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Online reputation is something broader than what people think of your brand on social networks or in forums. We can say that it would be the image that users or the general public have of a brand on the Internet when they hear about it. The values it evokes in them, the colors with which they associate it, the news they hear about it… In general, all the impacts that that brand has had and that are in their memory.
Large corporations take great care of their brand image and online reputation, as they know that it is vital that users have a positive memory of their brand in mind. A clear example of this is the “happiness” that Coca-Cola sells us.
But online reputation is not just a matter of large companies. You, too, can and should generate a good reputation for your brand, however small it may be. Therefore, today we will talk about this topic, and we will explain to you how you can manage it.
What is online reputation or digital reputation?
Online reputation is a set of elements that represent the prestige or image of a company, brand, or person on the Internet. It is formed mainly based on the opinions expressed by users or consumers. This point is key since it means that it cannot be controlled by the company itself.
To better understand the concept, we can highlight that online reputation depends on two factors:
- Internal factors: all the information and publications that the company controls and that are published based on a strategy to generate a certain impact.
- External factors: where any type of interaction by users, the community, or even the media is included. This part is very difficult for the company to control, although not entirely impossible.
As you will understand, having a good online reputation is of vital importance, since, otherwise, we could generate a negative image that, ultimately, could harm the results of our project.
Why is it important to take care of your brand’s online reputation?
We can achieve authority in our sector if we have an excellent online reputation. If, for example, our website is well developed with very powerful SEO, it will receive a lot of organic traffic, that is, traffic from search engines like Google. In this way, users can easily find our website by doing searches related to the sector, the brand, or its products.
A curious fact is that more than 90% of people stay on the first page of Google results, and only 10% advance to the second page. Ranking organically at the top of Google gives us great authority in the industry and significantly improves our online reputation.
Sometimes, when we search for something, if we see a negative opinion in the results, we click on it before the others. Our eyes see the negative first, curiosity prompts us to know the bad things first. Imagine the disaster that a bad opinion in the top positions of an essential keyword for our brand could mean for our reputation.
On the contrary, having great opinions in search results can be a tremendous competitive advantage. In short, a good reputation means more sales, trust, and loyal users. That’s what we are looking for!
How to measure online reputation?
The first thing you have to do to start taking care of your brand’s online reputation is to see what state it is currently in: what opinion Internet users and our community have of us and what we can do to improve it.
Here are 3 important metrics to keep in mind:
1. Positioning of your company or brand in search engines
The reputation of your brand depends not only on your networks but also on how your company is positioned in search engines. To verify this, you can perform a series of simple queries in the search engines and look at the results of the first page (at most, those of the second).
The searches you should check are:
- Name of your brand or person.
- Name of the product or service you offer.
- Product name + opinion.
- Brand name + opinion.
2. Positioning of keywords associated with your product or service
This point is also very important because if you manage to position your web page with strategic keywords that your buyer persona is looking for, then they will find you easily. You will be able to position yourself as a reference for those themes, which will positively impact your online reputation.
3. Negative reviews
Look at those comments from dissatisfied users to be able to respond quickly and thus manage their dissatisfaction. Positive comments are also critical, and we recommend you respond to them anyway, but it is essential to be aware of opinions that may have a negative impact on the image of your brand since there will be other users or potential clients reading.
Tools to manage your online reputation
Here are three tools that may be useful for monitoring the online reputation of your brand or company:
Brandwatch
Brandwatch: one of the most complete platforms on the market that, using social listening and artificial intelligence, enables companies to monitor what is being said in the online world about their brand or products. With its functionalities, you will be able to segment and categorize user conversations to identify critical points and strong points and thus propose actions for your marketing strategy that allow you to address these points.
Mention
Mention: this platform allows brands and agencies to monitor, analyze and extract reports to manage their online presence more efficiently. It allows you to activate alerts in real-time for certain words or hashtags and in multiple languages, so you can know when and where your brand is being talked about and be prepared to deal with any online reputation crisis.
Meltwater
Meltwater: a tool of Norwegian origin that is also very popular and stands out for its historical data that allows for the analysis of up to 6 months of online user conversations. Its use is very intuitive, it allows you to monitor words or hashtags in a simple way and export this data so that its treatment is more agile.
8 keys to take care of your online reputation
Once we are clear about what digital reputation is and the starting point of our brand in the online world, we must start working to build a good online reputation.
Here are 8 tips to follow that will surely help you:
1. Be transparent
Transparency contributes to having a good relationship of trust with your users and followers.
Every day people want to know more in-depth about who we buy from, that is why it shows data, statistics, proof that a product works, photographs, explanatory texts… Do what you can to show yourself as you are or how your brand and products are.
2. Show accessibility and closeness
Interaction with brands is essential today. Therefore, the more accessible and close a brand is, the better. People should notice that behind your online storefront, there are people.
Users attach great importance to being able to establish ties and a connection with brands. This way, you will get loyal followers of your actions and your brand.
3. Respond effectively and quickly
We have less and less patience and we don’t like to wait. That is why it is decisive not to make your potential clients and followers wait. Try to respond as soon as possible to the comments that are written to you, to the emails, to the tickets…
4. Take maximum care of dealing with the client
Both your recurring client and a sporadic visitor must be treated with care and in an excellent way. As you would do in a physical store, whoever enters your website or your networks must be treated in a polite and kind manner.
Listen to what they say and try to fix any type of problem that arises as soon as possible.
There have been many businesses that have gone from having a good reputation on the Internet to a very bad one due to disastrous customer service. Today, it is a vital point and extremely highly valued by users, so make sure you focus your efforts on it.
5. Try to understand those who think badly of you
Empathy. Try to put yourself in the place of the people who are writing bad opinions about you or your business, and try to understand what has led them to that situation. Although sometimes customers are simply based on subjective taste, other times you will find people who complain with a reason.
Listening to unfavorable opinions can be a great opportunity to find bugs, aspects to polish, or things to improve in your system, your platform.
You can even go a step further and respond to those opinions yourself by arguing and debating your point of view (or simply saying that you will try to improve the criticized aspect). This will make visitors who come to read the negative review see that you have bothered to respond politely and sincerely. Show that you care about the customer!
6. Surround yourself with the best
If you manage to establish links with recognized people in your sector, you will be able to increase the confidence of your readers/clients. Well, the concept of online reputation is linked to the authority and number of influential people with whom you surround yourself.
In this way, you imply that you are a person who really knows what he is talking about or offers and who is fully involved in his work. In addition, it will help you improve and reinforce your knowledge as well as open new doors that until now were unthinkable for you. Check it!
7. Add testimonials and comments
Reviews and testimonials from people who have already purchased or used your product are increasingly valuable in driving new purchases. Reading opinions about something brings a lot of confidence. Surely, if you have bought online, you have noticed what other buyers have posted about the product.
The testimonials section, if you offer a service, is key, or simply leaving comments open on your website for people to express themselves openly will earn your online reputation points and also your credibility. If, in addition (and returning to the previous point), you get testimonials to be from well-known people in your sector, all the better!
8. Follow up
Last but not least, make sure you take care of and work on your online reputation consistently and for the long term. In this way, you will be able to anticipate potential brand crises since you will be able to detect those dissatisfied users and work on the relationship with them before it is too late.
This is a task that must be carried out periodically and not let a single day go by without reviewing all the comments from your community, both on social networks and through your website. Or would you leave without greeting or attending to the request of a person who enters through your physical store? The online world works the same way. People continue to require attention from other people.
How to protect the online reputation of your business in the face of a brand crisis?
Although thinking about working on the online reputation of our brand may sound complicated, and the fear of a brand crisis is always present, the benefits are many, and that is why we recommend you take care of it. You must give the importance it deserves to this issue because, in some instances, it can determine your success or failure.
Having your online reputation well worked out will also help you in the face of a potential brand crisis, since you will have all the necessary tools to react effectively and quickly.
In this article you will find the step by step to manage an online reputation crisis, which I summarize in a few simple steps:
- Establish a protocol with predetermined guidelines to respond quickly and always in the same direction to any negative comment or news that could become a problem for your company.
- Designate a person in charge of moments of crisis or complications in the online world. Whether it’s the community manager, the head of the department, or yourself, if your company is small, but it’s good that it’s always the same person.
- Take preventive actions such as a good after-sales service to anticipate any inconvenience that a client has had and thus avoid the temptation to make it public on networks since it will have been attended to in advance.
In addition, we often find ourselves with delicate moments in the sociocultural context in which the activity of our company or brand is carried out, so it is also very important to be able to adapt our communication strategy so that our online reputation is not harmed.
We hope you liked this guide and that it was helpful to you. With all these tips, you can work your reputation on the Internet successfully. It’s not easy, but it’s not complicated either if you try to do the right thing. And, of course, you must keep in mind that it is impossible for everyone to like you, so there will always be people who criticize you, who are not satisfied with your products, or who simply don’t like you.
How to care for and improve your online reputation?
- Each company must find the most critical and relevant keys to take care of its online reputation, but here are some key points that you can delve into in the full article:
- Be transparent.
- Show yourself accessible and close.
- Respond quickly.
- Take care of dealing with your customers.
- Try to understand those who think badly of you.
- Surround yourself with the best.
- Show testimonials and reviews.
- Follow up.
How to improve bad reputation?
- Some recommendations to improve the reputation of your company:
- Become a benchmark in your sector. Take responsibility. Admit mistakes and propose solutions.
- Actively listen to users and give them feedback.
How to protect your online reputation?
- The best thing to protect your company’s reputation is to anticipate, prevent, stay connected with your users, and have an action plan against possible reputation crises in order to act quickly.