Importance of omni-channel reputation management

Brands leveraging omni-channel reputation management initiatives can optimize their approach by focusing on the right channels and mediums. Additionally, with customers increasingly going online to learn about new products, interact with customer service, and engage with brands, it is important to target relevant platforms online. It is also essential to be present and active on these social media channels, forums, blogs, and community groups, to address customers directly.

Single-channel ORM initiatives may lack in their scope and scale. While initially it is the right approach to target specific online channels, new stories and conversations can emerge at any place and stage. Both promotors and detractors need to be tracked across online channels, to gather primary insights about brand perception and marketing effectiveness.

Importance of optimal outreach

Optimizing outreach is essential to ensuring ORM success, as industry stakeholders are having conversations about brands each day. Whether that be thought leaders, buyer representatives, ambassadors, detractors, or first-time users, there are hundreds of thousands of data points generated online across channels.

Engaging with customers can positively impact the brand’s appearance and equity within the buyer groups, when done strategically. Additionally, brands can capture primary insights on buyer behaviour and reach out to their most loyal customers seamlessly. In fact, customers that are highly engaged can represent a 23% higher share in profitability and relationship growth long-term.

Online everywhere – the customer dynamic

Customers are increasingly online to review promotions, engage with brands, and learn about products. They follow influencers, use search engines to research products, and find communities to engage with. It is important to leverage the right listening and engagement tools to ensure that conversations are being tracked in today’s online everywhere world.

In fact, ensuring that brands are tracking online conversations around all mediums can directly impact perception and equity. 95% of buyers consider belief and trust in a brand to be a key parameter in remaining loyal to them. If brands remain passive on the online channels that buyers access regularly, then they may lose that customer loyalty over time.

Key role of brand trust

Ensuring brand trust is vital in today’s digital era, with the rising number of social media platforms, online channels, and discussion threads. Customers are increasingly engaging with one another at-scale, and brands need to ensure effective listening and reacting when necessary. This is even more so true when brands face negative PR events or have false information released about them online.

With 68% of customers forming an initial opinion about a brand after reading between 1 to 6 online reviews about them, brands need to ensure effective brand trust through omnichannel ORM. Omnichannel initiatives ensure that customers trust brands online and can promote their products without online backlash.

Importance of last mile engagement

Last mile engagement is vital in terms of online reputation management. It is important to reach every conversation, channel, and medium, to ensure that the right stories and conversations are amplified. 66% of customers expect brands to already understand their unique requirements and needs, which is why last-mile engagement is essential to ensure long-term.

Additionally, negative conversations about brands should be tracked to the last mile as well, owing to the negative SEO impact they can generate. Reviews and online results can play a vital role in the rankings of brand pages within search engine algorithms, which is why it is important to maintain a positive image across all channels.

In conclusion

Omnichannel ORM ensures that all platforms are being activated for marketing campaigns, outreach programs, and promotions. By ensuring that customer issues are addressed, and buyer groups are engaged, brands can increase retention and revenue per user. Buyers are also more satisfied with their brand relationship, as they are addressed directly on their platform. Omnichannel also increases the agility of brand response to manage crisis situations, while enabling them to promote a unified message across platforms.

References

https://www.inc.com/craig-bloem/84-percent-of-people-trust-online-reviews-as-much-.html

https://www.forbes.com/sites/theyec/2021/01/28/your-digital-reputation-your-first-impression-secrets-of-online-reputation-management/?sh=3445e6908317

https://assets.kpmg/content/dam/kpmg/xx/pdf/2017/01/the-truth-about-online-consumers.pdf

https://blog.hubspot.com/service/why-conversations-boost-retention

https://www.gallup.com/services/169331/customer-engagement.aspx

https://www.salesforce.com/resources/articles/customer-engagement/