[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.19.2″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.19.2″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.19.2″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Introduction” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n
By some estimates, bad reputations cost US businesses over $500 billion<\/a> a year. With that figure in mind, the importance of reputation management should be clear. It\u2019s not all about estimated losses, though. The importance of online reputation management goes far beyond that. A brand\u2019s reputation influences everything from market share and sales to company value.<\/p>\n Your reputation is how other people perceive you, even if they\u2019ve never met you or interacted with you. For brands, reputation is more important than ever in the consumer-driven digital marketplace. When anyone can make their opinion heard, you need to pay more attention to what they\u2019re saying about your clients\u2019 brands online.<\/p>\n [et_pb_section global_module=\"112902 \"][\/et_pb_section]<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Why does reputation matter in 2023?” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n Brand reputation has both tangible and intangible impacts. For businesses, these range from customer trust to sales, consumer loyalty, and market share. Online spaces have created more \u201ctouch points\u201d than ever before: blogs, social media sites, review sites<\/a>, and so on.<\/p>\n This environment is one where consumers can easily discover and discuss brands. This drives brand recognition\u2014but beware! Recognition can have a dark side. People might be talking about your client\u2019s brand, but they could be talking for all the wrong reasons.<\/p>\n It\u2019s easy to say \u201creputation management is important.\u201d Concrete statistics paint a clearer picture of how important it is. Let\u2019s take a look at some online reputation management statistics<\/a>:<\/p>\n In sum, a good reputation can convince people to buy. That good reputation can also impact loyalty. In short, it convinces people to keep<\/em> buying. Social media conversations can influence sales. If an influencer says good things about a brand, it can translate into more brand trust.<\/p>\n Trust is the reason customers are more likely to buy from brands with good ratings and good reviews. Reviews increase the customer\u2019s faith in a product or service. Most customers say it takes 100 reviews to convince them that a brand is trustworthy (Sitejabber<\/a>).<\/p>\n On the other hand, people are less likely to buy from a brand with bad reviews. One survey showed 40 percent of customers wouldn\u2019t buy from a business with a 1- or 2-star rating (Finances Online<\/a>). Hearing about other people\u2019s poor experiences decreased their confidence in the brand.<\/p>\n You might think the answer is to discourage reviews altogether, but customers value transparency. Customers see brands that manage their reputations<\/a> as more engaged and more transparent. This, in turn, leads customers to feel these brands are more trustworthy\u2014they don\u2019t have anything to hide.<\/p>\n The importance of reputation doesn\u2019t end with higher sales or company valuations. There are other, less quantifiable impacts for a business.<\/p>\n Brand recognition is less tangible than sales numbers, but it matters a lot. People can\u2019t buy from a brand they don\u2019t know about. If they can never remember a brand name, customers will likely end up buying from someone else. Reputation can help put a brand on people\u2019s radar.<\/p>\n More importantly, reputation influences how people feel about a brand. Is it trustworthy? Is it high quality? Those feelings then influence their buying behavior. A poor reputation makes people want to steer clear. By contrast, a good reputation makes people feel good about interacting with a brand.<\/p>\n A company\u2019s reputation even influences its workforce. A good reputation can entice people to apply for positions in the company. Sometimes, employees are the biggest brand advocates and vice versa! On the flip side, almost 70 percent of people won’t work for a company with a poor reputation (Glassdoor<\/a>).<\/p>\n Reputation influences how a brand performs, since it affects how people think about the brand. Everything from how much your company is worth to how much you sell, to who you hire hinges on reputation.<\/p>\n Managing clients\u2019 reputations puts you in control of the brand narrative.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s look at an example. It\u2019s easy to think that you shouldn\u2019t encourage reviews, because people might leave bad ones. It’s harder to get satisfied customers to leave reviews, but that\u2019s where local online reputation management (ORM) services<\/a> can help. ORM helps you find the customers who are happy and convinces them to leave that 5-star review.<\/p>\n The number of happy customers (and good reviews) should outweigh the bad ones. Even with negative reviews, the importance of online reputation management is clear. Good reputation management lets you turn negative reviews into opportunities<\/a>. There\u2019s no need to be afraid of them, because they present a chance for your team to deliver on brand promises. There may not be such a thing as \u201cbad\u201d publicity\u2014provided you manage it the right way.<\/p>\n The importance of reputation management is also clear in the social media arena. Tools that track mentions let you keep your finger on the pulse of consumer sentiment. A reputation builder<\/a> can let you gather feedback from customers directly.<\/p>\n With all this data, you can go beyond discovering how customers feel about a brand. You can see what\u2019s working and where you have work to do. In short, tools and policies come together to influence how people see the brand.<\/p>\n Online<\/em> conversations can influence how people see a brand offline<\/em>.<\/p>\n Imagine someone hears a radio ad for a brand on their drive to the office. When they arrive, they decide to Google the company. They discover negative reviews and a poor rating on Google.<\/p>\n Chances are this hypothetical person isn\u2019t going to buy from or work with this brand. They might even tell their colleagues or friends about the poor rating.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re not engaged in ORM, it will be easier for people to form poor opinions about your client\u2019s brand. Your brand might appear alongside irrelevant content, spam links, or even inaccurate information. Something as simple as a fake review can impact both a client\u2019s bottom line and its brand reputation.<\/p>\n Since Google contains a wealth of information, almost anyone can stumble across competing or misleading information about a brand. The importance of online reputation management, then, lies in helping future customers find accurate information about the brand. This influences what they think about the company.<\/p>\n The impact of poor information on Google isn\u2019t just conjecture either. In one study, 80 percent of companies increased company value by improving their reputation (PRWeek<\/a>).<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Online reputation management pitfalls and how to avoid them” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n The importance of reputation management is hard to overstate. That makes it all the more important to get online reputation management right.<\/p>\n There are many pitfalls that even well-intentioned marketers fall into. Let\u2019s look at some of the most common ones\u2014and how you can remedy them.<\/p>\n As we\u2019ve seen, there is a wealth of evidence pointing to how important reputation management is. Yet many people still don\u2019t believe it affects their business.<\/p>\n In fact, many people feel their brand reputation will take care of itself. Although your team won\u2019t have to spend time on managing a client\u2019s reputation in this case, this cavalier attitude hurts more than it helps. Branded search results might end up full of spam links and misleading information. Fake reviewers or even competitors could spam the client\u2019s reviews and ratings.<\/p>\n At best, letting reputation \u201cmanage itself\u201d can create confusion for customers. Something as simple as outdated business information on directories can impact an online reputation. If customers aren\u2019t sure which phone number is accurate, they may decide they\u2019ll call someone else.<\/p>\n Business leaders sometimes forgo ORM because they feel their brand is \u201ctoo small.” They might believe ORM is only for the big fish. Yet even small businesses need reputation management. A poor reputation could be preventing them from tapping into growth that could let them go up market.<\/p>\n Finally, some business owners think not being present at all is the best way to manage an online reputation. If they\u2019re\u00a0 not on social media, why would anyone be talking about their brand anyway?<\/p>\n Conversations can and do still happen, even if business owners don\u2019t see them. The only difference is whether business owners are there to take part in the discussion. Not being on social media can also decrease customer trust in a brand. What happens if they have a hard time finding the brand online? They might give up and go with a competitor who is available on social media.<\/p>\n Agencies need to make the case for the importance of reputation management and offer services that will help maintain and improve clients\u2019 reputations.<\/p>\n This next approach is a half-step better than doing nothing at all, but it can still cause problems. Business owners who DIY ORM often haven\u2019t realized the importance of reputation management.<\/p>\n The DIY approach only works if a business owner can meet the following conditions:<\/p>\n Unfortunately, most teams rarely have both skills and time. Teams may have the skills but not enough time. In a lot of cases, a team has neither the time nor the skills.<\/p>\n That leads to a haphazard approach to reputation management. A team might reply to reviews sometimes, but they also might ignore reviews for weeks on end if they\u2019re busy. If they don\u2019t have the skills, then they might use \u201cquick fix\u201d techniques to improve SEO efforts<\/a> or bump up reviews. These techniques are often damaging to a reputation over the long term.<\/p>\n If your team has the expertise and the time to manage their reputation, then the DIY approach might work, but reputation management software<\/a> is still valuable, almost necessary. For most small businesses, teaming up with an expert reputation management firm like yours is a better plan. They get consistent reputation management and monitoring from the experts.<\/p>\n It can be tempting to simply ignore reviews, especially if the company is getting a lot of them (and, if ORM is working, that should be the case!). As any expert in brand reputation crisis management<\/a> knows, ignoring reviews can quickly escalate small issues into serious threats to your brand\u2019s credibility.. That goes for both the negative and the positive ones.<\/p>\n It can be tempting not to engage with bad reviews<\/a>. After all, this was someone\u2019s opinion, and they had a bad experience. They\u2019re allowed to express frustration, right? You might worry about making the situation worse by responding in an inappropriate way.<\/p>\n Ignoring an upset or frustrated customer is poor practice, just like it would be in a physical store. Instead of ignoring a negative review, your team needs to engage with it. A negative review is a golden chance to make things right for the customer. It’s also a chance to restore their trust in the brand.<\/p>\n It doesn\u2019t hurt that almost half of customers say they\u2019re inclined to buy from a brand that engages with bad reviews (PR Newswire<\/a>). These people see the team out there addressing the reviewers\u2019 concerns. That can often convince them that the brand delivers great customer service.<\/p>\n What about positive reviews<\/a>? Do you really need to write a response every time someone says something nice about their experience with a brand?<\/p>\n Yes! Remember that it can be difficult to motivate happy customers to leave reviews. If they get nothing out of it\u2014not even a quick \u201cthank you\u201d\u2014they\u2019ll be even harder to motivate next time. You can think of it this way: by leaving the company a review, that customer did something nice for the brand. The least you can do is send them a nice \u201cthank you\u201d note to show appreciation.<\/p>\n Most of the time, it\u2019s tempting to skip responses because there are so many of them. Writing unique responses can take up a lot of your team\u2019s time. Price your reputation management services correctly to ensure you have the bandwidth and budget to respond to all reviews, which can vary based on the size and popularity of the client\u2019s brand. This can ensure that you respond to reviews<\/a> in a timely manner\u2014without relying on canned responses.<\/p>\n Some brands are content to ignore customer reviews. Others tend to ignore customer feedback. Some go a step further and even discourage<\/em> feedback.<\/p>\n This harms a company\u2019s brand. Without customer feedback, after all, you can\u2019t hear what people are saying about the brand. In many cases, customers will offer plenty of insight into what they love about the brand. They\u2019ll also share what they wish would change.<\/p>\n Listening to that kind of feedback can help brands improve their products and business practices. It\u2019s another reason you should make sure you engage with all negative reviews. A reviewer could offer some great ideas for what a client could do better. You should encourage reviews<\/a> as a result.<\/p>\n Using the right tools<\/a>, like reputation management software<\/a>, is key to managing feedback effectively. A tool like Customer Voice can help you gather customers\u2019 insights, so your clients can serve them better and keep their trust. A review management service<\/a> can further help you track and respond to reviews.<\/p>\nWhy Does Reputation Matter?<\/h2>\n
Reputation by the Numbers<\/h3>\n
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Reputation by Other Measures<\/h3>\n
The Importance of Reputation Management<\/h3>\n
Why Does ORM Matter?<\/h3>\n
Online Reputation Management Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them<\/h2>\n
1. Underestimating the Importance of Online Reputation Management<\/h3>\n
2. Taking the DIY Approach to Reputation Management<\/h3>\n
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3. Ignoring Reviews (Both Positive and Negative)<\/h3>\n
Minding Your Ps and Qs<\/h4>\n
4. Not Requesting Feedback<\/h3>\n
5. Forgetting to Set Goals for Reputation Management<\/h3>\n