Importance of Online
Reputation Management
When it comes to building positive awareness about a brand,
it takes a lot of time and effort to build and maintain a company’s online
reputation. Just like in the physical world, a reputation is all a business
really has. But what is an online reputation? Furthermore, why is online
reputation management important? Here is the importance of online reputation
management by social media today
1. Increase sales
Many people are researching brands, services, and products
online before they make the final purchase decision. Do you know what they are
looking for? If not, then you are already missing out. What difference do your
marketing campaigns make if you are not sure what message is being received by
the people you are trying to reach?
Most companies start to investigate when their sales start
to drop. For some, regaining momentum is not worthwhile economically and the
service or product is discontinued. What if you had valuable insights about
what your target audience is looking for online? Would this change the game a
bit?
2. Build trust and
credibility
Having the trust of your clients is a major component of
success. Your clients discuss their purchases with friends and when they have a
problem they will most likely spread the word about their experience. The
internet makes everyone a citizen journalist and you should now worry about
negative content spreading like wildfire online. If your company suffers a loss
of confidence in the public, there is a chance that you will never be able to
turn it positive again. If you can recover from this negative publicity to
regain trust from your target audience, the cost will be high in comparison
with having a process in place that could have prevented it.
3. Show your best
side
Current and potential investors, corporations, banks, and
the general public are all going online to research your business before doing
business with you. Look at investors as simply being consumers on a different
level. These investors don’t know your company well enough and will often make
decisions on the information that is available to them. Once again if you have
a negative reputation online, it will show. Do you want to be associated with a
business with a negative reputation?
4. Online insights
Gossip, speculation, and rumors have destroyed great names
in the past and many businesses have lost the confidence of their target market
due to this. Today it’s very common to see a celebrity or business with an
associated scandal to simply vanish. Quite often this happens by an abundance
of all the negative information floating around about them.
During a crisis online it is very common to have inside
information available, but is often leaked to external sources before reaching
all of the essential channels. Back in the day it was easy to remove the issues
internally before they went out to the public. In today’s technology driven
lifestyle with access to the social web in our pocket, news travels fast, especially
if it’s negative. It can take seconds to collapse a brand that took years to
build.
5. Recruitment
Having professional staff is the foundation for a successful
workforce. The top individuals in every industry are forever head hunted and by
knowing that, they will most likely research your company and look at all the
facts concerning your brand before they accept any position at your company. If
you know what your competitors, clients, and employees are talking about
online, it can make a big difference in hiring someone with a good reputation.
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