Maintaining
a positive feedback and a good brand image on internet nowadays is as
vital for a company as carrying a positive image in the real market.
The practice of controlling negative feedback and disseminating
positive information about people and businesses on the internet is
called as Online Reputation Management. This is accomplished by
controlling online search results because most of the time they carry
misleading, inaccurate and negative information which can have
adverse effect on the way web searchers view them.
The
emergence of social media has given a larger platform to the
companies and businesses for marketing their products and services
but at the same time consumers also get a wider platform for
expressing their views about a product, service or people. This gives
rise to both positive as well as negative feedbacks and comments
depending on the consumer’s experience. Now it depends on us how
well we are managing our online reputation so that the negative
feedback doesn’t affect our sales figures. Here arises the need of
Online Reputation Management Services.
There are various platforms where we can influence the perception of people:
- Social networking websites - Facebook and others.
- Professional networks like LinkedIn.
- Microblogs such as Twitter.
- Consumer Review websites such as MouthShut, epinions, etc.
- Mainstream or traditional websites.
- Collaborative Research websites like Rediff Q & A, Yahoo Answers.
- Bookmarking or social news websites
- Blogs and discussion forums
- Blogging communities such as LiveJournal, Open Diary, Xanga etc.
Online
reputation management has many benefits. Some of them are listed
below:
- Increase customer satisfaction by gaining reviews from consumers on positive and negative features about your product and services.
- Improve positive perception of your brand by listening to and getting involved in conversations with customers.
- Get reviews about competitors and perception of their consumers about their products or services.
- Online reputation helps in upholding shareholder value by reducing risk by being informed about how the opinion about our products are formed and disseminated.
- Establishing a more effective public relations.
- Cut downs expenses on marketing activities by understanding how to reach potential customers at lower expenditure.
- It helps in understanding gaps for services and products that can be manufactured for lucrative niche markets.
- It helps in removal of negative comments and feedback about you or your company from the review websites or other websites.
Our
main focus while planning a social marketing strategy should be to
set conversation parameters. It is not possible to control the
direction of each and every conversation but we should try to give
honest answers and helpful input wherever we can. We should make use
of social media for creating a conducive environment where
prospective and existing customers can freely express their opinion
without the fear of being censored. Also we should provide answers to
negative feedbacks and comments that help our potential customers to
understand the cause behind a particular action of your company.
Whenever possible, you can refer viewers to your product in a manner
that they do not feel that you are promoting your company rather than
providing a useful information. Thus if we carry out professional
activities within the online space we begin to approach our potential
customers at different levels.
GrowFast® is a
leading company offering Online Reputation Management Services that
results in positive brand image, highlights the USP of the brand,
increases the longevity of the brand and re-creates the trust with
the customer base.
