Every business is at risk of receiving negative attention online. In this guide, we’ll explain how online reputation management (ORM) can help you deal with—or prepare for—negative attention. And equip you with the tactics you need to come out on top.
What Is Online Reputation Management?
Online reputation management is the process of monitoring and influencing how your business is perceived on the internet, with the aim of neutralizing negative sentiments and promoting positive ones. It typically involves responding to bad reviews, suppressing unfavorable search results, and correcting misinformation about your business. ORM overlaps with digital public relations (digital PR), but the emphasis is on defending your reputation rather than proactively building a good brand image.
Why Reputation Management Is Important for Your Business
Online reputation management is important because it helps ensure consumers view your business more favorably and are therefore more likely to engage with you. Almost 60% of U.S. consumers said they would avoid buying from a brand that comes across as untrustworthy. Here are a few other reasons reputation management is crucial for your business:
- It impacts buying decisions: 59% of shoppers said they perform online research before making a purchase, and 97% of consumers consult product reviews before buying. So, you could lose customers based on how your brand appears online.
- It helps you deal with negative reviews: Negative reviews are inevitable—but staying on top of your online presence can help you turn those reviews around. Customers whose complaints on social media got handled in under five minutes tended to spend more on future purchases.
- It provides valuable feedback: If you get the same complaint multiple times, there’s probably an underlying issue to fix. Start collecting useful insights on your products, services, or overall customer experience by reading reviews.
ORM Failure Examples
Let’s review real-life examples of ORM failures so you can see how much they impact real businesses.
United Airlines
United Airlines lost over $1 billion in market value after a video of a passenger being dragged off an overbooked flight went viral. The video amassed over 1 million online mentions in one day and over 100 million views. Many viewers criticized the CEO’s lack of action in a crisis of public perception. This crisis happened in 2017 but is still routinely brought up in ORM conversations today.
Nestlé
Nestlé also faced a notorious brand reputation management failure when Greenpeace accused them of harmful environmental practices online. Rather than addressing the issue head-on, Nestlé reportedly asked YouTube to remove Greenpeace’s video. The company had to temporarily shut down its public page due to negative comments that included an altered version of the KitKat logo reading “Killer.” It only takes one negative story to create an online reputation nightmare, which is why it’s best to proactively manage your brand image and have a plan in case of a crisis.
Online Reputation Management Media Channels
To manage your online reputation effectively, you need to monitor and act across multiple channels (platforms that allow you to engage with audiences). Let’s explore the four main types:
Paid Media
Paid media is any form of online content that requires payment to feature your brand. This includes Google ads, social media ads, PPC ads, sponsored posts, and promotions by influencers. This channel allows you to earn exposure in highly relevant locations (e.g., on your audience’s favorite sites) and gives you full control over the messaging. The downside of paid media is that it can be expensive, and audiences tend to be more skeptical of brand-controlled messaging.
Earned Media
Earned media is coverage your brand receives from third-party platforms (without payment). Audiences tend to see this as authentic and trustworthy. Examples include press coverage, blog posts on other websites, forum discussions, and reviews on external sites (e.g., Trustpilot or Google). Organic coverage (i.e., coverage earned without your intervention) can have positive or negative sentiment, but there are techniques you can use to secure positive exposure.
Shared Media
Shared media is any content about your brand posted on social media platforms, whether that content is from your brand’s account or someone else’s. Unaddressed complaints, negative comments, and low ratings on shared media channels can seriously harm your company’s online reputation and turn off potential customers. So, you should pay attention to what’s happening on your social media accounts in the same way you would pay attention to customer comments inside a brick-and-mortar establishment. Tools like Semrush’s Social Inbox can help you collect and manage comments, private messages, and mentions from all your linked accounts.
Owned Media
Owned media is any media you control, like your website or email newsletter. To portray your desired brand identity, you need to define elements including tone of voice, design guidelines, value proposition, and target audience. Then, you can use various techniques to increase the reach of owned media. For example, you can use SEO to improve your website’s visibility in search engines and build your email marketing list. This gets your preferred messaging out there and helps override any negative commentary.
How to Do Online Reputation Management
To avoid PR crises and the effects of bad reviews, you need to manage your brand’s online reputation properly. Here’s how to do online reputation management in nine steps:
1. Audit Your Online Reputation
Before putting any ORM process in place, conduct an extensive online reputation audit. The goal is to find out how your customers view and talk about your brand online. Doing so will give you an idea of what’s going well and what challenges you may need to overcome to make important changes. You can do that by looking at Google results, social media platforms, online communities (e.g., Reddit), and review sites (e.g., Trustpilot).
2. Establish an Online Reputation Management Strategy
Now that you know your brand’s current standing, it’s time to set up an online reputation management strategy. First, decide what you want to prioritize. Prioritizing which ORM tactics to implement and which mentions to respond to first will help you manage your online reputation better. Use the Impact Matrix to decide how to prioritize your tasks:
- Quick wins are easy to accomplish and have a high business impact.
- Big bets take more effort to accomplish but have a high business impact.
- Fill-ins are simple but have a low business impact.
- Thankless tasks take a lot of effort but have a low business impact.
Establish guidelines such as policy documentation, communication guidelines, and a defined tone of voice to stay consistent in your messaging to customers.
3. Monitor Brand Mentions
You need to know what people say about your brand—and quickly. The longer it takes for you to respond, the more negativity can spread and the more problems can escalate. Set up Google Alerts for your brand name and any misspellings. But to get a more accurate picture, use the Brand Monitoring app for online reputation monitoring. This tool automatically collects mentions from dozens of platforms, including news sites, blogs, and discussion groups.
4. Plan Your Crisis Management Strategy
Crises happen without warning, so it’s essential to have a crisis management strategy in place. Your strategy should outline an internal communication plan, which team members will handle public responses, and how to address social media mentions. Use media monitoring tools to quickly alert you to unexpected conversations happening about your brand. Keep an eye on industry trends and know which channels your audience prefers for efficient communication. Draft responses to negative comments in advance to react quickly.
5. Encourage Customer Reviews Online
Encourage customers to leave truthful reviews on Google and other review websites. This helps potential customers discover your brand and, assuming the reviews are mostly positive, encourages more people to choose your business. Share links to leave reviews in thank-you emails or at the end of chat interactions on your site. Include clear instructions on how to leave a review and respond to all reviews, negative and positive.
6. Manage Negative Online Reviews
Negative online reviews can have a significant impact on your business, so it’s important to respond to them thoughtfully. Improve your response time, show courtesy, acknowledge mistakes, and try to keep conversations public whenever possible. Offer a refund or discount as a last resort to appease the customer, and reach out to third-party authors if they write a negative review or blog post about your brand. Make improvements to your service or product based on the feedback received.
7. Maintain Consistent Branding
All the content you create should reflect the brand identity you want to portray. By branding content consistently, you can influence opinions more strongly and improve recall. Remember that even small interactions, such as replies to comments on social media, can impact your brand’s online reputation.
8. Create Content for Branded Keywords
Creating quality content around branded keywords helps you control the narrative around your brand. Use SEO best practices to increase your chances of ranking highly for branded keywords. Optimize your title tags, meta descriptions, H1 tags, and body content. Demonstrate expertise, authority, trustworthiness, and build backlinks from authoritative sites in your industry. Post relevant content on social media sites, send press releases, and write guest posts on the topic to dominate the SERP for branded keywords.
9. Choose Influencers Wisely
Influencer marketing can be effective in improving your brand’s online reputation. Choose influencers who fit your brand image and have a positive association with your business. Establish goals and a budget for your influencer marketing campaign. Use tools like Influencer Analytics to find influencers in your niche and determine their rates. Craft personalized emails to influencers, providing them with relevant details and discussing next steps. Set up reporting for your campaign and ensure compliance with social media guidelines.
Manage Your Online Reputation with Semrush
Semrush offers a suite of tools to streamline online reputation management and achieve better results. Our platform includes media monitoring apps, SEO tools, and social media tools to help you monitor and manage your online reputation effectively. Sign up for free to explore your options and take control of your brand’s online reputation.