Whether tackling negative Google search results, removing risky personal information on social media, or eliminating troubling images that shouldn’t be online, ORM is essential to any brand’s image.

Online reputation management, also called ORM, refers to building, improving, or restoring your brand’s name on the Internet. It means taking control of your reputation online by employing various strategies that are both proactive and reactive (for any damage control needed).

Examples of strategies include removing or responding to negative comments, or publishing positive content to bury the negative. ORM is more than just social media monitoring, but it isn’t a full-on PR campaign. It involves simple tools and techniques that anyone can employ.

Online reputation management doesn’t allow you to control everything everyone says about you. However, it does give you a great deal of control through monitoring, communicating with the public, and creating your own positive content to mitigate the negative. In our Online Reputation Management Program, we’ve done the work for you. You can also grab this free list of online reputation management tools.

It’s essential that you take the time to create detailed guidelines for being proactive and avoiding negative online publicity before it occurs. Alternatively, as women in public relations, you need to be able to identify methods of damage control and minimization of negative comments if they should occur.  You need to develop an online reputation strategy that encompasses your target market, along with a structure for creating relevant content that speaks directly to them.

When potential customers encounter a brand, the first place they’ll go to find more information about the company and its products is the Internet. What’s more, they’ll believe what they read there. Few people are critical enough to go beyond the first page of Google’s search results. If someone’s first impression of your business is a bad review or negative comment, they may not investigate further.

Negative content online can not only hurt your sales because of its negativity: it could also misrepresent you. If someone has a bad experience with your company because they don’t understand your products or policies, this could lead them to post something online that could then mislead others. Through online reputation management, you can set the record straight and set realistic expectations.

Monitoring your online reputation can also give you valuable feedback on how your business is doing. You’ll see what people are saying about you, both positive and negative. Positive content shows you what your natural strengths are and what you’re doing right. Negative content shows you ways you can improve.