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It takes just a single negative online review to shoo away potential prospects from a business. On the other hand, a glowing review can entice customers to try the products or services of a business, as they are likely to trust the suggestions of a satisfied fellow consumer. To harness and control the power of these reviews and other forms of online consumer feedback, businesses need to implement a strategy for online reputation management (ORM).

ORM seeks to make the positive reviews of a business appear more prominently in search engine results pages, as well as downplay the critical ones. It also entails actively engaging and responding to customers over social networks, addressing concerns posted online, and collating all the constructive comments a business has garnered.

Social media marketing varies wildly in its forms, depending on the networking platform it’s based on. Businesses can utilize Facebook profiles, Twitter accounts, and even their own online blogs to promote their products or services. Owing to how content posted on these networks is shared, businesses can easily disseminate their promotions among their loyal consumers, who in turn can share the content with their family and friends.

Our online reputations should be kept clean the same way that we often try to make sure that our personal reputations are pristine. This is where online reputation management comes in. There are some basics that everyone should follow: try to maintain a basic online presence, while not sharing too many details about your life. This could entail the occasional Facebook posts, though posting the picture of you drinking the keg of beer at that frat party is definitely out.

However, beyond the basics there is often a need for a more professional way to manage online reputations. Businesses often resort to hiring online reputation firms to make sure that they do not have people badmouthing them on the Internet. This is the same for people. Such firms make sure that your online presence is clean and that scam artists do not try to extort money from you.

Below are some free tools you can use to manage your reputation online:

Google Alerts/Me on the Web

The Google Dashboard has a built-in online reputation management tool called Me on the Web. Leveraging the power of its alerts service, you can set up the system to email you updates any time someone mentions your name on the web.

Naymz

Naymz allows you to generate a RepScore based on how people find your brand. It also measures social sharing indicators and takes this into account. It also utilizes a questionnaire that is sent to all your contacts to help refine the information.

Technorati

Technorati is good for ORM beginners and users who deal mainly with blog posts. It monitors your blog posts and checks who’s linking back to them to help you analyze how well or poorly received they are.

Professionals required – Like it or not, social media marketing requires the knowledge and expertise of professionals who know the ins and outs of the industry. These professionals will be able to integrate their skills in marketing products and services on the latest social media platforms to help their clients' reach their goals and targets.

Time management – Going online, posting updates on Facebook, links on Twitter, and photos on Instagram require a significant amount of time that could be spent doing other tasks. By hiring professionals to do these tasks for you, your social media strategies can be effectively implemented without compromising other areas of your business.