SERM is a marketing technology, an essential part of online reputation management (ORM), aimed at creating a positive image of a company by influencing search the Monsters Are results.
By promoting sites with positive and neutral content to the first pages of search results, you can displace resources with undesirable fax lists information that tarnishes the brand’s reputation. In essence, SERM is a synthesis of PR technologies and SEO promotion, the Monsters Are which includes a whole range of work:
1. Monitoring reputation in search engine results and the dynamics of changes in the brand’s reputation environment, not only for top resources, but also for other sites important for business development.
2. Prompt response to the emergence of negative information about a brand or product, motivating real clients to independently post positive information online.
3. Create a section with the Monsters Are reviews on the official website of the brand (or optimize it if such a page exists but is not ranked).
We highly recommend getting such a section, because
- user reviews increase trust in the resource, give other visitors more information about the product/service, and give you prompt feedback;
- if the visitor is really interested in the answer, he will rather express his opinion directly to the brand, here and now, and not take it to review sites. By closing the communications within the site, you partially stop the spread of negativity throughout all the nooks and crannies of the network;
- the presence of such a section has a positive effect on behavioral factors and the ranking of the site in search engines.
SERM covers the search results, and in several search engines at the same time, and works to ensure that there is a positive image of this invention will allow them the company there. At the same time, SERM does not concern what happens in social networks, blogs, forums, etc., if these pages are not at the top of the search results.But just posting positive reviews on sites is not SERM. Be careful, read the contracts and lists of contractors’ work carefully.
Pros and cons of SERM
Search Engine Reputation Management (SERM) has its advantages and disadvantages. Among the advantages are:
- Identifying product or service issues: SERM helps quickly identify negative reviews or comments about a company’s products or services, allowing you to quickly respond and resolve issues.
- Forming a positive opinion about the company: SERM services help to actively promote positive materials about the company, increasing the visibility of positive information in search engines.
- Increased audience loyalty and sales conversion: A positive reputation in search engines helps increase the trust of potential customers and, as a result, increase sales conversion.
- Neutralization of negative reviews about the brand in search results: SERM allows you to actively work on reducing the visibility of negative information about the company in search engines.
However, SERM also has its disadvantages. One of them is the lack of guarantees for stable results. Constant changes in search buy lead engine algorithms can lead to changes in search results and a deterioration in the company’s reputation. SERM also requires constant costs to maintain a positive reputation in search engines, which can be financially costly.
To achieve stable results in search engine reputation management, it is important to use all available methods and tools, as well as regularly monitor and analyze changes in search results.
Key Resources for Working with SERM
They can be divid into several groups:
1. Websites with reviews of companies, their products and services
This is the largest group of “reputation” sites. On such sites you can find reviews of any company, regardless of industry and scale. All these resources can be divided into 3 subcategories:
- opinion leaders – the most popular review sites, such as Otzovik, IRecommend, Yandex.Market;
- high-quality review sites with good traffic and their own audience. As a rule, they are ranked below opinion leaders and fill the remaining positions in the top 10, for example, Flamp (2GIS project, reviews and data are synchroniz with each other), Yell, Zoon, Otzyvru, “Pravda kulitov”,
- directory sites that can be used to fill the search results starting from the second page. In some cases, such sites can be rank in the top 10, but more often, resources from the first two points get there. Such sites include Orgpage, Yp.ru, Cataloxy, GmStar, “Pro firms” or Real Reviews.
Even if you haven’t found such sites in the top search results for brand queries (key phrases containing the company name), check them separately.
1. Go to the review site you are interest in, enter the name of your company in the search window. The results may not be buy lead immediate: often the search on review sites works by direct coincidence, and when forming the company card, they could have indicated a name that does not match the current one (legal entity, incomplete, with an error, name before rebranding, etc.). In this case, try searching by website address or phone number.
2. HR review sites (reviews of employers)
We have already said that HR reputation can be singled out as a separate strategy for working within SERM, especially if there are problems with hiring employees. Even if there are no such problems, but the company has strict requirements for applicants, negative feedback from particularly sensitive and touchy candidates is inevitable.
The employer’s reputation is also important for clients. A large number of negative reviews from employees can be a signal to them: “If they treat their employees badly, how will they treat me?”
Moreover, in their reviews, employees can reveal the attitude towards clients within the company. True or false – this will be sorted out by the SERM specialist and management, but such information can scare off the audience.
There are platforms in this area: there are not as many of them as in the area of product or service reviews, and there are also opinion leaders among them. Such resources include: “The Truth of Employees”, “About Labor”, “About Work”, Jobowork, TipWorker.
40% of the world market – both consumer and personnel – is made up of the generation of conscious consumers (Z, according to various classifications, transitional YZ) – people born in 1996–2003. Their characteristic features include determination and practicality.They easily refuse anything that irritates or offends them, they do not believe in unsubstantiated promises both in terms of work and in terms of purchases. Therefore, they value loyalty programs less and less, but their loyalty can be earned through reputation.
What should businesses do? Study the values of the generation, take a relevant position and develop appropriate reputation strategies.
For example, Adidas alreadystatedabout the transition by 2024 to… no, not space technologies, but to secondary raw materials – using only recycled plastic in their products. Starbucks decided to give up plastic straws, and Nike sewed a football uniform for the World Cup from plastic bottles, which they immediately and loudly announced to the world. As, incidentally, did such giants as Cisco, Siemens, Electrolux, HP, Samsung.
According to the Purpose 2020 study, the value of brands that have embark on the path of supporting ecology and responsible consumption has increase by 175% – they are preferre by 61% of Generation Z.
3. Marketplaces/large online stores
Posting reviews is not their direct purpose. But we highlight these resources in a separate category, as they are well rank requests for reviews of a specific product. These are resources such as Ozon, DNS, Citylink, Wildberries and similar ones.
4. Specialized and industry-specific reviews
There are a number of topics where opinion leaders exist: specialized and industry-specific review sites. These are sites that are rank first in their field and compete for the top with Otzovik and IRecommend. Here are examples of such sites by topic:
- medicine: “ProDoctors”, “NaPopravku”, Med-Otzyv;
- tourism: TripAdvisor, Top Hotels;
- banking: Banki.ru, Sravni.ru, “Vyberu”;
- auto: Auto.ru, “Drom”, Drive2.ru;
- investments, brokerage services: “Broker Rating”, “Forex Rating”, Smart-Lab (more like a forum, very popular), Forex Broker Rating;
- real estate: “Novostroev”, “VseNovostroyki.ru”, Restate.
You can find such sites by entering a query related to the topic of your business, for example, “reviews of developers/banks/clinics”, etc.
This article is an excerpt from the book by Ingate and Sape ” Believe. Love. Buy. Online Reputation and Sales “. Download and learn how to work with platforms based on the current reputation of the company, overcome Internet trolls and haters and win customer loyalty.
