Every business owner knows that reputation management is essential in curating and maintaining an image that reflects your brand values. The prevalence of the online marketplace has heightened the importance of reputation and redefined the way the brands are perceived to the general public. Your businesses online presence represents your brand as a whole, this includes search engine listing and social media profile. Brand management in our online world relies on these mechanisms to not only make your company accessible to potential customers but also determines how your business is perceived.
Search Engine presence is no joke. In fact, studies show that 90% of people will Google reviews before purchasing a product or service. Customer experiences are collated through a range of platforms and then reflected back to customers in the form of reviews, stars or ratings. These forms of evaluations function as a form of certification which people use to verify their purchases. Whether your business is generating positive reviews or combating negative ones, implementing a reputation management plan will ensure your prepared for either.
SEO
Part of reputation management is maintaining a relevant and visible presence online. Mainly this refers to the visibility of your website on search engine pages. The first step in optimizing your SEO results in ensuring your website design and functionality is up to scratch. Google recognizes hard to use website and automatically demotes its rankings. A confident website will make the SEO process easier to monitor and maintain. SEO relies on the precision of keywords, content and relevancy. These aspects need to conglomerate to maintain a successful online presence and reputation.
Local SEO
The importance of localising your page is growing by the day. While general keyword relevancy may land you some traffic, local optimization will boost your visibility like never before. Local SEO refers to the process of including specific, local information about your business that assists people navigating your business. Start with performing a local SEO audit. This includes simple things like address and contact numbers. Having local information in your websites title or meta description will dramatically improve your likelihood of having a higher local ranking and attracting your community to your business. Building rupture within your local community is fundamental to building a brand voice and image. Local search optimization matters because as the nature of search continue to evolve it’s been discovered that people are far more likely to search for things close to them, including things like ‘near me’ in their search.
Social Media
Presence on social media is not only a powerful way to represent your business and interact with your customers, but a strong social media page is a sure fire way to generate direct sales. Social media is a discovery tool that functions in the same way a search engine does and by the same token needs a strategy in its own right to maintain its presence. More than being visible on social media, it’s imperative to be active on your pages to really improve your online standing. Directly interacting with your followers/customers is not only crucial in boosting your reputation but it also works to establish a clear brand voice and message that will help to combat any negative online reviews that may occur in the future. Being active on social media may also help you to discover industry sentiments that exist, for example, you may see multiple posts regarding environmental issues and use this platform to post about your companies own environmental sustainability policy. Developing a relationship with your social media community not only helps to guide your brand narrative but will improve your SEO ranking. Social Media presence and responsiveness are factored into SEO rankings.
Reviews
There is no denying that we live in a review-centric world. Not only do reviews steer your online traffic but they are often the ultimate make or break when it comes to converting traffic into sales. Reputation management involves a strong SEO strategy paired with content supervision. Negative online reviews can really affect your offline presence and have unforeseen consequences on your brand image. In fact, Google may banish your website from its pages altogether if you don’t improve your reputation management. Think of reviews like word of mouth that is bellowed on a megaphone to the whole world. Cleaning up existing negative reviews can be a timely exercise, but is essential in developing a brand's online presence. Consider implementing a reputation management plugin that filters out negative reviews. Alternatively, responding to negative reviews is often a simple but effective way to minimize the damage and get your brand image back on track. Responding to issues directly is a failsafe way to convey transparency and is usually the best policy when it comes to negative publicity. One negative review is not the end of the world, it’s important to remember that people are more inclined to forgive one negative review if your page is filled with hundreds of positive ones.
Content
Content serves multiple purposes when it comes to reputation management. Not only does content position your business at the forefront of industry related news and topics, but it also gives your brand an authoritative tone that helps to verify it online. Connecting to your online base via blogs, links and shared posts is a great way to convey your brand image and message and will also help with your SEO strategy.
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