What Is Online Reputation Management - The Complete Guide

The internet’s global outreach has enabled users to access multiple types of information about a brand in just one click. This has created a scope for users to easily judge whether they want to opt-in or out of a particular brand’s subscription.

In today’s digitally empowered world, getting listed on the first page of Google is considered to be a success. This is because users generally engage with businesses that are listed on the top. The internet at present has become more than just a source of information. Users entrust the internet for whatever it displays to be good. Therefore it is necessary to look good on the internet to stay connected with the user. This is where ORM or Online Reputation Management comes into the picture.

What is online reputation management?

Online reputation management is a practice of structuring a brand’s reputation on the internet by displacing misleading content, uploading trending content, and making it visible through the help of other internet algorithms.

For a user, the brand must display or provide correct solutions for their queries. If the questions are not resolved, a user may not trust the brand for their requirement, thus making the user provide negative comments on the brand, which is then marked by the internet algorithms. This takes a heavy toll on the brand’s reputation as it slips down from the search results giving a window for the competitors to rise higher.

Online reputation management manages the brand by organizing its digital structure, uploading the correct information, linking the correct pages, counteracting misleading data, and providing a brand’s best image to the user. The internet is a global village that brings together friends and enemies in one place. This builds a place of worry because strangers and competitors are always a step ahead to draft a bad reputation for a brand.

How is online reputation management different from SEO?

Online reputation management serves as a tool to track, trace and repair a brand’s image. Now, the doubt that arises here is to understand the difference between SEO and ORM.

Suggested Read: 10 SEO mistakes to watch out for

SEO – Search Engine Optimisation

ORM – Online Reputation Management

SEO is refining a website to increase its visibility on Google, Bing, and other search engines.

SEO builds strategies to help websites rank on the top

SEO targets at dominating the search results for many related keywords or search terms

ORM is a process of filling the page with positive content that will generate trust with the user.

ORM works in association with SEO to displace or remove misleading content and websites in search results
ORM targets at dominating the search results for specific related keywords or search terms

How is online reputation management implemented?

Now that we know what online reputation management is, let’s see how to implement this practice into business:

Creating the right presence – This means displaying the only thing that a business needs to show to its customers. To create the right presence on the internet, a business must monitor all the content, ad plays, and inter-linked sites that are associated with its business site. This includes making industry-specific content, promoting press coverage, backlinking rich media sites, continuous up-gradation, etc.
Make sure that your business is found – This means creating a space on the internet exclusively for the business. SEO helps bring the business to the top of the search results. It is the ORM’s responsibility to help the search engines find the page suitable and suggestive for every related search term. Hence, ORM managers of the business must produce relevant content, research the user behavior, update the site and check for the trustworthiness of the content.
Providing sufficient content – Content is the King. It is a business’s responsibility to supervise that the content published on its website has 100% relevance to the industry that it represents. Without accurate content, the user would not be interested in visiting the website, thereby disturbing the reputation of the business.
Interact with customers – Customer interaction is one of the crucial parts of managing online reputation. If a customer has a complaint, a business should understand the complaint. The business should try its best to resolve the complaint.
Advertise only what a business can provide – One of the most destroying factors of a business downfall is that it promotes way more than what it can provide. For example, when a business promises to provide a discount of 10%, it should give a discount no matter what the situation is. If a business has terms and conditions levied to the discount, it should properly mention them to keep its customers aware.
Get active on social media – Social media serves as social evidence of a business’s existence. Brands that are present on social media have many benefits. First of all, it can tell a business what audience is generally interested in hearing and buying from the business.

Secondly, the business can analyze the audience trends and accordingly bring change in its product/s or service/s. On top of this, social media reduces the communication gap between the customer and the seller, making it possible for customers to get in touch directly without not intermediates.

Apart from all the pointers mentioned above, what makes a business’s reputation truly visible and valuable on the internet is its honesty and reliability. If the company is being ethical, it would have no concerns for a bad reputation.

Being online is always a threat due to other factors, but what makes a business superior is how a customer sees it. Therefore, while a business should focus on managing its reputation online, it should always seek to better its services for the people it serves.