{"id":28955,"date":"2017-07-21T10:15:00","date_gmt":"2017-07-21T08:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sotrender.com\/blog\/?p=28955\/"},"modified":"2025-02-04T15:29:10","modified_gmt":"2025-02-04T14:29:10","slug":"brands-online-reputation-matters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sotrender.com\/blog\/2017\/07\/brands-online-reputation-matters\/","title":{"rendered":"Why does your brand\u2019s online reputation matter?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The digital world has never been as powerful as it is today. That means that being invisible on the internet is pretty troublesome for brands, since much of your audience will be trying to find you there. But what can be just as bad is having a bad reputation online.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Since numbers speak louder than words, let\u2019s take a look at those first. And the numbers quickly show us that over 50% of the total global population is using the internet<\/span>. Impressive?<\/p>\n

\"digital,

Digital in 2017 – Global Overview \/ we are social<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

On the Internet, sharing opinions and reaching more people is easier than it is offline. When it comes to people buying a product from brands and businesses, a majority of people look for other user opinions online<\/strong>. Since your company probably has quite a few competitors on the market, sometimes it\u2019s the little details that determine if a potential client choses your company or your competitors\u2019. In this case, even a lower price sometimes won\u2019t be enough. More and more often people are taking these factors into consideration, like how easy it is to reach you, are other customers satisfied with your product\/service, is your website easy to navigate and find relevant information, and many other elements.<\/p>\n

84% of people trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation.<\/em>
\nLocal Consumer Review Survey carried out by BrightLocal<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Your online reputation really does matter. If you want proof, keep in mind that new management branches were established a few years ago. They\u2019re called Online Reputation Management (ORM)<\/span>\u00a0and Search Engine Reputation Management (SERM)<\/span>. ORM is basically about monitoring your reputation in the digital world; what people say, feel, and publish about your brand and how to improve based on the feedback they give.<\/p>\n

Once you realize that taking care of your online reputation is a must, you need to know what that consists of. And that\u2019s what we\u2019re here to show you.<\/p>\n

User Experience<\/h2>\n

Let\u2019s start with a general and broad issue when it comes to online reputation: the User Experience (UX)<\/strong>. Simply saying UX refers to many different aspects of a person\u2019s attitude and feelings towards a product\/ service\/ etc.<\/p>\n

\"ux,

User Experience (UX) – graph<\/p><\/div>\n

When it comes to your online reputation, UX consists of few important elements.<\/p>\n

Your website<\/h2>\n

For the majority of companies, a website is the main way they present themselves online<\/strong>. But just having it is not enough. These days, everyone is in a rush and for tons of reasons we all want to receive information quickly. That\u2019s why we so often use mobile devices, like smartphones or tablets. So if a potential customer is waiting too long for your page to load or can\u2019t scroll through your website on mobile, you\u2019re likely to lose them. That\u2019s why you need to have a responsive website<\/span>\u00a0that works well on various devices.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t forget about improving your website (e.g. readability or loading speed) and other elements like:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • navigation<\/span>\u00a0(including visible call-to-action buttons),<\/li>\n
  • displaying images,<\/li>\n
  • appropriate font.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    There are some easy-to-use tools to check if your website is well optimized (e.g. www.testmysite.withgoogle.com<\/a><\/span>, which tests mobile speed). Also think about what your clients will be looking for – prices, contact, description of your service\/ product – and how easily they can find it.<\/p>\n

    If you can\u2019t afford these changes and it remains user-unfriendly, think about resigning entirely from your current website. It\u2019s becoming quite common for companies to only use social media channels (mainly Facebook) to maintain their online presence (e.g. restaurants or shops). Although this solution has some drawbacks (you\u2019re not the actual owner of a Facebook Page and it can be deleted by Facebook for a number of reasons), it\u2019s a worthwhile idea that you can try out.<\/p>\n

    High quality<\/h2>\n

    Another thing, also connected to UX, is the level of quality<\/strong>. Everything you create, present, and publish online should be, or even has to be, in high quality. This means both your images and videos, as well as any other form of content – social media posts, blogposts, graphs, and others. Just consider this example – food pictures posted by restaurateurs on Facebook or Instagram can be a real nightmare. They often look really messy and not all that tasty. How are these pics supposed to encourage anyone to visit their restaurant? We\u2019re sure you know what we\u2019re talking about\u2026<\/p>\n

    \"hungry,<\/p>\n

    P.S. We don\u2019t wanna torture you with a bad example, so here\u2019s a pretty good one. Feel hungry yet? \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

    Visual identity cohesion<\/h2>\n

    Your online presence needs to be consistent.<\/strong> The visual identity of your brand is important not only to look professional, trustworthy, and reliable, but also to establish your brand awareness<\/a>. It may seem obvious, but believe us when we say that isn\u2019t always the case. It doesn\u2019t look good if your clients sees a different logo, main theme, or colour palette across all of your online channels, does it? Check every portal\u00a0your company is on and make sure you\u2019re being consistent. It\u2019s usually easy to fix and improve; sometimes you just forgot to update one of your social media channels or a subpage.<\/p>\n

    That\u2019s all when it comes to what clients see. Now let\u2019s take a look at what they feel, read, and communicate about your brand.<\/p>\n

    Online reviews<\/h2>\n

    91% of consumers regularly or occasionally read online reviews.<\/em>
    \nLocal Consumer Review Survey carried out by     BrightLocal<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    We bet that\u00a0you don\u2019t want to lose customers even before you\u2019ve gained them, just because they\u2019ve seen an unfavorable opinion somewhere. People tend to exaggerate, especially when they\u2019re dissatisfied<\/strong>, and often with something not even related to the product itself. But bad reviews remain. Remember that customers always look for the opinion of others, whether on Facebook (not only on your Page), forums, Google+ reviews, evaluation sections under products on e-commerce sites, etc.<\/p>\n

    You probably know where all these opinions online can be found regarding your own brand. Just remember to keep track of them and stay up-to-date (consider designating one person from your company to be responsible for that). You can also consider asking your clients for reviews right after purchasing and reward them somehow, e.g. offering a discount code for their next purchase.<\/p>\n

    And then there\u2019re\u00a0Digital Software Review Platforms<\/a> (like G2Crowd, Capterra, SaaSGenius etc.). The reviews here are more professional and complex, so using such platforms won\u2019t be equally important and beneficial for every brand or service. They\u2019re highly recommended for SaaS brands or marketing agencies. Note that almost all of them are free to use.<\/p>\n