How Social Media is driving customer-brand interaction

 In my previous blog, I briefly touched upon how the internet, since it going mainstream in mid-1990s became ever more central to the way we do business, there sprang up quite a different and radically new way of how businesses manage reputation. In the offline world, it was relatively straightforward. The image was projected via centralized controlled media and the average customer or citizen’s opinion and experiences were relatively between the organization and them. However, with the advent of the internet, this started to democratize a bit more and really exploded into the true voice of the masses with the advent of social media. These days, it is important for a business or organization to pay attention to what and how is the online reputation shaping up since it affects almost every aspect of an organization from customer relations, new sales, even their ability to attract talent, and of course their future growth prospects.

This week, we will explore where and how ORM helps in driving customer-brand interactions.

Building and maintaining brand loyalty are one of the central themes of research for marketers for a very long time. Marketers have utilized various means to maintain the brand loyalty of their customers. Brand loyalty is defined as the partiality of a consumer towards one business or product over another, and it can truly make or break a company. It drives in-store traffic, visits to your website, word-of-mouth recommendations, and the conversion of leads to customers. This means the difference between profits and losses. Whether you like it or not, your customers are talking about your brand on social media. Customers have always dictated brand perception through word-of-mouth. Companies can put out good products, market those products, and attempt to steer branding in a certain direction, but it’s always been up to the customers. Now, word-of-mouth has moved online and happens on a much larger scale. And through various social media platforms it’s available for all to see and more often than not, in today’s interconnected world, brand loyalty depends on your ability to leverage the power of social media to build connections with your prospects and customers.

Tapping into your social media market and communicating with followers is no longer an option – it is a requirement. Hence, in this digital age, reputation management has become a critical component of every business. It is all about reputation when it comes to how a brand identifies itself and how the public perceives it.

The primary goal of online reputation management is to market and protect your brand so that it can be found, followed, and promoted in a digital world. Online Reputation Management aka ORM works by responding to negative, unfavourable customer comments and articles published on the internet that reflect poorly on your company's brand image.

Though both Online Reputation Management and Public Relations have the same goal, they approach it in quite different ways. ORM is more of a reactive effort that includes searching for and responding to potentially damaging information from other individuals or businesses. PR is more of a proactive effort to strengthen a brand, whereas ORM is more of a reactive effort that includes searching for and responding to potentially detrimental information from other individuals or businesses.

If you want customers to keep coming back to your brand, you have to connect with them in meaningful ways. Social media is the perfect place to build these relationships. First and foremost, doing a thorough online reputation audit could be considered the most basic of ORM activity. An online reputation management audit involves establishing how people view you online and the hurdles you face in challenging that perception, which can be done through brand monitoring. Simple questions like what kinds of websites do I see for my brand name. Do most people reach my business through search engines or external sites can be answered with this, and is the sentiment for my company's overall positive?

With the audit results in hand, you can outline your ORM goals, set limitations and constraints, and prioritise your duties to construct an Online Reputation Management Strategy for your firm.

Proactively monitoring online discussions gives you a real-time picture of your online presence and helps you to reply swiftly. People expect responses to social media remarks within a day or less. Prompt responses keep disgruntled consumers from providing negative comments and show that you value their assistance. The goal is to reply immediately and compassionately. A private message could become a public comment if you do not respond to customer inquiries swiftly.

To summarize, any company that wants to build client loyalty must remain on top of online reviews and develop an online reputation management strategy that shows its strengths and positions it well on the first page of search engines. Actively managing reputations can certainly benefit organization with bigger trust, better talent, less risks, and higher profit.

What is Online Reputation Management and Why Do You Need It?

As the internet became ever more central to the way we do business, there sprang up quite a different and radically new way of how businesses manage reputation. In the offline world, it was relatively straightforward. The image was projected via centralized controlled media and the average customer or citizen’s opinion and experiences were relatively between the organization and them. However, with the advent of the internet, this started to democratize a bit more and really exploded into the true voice of the masses with the advent of social media. These days, it is important for a business or organization to pay attention to what and how is the online reputation shaping up since it affects almost every aspect of an organization from customer relations, new sales, even their ability to attract talent, and of course their future growth prospects.

Why ONLINE REPUTATION MANAGEMENT is important for your business

·       Every organization tries to build a positive image about itself; in fact, the core of the business is all about building an image and improving it every day. In today’s immensely crowded, geography agnostic flat world, It is important to make sure your brand is interesting and fascinating to attract new customers.

·       The way customers interact with the business has undergone a tremendous change. These days, before buying anything online, they look for reviews online and on social media to know the product, brand, and its general views from others. More often than not, the preference of your customers largely depends on the search results.

·       Internet and social media have truly given voice to everyone and now anyone can give reviews online, even your competitors can write negative reviews to spoil your reputation online.

·       With the help of ORM tools, strategies, and practices, one can eliminate the negative content that is untrue; this helps in painting the right picture in front of the customer.

·       Online reputation management helps you improve the reviews and feedback about your brand and create a positive brand image. Customers usually pay more attention to a brand that has positive feedback and reviews online. This helps to generate sales as well.

·       Online reputation management boosts the search engine optimization of your company.

Online reputation management helps you to overcome all this. A survey indicates that a vast majority of customers read online reviews before purchasing anything, therefore ORM becomes paramount today

Hence, reputation management has become a critical part of every organization in the digital age. The way a brand defines itself and how the public sees it is all about reputation. Online Reputation Management is primarily concerned with marketing and defending your brand so that it may be discovered, followed, promoted in a digital marketplace. ORM works by responding to negative thus unfavorable customer comments and articles that are posted online media that cast a poor light on your organization's brand image.

Your consumer base might be jeopardized if you do not manage your online reputation properly. Because according to one survey more than 80% of customers conduct some internet research prior to making a purchase, how you seem online is a make-or-break aspect in their final choice. In addition, with the majority of consumers reading reviews to decide if your organization is trustworthy, your online reputation is a business quality check. Treating online reviews as personal recommendations becomes critical in such situations. Because the Internet keeps practically everything, anything people say about your business online is likely to stay online.

Though both Online Reputation Management and Public Relations have the same aim, there is a significant variation in how they do it. PR is more of a proactive effort to strengthen a brand, whereas ORM is more of a reactive effort that includes searching for and responding to potentially detrimental information from other individuals or businesses.

Monitoring is an important component of maintaining your online reputation since it may provide you with valuable information about consumer satisfaction and feedback on your products or services. Customers who made a complaint and received a satisfactory answer from the company will return to do business with them. You can reduce negative customer comments and maintain a positive online presence by actively managing your reputation.

First and foremost, completing an extensive online reputation Audit may be regarded as an ORM activity. An online reputation management audit entails determining how people perceive you online and the challenges you have in contesting that perception, which may be accomplished through brand monitoring. This can assist with simple queries like What kind of websites do I see for my brand name?, Do most people find my business from search engines or external sites?, and Is the overall attitude for my business positive?

With the audit results in hand, you can create an Online Reputation Management Strategy for your company by outlining your ORM goals, establishing limits and constraints, and prioritizing your tasks.

Monitoring online chats, social media posts, discussion forums, reviews, etc in a proactive manner offers you a real-time snapshot of your online presence and allows you to respond quickly. People expect social media comments to be responded to within a day or less. Prompt answers prevent dissatisfied customers from leaving bad feedback and demonstrate that you appreciate their assistance. The goal here is to respond quickly and with empathy. If you don't reply to consumer inquiries promptly, a private communication might suddenly become a public comment.

To summarize, online reputation management is not a one-day or one-time activity rather it requires regular monitoring; online reputation management will help your business in the long term if you keep an eye on your activities and the activities done by your competitors.