Before making use of any service or product from a particular company, buyers often check online reviews first and that is why negative reviews or results on the first page of the SERP can have a terrible impact on your business. It’s true that even if you have an impeccable track record, the Internet gives freedom to anyone who can easily damage the brand. This, of course, would lead to lost leads and opportunities and is not something that should be left to chance. There are numerous ways that can help in online reputation management and limit negative search results.

Marketing executives often fail to understand that a bad ORM can harm the company’s sales and that it is very important to control the negative effects on the company.

Let’s discuss some tips that can help you manage your brand reputation.

Create your presence on all web properties: Your business should have Facebook, Twitter and Google+ accounts and a few other additional social networking sites so that you can have a strong web presence in this highly competitive market. For professional services types, your employees and executives must integrate with LinkedIn. This will prevent others from tarnishing your brand name and will help you control more spots on the SERPs.

Protect people linked to your organization: Developing a strong social media presence for CEOs, founders, and executive names can help. Keep a good profile, so that you are known in the market and this will help to protect your identity from defamation. Most people are looking for reputable doctors, lawyers, or professionals, so creating collateral to classify these people can go a long way.

Consider the products and services: Building your online stuff and social profile is very important for online reputation management. In case you have specific product or service names, you can develop some informational content to rank for those names as well. For this, you must develop web pages, collateral materials and social media profiles and reserve each brand name.

Listen and apologize: If you find complaints online or bad reviews about your company, take it seriously and fix the problem without wasting any time. Listen to what customers have to say, and if your business really doesn’t provide adequate customer service, genuinely apologize to those affected. Staying transparent and real can help you reconcile and help bring the crisis situation to an end. Don’t get into online discussions.

Authorship: If you are an expert on any service, please post informative and useful content and use the author tag. This will help you establish authority and when people find the right and trustworthy information, they will trust your brand and this will help create a positive online reputation for your business.

Online reputation management helps you easily eliminate friction between customers and your ability to offer products or services. Developing an ORM strategy reassures your potential customers that you are reliable and trustworthy.