Online reputation is the reputation of a company, person, product on the Internet and its digital platforms. This reputation is affected by the content that an organization distributes, the reactions and interactions with the users of the web and the activity in all its channels.
Building a positive image for your company can take decades, but a slip can spoil your online reputation in a matter of seconds.
Unlike credibility, the negative aspects are spread at the speed of light, mainly due to the dissemination of comments and evaluations through social networks.
However, in order to obtain a good online reputation, it is necessary to follow some steps that make the difference in the conquest of the clients, increasing the degree of satisfaction and bringing more confidence.
Thinking about helping you in this task, we prepare this post, where you will learn how to improve your online reputation, you will know the tools that will help you monitor your reputation and some tricks so you can create a positive reputation and that will undoubtedly make a difference in your business. Do you want to keep your brand always well valued? Then, continue reading this article.
What is online reputation ?
The safest thing is that you have an idea that is online reputation. However, there are many people who have a misconception about this term. So, what is online reputation? The first thing you should know is that it is not simply the amount of social actions you have or the opinion others have about you.
Online reputation involves a set of factors that symbolize the prestige of your brand or person on the internet .
This “prestige” is formed by the users or consumers themselves , so it is vitally important that you take care of it; since you can not easily modify a negative view.
It can also be said that online reputation is the image that a company, person or institution has on the Internet. But, beyond the image projected by the brand itself, online reputation is created from the comments and opinions of third parties in online channels: social networks, blogs, forums, etc.
Some of the keys to maintaining a good reputation online is to have well-positioned content, be transparent and listen carefully to what your audience says .
Below I will give some information that will help you understand the importance of a good reputation online and why you should manage it:
More than 50% of clients often provide reviews (online assessments), while 34% seek information regarding prices and discounts.
More than 60% of customers rely on comments (online assessments) when choosing a product or service.
The rating that users give your company online can increase your income from 5% to 9%.
Therefore, taking advantage of your business’s online reputation will not only help you to promote your brand in a positive way in the various digital channels, but it is also a determining factor so that you can increase your competitive advantage and attract more customers.
Now that you are clear about what online reputation is and the importance it has for your business, we will tell you how you can improve it. Let’s see:
How to Improve Online Reputation
1. Know your audience
A search on the major search engines, such as Google can provide you with important data about the reputation of the brand. You can search the name of your company, employees, executives, among others.
You can also configure search engine alerts to find keywords related to your business, so the content will appear quickly.
With all this information you can see how your customers and suppliers have evaluated your company.
2. Serves all requests
Leaving your clients and suppliers waiting for an answer to questions or criticism is a true suicide. Online reputation increases when you respond quickly, clearly and honestly, to all the demands of your users.
Prepare a specialized team, such as in the marketing area, to listen to what your audience is requesting. Respond to the questions that you ask online and also try to solve the problem in the offline environment.
Companies that care about maintaining quality care end up winning the consumer’s credibility.
3. Invest in content marketing
Making a blog within your site with quality information and that are tuned to the wishes of your customers and suppliers is a good suggestion to improve your online reputation.
The contents can increase the traffic on your page, mainly if you use hyperlinks, this will also increase the confidence of your customers, in relation to your business.
In addition, it uses accurate keywords in the anchor texts, this will make the search engines position the name of your company in the first search results.
With this, your users can always see the name of your brand, making a relationship with quality content.
4. Be transparent
If you try to cheat your customers or you want to “sell cat hares” you will end up having a problem with your reputation on the Internet.
Consumers are increasingly demanding, critical and opinion makers. Therefore, it fulfills its promise, provides true content, quality products and keeps the client informed about the fulfillment of deadlines and possible problems.
Trying to hide something will negatively influence your company. You must be transparent even to recognize faults, committing to solve the demands that arise as quickly as possible.
5. Do not erase content
Even if your company has received negative comments, I suggest you do not delete the contents, as this can lead to increased criticism.
In addition, when you delete a content, your user may think that you do not intend to solve the problems or that you do not want to improve what is not working well.
It is best to wait for negative points to be superimposed by positive feedback. In addition, all kinds of comments deserve a return, mainly negative ones. They should make your team focus their attention on identifying what the consumer’s problem is and look for possible solutions.
Tools to Validate Reputation
Monitoring the reputation of your brand on social networks is a task that should be part of your entire online strategy . Increasingly, consumers are showing what they feel about brands in the world of social networks, either because they want to complain or because they are satisfied with the product or service that the brand offers.
There are many tools that allow you to monitor those opinions and, good news! Many of them are free.
Next, I’ll tell you which are the best tools that will help you discover how your users perceive your brand.
1. SocialMention
In addition to helping you find comments about your brand, SocialMention analyzes data from various sources to determine what users’ feelings are in relation to your brand.
SocialMention also allows you to analyze the keywords that have the most buzz around your brand and in which social networks are talking more about you.
Tip : When used regularly, SocialMention can be a great help in understanding how your brand’s feeling evolves. You can monitor your brand’s reputation weekly, monthly or during special events, such as Black Friday.
2. Twazzup
t is an online tool for Twitter that allows you to monitor what is happening in real time, as well as having a very positive evaluation by its members. It is very simple to use and allows you to see what people are talking about , what labels they use and who is interacting.
3. ReputationXL
To monitor online reputation , this tool collects all the information published in blogs, websites, newspapers, forums or social networks and stores it in a database. It also sends alerts to your email when it finds information that matches the topics you have specified.
In addition to using these three free online tools, if you have a Gmail account, you can also create alerts using Google Alerts with words that are of interest to you and therefore you will know what they are talking about you, your company and your brand at any time.
4. Mention
This tool is one of the most popular among the managers of the communities. It allows to monitor the reputation of your brand, or a keyword, in different social networks, news sites, forums, blogs or any other type of page.
Mention is available for computers or mobile devices, and also in your inbox, if you subscribe to alerts by email.
Mention offers a free account with a reduced number of functionalities and other more complete plans, which are paid.
5. Keyhole
It is a very complete tool. It allows you to monitor hashtags or keywords on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook, presenting, for each word or expression, a list of influences, more important social networks, geographical distribution and even the devices and platforms that originated the most posts.
The tool offers a free basic version and more complete versions that are paid.
Tip: Create a hashtag for an event organized by your brand and monitor it before, during and after the event to assess its popularity.
Tricks to obtain a positive reputation
Increase the number of positive evaluations
Currently, 90% of consumers read opinions online before buying a product or service. Consequently, offering excellent customer service and answering all your questions is essential to have a positive reputation.
Also, if you want to maintain a positive image on the Internet, it is necessary to plan a fast and efficient communication strategy, and dialogues with your brand followers on social networks. Discover who your audience is, what they think and what they expect from your company. Identify your target and adopt a communication that reflects your brand. Remember that it is very important that the language you use is consistent with the offline image of your company.
Follow up
It is not necessary to have a fanpage on Facebook or a profile on Twitter for customers to speak spontaneously about a certain brand. Being present in networks, however, facilitates monitoring and opens space for an immediate response. Remember: here, the most important thing is to act quickly, to prevent possible crises.
Manage crisis
A formal apology request on social media does not necessarily work as an admission of guilt, but it shows that your company is committed to solving the problem. Publish the case solution shows that the company wants to prevent the problem from recurring in the future
conclusion
A good online reputation can help you increase sales, a negative reputation on the Internet will make you lose customers. Therefore, you must know how to manage the online reputation of your company. Adopt a good strategy to measure your reputation will help you evaluate what is right or wrong in your business, as well as define improvement actions to ensure customer satisfaction.
Measuring online reputation is not so simple , since there are many communication channels, however, with the tools we gave you in this post you will be able to quickly know what is the perception of users around your brand
