Reputation
10 Ways To Keep Your Online Reputation Intact
If you want to be successful online, it’s essential to keep your digital reputation intact. However, maintaining a good online reputation can be a challenging task. In this article, we’re going to take a look at ten ways that you can maintain your digital reputation.
If you find that keeping your digital reputation seems like too daunting a task, then reputation management can be made much easier by hiring an ORM agency to do all the hard work for you. Here are a few ways you or your ORM agency can maintain a positive online reputation for your business.
1. Keep Track Of Your Online Reputation
The first step in maintaining your digital reputation is keeping track of it. It seems impossible to keep track of what everyone is saying about you online because of the vast amount of information that’s available on the net.
But some tools can make this task much more manageable. You can use Google Alerts, Trackur, Reputology, and Chatmeter, to get a notification whenever your name crops up online. Then, you need to read what other people are saying about you to get a general idea of your online reputation.
You should also keep updated on different social media platforms, including Facebook and Twitter. There are some popular review websites that you should check out periodically to get an idea of your online reputation. Glassdoor, Yelp, Yellowpages, and Indeed are a few such review websites.
Another thing that you should do occasionally is to simply google yourself and take a look at the first few searches that come up. If a customer wants to check out your business or service, then the first thing they’re going to do is google it.
2. Be Active On Social Media
Social media marketing is an important part of reputation management, but the task can be quite challenging. Hiring an ORM agency is one way to effectively manage your social media activity to ensure your online reputation doesn’t suffer.
You should have profiles on all the most popular social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. But just having a profile on a social media platform isn’t enough to maintain your digital reputation. You also need to be active on these platforms, which means that you should post new and interesting content frequently and communicate with customers.
Another big plus to being active on social media is boosting your SEO which is very important for your reputation management strategy. But you may need some specialized help with this. An SEO agency can help you benefit from your social media and improve your SEO.
Remember that different platforms will require you to use different marketing strategies. So, what works well for Facebook may not necessarily work well on Instagram. If you’re finding it hard to implement successful campaigns on different platforms, then it’s a good idea to consult an ORM agency to give you some guidance.
3. Provide Great Service To Your Customers
If the product or service you’re offering isn’t satisfying customers, then your online reputation is going to suffer, regardless of how great your reputation management strategy is. The goal of any business should be to have happy customers. If your customers are happy, then your digital reputation will be great.
A common trend in online businesses is that initially, the service offered to customers is excellent, but after the company becomes successful, the quality of service starts to decline. Unless you continue to provide good service to customers, your online reputation will decline.
While marketing strategies that use digital marketing and social media are vital to the success of any business, the first thing that you should do is make sure the product you’re offering is something that customers will be satisfied with. If your product or service provides good value to customers, then your online reputation is secure.
4. Encourage People To Leave Comments And Respond To Them
If people leave lots of comments about your service, that’s good for your online reputation. Online conversations about your business ensure that it’s on people’s minds which is important for your digital reputation. You should encourage your customers to post comments about your service and give you reviews as well.
Don’t be afraid to ask customers for their comments and reviews. Customers will often be happy to give their opinions because they understand the importance of any online business. But there are a few ways to increase the number of reviews that you get from customers.
You can offer discounts or bonuses on future purchases if a customer leaves a review. The goal shouldn’t be to bribe customers to give you positive reviews. Instead, welcome any kind of feedback as it will help you learn about your online reputation.
Reputation management means learning to listen to whatever people have to say, even if it may be painful at times. Also, try to reply to as many comments and reviews as possible. If you reply often and quickly to comments, then customers will perceive you in a positive light.
5. Respond To Negative Reviews
One of the toughest parts of online business is suffering negative reviews. But you should understand that you can’t please every customer. There’s bound to be someone who isn’t happy with your product or service and gives you a negative review.
Negative reviews aren’t bad. Although it may be painful to read a negative review, it also provides valuable feedback on improving your business. When you receive a negative review, try to contact the customer who gave the review.
Apologize for their experience with your service and make them feel that you really care about their opinion. Ask the unhappy customer what you can do to make them happy. You can offer them a refund or promise to improve your service quality. Once the customer feels better disposed towards you, you can ask them to take down the negative review.
Even if you cannot have a negative review removed, the way you handle negative reviews can influence your online reputation. If you’re always courteous and considerate in your replies to unhappy customers, then other people who see your online conversation will think more highly of you.
6. Work With Influencers
Influencers can help you maintain a good digital reputation as they have large followings on social media platforms. People trust influencers, so people will think of it more favorably if an influencer promotes your brand.
Any good reputation management strategy should use influencers. But it’s not always easy working with influencers, as you need to cultivate strong long-term relationships with them and make sure they understand and support your brand. One way to make this easier is to hire an ORM agency, as they have lots of experience dealing with influencers.
Try to find influencers who are as closely aligned with your brand as possible. If your product is necklaces, then try to find an influencer who people see as an expert in jewelry and fashion accessories. You can give your chosen influencer discount codes or coupons to share with their followers to promote your brand. You can also ask your influencers to host competitions where the prizes are some of your products.
7. Create A Blog For Your Business
Another way to keep your online reputation intact is to create a blog for your customers to read interesting content and get access to your goods and services. Remember that your blog articles shouldn’t just be about your business and products. Instead, try to provide content that is helpful to readers, something informative and entertaining.
Your blog articles should revolve around the specific niche that your product holds in the online market. For instance, if you’re offering cybersecurity software, your blog can be about cybersecurity and the different threats people face online. Make sure that your blog articles don’t stray far from your chosen field of business.
Hiring an SEO agency can be a big help in improving your SEO on your business blogs. SEO agencies can offer you the services of talented content writers and SEO experts to improve your digital reputation. If your business is facing some criticism on social media, your business blog could be the perfect place to defend your product and respond to negative feedback from customers. Try to hire outside writers to write unbiased articles about your product to maintain your online reputation.
8. Become Active On Linkedin
While you need to be active on all popular social media platforms, you should pay particular attention to LinkedIn. LinkedIn is Facebook’s professional version, and it’s vital to the success of any online business.
LinkedIn lets you connect with customers and experts in your field of business. You should have a professional LinkedIn profile because it can have many great benefits for your online reputation. Here are a few advantages to having a professional LinkedIn profile:
- You can connect with influencers to be involved in your business to improve your digital reputation.
- You can promote your goods and services to customers, making your brand familiar and recognizable on the internet.
- You can become a part of the community that your business is a part of
You can make reputation management through LinkedIn easier by hiring an ORM agency that can help you get the most out of this professional social media platform.
Through LinkedIn, you can keep in touch with experts and professionals in your field of business, ensuring that you’re always updated on any developments and changes that may happen. If you’re selling cybersecurity services, then LinkedIn is where you can engage with the cybersecurity community.
9. Use Anchor Linking
An anchor link is a line of text in a web page hyperlinked to your business’ page. Anchor links on other websites that lead to yours are important for your online reputation.
Anchor links are very important because they can boost your SEO. An SEO agency can help you use anchor links to the best effect as they specialize in this kind of work. The more different websites with anchor links leading to your webpage, the higher you’ll rank on Google, and the better your digital reputation will be.
Besides SEO, anchor links can help guide more people to your website. The more traffic that comes to your webpage, the more customers you’re likely to attract. The best way to get more anchor links to your website is to become an active member of the community in which your business is involved. If you make helpful and genuine contributions to the community, other people will readily add links to your website in their content. However, anchor links alone won’t be enough to increase your SEO and online reputation. You will also need to use short-form links which can include important keywords. Reputation management and SEO contribute to each other, but it can be challenging to get both working together harmoniously. If you have any trouble with this, you can always hire an ORM agency and an SEO agency to work together and help your business out.
10. Appear In Directory Listings
One key aspect of reputation management is being listed in business directories. A business directory is a web page where local businesses are listed according to business categories. Each business will be listed along with its address and other contact details.
It’s important for your online reputation that your business appears in as many business directories as possible. There are many reasons why being listed in business directories can be helpful to your digital reputation:
- If your company appears in lots of business directories, then that means that your brand gets lots of recognition. More recognition is good for your online reputation. People will consider businesses that appear in directories to be legitimate and professional
- You will get more traffic on your business website as people will redirect from business directories onto your webpage
- Appearing frequently in business directories is a great way to improve your SEO, and an SEO agency can help you get more listings in such directories.