E-reputation

  • Digital marketing

E-reputation can have strategic implications for companies. Consumers have developed the reflex to google a service or product before making a transaction.

 

Social networks are also an excellent way to know what is being said about a brand in a specific sector of activity.

 

This is why it is important for a brand to keep an eye on what is being said about it, to listen to its customers and to adapt her commercial and communication strategies.

 

Before thinking about integrating social networks into corporate strategy, monitoring online reputation is a crucial step because a brand activity must be in harmony with the context, the competitive environment and what is being said about her.

 

Social networks have created a new transparency and an easy-access to a sea of information about the world that you need to manage to understand your brand’s online reputation. It is through a careful and well-thought-out exploitation of Data that a company can have a deep knowledge of its environment, including (its competitors, customers and prospects.) as well as the overall economic situation in order to adapt its actions to it.

 

In addition to relevant information about competitors, social networks allow a comprehensive and effective assessment of a company’s reputation, whether positive or negative or neutral, in order to highlight the main qualitative trends. These trends will change in times of crisis or growth or according to competitive pressure.

 

Given that e-reputation is the image transmitted and/or suffered by a company in relation to the content she’s publish online. But also, and especially the content (positive, negative or neutral positions, etc.) that has been produced by Internet users on blogs, social networks and other community spaces such as forums.

 

Detecting, identifying and evaluating negative testimonials in advance allows to companies to react and prevent consequences that may go beyond the virtual world and reach the real world.

 

Every publication that is made online is irremediable because every piece of information published, whether it is a picture, a video or a post, is permanently accessible because it is referenced on the spot by the “robots” that scan the Web. These are called as digital fingerprinting.

The consequences of a bad e-reputation

The waves once created by a bad reputation can now be described as a real tsunami for a brand. Everything that happens on the internet is by definition instantaneous, global and uncontrollable and your corporate e-reputation runs many risks. The multiplication of social networks has only amplified the importance of a digital crisis.

A gradual drop in customer acquisition :

1 out of 3 internet users confesses that they are prepared not to make a purchase after reading negative comments about the brand. So a bad management of e-reputation has a significant impact on your sales and your business in general...

Confidence at its lowest level :

Consumers often trust the opinions of Internet users rather than what a brand says about itself. Psychologically, reading bad reviews on a brand that has provided a satisfying experience still tends to degrade its image.

A complicated recruitment process :

As a victim of its e-reputation, a company that makes the headlines will find difficults to attract interesting profiles - even profiles that are simply not interesting - during a recruitment phase.

A wave of negative comments and bad opinions :

On the web, revenge has no face, so some people take advantage of it to unleash themselves on social networks and brand sites, forums... In case of bad buzz, all ways are good and all excuses are good to dismantle a brand's reputation from nothing. The snowball effect is to be expected...

How to measure your e-reputation?

Measuring your e-reputation is essential to be able to follow the evolution of your online reputation. 

So here’s how and which KPIs to measure your e-reputation! To measure your e-reputation, two factors are of great importance.

  1. The channel(s) you will be observing?
  2. The KPIs that you will use to monitor the previously chosen channel.

The idea is not to monitor your e-reputation everywhere on the Internet, but to focus first on one or two points that are most important to you. For example, if your company communicates a lot on social networks, it may be relevant to monitor social networks. You can also choose to monitor what Google suggests, what is being said about you in forums, etc.

Finally, once you have identified the channel(s), you will need to determine the most appropriate KPIs (key performance indicator).

 

These can be the number of mentions of your brand on social networks, the number of negative keywords (that you will have previously identified) of your brand positioned on search engine results, your average rating of customer reviews on Google My Business or on review platforms, etc.

How to choose an e-reputation agency?

There are a multitude of e-reputation agencies today. To help you in your choice, we have prepared a few points that we think are important to take into account when making your choice. However, before choosing your e-reputation agency, it is important that you clearly define your needs.

 

Here are the questions you should ask yourself before choosing your e-reputation agency.

  • Is the solution provided by the agency sustainable? Does the agency support you in the long term? What type of support is provided ?
  • Is its knowledge in the area of e-reputation necessary for your needs?
  • Does the agency manage customer reviews? To what extent can it have an impact on your overall rating?
  • Can the agency have a concrete impact on your local referencing?