Online Reputation Management (ORM) is the process and strategy to monitor and manage your reputation online. If there’s a couple of negative comments about you or your business online, one of the most applied theories to apply is to post a positive comment to counter the negative one.

Did you know that you can influence the results of the negative comment by actively participating in the conversation happening about you? If you participate in the conversation taking place about you online, it can give you the opportunity to improve the perception of your brand and image.

Online, it is only the opinions of your customers that really counts. You should always try to establish a good relationship with the customer or blogger that left the negative comment about you on any social media channel. All comments about you or your company should be followed by actions.

Lead the conversations about your brand

Try to take an active part in your market niche by becoming a regular contributor to forums, blogs and various other social media channels that you are using in your digital marketing strategy. Lead the conversations about your brand. Respond to feedback and comments and engage in conversations already happening or you can start your own. If you do, always be transparent and honest with your approach.

People like the fact that you are actively participating and paying attention in the conversations that they are part of. Always be prepared to act. If any negative comments about you occurs, respond immediately. Even if you are not participating on a regular basis online, you should be prepared to manage a digital and social media crisis when it happens.

Selecting the right social media channels

Giving positive feedback to any negative comments is not always the best way to influence the general public. The internet viewing public is huge and who do you want to reach with your response? There are thousands of various social media channels available, many people favor the most popular ones such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and so on.

You will find many businesses complain that they cannot reach their audiences. Just because Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are the most popular social media channels does not necessarily mean that your audience is spending their time on those channels.

According to general statistics, people between the age group of 18-34 are spending their time on Facebook. Let’s assume that your target audience is middle-aged. Will you still focus only on Facebook or will you move to another social media channel with an audience that matches your criteria?

Building your online reputation

Selecting the right social media channels is very important to build and promote your online reputation. To access the right social networks, you must first focus on your target audience. You might also classify your target audience in terms of geographic or demographics to get a better idea of the different types of social networks that they are using.

To provide an excellent service to your clients, it is very important to engage with them on the right social media channels for your market niche and this will help you build up your online reputation and credibility.