Digital identity and online reputation in the retail sector

by Abdul Rimaaz Abdul Rimaaz Business Consultants UK

Even if we strive to create our brand, even if we take care of all the details, let's not kid ourselves, brands are created by consumers: our brand is not what we say it is, it is what the community says it is.

Digital identity and online reputation summarize the presence of our brands on the Internet and that must be controlled.

Let's reflect together on how Google works on search results. One of the main factors that you have taken into account so far has been where they came from and how were the links pointing to your website.

If many pages of the retail sector with links pointed to your website with the word online clothing store, Google understood that that was a term for which you should appear.

But beware, if many pages pointed to you with words with sexual or malicious content, the same could also happen.

Google has been improving and hardening its reputation algorithm for backlinks but still, it helps us to understand how our identity and reputation have a large component of what others say about us.

The social component on the Internet has to move all the actions of our brands.

What is digital identity and online reputation?

Both terms go hand in hand and are closely related.

The digital identity for companies in the retail sector could be defined as all the content that talks about your brand or your company on the Internet. We speak thus then of our website, blog, social networks, etc.

You could say what we are trying to convey to Internet users and what we would like them to think of our brand.

However, as in all communication processes, when there is a sender there is a receiver and that receiver can sometimes receive or interpret our message in a different way.

In this way, online reputation is all that is said about our brand that we cannot control. This is what really remains of your brand and it is the social component that I said at the beginning of the post.

How does it affect the digital identity and in the retail sector?

Managing reputation is key in any sector but, in today's retail sector it seems like a key point when a customer makes the purchase decision.

In addition to these two aspects that affect our brands and sales, there are other aspects to take care of if you want to sell more online in the retail sector that you can find here.

But we are going to see clear examples of the great impact that it has on the decision process can be observed in the hotel and hospitality sector where the opinions of clients on portals such as Tripadvisor, Booking, Trivago, etc., are essential to reserve a room or table in a restaurant.

In 2013 PhoCusWright conducted a powerful study for Tripadvisor of how the opinions of previous travelers influenced the purchase process. The conclusions were totally conclusive and applicable even today.

The 83% of survey participants made it clear that the opinions of other travelers to choose hotel helped them on their trips.

A 80% read on average between 6 and 12 reviews before making a purchase decision and set aside.

The 53% of travelers read reviews of other travelers before booking.

The 68% said that the views of other visitors make them have a more reliable idea of what they will find on your journey.

A 64% Read to find the best restaurant to book your travels or in your town.

After reading this overwhelming data, do you still think you don't have to work on these aspects?

What to do to take care of your identity and digital reputation?

Although brand identity is easier to take care of, digital reputation requires extra effort and dedication that, if done well, can generate a lot of business as we have seen previously.

Taking care of your identity requires that all your communication channels in which you have control (web, blog, emailing, social networks, etc.) speak the same language.

Put special interest in generating content that adds value to your customers, in taking care of the visual and brand aspect of both your website and your social networks or emailing that you do. Make sure everyone is fully up to date and that there is constant movement with fresh content.

With those measures you would have all the work done. Think that you are working on your message, what you say about yourself. Now you have to work on what they say about you.

To take care of your reputation you will have to be very attentive to social networks and your website, you will have to practice active listening.

Digital analytics and monitoring are key here. Keep track of all social networks and your brand on the Internet and be alert in case you have to respond to negative comments about your company.

Taking care of the digital reputation of your company in the retail sector will make you be fast. It is not worth responding to comments two hours or three days later: the Internet is immediacy and users ask for that, speed.

If you take too long to react to bad comments or complaints, your online reputation will be badly damaged and repair will be slow and expensive.

In this sense, it is essential to have professionals, with a true community manager to manage everything that is said about your brand.

Conclusion

As a final conclusion we can say that taking care of what you say about yourself and, above all, what they say about your brand are more than fundamental aspects, essential that a company in this sector has to control.

The credibility losses can be as great as what they can gain if they don't manage it properly. A good management of the digital reputation, responding to comments, clarifying doubts, situations, offering fast online customer service can bring much more income than you imagine now.

Do you want to take the next step to improve your digital identity and online reputation in the retail sector?

Posted By Abdul Rimaaz