Polishing your online reputation is like brushing your teeth.
Polishing your online reputation is like brushing your teeth, you do it preemptively so you do not pay the consequences later on.
Brushing is an insurance policy against any negative effect. You brush even when they look white and bright. Online reputation management works almost the same. You notice you are in trouble when a problem appears, as in your teeth.
Online Reputation Management (ORM) –yes, there is such a thing– can be just as effective when it’s applied beforehand. Why? Because when you build up your reputation early on, you can have solid basis when strong wind blows.
Online presence is vital, specially in today’s business. A well-crafted resume is Ok, but what about the best place where potential employers and customers look: cyberspace?
For most employers, your skills and experience are essential for assessing your suitability for a role. Finding a candidate with the right attitude, personality, and who is a good match with the company’s values and culture is paramount.
No matter how strong a resume may be, if an employer finds your online presence inappropriate or offensive you could be jeopardizing your chances of landing the role or even getting an interview. If there are several quality candidates all vying for the same position, an employer will be actively seeking ways to filter down their selection and many are now turning to personal social media accounts to influence their hiring decision.
Of course, your social media usage in your own time is up to you. It is your freedom of speech and personal choice, but it’s still wise to keep a few golden rules in mind while doing so.
And taking care of an online reputation is not just something for regular people to mind. Companies can also benefit significantly from looking closely into the metrics of their online presence and responsiveness to take hints about their customers’ experience.
Building a success case
Reputation.com worked with one of the top three US automotive manufacturers with the goal of improving reputation scores across all dealerships. Over a six-month period, they tracked point-of-sale data for over 1,800 US dealerships to understand the impact of reputation score on sales volume.
An increase in reputation scores of 150 points led to a 6% increase in average seasonally-adjusted sales. Conversely, a drop of 150 points correlated with a decline in sales volume of 13%. This amounts to a 19% difference in dealership sales performance based on changes in reputation scores.
Reputation.com made it easy to automatically send emails requesting reviews out of each dealer’s Dealer Management System within 24 hours of a visit. 342 emails were sent per month, with and average click through rate (CTR) of 38% on all emails. The dealer’s positive review volume increased across all sources by 249%, and star rating improved across the board by 58% (from 3.6 to 4.5 average).
Monitor, analyze and respond
As part of the strategy, they monitored and responded reviews daily to actively engage customers and solve any issues.
“Not only is it critical to actively request reviews, companies must monitor and engage with customers, as needed,” recommended Reputation.com. On average, the top dealers responded to 40% of reviews, both positive and negative.
It was also crucial analyze customer data to help improve operations. Once these top dealers pulled in customer feedback, they used the Reputation.com platform to analyze the data, identify trends, and pinpoint areas that needed attention. When they spotted opportunities for improvement, they were able to take action immediately leading to better business decisions and an improved customer experience.
Managing the entire online reputation ecosystem allowed dealerships and location- based businesses to markedly improve how they are viewed online, use customer feedback from reviews to drive operational improvements and grow unit sales volume significantly.
