Have you ever wondered what people say about your company when you’re not around? Or worried that they simply will not find you, when looking for the products or solutions you offer?
No wonder! We all know that reputation can quickly make or break a business.
A good reputation has always been crucial in business. And if anything, the Internet has amplified this in ways that can be both good and bad for business. Nowadays, blogs and review websites are flooded with customer experience stories. They all influence a company’s reputation.
By not being a part of this critical online conversation, which begins the moment your prospect starts researching their options, you risk losing out – big time.
The solution? Strategic content marketing. Keep reading, and we’ll show you how.
Why Content Marketing Is the Ultimate Way to Manage Your Online Reputation – And Why Ads Won’t Work
Online reputation management means actively monitoring what is said about your brand online, and then working to improve your reputation.
Now, why is this important? Well, because successfully doing so will dramatically increase your revenue.
Today, the first thing a buyer will do when looking to buy something is a Google search. And people trust search engine results and recommendations by their peers more than any other type of media.
One study by G2 Crowd found that 92% of B2B buyers are more likely to purchase a product or service after reading a trusted review. And research from the Spiegel Research Center shows how online reviews can increase a company’s conversion rates by as much as 270%.
What does this mean? It means that businesses who are not actively managing their online reputation, are leaving huge amounts of money on the table.
Many companies also make the expensive mistake of trying to affect their online reputation through advertising. But doing so is a high-cost and short-term strategy, that in the end will have little or no effect on your actual reputation.
Ads only live as long as you pay for them to show up, and the trust your buyer assigns to them is low. Add to that the ad blocker programs that are becoming increasingly popular, and it becomes clear that advertising as a means to manage online reputation is a recipe for failure.
Enter content marketing.
For several reasons, content marketing is uniquely suited for effectively managing your online reputation. Here are three of the most important ones:
Content marketing is cost-efficient. There is no limit to how costly paid advertising can get. Content marketing, on the other hand, is an organic way to improve your online reputation without having to splurge on short-lived ad campaigns.
Content marketing is a long-term strategy. Not only does the content you create live forever, it even gets more valuable with time. As it gains shares and back-links, your content will continue to climb in search results and keep improving your online reputation.
Content marketing builds trust. If you consistently create valuable and relevant content, your buyer will start to see you as a trusted resource for knowledge.
In this article, we've listed five steps to help you get on top of your company's online reputation. As you will see, content marketing plays an important part.
5 steps to improve your company's online reputation
#1 Assess your current online reputation
The first step is simple: google your brand and see what comes up. This is what your potential customers will do. What you see is what they will see.
Try to get into the mindset of your target audience. What would they look for on Google? Do the same searches, and check if and how your company shows up.
Also, check the review platforms that are relevant in your industry. What's your average rating? What do the reviews say about you? Research indicates that 84% of people trust online reviews, so this one is important.
Now go check out social media, and popular forums. Do a brand search on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. Look in places like Quora and Reddit. Are people talking about your brand?
This research will tell you how your brand is perceived online. Once you know, it's time to start improving your online reputation.
#2 Respond to all feedback – positive and negative
Before you start working on long term improvements, you may need to address what you found in step one. Customers today expect brands to be responsive. So if there are comments on social media, it's essential to answer them.
Make the most of positive feedback
Are you being praised on Twitter by a happy customer? Congrats! Thank the writer and make sure they feel appreciated. Share, retweet, like and comment. And don't hesitate to ask your customer if you can quote them in your marketing!
See negative feedback as an opportunity
Your heart might sink when you discover a negative review. But it's probably not as bad as you think. First of all, never delete negative feedback, unless it's outright trolling. Even if it's on your own accounts, resist the temptation to put the lid on. Doing so will likely only make matters worse.
Instead, consider negative feedback an opportunity. By handling a complaint right, you can turn a bad review into a good one. That's a real win for your online reputation.
#3 Make sure you own the SERP
Once you've responded to any feedback, it's time to get proactive. This is where content marketing becomes your most important tool.
First, you want to focus on the SERP (Search Engine Results Page). When you enter a query into the search field of Google, the result you get is the SERP.
This is what your potential customers will see when they look for your product. The more of this page that you "own", the more you're in control of your online reputation.
Now, why is this important? Well, because most web users will never go past the first five listings on the SERP. Actually, more than 67% of all clicks on SERPs go to the top five listings.
Research shows that websites on the first SERP receive almost 95% of all web traffic.
The first result when someone looks for your brand should be your website. But what about the rest of the SERP? Ideally, it should all be content that you control.
The easiest way to achieve that is by optimizing your blog and your social media accounts with the right content. Social media accounts automatically rank high. So make sure you've activated all your social media profiles, and that you link to them from your website.
Doing so will tell Google that they're "official" pages and increase the chance of them ranking on your SERP.
#4 Use content marketing to build a strong digital presence
Did you know that the average person consumes 11.4 pieces of content before making a purchasing decision? That's why content marketing is such an efficient way to build trust online.
The chart below shows the content marketing types that was most trusted by B2B buyers according to marketing professionals worldwide as of May 2019.
Since then, Covid 19 has turned content into an even more important sales tool.
DemandGenReport notes that during a time of "social distancing," where in-person engagement and education is being replaced with digital alternatives, content has become an even more crucial tool for B2B buyers to research new solutions to business challenges.
As you can see, case studies, infographics and blog posts are the top three.
(Source: Statista)
Case Studies
Testimonials and customer stories are powerful content marketing tools. Consistent use of case studies is one of the most efficient ways to build a positive online reputation. The great thing about case studies is that they show, don't tell, in a way that inherently creates trust.
Images and infographics
Branded imagery is an underutilized asset. When people search on Google, they are presented not only with text results but also with images. By making sure your site offers plenty of branded and relevant images, with alt texts describing what they picture, you improve your chances of a high ranking for your content.
Blog articles
People are doing online searches for all kinds of things related to your brand. If you don't show up (i.e., in the SERPs), they will get their information from a third-party. To avoid this, use your blog to create content around popular branded search terms.
Websites with a blog have on average 434% more indexed pages than others. Google also prefers sites with fresh content, which means it's important to publish new articles regularly.
Companies that publish 16 or more blog posts per month get 4.5X more leads than companies publishing four blogs or fewer per month.
#5 Become a thought leader in your industry
A great way to build trust online is to be a thought leader in your industry. That means becoming recognized as an authority in your field. The best place to start is with an ambitious blog. Then you can build on that content, and produce everything from videos and podcasts to infographics and ebooks. Other ways to reach a wider audience is through guest blogging, speaking at conferences and PR.
Conclusion
Your online reputation is the sum of what people find when they search for your company online. A sum that will determine whether they decide to buy from you – or from one of your competitors.
The decision to use content marketing to improve your online reputation is a low-hanging marketing fruit, that holds enormous potential to sky-rocket your revenue.
Strategic content marketing is by far the quickest, most profitable and most efficient way to strengthen your digital presence and build trust with your target audience.
Content marketing represents a unique opportunity for explosive growth that you simply don’t want to miss out on.
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