Every company positions itself in a certain way. And, to ensure consumers perceive you as you want, it's necessary to manage your reputation. In this article, I will explain how to create a positive company reputation and take control of it.

Why it's Important to Have a Good Reputation

Reputation is an intangible asset that affects business development. When people interact with a company, they form a specific characterization: “This firm is a good supplier, they have quality materials,” “These people have never let me down, they are reliable partners,” “I will buy a smartphone here, the sellers are honest, they won't deceive me”.

Reputation is often confused with image. However, the image is a superficial impression based on emotions of 'like/dislike' among people who have never interacted with the company before. To form an image, it's not necessary to deeply work through the fundamental principles of an organization. Meanwhile, reputation is built from accumulated data about the company after customer interaction with the product.

The best option is to combine image and reputation. You can start creating customers' opinions about your business by creating an image. When a pleasant image attracts people to the company, you need to create a stable characterization for them.

For example, when creating an image, you can mention on employer review sites that your organization provides a high level of comfort at the workplace for employees. Then employees might leave reviews saying they have very comfortable chairs to sit all day without discomfort, and desks equipped with everything necessary. These reviews will then work for your reputation.

Company Reputation Management Solves Such Tasks:

- Forms a positive image;

- Increases the popularity and recognition of the company;

- Maintains customer loyalty;

- Eliminates negative aspects that spoil the company's image;

- Conveys important information to consumers about the promoted products;

- Provides customer feedback, which helps analyze business processes.

Managing Company Reputation Online

Previously, reputation could only be managed through public relations. A well-built image through PR campaigns provided business with clients, partners, and employees. If a company, for example, got involved in a scandal, PR professionals could help them come out unscathed, but now that's not enough. Social networks and company websites now play a significant role, and it's important to monitor reviews, comments, recommendations, etc.

Work on the company's online reputation should start with analyzing public information. You should identify the list of queries people use to search for information about you online: company name, product names, founder's name, etc.

Working with Reviews

Reviews about the company greatly influences its reputation. For example, if you promise on your website to deliver a product in 1-2 days, but there are numerous people online saying they received their order only after a week, you risk losing a large part of the audience that wants fast delivery.

To ensure comments on review sites don't ruin your company's reputation, read what people write about you, and in case of slander, write to the website's administration where the review is posted and ask to remove incorrect data. If necessary, provide evidence. When a negative review is posted on social media, you can also write to the account owner and ask to remove false information. In turn, post accurate product information on your company's page.

If you have your own website, it's important to create a section for reviews. Thank customers for positive comments, and address negative ones: identify the reasons for customer dissatisfaction and try to resolve them. Remember, your responses are visible to other site visitors and shape their opinion about you, so communicate politely, competently, and bring arguments.

Creating Reviews

You can ask satisfied customers to leave reviews about the product on your website and social networks. Additionally, there are separate platforms where employees can talk about you as an employer. Ask your team to write a few words. This method is called seeding reviews. It does not imply writing false reviews. Everything your clients and employees write will be sincere and honest.

What Seeding Reviews Gives:

- Attracts a new audience;

- Increases the number of orders;

- Neutralizes negative reviews;

- Increases product recognition."

How to Create a Positive Reputation and Manage It

There are several methods of reputation management.

SERM

Search Engine Reputation Management controls everything that is said about you and your company online. How to create more positive content about the organization using SERM:

- An automatic search program monitors sites and creates a map to track how your reputation changes (positively or negatively);

- Employees can remove negative reviews about problems that have already been resolved;

- SEO specialists create content with keywords for your site that people use to search for you online;

- Discussions are opened and can be managed on popular forums.

This improves the company's image and allows influencing the decision-making process of purchasing. It also allows you to timely track negative comments, eliminate shortcomings, and improve the quality of the product by user requests.

These methods are suitable for all companies, regardless of their niche. But remember, it can sometimes be difficult to simultaneously bring the site to the top and track all negative comments: the more visitors on the site, the more reviews you will receive.

Covert Marketing

This method involves creating content about the company from the perspective of an interested user. For example, your employee on a forum creates a discussion asking for opinions about a certain product sold by you and inquires whether it's worth purchasing. Other people join the dialogue and express their opinion, give recommendations. This way, you encourage people to discuss your product. After reading this dialogue, a potential customer may decide to make a purchase.

Advantages of this method:

- The person will think that the decision was made by themselves, not influenced by advertising;

- A large number of people can be drawn into the discussion;

- A very cheap promotional tool.

Disadvantages of this method:

- You will not be able to track effectiveness (it's impossible to know who came to the company after reading one of these discussions);

- The most discerning customers, who know all the tricks, will understand that the discussion was created purposefully;

- You won't be able to influence the nature of the reviews, so there may be negative opinions about the product.

Online Reputation Management

There are programs that track the appearance of new comments about a product or service and send you a notification when users post something new. But for this, the text must contain the keys by which you are searched for online: product name, company name, etc.

With this method, you can process reviews quickly and be aware of everything said about you anywhere. If you take a long time to process a negative customer comment, their interest in your company may already wane, and they may go to a competitor. But, when you promptly resolve the objection, there's a chance that the customer will change their opinion and stay with you.

Crowd Marketing

You post a small text on behalf of an ordinary consumer with subtle advertising of your product on thematic forums where your target audience hangs out. For example, you produce children's beds. Go to a forum for young mothers and write a small, natural text about a positive experience of buying beds in your store and leave a link to your website.

This will improve the brand's reputation, bring in new customers, and make the product more popular.

Conclusions

Reputation is formed from accumulated data about a person's interaction with the company. Reputation management helps to: form a positive image; increase popularity and recognition; maintain customer loyalty; eliminate negative aspects that spoil the company's image, etc.

Previously, reputation was managed only through PR, but now online reputation management has become relevant. There are 5 ways to do this:

- Seeding reviews;

- SERM;

- Online reputation management;

- Covert marketing;

- Crowd marketing.