Search engine optimization (SEO), social media, and online reputation management (ORM) are sometimes confused, with large numbers of people thinking these three are the same. Also, there is an obvious crossover, the three have completely different approaches and follow very different results. Here in this article, we are going to discuss a little more about its importance and uses.
Search engine optimization, online reputation management, and social media are said to be the trinity of internet marketing. Let’s first discuss SEO, Social Media and ORM a bit.
Why Search Engine Optimization?
SEO is generally concerned with getting a website to rank in search engines or rank better for products and / or services related to search terms. It is nothing more than a process to increase the chances that your website will appear on the first page or first in the search results of popular search engines, such as Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc.
- Importance of SEO: It is a viable marketing medium that can provide your business with more qualified leads and customers. It can have a better return on investment than traditional forms of marketing, for example television or print advertising. It is good for visibility and business branding. SEO can bring traffic to businesses and offer unparalleled insight into customers.
Why social media marketing?
Social media marketing is a set of techniques and strategies to promote awareness of a brand, publication, product, etc. (the brand, the publication or the product can be personal or commercial), on social networks, in particular by encouraging the exchange of content that helps attract the final number of people to a specific website.
- Importance of social media: Social media is sometimes used for marketing, especially for online marketing, then social media transformed its name as social media marketing. It can increase your brand awareness. Social media can help online marketing validate brands. When your business’s social media presence is successful, it tells customers that your business brand is active and focused on thriving customer communication. Provides a specific way to promote your brand to your potential customers. You can increase traffic to your individual or business website, grow a large community of fans and followers, and can quickly generate new business. It can also help your search rankings.
Why online reputation management?
Online reputation management is about improving your personal or business name or the good reputation of your brand. This is countering or eliminating negative comments found on the Internet, defeating them with more positive comments, comments or reviews to improve your credibility and customer trust in your name or brand.
- ORM importance: Online reputation is your image on the Internet. These days, online reputation has become an imperative for businesses of all kinds to monitor, identify, and influence the digital reputation of brands. It’s important and it’s not just about protecting what you already have, but about using your online reputation as part of your marketing campaign to drive new business and increase sales.
The technology around us is developing at an exponential rate. At no time in human history have we had the real ability, both as organizations and as individuals, to reach out, engage, interact and connect with a final number of people, locally and globally, and certainly in real time. Digital media has transformed the concept of modern marketing, making it more damning than ever for business organizations and institutions, both small and large, to have a voice in the online arena.
Digital media and marketing, for example, search engine optimization, social media marketing, and online reputation management have proven their worth to businesses of all sizes and types by offering the following powerful features.
- Instant communication – Digital media and marketing enable real-time conversions between businesses and organizations and their customers and members.
- Feedback – Businesses can get qualitative and quantitative information about things happening in the target market by participating and requesting feedback.
- Advertising – Digital media provide a specific way to promote your brand among potential customers.
Benefits of using SEO, social media and ORM
When it comes to increasing search rankings, promoting business, and generating positive awareness, it takes a lot of time and effort to build and maintain a company’s online reputation. SEO, Social Media and ORM can do that. The benefits are:
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Help increase traffic i.e. target website visitors and exposure.
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Encourage followers and fans.
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Improve search ranking.
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Build online reputation, build name and brand equity.
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Expand the business and improve sales.
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Provide information about the market.
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Build trust and credibility.
SEO and social media is not online reputation management. Reputation management services undoubtedly include SEO and social media components. But, when it comes to comprehensive online reputation management campaigns, SEO is far from the whole story. Let’s take a look at the key differences in SEO, social media, and online reputation management.
To understand the basic differences of SEO, Social Media, and ORM, we need to understand the buyer journey. The buyer’s journey consists of three important stages:
- Awareness: Buyers can easily articulate a need or problem, but are not even aware of a possible solution. You like to go to Southeast Asia, but you may or may not have ideas about where to stay or what to do there, so you can search for “destination in Southeast Asia”, “things to do in Southeast Asia”, and so on.
- VSconsideration: Now you know that you must have a week to spend and a specific budget in mind, but you need to create an itinerary, such as where to visit, things to do, food to eat, things to buy, etc. Search for “things to do in Hong Kong” and “motels or restaurants in Shanghai.”
- Decision: The buyer has an itinerary and needs to find particular providers at their destinations, such as “Hyatt in Hong Kong”, “Cable car in Hong Kong”, “CCTV Tower in Shanghai”, etc.
Last but certainly not least, online reputation management often uses what might be considered or tough tactics that are beyond the reach of SEO and mainstream social media. Whether your business lives and dies from shocking online post reviews, then you need to optimize such sites appropriately and address those negative inputs such as defamatory comments, copied content, inappropriate material, etc. that you don’t control.