ORM (Online Reputation Management) for Business – What Is It?
What a person reads about you or your company on the first page of Google immediately influences their trust in you. According to Reputation X, only 5% of people search for information beyond the first page of search results. A report by TrustPilot states that 90% of users avoid businesses with a bad reputation, and 87% will cancel a purchase decision after reading negative news or reviews about a brand.
What can be done to prevent this? Let’s figure it out.
First, about terms and differences.
Even if you are not actively working on building your online reputation, it is still being formed through:
- The company’s website.
- Social media pages.
- Comments and review platforms.
- Mentions in the media.
All of this generates content about you, which search engines pick up. However, lacking a targeted and systematic approach is like moving blindly. At the same time, this creates an excellent opportunity for adversaries or dishonest competitors to create an unpleasant or even harmful image of you and/or your business.
Unfortunately, content abuse is becoming a popular tool nowadays.
This can be exploited by websites publishing paid materials or unethical business competitors. Sometimes, their goal is simply to extort money from you. Other times, it’s to push you out of the market. Their aim may not be to tarnish your name in the eyes of the general public but to alienate partners or make you a persona non grata in serious financial institutions.
So, if you are not working on your reputation, others will do it for you. And putting out fires is always more complicated than preventing them.
Online Reputation Management (ORM)
ORM is necessary when you or your company consider entering the public space. Public space includes:
- Social media
- Mentions in the media
- Even advertising integrations
As soon as your audience becomes aware of you, you enter a risk environment immediately. You interact with an uncontrolled public space, which can respond unexpectedly.
The only thing you can control is your communication. But to do so, it must be implemented.
Thus, ORM is a set of systematic actions to create a positive online image.
I recommend that all businesses, as well as my partners and clients, have a pre-prepared action plan and equate their business with their online reputation.