Building an impact full social media and reputation management strategy

As per social media statistics, it had contributed immensely bringing change in the way of running a business. Social media is recognized as the most famous online activity with more than 22% of an individual’s time being spent on these social media including- Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc. Two-third of internet users primarily indulge in using social networks, as social media effectively work towards engaging a larger set of people. The impact of social media on

Building an impactful social media and reputation management strategy

As per social media statistics, it had contributed immensely to bringing change in the way of running a business. Social media is recognized as the most famous online activity with more than 22% of an individual’s time being spent on these social media including- Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Two-thirds of internet users primarily indulge in using social networks, as social media effectively work towards engaging a larger set of people. The impact of social media on a business could either have a positive or negative impact. Be it a startup or a small business, be it an online store or an enterprise, social media importance is felt in every business marketing strategy. In order to have an edge at a competitive pace, business is bound to leverage popular social media platforms. Social media platforms help a business stay connected with their customers, boosting brand awareness and bringing increment in leads and sales. Before developing a social media strategy as a plan one needs to be prepared, there exist a few questions one must ask which include:

• Where are the channels where the customers are present and visiting the office?
• What are the methods to target the audience on those channels?
• What are my objectives as an organization and the ROI of social media strategy?

Thus it reflects the immense impact of social media on business channels and is recognized as the most powerful marketing channel to reach out to the audience. Social media is defined as one of the most profitable digital marketing platforms that would enable your brand to boost visibility among the potential audience. The application of customer service strategy leads to a significant increment in brand recognition. Social media strategies aid in boosting user engagement across various channels to engage customers and lead towards delivering Omni channel customer experience. Social interaction becomes the reason between customers and business and leads to improve sales and brand loyalty.

Social media is a factor that serves as an opportunity for the business to reach the targeted audience, staying engaged with them and responding to queries instantly. Thus one needs to keep an eye on competitors by examining their social media pages to have an edge over them.

 

Positive ways of social media impacting a business enterprise include:

Social media serves towards adding a new dimension to the Omni channel customer service- customers today choose social media as a major source to interact with the brand to get instant attention. Providing Omni channel customer service is an important aspect of the business. Thus it stays important to make use of the right tools like- Reve chat, a multi-channel live chat platform that works towards aligning customer conversations across websites, and social and messaging apps to deliver great customer service and lead to greater productivity. A system that can aid a business to deliver an Omni channel experience across the customer lifecycle.

Nike as a brand followed an excellent customer service strategy. They feature a dedicated Twitter account with the name Team Nike which provides support seven days a week and in seven different languages. A best practice that every business enterprise must opt for:

• Paying attention to all the reported customer service issues and being kind to them under all scenarios. Passive complaints that stay unaddressed can easily create a rift between the vendor and customer.
• There stands a need to manage social conversations promptly with the view to delivering superior customer service.
• Enhancement of customer experience by staying available across all touch points that customers prefer to contact to deliver instant support.

Social media aids in reaching out large audience base- it is realized by 90% of the marketers that their social marketing efforts have enhanced their exposure for the business while 75% of them said it had led to an increase in customer base or enhanced the traffic. It helps in the enhancement of brand awareness and staying in contact with customers.

Businesses and their brands can be exposed to a broader audience with help of some tips:

• Segmentation of the audience- before heading towards the social media platform one needs to make sure that the target audience should be on the platform and thus not wise enough to follow other brands blindly.
• Making use of visuals- once the audience gets segmented then must make use of attractive visuals along with the content to grab instant attention and encourage engagement.
• Beginning with conversation- involvement in the social media platforms not only by listening but also by developing greater conversation by either tagging or mentioning others.
• Measurement of efforts- social activity needs to be measured by the way of external tools. Gaining insights and channelizing efforts and building a strong brand name and image.

It helps in building trust among the customers and reflects itself to new demographics of potential clients. While for effectiveness one needs to recognize their target audience, their behavior, and pattern and then move towards the selection of social media channels for the business. Social media gives voice to the brand thus tone needs to be consistent, friendly, and suits the business which one is undergoing.

Social media helps in building word of mouth– with the introduction of interactive and social media roles and patterns the impact of word of mouth has evolved. Changes affect the way businesses can leverage the power of word of mouth for the purpose of marketing.

Social media permits the collection of first-hand– customer feedback- social media platforms enable the gathering of first-hand information as feedback from customers to enhance brand image, reputation, and relationship with customers. Customers must feel that their views and complaints are being listened to. Those business enterprises that engage with customer service requests through social media have a chance to earn up to 20-40% of the revenue per customer.

Social media work towards enhancing user engagement– people tend to spend two hours per day on their social media tracking it, as social media stays important to ensure that the brand is capturing enough attention. Building and engaging social media presence with quality content are one of the big efforts. One of the investments that a business can make in a business is to reach potential customers throughout the globe through social media. A single negative remark about the brand overnight can make the survival of the company difficult. The best practices which a business can adopt include:

• Keep posting witty content which keeps customers engaged at the top of the newsfeed.
• Using images to increase interactive rates.
• Make the audience feel responsible for the building of a good brand.

Social customer service- stellar customer service is the priority of each business enterprise. Through two-way communication, social media offers a unique opportunity to step up customer service and provide immediate gratification to the target audience. Business enterprises must be prompt enough to respond to online reviews. Customers share their positive and negative feedback over social media, and one needs to respond to the somebody

Social media can act as a driving force of growth tools- social media serves as a platform that can increase conversions due to the interactions that are developed by the customers with the brand. Whenever a brand moves towards the path of a social media marketing approach it would lead to a strengthening marketing strategy. Twitter is a good example of this, where 67% of Twitter users are more likely to buy from brands that they tend to follow. Apart from this the remaining 42% of consumers grab information about the products and services they are interested in with the help of Twitter. The best practices that need to be adopted include:

• Making use of targeted social media listening to understand what is happening in the industry.
• Getting engaged in the process of social selling.

Social media helps in boosting brand loyalty– every business works on the primary theme of building and maintaining brand loyalty. Social media works towards building relationships with the customers by the way of social media which leads to an increase in loyalty and advocacy. Brand loyalty is essential for a brand due to following reasons:

• Resistance in competition- In this hard competitive market, brand loyalty is difficult to engage in. Once perception is created about the brand then it will help to build new customers but the loyal customers are the ones who add value.
• Meaningful engagement- the social media followers which are loyal enough are more likely to interact with the posts and create meaningful conversations.
• Brand advocacy- the followers which are loyal enough are high potential brand advocates. They are the ones who give positive remarks about the brand without any persuasion.

The best practices that one should adopt include:

• The business should indulge in the creation of a smart social media strategy that consists of a cohesive plan to stay up in the competition.
• An active share of good content to inspire and come up with brand loyalty. Making use of videos, infographics, graphs, and screenshots makes content more appealing and attractive
• It needs to make sure that interaction with the customer is not kept aside as the followed like- human-based and real interaction but not automated content.

Reputation management strategy

Reputation is a thing that doesn’t build up overnight but it requires a large number of effort as it comes up with reviews, comments, and active interactions among customers. While hands-on reputation management strategy will help in making a huge difference. By paying close attention to what people say the business can give prestige to the brand as needed.

Reputation management is a procedure of controlling and enhancing the image of the brand, and how it is perceived by others. It is becoming difficult for companies to safeguard their image on online platforms. Reputation management strategy is part of brand building, and it’s so much more than making sure your company has great reviews. This guide will help you navigate the world of reputation strategy in the online environment. While certain businesses pay out for the services, working for the management of reputation thus enabling a company to save a lot of time and focus upon other business areas. The key principles upon which the reputation management strategy is based include:

• Monitoring- which includes knowing customers, influencers, and competitors commenting about the brand.
• Respond- propagating to take active measures to build a positive brand identity and improvement in what people say about the business and brand.

Reputation management is centered around monitoring and protecting your brand’s online reputation in reviews, social media, and Google. Reputation management is a consistent procedure where it allows one to stay at the top of the brand’s public perception and address possible damaging situations as soon as they occur. When a positive image is built about a brand in a customer’s mind then it leads to customer loyalty which acts as a driver to significant growth and revenue. But if a brand erupts up with a negative reputation then it serves as a tool damaging sales and customer retention, but on the other hand, it aids in learning what customers love which can thus prove helpful for the updating of business processes to meet customer needs.

A reputation management plan being a continuous process needs to be consistent till the business is running and performing, which includes the following steps:

• Research and audit- the very first step to reputation management is research where one would use the internet to discover conversations about the business and the views of people about the business. The aim of the business should be to seek and ponder upon the different types of conversation as each and every feedback stays helpful in understanding perceptions and bringing enhancements to the reputation of the business. This audit can be conducted either by reviewing sites or by simply searching for the business name on Google and on other search engines as well. A business can also search for business-relevant keywords or even the feeds of customers.
• Building and developing a Management strategy- Once one understands the overall perception of the brand then one knows where to focus upon and bring improvements. One would have to employ the practices that will help to improve experiences that have developed about the business. The online conversations can be monitored if a specific person is designated with the task to monitor the conversation and conduct continuous research about the business online. Those monitoring the conversation and responding to comments must have developed experience doing so. Then a business enterprise needs to consider which comments and reviews need responses, where few people only come with an intent to troll rather than speaking about legitimate experiences. The comments need to be under response when comments come from real consumers rather than which seem fake. It’s not possible to respond to all of them, so maybe one may prioritize responding to customer questions or create specific requirements that dictate when a response is necessary, both for positive and negative comments. While responding to comments and responses one needs to have a consistent tone of voice as well. Develop a standard tone guide that one will use when responding, and aim to stick to it.
• Moving forward to take action on the basis of comments, feedback, and reviews- gaining an understanding of how one’s brand is viewed by the customers serves as a valuable tool for improvement and innovation. Their criticisms and pain points will direct one to those areas of the business that need increased attention, and their positive comments let one know what one is doing right and what one should continue doing.

Then all the steps need to be performed in continuation as it requires consistent efforts. Always research and monitor conversations about the business to get a sense of where a reputation stands out, thus following the plan and acting upon the feedback so received on the same.

 

The PESO model for management of brand reputation 

The model has become widely popular in the brand management and marketing industry. The PESO model includes:

• Paid media- Refers to the marketing that a company goes to pay for. It basically consists of traditional media like- television, radio, and print media, but now focuses largely on digital media such as PPC ads, social media ads, and search engine marketing (SEM).
• Earned media- it is commonly known by the name of publicity. It is not paid for instead company’s actions let them earn this attention. This often comes in the form of news coverage or reporting or through mentions and links in online stories.
• Shared media- content shared across social media while much of it is user-generated content consisting of images, videos, and text. Shared media also describes content shared between multiple owners
• Owned media- Owned media is any content controlled by a brand, such as websites, blogs, and social media channels. Greater is the owned media channels, larger are digital marketing footprint, defining greater ability to reach and influence customers

a business could either have positive or negative impact. Be it a startup or a small business, be it an online store or an enterprise, social media importance is felt in every business marketing strategy. In order to have an edge at a competitive pace, business is bound to leverage popular social media platforms. Social media platforms help a business to stay connected with their customers, boosting brand awareness and bringing increment in leads and sales. Before developing a social media strategy as a plan one need to be prepare, there exists few questions one must ask which includes:

• Where are the channels where the customers are present and visiting the office ?
• What are the methods to target the audience on those channels?
• What are the objectives of me as an organization and ROI of social media strategy?

Thus it reflects the immense impact of social media on business channels and is recognized as the most powerful marketing channels to reach out the audience. Social media is defined as one of the most profitable digital marketing platforms that would enable your brand to boost visibility among the potential audience. The application of customer service strategy leads to significant increment in the brand recognition. Social media strategies aids in boosting user engagement across various channels to engage customers and lead towards delivering Omni channel customer experience. Social interaction becomes the reason between customers and business leads to improving sales and brand loyalty.

Social media is a factor which serves as an opportunity for the business to reach the targeted audience, staying engaged with them and responding to the queries instantly. Thus one need to keep an eye on competitors by examining their social media pages to have an edge over them.

Positive ways of social media impacting a business enterprise includes:

Social media serves towards adding a new dimension to the Omni channel customer service- customers today choose social media as a major source to interact with the brand to get instant attention. Providing Omni channel customer service is an important aspect of the business. Thus it stays important to make use of right tools like- Reve chat, a multi-channel live chat platform that works towards aligning customer conversations across websites, social and messaging apps to deliver great customer service and leading to greater productivity. A system which can aid a business to deliver an Omni channel experience across customer lifecycle.

Nike as a brand followed an excellent customer service strategy. They feature a dedicated Twitter account with the name Team Nike which provides support for seven days a week and under seven different languages. Best practice which every business enterprise must opt for:

• Paying attention to all the reported customer service issues and be kind to them under all scenarios. Passive complaints that stay unaddressed can easily create a rift between the vendor and customer.
• There stands a need to manage social conversations promptly with the view to deliver superior customer service.
• Enhancement of customer experience by staying available across all touch points that customers prefer to contact to deliver instant support.

Social media aids to reaching out large audience base- it is realized by 90% of the marketers that their social marketing efforts have enhanced their exposure for the business while 75% of them said it had lead to increase in customer base or enhanced the traffic. It helps in enhancement of brand awareness and staying in contact with the customers.

Business and it’s brand can be exposed to broader audience with help of some tips:

• Segmentation of the audience- before heading towards the social media platform one need to make sure that the target audience should be on the platform and thus not wise enough to follow other brands blindly.
• Making use of visuals- once the audience gets segmented then must make use of attractive visuals along with the content to grab instant attention and encouraging engagement.
• Beginning with conversation- involvement in the social media platforms not only by listening but also by developing greater conversation by either tagging or mentioning others.
• Measurement of efforts- the social activity need to be measured by the way of external tools. Gaining insights and channelizing efforts and building strong brand name and image.

It helps in building trust among the customers and reflects itself to new demographics of potential clients. While for effectiveness one need to recognize their target audience, their behavior and pattern and then move towards the selection of social media channels for the business. Social media gives voice to the brand thus tone need to be consistent, friendly and suits the business which one is undergoing.

Social media helps in building word of mouth– with the introduction of interactive and social media roles and patterns the impact of word of mouth has evolved. Changes affect the way business can leverage the power of word of mouth for the purpose of marketing.

Social media permits collection of first hand– customer feedback- social media platforms enable gathering of first hand information as feedback from customers to enhance brand image, reputation and relationship with customers. Customers must feel that their views and complaints are being listened to. Those business enterprises that engage with customer service requests through social media have a chance to earn up to 20-40% of the revenue per customer.

Social media work towards enhancing user engagement– people tend to spend two hours per day on their social media tracking it, as social media stays important to ensure that brand is capturing enough attention. Building and engaging social media presence with quality content is one of the big efforts. One of the investments that a business can make in a business is to reach potential customers throughout the globe through social media. A single negative remark about the brand overnight can make the survival of the company difficult. The best practices which a business can adapt includes:

• Keep posting witty content which keeps customers engaged at the top of the newsfeed.
• Using images to increase interactive rates.
• Make the audience feel responsible for the building of a good brand.

Social customer service- stellar customer service is the priority of each business enterprise. By the two way communication, social media offers a unique opportunity to step up customer service and provide immediate gratification to the target audience. The business enterprises must be prompt enough to respond to online reviews. Customers sharing their positive and negative feedback over the social media, one need to respond to the somebody

Social media can act as a driving force of growth tools- social media serves as a platform which can increase conversions due to the interactions that are developed by the customers with the brand. Whenever a brand move towards the path of social media marketing approach it would lead to strengthening marketing strategy. Twitter is a good example of this, where 67% of Twitter users are more likely to buy from brands which they tend to follow. Apart from this the remaining 42% of consumers grab information about the products and services they are interested in with the help of Twitter. The best practices need to be adopted includes:

• Making use of targeted social media listening to understand what is happening in the industry.
• Getting engaged in the process of social selling.

Social media helps in boosting brand loyalty– every business works on the primary theme of building and maintaining brand loyalty. Social media works towards building relationships with the customers by the way of social media which leads to increase in loyalty and advocacy. Brand loyalty is essential for a brand due to following reasons:

• Resistance in competition- in this hard competitive market, brand loyalty is difficult to engage into. Once perception is created about the brand then it will help to build new customers but the loyal customers are ones which adds value.
• Meaningful engagement- the social media followers which are loyal enough are more likely to interact with the posts and create meaningful conversations.
• Brand advocacy- the followers which are loyal enough are high potential brand advocates. They are the ones which gives positive remarks about the brand without any persuasion.

The best practices which one should adapt includes:

• The business should indulge towards the creation of a smart social media strategy that consists of a cohesive plan to stay up in the competition.
• Active share of good content to inspire and come up with brand loyalty. Making use of videos, infographics, graphs and screenshots makes a content more appealing and attractive
• It need to make sure that interaction with the customer is not kept aside as the followed like- human based and real interaction but not automated content.

Reputation management strategy

Reputation is a thing which doesn’t build up overnight but it requires a large number of efforts as it comes up with reviews, comments and active interactions among customers. While hands on reputation management strategy will help in making a huge difference. By paying close attention towards what people say the business can give prestige to the brand as needed.

Reputation management is a procedure of controlling and enhancing the image of the brand, how it is perceived by others. It is becoming difficult for the companies to safeguard their image on online platforms. Reputation management strategy is part of brand building, and it’s so much more than making sure your company has great reviews. This guide will help you navigate the world of reputation strategy in the online environment. While certain businesses pay out for the services, working for the management of reputation thus enabling a company to save a lot of time and focusing upon other business areas. The key principles upon which the reputation management strategy is based upon includes:

• Monitoring- which includes knowing customers, influencers and competitors commenting about the brand.
• Respond- propagating to take active measures to build a positive brand identity and improvement in what people say about the business and brand.

Reputation management is centered around monitoring and protecting your brand’s online reputation in reviews, social media, and Google. Reputation management is a consistent procedure where it allows one to stay at the top of the brand’s public perception and address possible damaging situations as soon as they occur. When a positive image is built about a brand in a customer’s mind then it leads to customer loyalty which acts as a driver to significant growth and revenue. But if a brand erupts up with a negative reputation then it serves as a tool damaging the sales and customer retention, but on the other hand it aids in learning what customers love which can thus prove helpful for the updating of business processes to meet customer needs.

Reputation management plan being a continuous process needs to be consistent till the business is running and performing, which includes following steps:

• Research and audit- the very first step to reputation management is research where one would use the internet to discover conversations about the business and the views of people about the business. Aim of the business should be to seek and ponder upon the different types of conversation as each and every feedback stays helpful in understanding perceptions and bringing enhancements in the reputation of the business. This audit can be conducted either by reviewing sites or by simply searching through for the business name on Google and on other search engines as well. A business can also search for business relevant keywords or even the feeds of the customers.
• Building and developing a Management strategy- once understanding overall perception about the brand then one to know where to focus upon and bring improvements. One would have to employ the practices that will help to improve experiences that have developed about the business. The online conversations can be monitored if a specific person is designated with the task to monitor conversation and conduct continuous research about the business online. Those monitoring the conversation and responding to comments must have developed an experience doing so. Then a business enterprise needs to consider which comments, reviews need responses, where few people only come with an intent to troll rather than speaking about legitimate experiences. The comments need to be under response when comments come from real consumers rather than which seems fake. It’s not possible to respond to all of them, so maybe one may prioritize responding to customer questions or create specific requirements that dictate when a response is necessary, both for positive and negative comments. While responding to comments and responses one needs to have a consistent tone of voice as well. Develop a standard tone guide that one will use when responding, and aim to stick to it.
• Moving forward to take actions on the basis of comments, feedback and reviews- gaining understanding upon how one’s brand is viewed by the customers serves as a valuable tool for improvement and innovation. Their criticisms and pain points will direct one to those areas of the business that need increased attention, and their positive comments let one know what one is doing right and what one should continue doing.

Then all the steps need to be performed in continuation as it requires consistent efforts. Always research and monitor conversations about the business to get a sense where a reputation stands out, thus following the plan and acting upon the feedback so received on the same.

The PESO model for management of brand reputation

The model has become widely popular in the brand management and marketing industry. The PESO model includes:

• Paid media- it refers to the marketing that a company go to pay for. It basically consist of traditional media like- television, radio and print media, but now focus largely on digital media such as PPC ads, social media ads, and search engine marketing (SEM).
• Earned media- it is commonly known by the name of publicity. It is not paid for instead company’s action let them earn this attention. This often comes in the form of news coverage or reporting or through mentions and links in online stories.
• Shared media- a content shared across social media while much of it is user generated content consisting of images, videos and text. Shared media also describes content shared between multiple owners
• Owned media- Owned media is any content controlled by a brand, such as websites, blogs, and social media channels. Greater is the owned media channels, larger are digital marketing footprint, defining greater ability to reach and influence customers

Conclusion– In today’s world opinions passes at much rapid speed and reaches a larger audience base due to the presence of social media. While positive messages can give a brand a boost, negative ones can be a PR nightmare. With people having the freedom to post what they want, companies can lose control over their brand reputation. Trained professionals will be better equipped to handle the more technical aspects of removing negative content, and can alleviate the time-suck of monitoring content and posting new content.