Online Reputation: An Invaluable Asset
No medium since time immemorial is better and faster suited for research on products, people, brands and companies than the Internet. The search results consist of articles, private and commercial blog posts, forum entries, online ratings, video formats or entries in the respective social media. From this kaleidoscope of information, the opinion about a person or a company is very quickly assembled. And opinion in this context means reputation for public figures or companies.
Here are five advantages that speak for online reputation management.
1. Increase the confidence in the brand
For companies, brands or celebrities, however, reputation is a very precious commodity whose fate cannot be left to itself or to chance. On the contrary, reputation has become a very hard currency in the opinion and news markets and therefore an active online reputation management and a digital strategy is needed to protect or even better to constantly increase trust in a brand or company.
2. Reputation increases market value
With an initial reputation analysis, the status quo is first examined with regard to the perception of a person, brand or company in the public or media. From this, the first measures for an active online reputation management –reputation analysis, strategy development, measures and monitoring — can be derived. In individual cases, this may mean that negative news must be cleaned up, a destroyed reputation must be completely rebuilt or a low positive reputation must be stimulated. Any shift in emphasis towards a higher reputation automatically increases the market value of a person or company. Of course, active online reputation management is a closed-loop process.
3. Reputation offers competitive advantages
The advantages of professional online reputation management are obvious: Not only can the reputation on the Internet be improved within a short time, but positive reporting or appreciation of users on the Internet automatically leads to an increase in organic reach, i.e. better findability in search engines such as Google. And a higher organic reach is in itself a decisive competitive advantage over the competition.
4. Increase in turnover through positive reputation
Since many users plan their purchases on the Internet and 85% of their purchasing decisions are made by gathering information on the Web, it can be argued that a company or brand’s positive reputation and clever storytelling can have a major influence on users’ purchasing decisions. And in times when products and services are becoming more and more similar, this is perhaps a crucial component. Online Reputation Management thus becomes an important addition to online marketing in the company.
5. Reputation Management supports recruiting
In times when the war for talents is in full swing, online reputation management can have a significant impact on a company’s human resources. In the aftermath of the financial crisis, for example, the banking sector in the US, UK and also in Europe had considerable difficulties in recruiting young candidates because the image of the big banks had reached zero and many young people did not want a career in a corporate culture of “hire and fire” and preferred to dream of a career with the big internet companies like Google, Facebook or YouTube instead.
