What is Online Reputation Management and How is It Done in 2020?

You want to improve your online reputation and reviews, but not sure what reputation management is or how it works? In this brief article I’ll be providing all the vital information you need to know. 

What Is Online Reputation Management?

Online reputation management (ORM) is monitoring mentions of your brand on websites and social media and includes providing feedback to negative customer comments online. ORM is an ongoing process that helps to create, protect and maintain your brand reputation.

The key focus of online reputation management is to monitor and actively engage on popular review sites like Google My Business, Angie’s List, etc.

Online Reputation is the sum of what everyone is saying about you online. Typically, day to day online reputation management involves responding to customer requests and to both positive and negative reviews with a definitive strategy and approach. Also, ORM may include promoting excellent reviews using multiple channels and paid shares on social media, websites, etc. By adding review schema markup to your website and deploying online reputation management software, you will ask for reviews from customers and distribute them to Google My Business, Yelp or other online review websites. It is essential to be proactive and ask customers to leave feedback about your business.

Why Do You Need Online Reputation Management?

The question of why you need online reputation management is commonly asked by people that don’t understand how online appearance and reputation are affecting their business. Or maybe they already have a bunch of excellent reviews, and they think they do not need anymore. Multiple sources claim that online reputation is continually developing and changing with the times, it is never just stable 5-star reviews, and even the small reviews and comments can destroy the entire reputation built for many years. That’s why you need an online reputation manager to take care of each of these inquiries and reviews daily. Otherwise, before you know it it could become an enormous amount of critical reviews. In 2020, online reputation management is especially important because it helps to maintain the transparency that builds a client’s loyalty to your brand. 

The main factors you need to know about online reputation management:

1. Reviews affect your ranking
   Reviews were found to be a ranking factor and studies found a clear correlation between the volume of reviews, responses and number of negative reviews.
2. Reviews build trust and loyalty
   Reviews help you build trust and loyalty to your brand. You can use positive reviews to boost your business performance. Reviews appear in Google Local results and alongside Google Ads. Also, Facebook is currently a vast platform where reviews on business pages can destroy or flourish your business in just a few days. That’s why online reputation management is so crucial. Because every day, a new review can be posted. And this feedback is particularly essential right after this review was posted. Your quick reply will improve customer’s trust, and customers will appreciate your answer even if the original review wasn’t positive.
3. Click-through rates improvement 
   Yes, reviews also are affecting Click-through rates from Google My Business profiles. Most of the customers rely on these reviews, and if you have a rating from 3 to 5 stars, there is an 87% bigger chance they will visit your website or your physical shop.
4. Business reputation is your biggest advantage
   In 2020, every customer before purchasing anything checks the reviews online, and they make the final decision based on the information they find. A 5-star rating builds strong trust and becomes a social proof that the quality of your products is the best. It also works as a validation for the user to make a purchase which is crucial for each business success.
5. It’s not just formal reviews
   Not every opinion about your business is posted as a review. That’s why it’s also important to monitor what people are saying on social networks. You want to be active in engaging your followers.

Conclusion

Online reputation management is an important process for maintaining your online reputation and improving the transparency of your brand. Online reviews take a big part of customer buying decisions and can drastically affect your business. Only you decide if you the end result will be positive or negative.