What is Online Reputation Management (ORM) in Digital Marketing

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Every company wants to look right on the internet, but having a website or social media presence is not a comprehensive story. Nowadays, everyone has thoughts about everything. Customers can tell when a brand is being genuine or trying to hide something not-so-great. If your business gets a bad review or not-so-nice attention in the media, it might be a big problem. Here comes online reputation management.

The following article will discuss it. Moreover, we will elaborate on each concept regarding it, such as tools, importance, and many more.

What is Online Reputation Management?

ORM in digital marketing means taking care and analyzing what people think about your business on the internet. The goal is to deal with any bad feelings and encourage good ones.

As a result, it usually includes responding to not-so-nice reviews. Additionally, it pushes down search results that aren't significant and fixes any wrong information about your business.

Online reputation management is like digital public relations. However, its main focus is to protect your image instead of just trying to make it look good from the start.

Why is ORM Necessary in Business?

Taking care of how people see your business online is crucial. As a result, it makes customers more likely to like and connect with you. Various users, about 60% in the U.S., say they wouldn’t want to purchase from a brand that seems inconsistent.

Here are a few more reasons why it's necessary to manage your online reputation:
 

• Affects Buying Choices: Most people, like 59% of shoppers, look up stuff online before they decide to buy. Almost everyone, about 97%, checks out reviews before making a purchase. If your business looks good online, you might retain customers.
• Handling Bad Reviews: Sometimes, you'll get not-so-nice reviews. But if you observe your online stuff, you can turn those bad reviews around. Customers who see their complaints taken care of quickly online are more likely to spend more in the future.
• Getting Useful Feedback: If you notice the same problem in reviews a lot, there's probably something you need to fix. Paying attention to what people say online can give you good ideas about improving your products, services, or customer experience.

Now, we will discuss some failure of ORM examples.

ORM Failure Examples

Let's look at some real examples of when businesses did not handle their online image well. It will be beneficial to you to understand how much it can impact a company.

United Airlines:

• United Airlines lost more than $1 billion in the stock market after a video of a passenger getting forcefully taken off a flight went viral.
• Various people saw the video (over 100 million views!), and many criticized the CEO for not doing enough to fix the situation.
• It happened in 2017, but people still talk about it when they discuss online reputation management.

Nestle:

• Nestlé got into trouble when Greenpeace accused them of harming the environment.
• Instead of dealing with the issue directly, Nestlé asked YouTube to take down Greenpeace's video.
• They had to close their public page for a while because of all the negative comments, including a changed KitKat logo that said "Killer."

Here, we elaborated on some example failures of ORM. Now, we will learn about some channels.

Our Learners Also Reads: Digital Marketing in 5 Minutes - Types | Advantage | Challenges

Online Reputation Management Channels of Media

To ensure people think good things about your business online, observe different places where you interact with them. Let's talk about four main types:

Paid Media:

• You pay to show your brand in different online places, like Google ads, social media ads, or sponsored posts.
• You can control what people see like Airbnb countering criticism with banner ads.
• It can cost a lot, and people might not trust messages that seem too controlled.

Earned Media:

• You can talk about it on other platforms without paying. It could be press coverage, blog posts, forum talks, or reviews on sites like Trustpilot.
• People see it as more real and trustworthy.

Tip: You can ask customers for reviews or send interesting news to journalists in your area.

Shared Media:

• Anything about your brand on social media, whether from your account or others.
• Bad stuff on social media can hurt your reputation. So, keep an eye on comments and messages.

Owned Media:

• Content that you control, like your website, blog, or email newsletters.
• It's your space to tell your story the way you want.

Remember: Keep your places in good shape.

Now, it's time to understand how you can do ORM.

How to Do ORM?

To ensure people like your business and don't get upset about it online, observe online reputation.
 

• Check Your Reputation: Before doing anything, see how people talk about your business online. Look it up on Google, check reviews, and see what shows up.

• Make a Plan: Decide what's necessary for your business. Find out what issues to tackle rather than using a matrix that helps you prioritize tasks.

• Set Rules: Write down who's responsible for what, create response templates, and know who's important in your field. In short, it helps keep things organized.

• Monitor What People Say: Analyze what people or audience say about your brand.

• Be Ready for Crises: Sometimes things go wrong unexpectedly. Have a plan to handle these situations, like who responds and how to use social media during a crisis.

• Ask for Reviews: Encourage customers to leave reviews. Make it easy for them, and respond to all reviews, good or bad.

• Handle Negative Reviews: Respond to negative reviews politely and quickly. Claim your business on review platforms and use tools like Semrush to manage them.

• Keep Your Brand Consistent: Everything you put out there should consistently show your brand. Even small things, like Instagram comments, matter.

• Create Content for Your Brand: Make quality content using keywords related to your brand. As a result, it helps control what people see when they search for you.

• Choose Influencers Carefully: If you work with influencers, pick ones that fit your brand. Make sure they're a good match and follow the advertising rules.

Remember, how people see your business online can affect it. So, keep things positive and trustworthy for your brand. The following section will describe different types of ORM in detail. It will be helpful for you to know each concept.

Different Types of ORM

Let’s observe and understand each type of online reputation management.

SEO-Based Online Reputation Management

SEO reputation management makes your webpage stand out when people search on the internet. It's about using certain words. Further, it makes good content, and having links from other websites makes your site more visible.

It uses these tricks to make sure people see good things about a person or a business when they search online.

Plan Implementation of SEO-Based Online Reputation Management
 

• Search for Your Business: Look up your name or business online. Negative stuff can harm your reputation. As a result, it's vital to use SEO strategies to push down poor content and highlight the good.
• Identify Negative Results: Figure out what negative things show in search results that affect your reputation.
• Create Quality Content: Make good content using the exact keywords as the negative stuff. Write blog posts, press releases, or other content to grow positive results.
• Build Backlinks: Get other websites to link to your positive content. However, it helps it rank higher and pushes down negative results.

Content-Based ORM

Content-Based Online Reputation Management is like telling good stories about a person or a business on the Internet. It's about creating, sharing, and taking care of stories that show the best parts of them. The idea is to make sure everyone sees and likes these positive stories when they look online.

Plan Implementation of Content ORM:
 

• Identify Keywords: Find words related to you or your business that people might search for.
• Create Quality Content: Write blog posts and articles, and make videos or podcasts that use those keywords. Make sure the content is good and aligns with your brand.
• Share Content: Spread your content on social media, through emails, and with influencers. Creating thought leadership content can establish you as an expert.
• Focus on User-Generated Content: Encourage your audience to create content like reviews or testimonials. Additionally, it builds credibility.

Social Media ORM

Social Media Reputation Management observes how people see you or your business on social media. In this online world, managing your reputation on social media means:
 

• It monitors what people say about you or your business on social media.
• It's about being part of the conversations happening on social media
• If someone asks a question or leaves a comment, be polite and respond to them. 

Plan Implementation:
 

• Identify Relevant Social Media Platforms: Find out which platforms matter to you.
• Create a Social Media Strategy: Plan how you use social media, including creating engaging content and responding to your audience.
• Engage With Your Audience: Respond to comments and messages. Building relationships on social media helps with your reputation.
• Respond to Negative Comments: If there are negative comments, respond professionally and show you care about fixing any issues.

Review-Based ORM

Review-Based Online Reputation Management is how people talk about you or your business on review websites like Yelp, Google Reviews, and TripAdvisor. Moreover, people share their thoughts about it in little notes for everyone to see.

Plan Implementation
 

• Identify Relevant Review Websites: Find where people leave reviews about you or your business.
• Monitor Negative Reviews: Analyze reviews and respond to negative ones. Show you're working to fix problems.
• Encourage Positive Reviews: Provide the best service and ask happy customers to leave positive reviews. As a result, it builds trust.

PR-Based ORM

PR-Based Online Reputation Management is the best for someone or a business. 

Plan Implementation:
 

• Identify Relevant Media Outlets: Know which media outlets matter to you.
• Create a PR Strategy: Plan how you will use press releases and stories. In addition, you can build relationships with the media.
• Crisis Communication Plan: Have a plan for dealing with crises. Respond quickly and effectively to minimize damage during tough times.
• Build Relationships with Media: Reach out to journalists, offer insights, and become a credible source of information.

Remember, it's all about ensuring people see the good stuff about you or your business online. Now, we will elaborate on ORM software.

ORM Tools

There are various tools for the Online Reputation Management, such as:

• Google Alerts
• Brand24
• Birdeye
• Podium
• Reputology

Here, we have given you the names of some popular tools. Now, it is time to learn about some ORM companies.

Best Online Reputation Management Companies

The following section will discuss the best ORM companies.
 

• Reputation Resolutions
• Go Fish Digital
• Reputation Rhino
• Thrive
• InboundJunction
• NetReputation

Conclusion

People are chatting about it all the time, and sometimes you might not even know it's happening. That's where online reputation management comes to arise. It keeps an eye on what everyone is saying about your brand. Moreover, this tool ensures that whatever people are chatting about aligns with the image you want for your company.