Content is the soul of digital marketing. Without genuine content digital marketing is dead. Various types of digital marketing methods such as Search engine optimization, Social media marketing, Pay Per Click, and Email marketing depends on quality content.
Here, online reputation management is no different. Even ORM requires content to achieve a solid online reputation. Therefore, it is not wrong to say that everything you post online has a potential to shape your reputation. Hence, in this blog post, we are going to present 10 types of content that shape your online reputation.
1. Images
Images can either be good or bad for your reputation. It totally depends on what images do you post and how you use it. Personal pictures help to humanize your business. Let us taken an example. As a customer, you are more likely to respond to which profile? A business owner’s profile which has logo or a business owner’s profile which as a face? You will respond to the one which has a face, right? Therefore, it makes sense to post images on your website and social accounts.
Post images cautiously, even when your posting privately. Any image can become viral accidentally. In some cases, competitors or ex-employee can purposefully make your images public and damage your reputation. Do not post any image, which can damage your or your brand’s reputation. An image of you boozing with friends can harm your reputation, if you own a family-friendly brand. Conversely, it can be harmless, if you own a pub.
2. Videos
Videos surpass the benefits of images. Along with humanizing your brand, videos give you an opportunity to express more, and help your potential customers to get a sense of who you are and what your business does. In other words, videos help in lead generation.
The good thing is that generating video content to improve online reputation management is not a popular method yet. So, posting videos can make you look unique. Furthermore, you can establish a strong consumer relationship, which is one of the most important goals that an online reputation management company tries to achieve.
3. Private conversations
Responding professionally is one of the best practices in online reputation management. Well, here we are talking about public conversations. However, what should a business owner do when the conversation is happening in private, for instance, on Facebook Messenger?
Many business owners think that it is fine to bash rude customers through personal messages, as no one will be watching. However, this is the most dangerous thing to do. A customer can take a screenshot of the conversation and put it on social media websites such as Quora, Facebook and Twitter.
Just assume that everything that you type in a private conversation is going to be public, and respond as you respond to the public online. This will make you more credible and acceptable.
4. List building freebies
Email marketing is an important aspect of digital marketing. Collecting the email of the potential customers is the initial goal of the email marketing. And the list building freebies, is the best method for growing the email list.
It is good to offer free e-books in exchange of email of the potential customers. However, the quality of the e-book which you offer, shapes your reputation to a significant extent. If your ebook has errors, useless information, or irrelevant information, people will think you sell low quality products and services. On the other hand, if the quality of the e-book is good, they will conclude that you offer some good-quality products and services.
5. Rants and raves
It is not uncommon to get bad reviews for the mistakes you did not commit. Customer is king. And the king can post anything. As a business owner, it is quite understandable when you respond with a reply that has equal intensity. For that moment, it might make you feel great, but trust us; it harms your business more than the negative review.
So, respond only when you are calm. Be professional and teach your employees how to interact with the customers professionally. In the business world, customers may live without you, but you cannot live without the customers. Therefore, it makes sense to focus on solving a customer’s problem, even if the mistake is not on your side.
6. Social links
The types of links you share on social media can have a significant impact on your online reputation. The nature of the impact on your reputation purely depends on the quality of the links your share. That is, if you share the links to the excellent content, people will think you are an expert in the industry, even when the content is not yours. In the same way, if you share the links to the content that has low quality, people will think you do not own the ideal business to buy from.
Furthermore, sharing somebody else’s links to an awesome content is not a bad idea. By doing so you can expose your audience to the variety of content available online. Make sure you are sharing the right links to the right audience. A mismatch can probably harm your reputation.
7. Content on sensitive topics
Everybody knows that they have freedom of speech. And as a business owner, you are no exception. You have the right to form an opinion on any topic and share it with the world. However, do not try to indulge in political and religious debates or opinions.
Always remember that you have an audience that has a wide range of religious and political beliefs. Your potential customer may be a Christian, Muslim, or Hindu. He might belong to the left, right or center political spectrum. Usually, these topics are sensitive. One can easily get offended by your political and religious belief. In the end, you can lose a large chunk of audience over a tweet or a social media post.
Therefore, it makes sense to keep yourself and your business away from these things. Furthermore, it makes sense to ask your employees to do the same. With reducing political and religious tolerance, you never know when your online reputation can be destroyed.
8. Blog comments
A lot of people give more importance to online reviews and respond to them. What do you think about blog comments? How often to do you reply to them? The truth is that majority of the business owners do not reply to the blog comments. They do not consider it as important.
The main purpose of writing blogs is to engage your audience and generate lead. How smart it is to leave the opportunity of engaging audience via replying blog comments? Not replying to the comments on the blog will not reflect professionalism. You will lose a chance of establishing a great customer relationship.
9. Online conversations
You of course have an online presence. And your customers obviously know it. Hence, after making a purchase, they tend to leave a review on your business listing. Here you cannot control what others write about you on the online platforms. However, you can minimize the negative effect of the bad reviews by interacting with them professionally.
The worst thing to do here is to not to reply. Your customers will think you are ignoring the issues, and you are not going to do anything to fix them. This can damage your reputation because nearly 80% of the people who read online reviews believe them as much as personal recommendation.
10. Infographics
Infographic is nothing but the visual representation of the data. Using infographics can help you to catch the attention of your visitors and feed the information you want to. This will surely reduce the time taken by the visitor to consume the content, and also improves the online reputation. The quality of the content you post online decides how your reputation is going to be affected. Therefore, make sure that adding value to your audience is your top priority.
