This won’t come as a surprise but your brand’s online reputation can make or break your business. Do you know where you stand when it comes to building trust with potential customers before they buy from or contact you? If not, that’s okay! This is where online reputation management (ORM) comes in.
But what exactly is ORM? And why should small and mid-size business owners care about it? Here’s a quick lesson before we give you some tips for building your own ORM action plan.
What is Online Reputation Management?
Online reputation management refers to the strategies used to monitor and influence how your brand is perceived online. It’s how you listen to and shape the narrative around your business in digital spaces—from search engine results to reviews and social media mentions.
ORM involves both proactive and reactive strategies
Proactively, it’s about creating positive content to rank highly on search engines. Reactively, it’s about responding to positive and negative feedback swiftly and professionally to enhance or protect your brand’s credibility.
Protect Your BrandWhy is ORM Important for Small Businesses?
According to Semrush, nearly 60% of U.S. consumers avoid buying from brands they find untrustworthy. And how do most people decide if a brand is trustworthy? Viewing your website, reading online reviews, and looking at your social media activity, among other tactics.
A survey by HubSpot showed 77% of consumers read reviews when browsing local businesses, and 79% expect brands to respond within 24 hours of reaching out on social media. If potential customers encounter unresolved negative reviews or inconsistent messaging online, it may deter them from choosing your business.
We’re not exaggerating when we say your brand’s online reputation can make or break sales. For small businesses, which may not have the luxury of a longstanding reputation like large corporations (or resources, pricing, brand awareness, etc.), this trust is even more critical.
Not to worry though—an ORM action plan ensures your brand will put its best foot forward across all platforms. Here are our recommended action items to get started:
First Steps to Creating an ORM Action Plan
- Monitor Your Online Presence: Start by keeping an eye on where your audience is talking about you. Whether it’s social media platforms, review sites like Yelp and the BBB, or forums, know what’s being said. You can even invest in social listening tools to stay updated on conversations about your brand.
- Encourage Positive Reviews (and Diversify): Don’t just rely on Google reviews, especially with AI systems sometimes flagging real reviews as fake. Direct happy customers to other review platforms like the BBB, Yelp, and Glassdoor. This way, you diversify where your positive reviews appear and can avoid any glitches or algorithm bombs from any individual platform.
- Engage with Feedback: Respond promptly to both positive and negative reviews. Acknowledging and appreciating positive comments strengthens customer loyalty while handling negative reviews with empathy can mitigate damage and show other customers that you take feedback seriously.
- Audit Your Online Presence: Ensure that all your online information is updated and accurate. Regularly check your website, social media profiles, and other platforms to make sure they reflect your brand’s current status, messaging, and values. It also helps to update your links and imagery and take advantage of any new features a platform might roll out over time.
- Create High-Quality Content: Consistently share blog posts, customer success stories, and social media updates that reflect your brand’s strengths. This content can help push down negative search results and promote your best attributes to potential customers. “High-quality” here also means “consumer-first.” Don’t take part in keyword stuffing or talk about yourself too much. Provide valuable information to prospective customers to build trust.
- Plan for Crisis Management:,/span> When a crisis hits, have a plan ready to address it swiftly. Stay calm, gather information, and find the best solution for the issue at hand. Taking decisive action can prevent small problems from becoming bigger PR nightmares. To illustrate the importance here, please know there are PR pros who specialize in crisis communications full-time. You might not need them as an SMB owner however, the mere existence of these jobs shows how important crisis management is for brands.
Your Reputation Matters—Don’t Leave It to Chance
While you’ll never have total control over your online reputation, ignoring it isn’t an ideal approach by any stretch of the imagination. Whether you’re just starting out or already well-established, practicing consistent monitoring and shaping your brand can make a world of difference. We encourage you to prioritize making or revisiting your plan for how to engage in thoughtful, positive, and helpful ways online for the sake of your business.
With a strategic approach to ORM, you’ll be better equipped to handle challenges and build trust with your audience. Importantly: you’ll also be better equipped to grow!
