Online Reputation Management: What Is It And Why Is It So Important?

Online reputation is a complex ecosystem that depends on many elements, and most of them are beyond your control. And yet, the success or failure of your company, or even your individual success as professionals, may depend on it.

The good news is that there are things you can do to improve online brand reputation, starting with a thorough understanding of what it is and how to manage it. Let’s get to it!

What is online reputation management?

Online Reputation Management (ORM) refers to managing a brand’s reputation on the internet. It is a fast-growing discipline used to shape public perception of your brand by influencing online information and increasing the visibility of positive opinions.

The online reputation of a brand is not completely under the control of the company, since all Internet users can contribute to build it by providing their comments and opinions. What people think of a brand affects everything about the brand. People won’t engage with your company if they don’t trust or believe in your brand’s message.

To understand it better, we can consider that online reputation is the sum of two complementary aspects:

• The internal factors, that is, the information that the person or company itself shares about itself and the online actions it carries out over time.
• External factors, i.e. all the information provided by other users, visitors or consumers.

It is also necessary to differentiate between online reputation and brand image. To begin with, the former refers exclusively to the online environment, while the latter extends to all aspects of the relationship between the customer and the brand. In addition, brand image is controlled by the company itself — through the messages it spreads — whilst reputation always involves aspects that you cannot control.

But why is it so important?

Because online research has more and more weight every day. Prior to any purchase decision, most users will research brands, companies and its services/products on the Internet through search engines and opinion pages. If your brand is not well-positioned, and negative comments are easily accessible, it is very likely that the user will choose another brand.

Because online reputation is closely linked to SEO. When it comes to establishing the positioning of a page, Google takes into account both its internal organization and its reputation. Websites with a large number of incoming links and positive evaluations are more likely to appear among the first positions of the search engine, which generates a large flow of visits.

Because it influences your prestige and brand image. Users tend to trust the opinions of other people similar to them. Therefore, comments about your brand will directly influence the positioning and mental image they form of the company.

Because online reputation is related to loyalty. Brands that have a better online reputation have a much easier time getting users to stay with them in the long term and even recommend them to the public.

Because a good brand reputation generates trust in users. In the end, online reputation is like the fish that bites the tail — the better reviews you have, the more users will trust you, the more they will buy from you and become loyal, and the more likely they are to leave you positive reviews in turn.

Nowadays, managing your brand’s reputation online has become an essential tool for any brand or company — anyone can benefit from managing their image online. So don’t leave it up to chance!