Cerebra

Earlier in the year, we introduced you to the concept of Online Reputation Management [ORM], what it’s not and how we do it here at Cerebra. You also learnt that leading ORM tools now incorporate crowdsourcing in their study of brand sentiment; generating results far more relevant and accurate than the industry’s standard. ORM is certainly an ever-evolving concept and tool.

You may not be aware how closely tied Search Engine Optimisation [SEO] and Social Media Marketing [SMM] are to reputation management. SEO refers to enhancing online content in order to achieve a premium ranking in users’ search results. SMM refers to the use of Social Media platforms and user-generated online content to complement other marketing means. Essentially, these two practices capture and reflect user opinion and intent, which ORM then interprets in the form of sentiment.

ORM Pillars | Search and Social Media

Adopting SEO permits you some influence over the nature of the information that features first in search engine results. The infographic Google Penguin VS Google Panda illustrates how picky Google has become, and how balanced keyword density [the number of times keywords appear in a piece of content], relevant meta tags [data held within HTML code that tells search engines what a webpage is all about] and valuable content are vital in the current Web 2.0 environment.

Proactively engaging in the Social Media space with unique, relevant and engaging content is vital. You have somewhat limited control on the boundless brand-related content that is created so being active and communicating positive, or at the very least, neutral content is critical. Own as much of the content as possible and be viewed as the primary and sole source or syndicator of information.

To give you a better idea of what a positive, negative and neutral mention is, here are a few examples of online comments:
• Positive: “Beep Bank is now open from 9am-1pm every Sunday. So convenient!”
• Negative: “What’s the point?! Beep Bank is open on a Sunday but the service is atrocious.”
• Neutral: “Beep Bank’s office hours have changed. They’re now open from 9am-1pm every Sunday.”

ORM 101

If all you take from this article is the last paragraph, then let it be this:
1. Create relevant, valuable and engaging content
2. Ensure consistency in all you communicate or share
3. Know what people are saying
4. Take advantage of social media platforms to proactively interact and get feedback
5. Promote positive content created by your customers and acknowledge, and be prepared to effectively respond to, their negative content too.