there that have led to a reduction in your overall online reputation, this could be a real problem going forward if you don’t take steps to change your online reputation. It’s worth noting that negative reviews or news about a brand have three times the effect of positive news, so when negative reviews are coming in and the first thing potential customers are seeing is negative — or contains some negative comments — this can quickly get bad for a business. So, it can safely be said that at least in terms of online reputation, all publicly is not in fact good publicity.
Changing The Narrative Surrounding Your Brand
Making strong steps toward a positive online reputation has a great deal to do with search engine optimization through ORM. SEO strategies will work to increase your brand’s visibility in search results and enhance your overall presence online. Therefore, by addressing this one area, your business’s SEO practices can significantly impact how you rank in search results.
SEO management is closely tied to comprehensive online brand management. It includes tasks like creating quality content that evokes positive comments and boosts engagement, optimizing your website so it performs well and ranks high, developing a social media presence that promotes customers feedback and positive interactions, and more.
All these combine to help formulate a positive digital or online presence for your brand. In reality, what comes up with your business search is what will determine not only your reputation for potential customers but also for investors. Keep in mind that less than 5% of all consumers will scroll down past the first page of Google, so what shows up first is most important.
Using ORM To Improve SEO and Boost Your Brand
An online reputation management company like Status Labs will help you implement the right kind of SEO practices to promote your brand’s online reputation. This means that if you are suffering from negative reviews or search results, SEO can be used to counteract this and start to change your brand’s reputation. As a result, even if your brand has suffered in the past in terms of its online reputation, there is hope for a turn around that will have you back on the mountaintop and in control of your own reputation once again.
