How Online Reputation is Changing Brand Management as We Know It

Reputation Staff Writer

Three Little Words Hold the Key to Revenue Growth

Online Reputation Management: If the phrase is new to you, it might sound like a new online PR service or a sneaky tactic for spinning a persona on the web. After all, skillfully managing your company’s online reputation implies you have something to hide. Right?

Well, you’re not alone if this is your reaction when you see or hear those words.

Misconceptions abound

There’s widespread confusion about Online Reputation Management what it is and how it can improve customer experience and grow revenue. It’s typically associated with athletes, politicians, and companies whose brands are embroiled by scandal. As a result, Online Reputation Management is seen as the marketing equivalent of blackops in the world of perception influence. It’s confused for suppressing negative content or scrubbing unflattering search results.

No, Online Reputation Management isn’t the art of creating false perceptions. But it is a powerful platform that can change the way you engage customers and catalyze business growth.

Brand new approach?

Online Reputation Management isn’t entirely a new discipline. It’s the evolution of good, old-fashioned brand management and marketing communications in the digital age.

With the advent of the internet, everything changed. Industries were transformed. Businesses were revolutionized. And consumers were dramatically empowered. Consumers are no longer passive recipients of messages. They’re skeptical about company marketing efforts and savvy in determining who they listen to when making key purchase decisions.

Hyper-connectivity gives consumers instant access to the world’s information, such as price points, customer reviews, competitive offerings, and more. It also gives consumers a global platform for instantly sharing their experiences, positive or negative. In a digitally connected world, communications is a highly dynamic exchange between customers and businesses. Everyone has a role to play in the reputation-building process, including you.

Breakthrough in marketing impact

Your business depends on your reputation. The social web is so important for brands that businesses have no choice but to leverage social networks to improve marketing impact. You don’t need an army of PR experts and influence managers. You just need a platform that enables you to monitor your online presence, capture the customer’s voice, and redeploy it across social media.

Here’s How Online Reputation Management Can Help You:

  • Earn more positive reviews
  • Boost your search rankings
  • Improve operations
  • Drive revenue

Earn more positive reviews

Positive online reviews build your reputation. If you only have a few online reviews or many negative ones, you’re losing business. According to Mintel Group, 70 percent of Americans read online reviews before making a purchase. To increase the volume and quality of online reviews, you need a platform to ask customers for feedback across the social web. Solicit their honest opinions. Show customers you value their feedback — negative or positive — and use it to improve customer experience, now and in the future.

Boost SEO

Attracting new customers is vital to the survival of a business. Search rankings play a critical role in discovering new customers. When you increase the volume of online reviews, you also improve your search rankings. Systematically request honest reviews from customers and ensure they’re posted on major review sites relevant to your industry, like Healthgrades, Cars.com, and others. Generate more positive reviews on Google to improve your star ratings. According to the Harvard Business Review, one additional star in an online rating generates a 5 to 9 percent increase in revenue.

Improve Operations

No one enjoys negative reviews. But they’re great opportunities to catalyze business growth. Harness negative feedback to improve operations and customer experience. Carefully analyze customer sentiment to learn what’s working and what’s not. By identifying blind spots and pain points, you can drive improvements in products and services. You can shorten wait times, improve the quality of customer support, and inform strategic business decisions.

Drive Revenue

Customer satisfaction is the engine of business growth. Happy customers say great things about your company. Capture their imagination, interests, and preferences. Engage your advocates across social media. Target your ad spend on Facebook and promote positive reviews among your most enthusiastic fans. Share success stories that increase awareness and drive traffic to your stores and digital properties, where consumers can learn more about your business.

Reputation is Revenue

Reputations grow through consistency and dedication of effort. Online Reputation Management enables you to actively organize digital channels into a single, unified system. You can monitor and improve online sentiment, glean insights to improve performance, and grow revenue.

Given the ubiquity of digital devices, consumers are a lot more likely to engage with companies who have this kind of platform in place. Successful engagement improves customer experience. And a positive customer experience is just waiting to be shouted from the rooftop.

Are you ready to capitalize on customer enthusiasm?

Learn more by downloading our Success Kit for Online Reputation Management.

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