Brand reputation management in the age of social media

With consumer behaviour changing and conversations about your brand taking place in the virtual world on a 24x7 basis, brand reputation management is crucial for companies and brands. With the explosion of social media platforms, your brand reputation can be tarnished more easily and more rapidly than ever before.

According to Wikipedia, "Reputation management refers to the influencing and controlling or concealing of an individual's or group's reputation."Brand reputation management has to be a continuous process so you can stay on top of your brand's public perception and address possibly damaging or negative reviews as soon as they appear.

A positive reputation inspires loyalty and confidence - significant drivers of revenue and growth.A negative reputation is injurious to sales and customer retention but it does help you know what customers like which can help you update your product/process to better serve customer expectations.

Brand reputation management is all about monitoring and protecting your brand's online image and reputation in reviews, social media and Google.

Brand reputation management strategies

In today's digital world and cutthroat competitive environment, businesses need to adopt a multi-pronged approach to brand reputation management. Some key strategies include:

Content marketing: Producing lead-generating content across channels raises awareness about your brand and benefits of your products. By positioning yourself as an informative thought leader and industry expert, you willb uild confidence and gain more potential customers.

Search Engine Optimisation: SEO helps put you at the top of search engine results, right where consumers are searching for solutions and resources. That in itself gives you a lead over your competitors.

Public Relations: PR can help improve brand perception, manage negative sentiment and enhance your web presence.

Website development: A strong, responsive website that offers easy navigation and enjoy ableuser experience serves to complement your brand reputation management efforts.

Paid Media: Paid media extends your reach and drives traffic to your web properties by building new relationships with partners and customers. This includes PPC advertising with Google AdWords, display ads on Facebook, and sponsored posts on industry/influencer blogs.

Social media: Although social media is a relatively new arena for many B2B companies, it is an integral part of brand reputation management. It’s important to stay active on your social media pages by engaging in conversations and publishing fresh content regularly. A thorough social media strategy that tracks, monitors and responds to both positive and negative comments can make your brand more accessible and customer-focussed.

Brand reputation management activities on Social Media

While Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter should be top priority, lesser-known social network sites within your industry can also contribute to your rankings and brand building. Here are some tips to follow maximize the reputation-boosting benefits of social media:

Populate your profile: Take full advantage of all fields - description, location, contact information et al, for optimisation and to boost legitimacy with users. However, it’s important to be consistent. Your company’s background, client references and project history should be the same on all your social media profiles and should match the information on your company’s website.

Post regularly: As someone said, no social media page is better than an inactive one. To improve your landscape, post different content across your profiles. Post relevant, engaging content like photos, videos, special offers, announcements, corporate announcements, links. Constantly adding positive or useful content will not only keep your followers updated, but will also build your brand image for potential customers.

Take prompt action: Monitor all comments, feedback and reviews closely. Not all will be positive. Take action swiftly. Be apologetic, be honest and offer the aggrieved customer an easy access to you.

Train your team: Social media engagement training along with a plan for handling crises is essential for social media reputation management. Complaints and crises should be handled promptly and professionally.

Use social listening: Most unhappy customers don't complain directly to the brand; they tell their friends about it. A social listening tool can save time and effort, and enable you to have a closer ear to the voice of the customer on social media.

Share best reviews:Don't hesitate to show off your glowing reviews, awards, ratings. etc. The impact of user-generated content is more effective than a loud sales message. Positive reviews help drown out the negatives and attract potential customers.

Tell your story: Think beyond using social profiles for selling products. Use the platforms share your brand’s positive narrative, talk about the good things your company is doing. Promote your philanthropic or environmental initiatives to build a brand image that's more positive, caring and responsible.

Why you need a Digital Marketing agency for brand reputation management

Every small and big enterprise needs a good online presence and credibility. And every business knows that having a good reputation is important for business growth. A full services digital marketing agency can:

• design and populate your profile properly
• listen to customers using tools like social mention, Google alert, etc
• monitor and track comments and online reviews
• help you create regular and relevant content to post on your social media sites
• work with you to create positive content to push negative content downwards

Why Interics IN-DIGITAL

Interics IN-DIGITAL is an experienced social media optimisation agency, SEO agency and lead generation agency. A leading digital marketing agency in India, Interics IN-DIGITAL has the team, skills and experience to deliver effective social media strategy for brand reputation management and lead generation; plan and execute content marketing strategy; build brand awareness through digital marketing.

Through a customised combination of Content Strategy, Social Media Strategy, Digital Advertising, Website Design and more, Interics IN-DIGITAL tailors solutions for effective brand reputation management, powerful digital brand experience and measurable brand impact.

Let Interics IN-Digital help you build a distinctive online presence with seamlessly aligned brand experiences that build brand and deliver business impact.