ORM Dos and Donts in 2019

July 10, 2019

Table of Contents

When it comes to controlling your online reputation it does not matter who are you.

Everyone from high-level CEOs to a Burger King employee can profit from the utilization of online reputation management (ORM).

A quick and easy sign of your reputation or reputation score starts on Google.

Google shows users everything they have to know about specific keywords or individuals. This is how others are going to develop their “first impression” about you.

What do your search results say about you? Do the results truly portray who you are and what you stand to represent?

Online reputation management is managed by various firms, all professing they can develop and/or restore your overall web presence.

Others may look into alternative possibilities such as promoting themselves on social media platforms or paying for costly press releases to flood out the first page of Google.

These are all great choices however you must guarantee you are regularly watching and adjusting your online reputation efforts.

This is not something you do once and it lasts eternally, this needs support.

Online reputation management is all about endurance, the internet will not improve overnight. With regular marketing efforts and uniformly distributing new high engaging content, over time you will obtain the reputation score you deserve.

What Does Online Reputation Management Mean?

Furthermore, the purpose that online reputation management is after is to obtain authority and the capability to control one’s reputation. ORM is an important tool you can employ to take command of online discussions. Make sure the issues that appear are relevant.

If you have an insufficient quantity of data online, it is time to add some more. This is done by building custom websites, social platforms, press releases, etc.

Having a positive online reputation can place you ahead of your competitor if completed accurately. When possible consumers tour your website or investigate your products the last thing you need them seeing is a negative review.

A positive reputation points to an expanding presence in your community. In turn, creating more customers. If you are uncertain if you are executing the correct judgment, glance at what your opposition does.

Monitoring daily can not only have you up-to-date with modern trends. But regularly monitoring yourself online is an effortless way to recognize if there is any brand-new feedback (positive or negative) that you can reply to.

Administering appropriate acknowledgments will generate enduring customers. Making your customers feel valuable is crucial. Customers are turning away from word-of-mouth. This implies that you need to rely more on your customer feedback retention and increase your marketing efforts.

Instead of communicating with each other about commodities, customers are going straight to the reviews.

Sites such as Trustpilot or TripAdvisor are stringent with removing reviews or even adjusting them, which makes them a trusted resource for prospects to find relevant reviews. Online reputation is what will either make or break your business in 2018.

Misconceptions About Online Reputation

When people imagine ORM they often compare this to human resources.

While ORM does undeviatingly manage internal communication efforts it is much more comprehensive than that.

ORM is meant to watch and control both internal and external powers that are either going to help or hurt your business’ performance. While setting the groundwork for an effective online reputation management strategy may seem difficult there are several things online waiting to help you along the way.

No Brand Awareness

Possible customers are much more likely to buy your good or service if they have heard about you already.

There are roughly four influential social media platforms that encompass the entire space.

If you can learn each one, success will shortly ensue. (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube).

Not Responding to Negative Feedback

Next, it is essential to remember that disregarding negative reviews will not make them vanish.

Doing nothing and letting the negativity to linger online will only worsen over time.

By utilizing tools like, Google Alerts you can be informed immediately when a new review is published online.

ORM provides companies the possibility to combat these bad reviews.

Always remember to be courteous and considerate while answering disgruntled customers. Negative situations have the tendency to heighten dramatically if not addressed with prudence.

For those who are on the edge about buying your good or service may choose to purchase after seeing that you care about what your customers say.

Flipping a Negative Review into a Positive

Undergoing a negative review is never simple for a business of any volume.

Whether the review is online or face-to-face, handling the review properly could result in reverse the effects.

Vice versa, it can also start a snowball effect if you handle the situation poorly.

Make sure you are monitoring your customer feedback on a hebdomadal or monthly basis.

Again, you cannot bear to have negativity online nowadays. Companies are formulated every day, all it is going to take is a related company with no negative reviews to hinder your business.

By immediately acknowledging negative feedback, you are showing that individual that you are trying to redress the situation.

Displaying that you care makes the difference amid a residual client and never hearing from them again.

Do You Need Perfect Reviews Online?

In short, no.

People realize that not all companies are perfect and as the years go by it is only logical to undergo negative feedback from time to time. Realistically you are not going to satisfy everyone, that is perfectly fine!

There is plenty of fish in the sea, so correct the situation and operate towards bettering yourself. Ideally, you must ensure that you never drop beneath the positive perception threshold.

This is when you Google yourself and immediately see negative information before you begin to scroll down the page. Possessing 5/5 star reviews across all platforms may create some suspicion amongst your possible customers. It is nonsensical that out of 150 customers, all of them gave you a 5-star review.

Companies have the capacity to buy reviews, while this helps the business, it negatively influences how consumers view them if exposed.

Here at EraseMugshots, we work on reaching out to your past customers to produce as much feedback as possible. After getting the feedback you can either incentivize them, or you can simply ask if you can post it on their behalf.

This way you positively know that review will be posted online.

ORM vs SEO Strategies

While SEO (search engine optimization) does perform a function in each ORM plan (online reputation management) they still vary in several ways. SEO looks into how you are seen on Google, meaning what position does your website come in? Are you on the first? SEO also includes the art of keyword targeting.

This marketing method is used while composing blogs, this way Google can recognize what you are writing about and where to position it within the search results. The longer the article the more beneficial it will be, so make sure to incorporate your focus keyword in your heading, subheadings as well as the body of text (or paragraph).

When it comes to SEO, local companies profit more from a well-designed SEO approach. For example, law firms compete with each other within ‘x’ amount of miles. By putting yourself on the first page of Google this provides you a leg up on the competition.

For local businesses, the objective is to maintain a ‘featured snippet’ for your topmost keywords. This is when a text block appears at the head of Google with an elongated meta-description related to the rest of the results.

Having a review site that is easily available is additionally great for your clients to follow reviews. However, if you experience negative reviews this may hinder the amount of new business you receive.

ORM looks at both internal and external threats and benefits a business is facing. By conducting a simple SWOT analysis you can uncover what is supporting and damaging your company’s overall performance.

Removing Negative Reviews with ORM

As we discussed previously, there are tactics such as obtaining reviews that businesses use to conceal or repress negative content.

This is only momentary, once Google realizes there are counterfeit reviews they will either be removed or your business will be provisionally banned from Google. Killing any and all attempts of SEO you have worked so hard to achieve.

If the right ORM approach is performed and observed, most of the time you truly suppress the negative content while you are publishing articles.

Improving Your Online Reputation Internally

This is a no-brainer. Even if your employers are out of the office, how they act online certainly traces back to your company. Nowadays everyone online is on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or YouTube. These social media platforms have an enormous following.

By uploading a new Instagram post you are making your vulnerable to billions of users. What you may think you are sharing with your friends could easily appear on a potential client’s cell phone you are attempting to close a deal with. How to motivate your employees is entirely up to you, but incentives are a great start.

When working offline or after hours on social media platforms use unique handles or usernames. This makes it difficult to trace that account back to you if something does negatively impact your company. By hosting monthly or annual seminars on social etiquette you can dramatically decrease the risk this may occur.

Don’t wait until it is too late to make a difference. If you are viewing something negative online it is vital that you correct the issue in a convenient way as soon as possible. By now, you should have a good perception of what online reputation management (ORM) is and what it is not.

If you are still having issues with protecting, restoring, or monitoring your online reputation please fill out the form below and one of our knowledgable reputation specialists will contact you as soon as possible. Thank you for taking the time to stop by EraseMugshots.com.