Online Reputation Management
Managing a reputation is crucial for every brand, not least when it comes to social media, an arena with both threats and opportunities.
A key part of branding is to develop and maintain a positive reputation for your firm. It must be seen in a good light and when your company name is mentioned, this should generate positive thoughts and associations.
Your brand reputation can be strengthened by using online resources well, including digital marketing blogs and social media. These can provide good PR for law firms, b2b ecommerce firms and other professional services providers.
However, you cannot stop others having their own say online about your firm. Some of what they say may be complimentary, but some of it may be negative and potentially very harmful. That is when good online reputation management is needed.
What kind of threats might your firm face?
There are many things that could possibly harm your reputation online:
- Negative reviews
- A potential or actual scandal
- A major error by someone at your firm
- Malicious allegations
What are the different elements of online reputation management (ORM)?
There are four elements to ORM:
- Monitoring: This involves checking the web for mentions of your firm in search engines or on social media, taking particular note of anything negative that could harm your reputation.
- Reacting: This is about choosing the right response to a mention or comment. It could be a 'like' on social media for something positive, or a carefully crafted statement or rebuttal if required to deal with something potentially damaging. On occasion, it may be best to say nothing at all.
- Proactive strategy: ORM is not just about responding to what others say about you and your firm. It also includes extensive efforts to create good publicity and a positive image via content and positive social media and website content.
- Search engine reputation management: This involves posting lots of positive content about your firm that should make it to the first page of the search engine rankings. By knocking negative publicity or content off the first page, you can reduce the chances of it being seen.
Why does avoiding negative online sentiment matter?
Negative opinion or even deliberate misinformation can have especially harmful effects. As many as 94 per cent of people have said bad reviews have persuaded them not to buy from a brand.
This is why online reputation management matters. Your firm cannot afford to simply soak up negative messages online. That's why ORM matters.
The key with ORM is to have someone dedicated to this role so that problems can be spotted as soon as possible. The earlier an issue arises, the sooner action can be taken to deal with it, ensuring you can quickly regain control of the narrative and work to build up your reputation again.
How BeUniqueness can help manage your reputation
At BeUniqueness, we recognise how important reputation management is to a brand. By providing a comprehensive service of monitoring, swift reaction, a pro-active approach to spreading good news and active management of your search engine profile, our ORM services can go a long way to help sustaining a positive image of your brand and minimising the damage whenever your reputation comes under threat.
We can also provide additional help by happily referring to you anyone who comes to us asking about a service that you offer, helping to increase your sales.