The Importance of Online Reputation

online reputation

Online reputation is the perception people have of a person or business based on information that appears online – like search results, reviews and social media. It’s a key factor in a brand’s success because it can make or break their ability to attract and retain customers, employees and investors.

Unlike the past, when reputation was largely dictated by what the media printed, today’s world of real-time intent-driven micro-moments has turned reputation management into a full-on digital challenge. Consumers are literally making split-second decisions as they grab their smartphones and type or speak a search term into Google to do something, go somewhere or buy something. A poor online reputation can have devastating consequences. In fact, numerous sources have reported that enterprise value — both present share price value and future underlying commercial value — is highly correlated to the strength of a company’s reputation.

For businesses, an online reputation management strategy is a game changer. It’s a powerful way to control and influence the customer experience in each of those millions of micro-moments. And with a unified platform that supports all the moving parts of the complex reputation ecosystem (reviews, surveys, SEO, listings, social media and TikTok), it’s possible for businesses to see improvements in their offline KPIs – including sales, employee retention and customer churn – within months.

A good online reputation is also a powerful way to attract and retain top talent. Companies with a positive reputation attract applicants who believe in their mission and values, want to work for a well-run business that’s open about its mistakes, and are willing to risk a tough situation in order to do the right thing. In addition, it’s been shown that employees of high-performing brands have higher job satisfaction, are more engaged in the workplace and are more likely to be satisfied with their salaries.

The bottom line is that a good online reputation can have many benefits for businesses – and it’s completely within their control. So it’s essential that every business takes their online reputation seriously and considers it an integral part of their marketing strategy.

Digimind Winter ’22 Release: Expand Your Reputation Management Coverage with Historical Search, LinkedIn and TikTok Monitoring and Dead Links Management

Contact our team of experts today to learn more about how you can take your ORM to the next level.

Achieving your ORM goals isn’t as difficult as it may seem, but getting there requires planning, resources and a commitment to seeing it through. By implementing an integrated online reputation management plan with reviews, surveys, SEO, ticketing, social and listings, it’s possible to achieve your KPIs within a few months – and then grow from there. The first step is to decide on the goals you’re going to focus on, then choose a unified software solution that will support all of your touchpoints. Then it’s time to roll out your ORM strategy and start capturing data and testing against your KPIs.