5 trends to watch out for in 2021 for ORM

5-Trends-To-Watch-out-for-in-2021-for-orm

Online reputation management is an essential component of brand management and ensuring that customers are engaged positively with across digital mediums. With close to 90% of global buyers believing that good customer service is vital to brand loyalty, brands are reaching customers across digital mediums to ensure positive interactions. A key challenge that marketers face within the ORM domain is keeping up with evolving trends. Whether that is managing online reviews or engaging with the right industry influencers, there are important trends evolving in 2021 that brand managers need to remain ahead of.

Video is highly relevant in 2021

Video content generation and marketing strategies enable brands to fully explore key areas such as user-generated content, brand campaigns, and marketing initiatives. The popularity of video content, through the expansion of video-based apps and the growth of social media, has prompted several brands to explore video further.

With online video consumption doubling over the past few years, brands are increasingly leveraging the medium to strengthen their online reputation. Through integrated campaigns, video highlights, customer stories, and other tactics, brand managers are enhancing their focus on video for 2021.

Leveraging sophisticated ORM tools is essential

ORM is a technology-oriented domain, wherein managers need to work with the latest software platforms to reach customers. Enterprises are moving towards more sophisticated ORM products and platforms to strengthen key areas such as monitoring, listening, engaging, and strategizing. From using multiple disconnected tools, brands are moving towards a more unified approach.

About 58% of global buyers consider customer engagement to be a critical aspect in remaining loyal. Close to 75% of callers expect customer service agents to know their past purchases, buyer profile, and key details prior to engaging. Online reputation managers are enhancing the scale of their ORM activities to acquire as much information as possible about relevant customer interactions.

The role of influencers is expanding

Influencers are a key domain to focus on when enhancing a brand’s image and reconnecting with customers through the influencer’s platform. In fact, close to 60% of digital millennials would follow the advice of a YouTube influencer than a traditional celebrity.

With digital trends shifting towards influencer marketing, enterprises can benefit significantly from leveraging the influencer’s goodwill within the community, to showcase trust and commitment with buyers. Influencers are starting to grow at a rapid pace across platforms, making it important for brands to target them throughout the lifespan of their 2021 campaigns.

Optimizing communication strategy is key

In the current state of the world, a large portion of the population is staying home to remain protected from COVID-19. This gives them greater control over messaging and increased access to reach brands directly.

An omnichannel approach to communicating with buyers is necessary to ensure clarity and positive engagement with buyers. In fact, omnichannel customers spend 4% more per shopping session, and 10% more online, which is why brands are focusing on redefining their communication strategy in 2021 to maximize engagement.

Consistent engagement is critical (chatbot, email, etc.)

Consistency in engaging with irate customers, loyal buyers, and passive visitors, is essential to ensuring that your brand is ready for 2021. Online reputation management strategies are only as effective as the consistency with which they are executed. Through artificial intelligence-enabled chatbots, emails, SMS promotions, and other mediums, brands need to stay top of mind within their buyer community.

Additionally, online reviews and aggregated opinions about brands can weigh close to 15% in Google’s search ranking algorithm. This means that ensuring consistent engagement is essential to ensuring that your brand website, mobile application, or landing page, is seen as a positive influence in the community and is valued highly online.

In conclusion

2021 is a significant year for online reputation management, with brands across B2B and B2C industries focusing further on buyer engagement and long-term brand building. By understanding the role of video marketing, AI-based listening tools, engaging with influencers, and ensuring consistency, organizations can significantly enhance their ORM initiatives. 2021 will also impact key communication strategies of enterprises, which is why adopting best practices is the right approach.

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