“It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad one to lose it,” said Benjamin Franklin. And it’s true.
Consider this: Your brand reputation, that you carefully built over the years, could fall in an instant. For example, say you launched an advertising campaign that generates a lot of negative reviews and sentiment around it.
By the time you get control over the situation, it might be too late.
This is where online reputation management (ORM) techniques can help.
In this blog, we take a look at online reputation management tools and strategies that you could apply for your business.
17 online reputation management techniques
It is important to choose your online reputation management strategies that can have an actual impact and help your company. You must choose tools and techniques based on your industry, product, service, and situation. Here are some of the best online reputation management strategies:
1. Collect customer reviews
9 out of 10 people prefer to read online reviews when they discover brands. This makes customer reviews one of the best strategies to influence people’s perception of your brand. Here are some tips to make review collection a part of your online reputation management strategies.
Collect reviews from your past and existing customers
Keep all your reviews — from 5-star to negative reviews
Address and respond to all kinds of reviews
Create campaigns around review collection. For example, offer reward points in return of customer reviews
2. Improve customer service
While you may be offering top-class products and services, if your customer service is not right, your online business will find it hard to grow and succeed. In today’s digital world, a single poor interaction can break your reputation.
Here’s how you can provide top notch customer service:
Make it easy for customers to reach out to you
Provide customers with many channels to reach you — phone, chat, email, messenger, etc.
Respond to customers who reach out to you on social media public posts
Always respond to customers
Ensure timely and quick responses
3. Respond to negative reviews
100% positive reviews could seem less credible to online consumers. In fact, studies show that 96% of consumers specifically look for negative reviews. One of the best online reputation management techniques is to address negative reviews, especially those that are public.
Here’s what you can do:
Do not avoid or ignore negative reviews
Respond to negative reviews to solve the customers’ problems
You can also combine your SEO strategy in your response
Example: Stamford Plaza Brisbane responds to a negative review.
Today’s savvy customers use many different channels. They are spread all over the internet. And hence, you must look at targeting them on multiple channels. If your presence is limited to a few platforms, expand your presence.
Do this:
Conduct surveys to find out your customers’ preferred platforms
Figure out ways to expand your presence on those platforms
Create different strategies for each platform — duplicating strategies and content on multiple platforms does not work
5. Set alerts for your brand name
It’s practically impossible to manually skim through the internet to look for mentions of your brand name. For example, there may be many articles, customer reviews, and listicles of your brand appearing on a regular basis. But tracking them manually is not feasible. But setting alerts for your brand name can add to your online reputation management techniques.
Set alerts on search engines such as Google
Take a look at the links as soon as you receive notifications
If it’s a negative review, respond to the concerns immediately
6. Collaborate with influencers
Influencer marketing can be an effective online reputation management technique to employ for brands. When done right, it can elevate your brand reputation. For example, influencers can help improve your brand awareness, help build connections, and engage with customers.
Here’s what you can do:
Collaborate with influencers who can influence customers in your industry
Consider macro influencers depending on you brand and product
Manage your influencer campaigns well and be consistent
7. Collect user generated content
90% of consumers are influenced more by user generated content than other promotional campaigns. There are many ways to use user generated content as an online reputation management tool. Here are some:
Create campaigns to encourage customers to share content
Share user generated content via different channels – email, social, website, etc.
Collect photos, videos, social posts, reviews, etc.
Stay authentic with user generated content
8. Make social causes a part of your brand
People are more aware than ever before. And their awareness extends to brands they buy from. 86% of consumers prefer to purchase from purpose-driven brands. People like brands whose values match with theirs. This makes social causes a key online reputation management tool for your brand. Here’s what you can do:
Pick a few causes you really believe in
Collaborate with non profit organizations to create campaigns
Talk about the causes
Make the causes a part of your brand story
Involve customers to participate in supporting the causes
9. Include social in your reputation management strategies
Social media is a power space for brands to grow their reach, awareness, and enhance reputation. Most of your customers are on social media and you can use that platform to enhance your online reputation. Here’s how:
Your location and region can have a huge effect on the success of your online reputation management strategies. For example, in the European region, customer reviews work extremely well to improve trust and credibility, while in MENA, how-to articles and comparison websites do the trick. Here’s how to keep location at the center of your strategy.
Consider the local and regional regulations and rules
Consider cultural nuances when creating your strategy
Follow rules of how to use customer data
Being compliant with regulations and having a high cultural quotient can help you win customers hearts and trust
11. Create and promote new content
Let’s say there was a negative review of your brand on YouTube a few years ago. If the video still keeps appearing on the first page even after a few years, it means you haven’t done much to create and promote new content to overshadow the old content. Here’s what you can do as an online reputation management technique:
Regularly conduct search for your brand name in incognito mode
Look for negative and poor reviews about your brand
Respond to them
Also create fresh, positive content around those keywords that show negative content
Optimize your content pages for those keywords
12. Ensure your teams are on the same page
Reputation management cannot work in silos. For your online reputation management strategies to succeed, all your different teams have to be on the same page and work towards the same goal.
For example, if one team sets a goal, and another team cannot reach it, the company’s reputation can take a hit. Here’s what you can do:
Create an online reputation management plan and involve all your teams
Ensure every team member understands the goal and importance
Ensure there is efficient internal communication within the company
13. Choose an efficient online reputation management tool
To get your online reputation management plan right, you will require an online reputation management tool or software that will automate and do all the tedious tasks for you. Not only that, the tool will also help you do all the repetitive tasks, monitor constantly, and organize all the findings for you to use.
Here’s what you must consider in you online reputation management tool:
Ensure it is intuitive and smart enough to understand different tones and languages
Find a tool that can help you track and identify trends in your brand perception
Choose a tool that can help you communicate and interact with customers
Pick tools that can schedule and publish as well as monitor
14. Gather data from external and internal sources
You may have employed various online reputation management strategies — for example, tools that help you gather data from external online sources and internal data collection tools such as surveys, research, etc. For the best results, combine external and internal results to analyze the data.
Here are some tips to do this well:
Track brand mentions, product mentions, etc. on external platforms, such as third-party sites, external social media groups, etc.
Conduct customer surveys and research to collect information from your customers
15. Enhance the overall customer experience of your brand
For 87% of brands, customer experience is a competitive differentiating factor when it comes to online reputation. Hence, it’s critical to get your customer experience strategy right in order to keep your brand reputation on top.
Here’s what you can do:
Ensure you provide a good experience across customer touch points
Be proactive in helping customers, addressing their problems and complaints
Ensure the best customer service experience
Be available to customers and make their online experience easy
16. Be proactive and futuristic
Enhance your online reputation management strategy by shifting from a reactive to a proactive approach. In short, don’t wait to respond to negative reviews and issues. Instead, proactively promote the positive aspects of your brand to create a positive brand reputation.
Here’s how you can do this:
Look for trends in content and campaigns and create your own unique campaigns
Consistently create and publish positive content
Look for buzzwords and trends and align your strategy to promote your brand
17. Maintain transparency and authenticity
Nothing works better than being honest and authentic. If your brand is not authentic, customers will see it in one way or the other. Hence, instead of trying to portray your brand as something it is not, be confident and be yourself — 86% of customers like brands that are transparent.
Do this:
If you’ve made a mistake, be open about it, apologize and mend what’s broken
Be consistent about promoting your brand values
Promote transparency and authenticity internally as well as externally
How to choose the best online reputation management techniques for your brand?
Managing online reputation in an ever expanding and active digital landscape and it can get tough. This is why you require an efficient online reputation management tool such as Radarr — it uses AI for social media monitoring and listening, so you can take control of situations before they escalate.
The usage of Instagram skyrocketed after the launch of a new feature called “Reels”. Like TikTok, the feature allows users to create a 15-60 seconds video and share it with followers.
68% of users love watching videos with a duration of under one minute. Owing to the increasing popularity of short video content, more and more businesses are leveraging the benefit of Instagram Reels.
Reels have become an important part of content strategy as they get 22% more engagement than regular video content. 51% of marketers are willing to invest more in short video content, according to a Hubspot report.
While Instagram has always been a valuable business platform, Reels have created new opportunities. In fact, very recently, Adam Mosseri, Head of Instagram, announced that the platform is shifting to a more video-friendly app, making Reels the most prominent feature of the app. Yet not all businesses are using Instagram Reels. Some of them don’t know where to even begin.
Well, we’ve created a complete guide on how to get started with Instagram Reels and grow your business. Keep reading!
Different Ways To Use Reels To Grow Your Business
Your audience enjoys watching short videos. It’s because of lower attention span and digestible content. Instagram Reels give businesses a platform to create such hard-hitting, relatable content that gets to the point.
Let’s look at a few ways in which B2B businesses can use Instagram Reels to grow:
Follow a trend
Trends change throughout time. But it’s also important to leverage these trends to stay relevant and appeal to your target audience. You may find the most popular content format by looking at the Reels under the Discover tab. It might be a challenge, an audio clip, a remixed video, or a hashtag.
Join the trend if you believe it will resonate with your audience and create content around it. This is the easiest and quickest way to reach a wide audience and get more views.
Most users on Instagram watch Reels for fun. They don’t have any objective in mind. Hence, creating entertaining Reels is very important for brand awareness and to get more engagement. However, you can mix entertainment and education to create Reels for your audience.
Talk about your product/service, highlight its benefits and how it is valuable for your audience. Few examples of how you can do this is –
On your Instagram story, use the Q&A sticker to solicit questions from your followers about your product/service. You can turn some specific questions into an Instagram reel if you think they would be helpful in making a larger audience understand your product/service better.
In your comment section, your audience may occasionally ask you many questions. You can turn the replies to the most common comments into a Reel.
Use a trending audio and reel formats to talk about your product/service. This will make your content fun and engaging.Take a look at this Hubspot video where a product manager responds to one of the most often asked questions.You can create something similar too!
Promote New Product Features
Are you planning to launch a new product or introduce new features to existing ones? How about you create an Instagram reel and introduce it to your audience? You can first introduce the product through a small teaser and share a glimpse of what is coming.
This will build excitement among customers. Later you can create another reel talking about the product’s features and benefits. Reels are a great way to introduce new products to your audience without having them feel targeted.
For instance, In this video, Keap, an all-in-one sales and marketing automation platform, introduces its new feature for businesses. This 60-second reel is a step-by-step guide on how to use the feature.
You can even create something similar for your new product or feature!
Introduce Ongoing Offers/Promotions/Events
Introducing offers and promotions is not enough. It’s also important to market those offers and promotions so more and more customers come to know about them. It’s where you can leverage the benefit of Instagram Reels.
You can create a short, catchy video introducing available offers and promotions. Start your reel with a catchy headline and end it with a CTA (Call-to-action) encouraging customers to grab the offer.
Bonus tip: Collaborate with influencers in your niche to make reels promoting your new offers, promotions or events to tap into a wider audience that might not know of you. These influencers in your niche help you reach an audience that is very relevant to you, increase brand awareness and conversions!
Post Behind-the-scene videos
You can make Reels that give viewers a peek into the behind the scenes of your company. It is a great way to give your company a human touch and keep your audience engaged. You can introduce your employees to the audience, show them a tour of your office space and even showcase the daily lives of employees who you work with! Occasionally, you can share content around fun activities in your office, team outings or vacations.
Take for example, WeWork. To offer us a glimpse into what it’s like to work at WeWork, the company created an Instagram Reel that showcases the work environment of the office space.
Using Reels to post behind-the-scene videos introduces viewers to the other side of the business, which no other form of content does. This is more likely to build trust for your business. This trust can further convert viewers into your customers.
Repurpose your content
Repurposing content makes it much simpler to scale content, which is its biggest benefit. Additionally, there is no need to create each article, video, and infographic from scratch.
Simply search for content that is performing well on other marketing channels. For this you can dig deep into your website, blogs, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter accounts. Later you can repurpose that content into an Instagram reel. That’s it!
For example, you might have created a YouTube video a while ago that got you many views. You can pick the main highlights or message from the video and convert it into a 60-second Instagram Reel.
You can likewise repurpose blogs on your website into Instagram Reels as well. All you have to do is use your blog as a script for the flow of your Reel, whether you’re speaking your points or using text (or both).
95% of customers read online reviews before buying a product. Testimonials are the best marketing tactic for persuading customers to purchase your product or service. Customers are more likely to trust other customers.
Reels make it simple to leverage the power of testimonials for your business. You can ask your best customers about contributing a video testimonial about your brand and product and later convert them into Instagram Reels.
There are two ways you can use customer testimonials for your Instagram Reels. The first option is to overlay a video showcasing the product with a statement from the testimonial.
The second option is to create a case study in which you describe how your product solved a customer’s problem.
Sharing testimonials help to build trust among your audience as they come to know what your existing customers have to say. This might encourage them to try your product or service, increasing sales. Isn’t this a great strategy?
For example, take a look at this Canva video where one of their customers describes how he used the Canva features to grow his side project into a successful business. The video, which has over 50K views, illustrates how Canva can help you turn your company idea into a reality, which is simply amazing.
Establish Thought Leadership
You don’t necessarily have to post content related to your product or service every time. By sharing some exciting and informative content related to your business or niche, you can also add value to your customers.
You can share your industry knowledge by creating a series of How-To videos that your potential customers may need or want. Similar to that, you may create informative videos to share some tips with your customers that they would find useful. By doing this, you can build your authority and attract more customers.
The best example is Grammarly, where they not only talk about their product and services but also share tips and tricks around productive WFH day, how to express gratitude, journaling tips, and much more.
Hacks to make all the ways above Instagram Reels ideas work
The competition has grown as more companies use Instagram Reels for marketing.
It’s challenging to stand out. But the hacks listed below will help you increase your views and go viral.
Social Listening
You should not just pay attention to trends around your brand but look for trends in the industry. By doing so, you make better marketing decisions and stay relevant.
With social listening, you can discover industry trends and the latest happenings. It also helps you understand your audience better. You discover customer sentiment around your brand.
Specific industries like beauty and fashion see trends changing quickly. Social listening can help you understand better how your competitors are staying on top of those trends. You can identify what they’re doing right and incorporate it as well. Social Listening is a great way to find what appeals to your audience.
Storytelling
Using stories in marketing is effective. When audiences hear stories, they relate to them personally and perceive them to be meaningful. The entire point of storytelling is to allow your ideal customers to imagine themselves participating in the conversation. Solving their pain points and addressing their concerns helps build a strong connection.
One excellent example of this is Kickstarter. It is the current storytelling champion. The B2B crowdfunding website offers its members a platform for telling their brands’ stories through engaging campaigns which sparks interest from the general public. In the end, this attracts investors and fosters the development of original ideas.
Transitions
Using transitions in your Reels can help you keep your audience engaged. It piques people’s interest and keeps them guessing about “what’s going to happen next”. You can use transitions in a lot of creative ways.
For example, you can create before and after product/service content using transitions or use transitions to tell a story.
There are multiple ways in which you can use transitions like Finger Snap Transition, Headbutt Transition, and Perspective Transition.
Click here to read more about transitions and how they work.
You can’t simply post and disappear to keep things running. It’s important to find out what people are saying about your brand. You need to track hashtags; keyword mentions relevant to your brand to stay on the top of your industry or brand.
Monitoring what people are saying helps you stay relevant and engaging and prevents you from making key blunders.
Start Conversations
You must spark conversation with your audience. This will boost engagement and make your audience feel that you value them. You can join the exciting conversation, ask proactive questions in the captions, or encourage people to drop comments.
Get better at Instagram Reels with social media listening
You should monitor consumer trends and sentiments, measure your performance, and keep tab on your competitors if you want to stay at the top of Instagram Reels. We know how difficult it is to keep track of everything. Keeping up with social media trends is particularly challenging since they quickly change. Additionally, there are millions of things happening in the social media space, and it’s tough to stay on top of all of them. But what if we told you that you can do all of this with a single tool?
Yes, Radarr, a potent social listening tool provides you with real-time, hassle-free actionable insights about the audience’s behavior, interests, and market trends at a few clicks
You also get a consolidated dashboard for insightful data with robust social listening capabilities. With this dashboard you can see real-time visualizations of content and campaign performance analytics to improve it. What are you waiting for?
Book a free demo to learn more about Radarr today!
Use this simple, step-by-step guide to optimize your Instagram SEO for your page, posts and reels!
When Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram announced that the age of hashtags is over (relatively) and that your page and posts are searchable but did not explicitly state WHAT and
HOW it gets ranked, creators quickly turned to studying their explore feed and experimenting with keywords.
In fact, if you landed here after typing in ‘Instagram SEO’ or ‘Instagram SEO tips’ on Google Search, you know there are plenty of articles breaking down what you need to do.
But in this blog post, we’re going to take assumptions and theories out the window – we’re going to leave you with a solid understanding of what YOUR next steps need to be if you want to improve your reach and boost your business through Instagram in 2023.
Let’s dive in!
What is Instagram SEO?
Instagram SEO or Instagram Search engine optimization includes any activity you do to optimize your page, and posts (be it static, video, carousel, or reels) to increase its visibility to your target audience.
It is similar to how Google ranks and drums up relevant links to your search query. And just like Google, you can strengthen your chances of coming up as a search result on Instagram by using relevant keywords and building yourself as an authority on a subject or niche.
While appearing in search results is the main goal, implementing SEO on Instagram goes beyond just a well-thought primary or secondary keyword.
There are plenty of other factors that work WITH it that you need to remember to put in play so that your brand or business is able to drive more leads, skyrocket your follower count, and increase engagement.
We’ll get into each of them so you can supercharge your Instagram strategy for high growth!
Why is Instagram SEO important?
Instagram’s algorithm processes every piece of content, and collects information to determine who might find a post interesting.
While this process is automated, you can guide it in an optimized direction by following certain best practices.
Instagram’s search feature, which is part of its Explore page, acts as a comprehensive directory for every Instagram account.
Here’s where SEO plays a crucial role. It helps populate highly relevant posts — mainly from accounts users don’t follow yet.
Hootsuite ran an experiment to check the increasing relevance of SEO on Instagram. It revealed that SEO-optimized posts reached 30% more audiences and received twice as many likes compared to posts using only hashtags!
Instagram now is home to a large, active user base, a significant portion of which is younger, tech-savvy, and holds substantial buying power. An average user spends around 53 minutes per day on Instagram.
And if we’re being honest with ourselves, we all know that number is much higher.
If you follow tried and tested Instagram SEO tips for your business that we’ll list and explain below, your brand can reach out to these potential customers more effectively!
What are Instagram SEO Ranking factors?
Instagram’s search ranking relies on three crucial factors:
Relevance to the search query
User Activity
Popularity
Relevance to the Search Query
Instagram’s algorithm matches search queries (what you type in the search bar) with top posts, relevant accounts, audio, tags, and locations.
Ensuring your username, profile bio, post captions, post and reel hashtags, and even the location of each content can affect your rankings. We’ll teach you how to optimize each of these later in the article.
User Activity
Instagram prioritizes posts in search results based on the searcher’s previous activity on the app. This includes any interaction you’ve done with similar hashtags and accounts, posts viewed in the past, and even accounts mutually connected to you, the searcher.
Popularity
When many relevant results exist for a search term, popularity comes into play.
Just like how Google will prioritize some results if they have more traffic, or get more backlinks and generally signal themselves as a well-sought authority on a subject, so will an account or post’s number of likes, shares, and follows can influence its ranking in the search results.
Instagram SEO Tips to Get Discovered
Now that you’ve understood what it means and why it’s essential that you implement Instagram SEO in your content strategy, let’s dive into a step-by-step checklist of what you need to add and change to drive results quickly.
Before you post, do these four things:
1. Finalize a Niche
Like Google, Instagram likes when a profile consistently posts about a few select topics and looks and sounds like it is an authority on that particular subject.
List down your interests and your expertise- and then jot down a few topics, industries, or niches that come up that match both.
For example, say you’re a content marketer. While that is a large topic in itself, maybe you find you have tips for creating content on Instagram or perhaps you want to share tips on how to be a successful freelancer – finalizing this and posting about them is a great way to signal to Instagram your unique area of interest – which the algorithm prizes over an account that posts about everything.
2. Engage with Similar Niche Accounts
Context is important for Instagram SEO.
Once you have drilled down and found your niche, take fifteen minutes out everyday and engage with similar creators or brands that also talk about common topics.
In fact, set notifications for your favorite pages in that niche – and comment thoughtfully and sincerely. Doing this signals to Instagram that your account too should be recommended along with those accounts for people who are interested in the same topic.
This will add up and increase your SEO score on Instagram!
2. Find your Keyword & Hashtag List
Once you have your niche, go to the explore page and enter a few relevant keyword phrases. See what comes up as suggestions.
For example, let’s search Instagram Marketing, which brings up Instagram Marketing Strategies, Instagram marketing ideas, Instagram marketing course, etc.
Select them one by one and observe what posts are recommended. Check each post – what keywords have they used in their caption and hashtags? How many hashtags did they use?
Do this a few times with short and long-term keyword phrases and soon you’ll notice a pattern in the top posts. Write these keywords down and save them to use in your posts, as we’ll explain below.
Also, take a look at the accounts that are suggested to you – what keyword or phrase have they used in their profile, in their bio? Also check their recent posts for hashtags, to see if your keywords match or you’re missing something.
Then do the below step!
3. Optimize Your Profile
Time for some tips on Instagram Bio SEO & Instagram Name SEO! Your bio and everything you write in it are searchable. So make use of this prime real estate properly.
From the previous step, finalize one primary keyword and one secondary keyword and add it to your username and Name.
For example, take a look at this bio below and see how the creator has optimized his profile with the search word.
Not only is the keyword mentioned in the handle (or username), but it’s also in the bio, along with another secondary keyword.
This sends a strong indication to Instagram’s SEO algorithm that you’re posting highly relevant content and it is a good match for the query.
4. Add Location to your Bio
Next, add your business location to your bio on your page. If you’re unable to do so, change your profile type to Business or Creator account, which will give you additional fields like location, contact email and phone number.
Which profile with tips would be more relevant to you- someone with the same country or city or someone whose primary language is from another location?
This way, optimizing your profile with the above collectively increases your ranking score to your target audience.
5. Use Instagram SEO Keywords in Your Captions
Incorporating primary and secondary keywords in your captions can improve your chances of showing up in relevant searches – up to 30% more reach, according to one experiment!
Not only can a user read it and get reassured you are talking about their interest, a strong keyword-optimized caption will also increase your SEO score.
6. Use SEO-Driven Hashtags
Use a combination of well-known, niche, and specific hashtags that are relevant in your post.
But remember, previously it was recommended to add up to 30 Instagram hashtags to each post. Now, 3-5 hashtags are enough – use the rest inside your caption.
7. Optimize Your Alt Text
As with Google, accessibility is an important factor Instagram considers and accordingly bumps up your profile and posts in search results.
Add alt text when you post a photo to provide a description that incorporates relevant keywords.
Can’t find it? Look for Advanced settings and you’ll be able to enter Alt Text.
8. Use Subtitles for Videos
Did you know Instagram’s algorithm reads the text inside reels? Subtitles for videos on Instagram are great for accessibility and increase watch time.
Include target keywords in the video and if possible, use Instagram’s own font options to add it in.
9. Follow the Recommendation & Community Guidelines
Instagram wants to make the app a safe space to be in – ensure you do not violate any of their guidelines as that can lead to your account getting shadow banned, leading to low reach.
As with any strategy, try and experiment with these tips. See which keywords and hashtags get you more reach.
Measuring how your Instagram optimization efforts are paying off by conducting regular audits of your Instagram account is essential for your brand to keep growing.
Do hashtags help with Instagram SEO?
Hashtags have traditionally been a powerful tool for boosting visibility and reach on Instagram. While hashtags still have their place in the Instagram ecosystem, their importance is not what it once was.
As we mentioned earlier as well, oneexperiment found that SEO-focused posts garnered 30% more reach compared to posts that relied on hashtags. Those posts also generated higher engagement, consistently earning more likes!
To optimize your Instagram content you should now focus more on SEO tactics like keywords in captions rather than using a high number of hashtags.
Conclusion
Instagram SEO is a powerful tool that can boost your content’s visibility, increase your audience engagement, and amplify your brand’s online presence.
By understanding and leveraging Instagram’s SEO ranking factors, you can reach a larger audience and make the most out of this vibrant social media platform.
However, it’s not just about understanding SEO techniques, but also about delivering the right content that aligns with your audience’s preferences and needs.
This is where a social listening tool like Radarr proves to be invaluable. Radarr helps you monitor and identify what your audience is engaging with and why, allowing you to tailor your content and SEO strategy effectively.
Are you ready to tap into the power of Instagram SEO and audience insights to propel your brand forward?
Learn about how Netflix uses social listening to keep its audience engaged.
Netflix has witnessed phenomenal growth in terms of business in recent years. While Netflix’s subscriber base in 2011 consisted of a mere 22 million, it shot up to nearly 150 million in 2019 and crossed 200 million subscribers in 2020.
Used by an estimated 37% of internet users worldwide, Netflix’s massive rise can be credited to majorly two things – the quality of the product offering and its top-notch marketing efforts.
Thanks to an excellent social media strategy, Netflix has managed to dominate over its competitors over the years and emerged as a dominant streaming provider. From sharing updates on upcoming movies to engaging in witty comebacks, Netflix’s social media is pure entertainment.
As the number of social media users increases, it is essential for brands to tune into their audience’s conversations. With Social listening, brands get valuable insight into the evolving behaviours of their target audience in real-time and adjust their social media marketing strategy accordingly.
By listening to their audience, Netflix has been able to track sentiments and push out their own marketing based on what they found their audience craved the most. Social listening also gave Netflix an opportunity to connect with its users, come up with new solutions and develop a long-lasting relationship (and if we may say even more revenue streams).
This blog will dive deep into how Netflix uses social listening to its advantage, and show you how you can do the same with a tool like Radarr.
How Netflix uses social listening to stay on top of the game
1. Building good customer engagement
In a bid to stay on top of ongoing trends and online conversations, Netflix invests a lot into social media listening and frequently engages with its audience. Their ability to listen keenly and closely monitor pop culture trends has helped them run eye-catching social campaigns and post creative content that encourages users to participate in activities, answer polls posted via stories, and tag them and their friends in their content.
Occasionally, Netflix gives customers what they want. From shows to binge-watch during holidays to movie suggestions for dinner, Netflix has got a little something for everyone. How does Netflix figure out the kind of content that resonates with its audiences? By running polls on social media.
Netflix’s marketing strategies are rarely traditional and usually work on out-of-the-box ideas. Rather than adopting a deadpan, serious brand tone that promotes its content, Netflix targeted the huge meme-loving audience to build a rapport with them through their content.
Their meme-marketing is on-point as a result of an excellent social listening strategy. By social listening to millennials, they identify trends millennials are raving about and simply put out their own witty content.
2. Responding to user needs: The invention of Netflix socks
Thanks to social listening, Netflix became aware of a problem its viewers face: they fall asleep when binge-watching a show and wake up several episodes later.
As a solution, Netflix created a pair of tech-enabled socks that can sense when you fall asleep and pause your show. In addition to its prototype socks, Netflix also put some totally do-able DIY ideas online so viewers can make their own socks. As a result, it garnered huge praise and even won awards for integrating tech into everyday life products.
On watching a consumer trend and meme of “Netflix and chill”, In the video below, Netflix has created a tutorial that teaches people how to make their own DIY socks for when they’re watching Netflix.
The move went on to garner massive popularity. This commendable feat came into being because Netflix actively listened to conversations around their business and factored in customer sentiments into their marketing strategy. They realize that marketing doesn’t just need to be posting and resharing content but also listening to your customer’s feedback.
Netflix is popular for catering to the millennial mindset by tracking and engaging with conversations happening online. Using social listening, they are able to create content around topics their audience is talking the most about, something that even their Twitter bio can attest to. This makes them relatable to their target audience.
Thanks to social listening, Netflix’s marketing strategy builds loyalty and connectedness into its content approach. Content is their USP and they believe that epic content that users can’t find anywhere will be the key driver to build social engagement and create a loyal following to their business.
By going big on video marketing, Netflix produces more video content than any other content type on social media. Their videos center around upcoming movies and TV shows, giving the audience a sneak peek into what they can expect and getting them all excited. Apart from videos, the company also posts images, GIFs, and text posts on current movies and TV shows streaming.
When you love a show on Netflix, you want to know more about the show like behind the scenes, cast interviews, future plans, upcoming seasons, fan predictions, etc. Following Netflix on social media is the quickest way to get this content.
Take, for instance, when Netflix’s Shadow and Bone became a hit, with the show’s antagonist gaining the most fandom, Netflix posted an ensemble of their favorite villains.
4. Posts content on trending topics
Netflix’s content strategy is much more than making memes and posting videos snippets from their shows. They are quick to hop onto existing social media trends and weave their show’s content into the current trend. Moreover, Netflix maintains a conversational tone in all its social media posts and tweets.
Take, for instance, this video created for a popular Instagram reel trend.
Instagram has emerged as the key marketing channel for Netflix where it can do social listening and respond using “extra ” content like sneak peeks, behind the scenes, and selfies from stars. On the other hand, Netflix stays active on Twitter to track trending hashtags, listen to what fans are talking about, and join the conversation.
Leveraging viral hashtags and internet trends not only garner more attention from audiences but also helps them promote shows streaming on Netflix. The #10yearchallenge was one of the trends Netflix participated in to promote F.R.I.E.N.D.S.
To remain effective, Netflix’s social teams watch and listen in the right places, at the right times, so they can create content on real-time conversations that connects with audiences, like this video of awkward silences for the show You.
Moreover, the brand has adopted a “fan’s” persona by hiring movie and TV buffs to run its accounts who also follow the company’s social content guidelines. As a result, Netflix’s social voice is authentic, effortlessly witty, and approachable making Netflix a beloved place for people to talk about what they’re watching.
Are fans loving a show or movie on social media? How about engaging with them with a simple GIF from the very same movie or show they’re raving about.
5. Plays on Viewer Psychology
Netflix knows well how to create a social media hype before launching its shows. It plays well on the customer’s psychology by releasing trailers that ‘just’ merely manages to give a sneak peek and generate interest, keeping them hooked to it.
Recently, when Netflix was poised to release the Twilight series on the platform, it started posting memes from the movie series in a bid to build engagement.
Netflix is reputed for its strong meme marketing. Their social media marketing memes are witty and instantly relatable. Using meme marketing, they strayed away from conventional branding and introduced memes as an opportunity to engage with their audience. As memes are able to communicate feelings and situations very effectively without pushing in on an agenda for marketing.
Courtesy social listening, Netflix knows what topics are trending among audiences and wastes no time in launching memes of their own. Meme marketing became a success for them after their memes on the dystopian sci-fi film Birdbox caught fire on Twitter.
7. Leverages star power for influence
A lot of stars from Netflix’s shows and movies are active Instagram and Twitter users. The brand leverages this to its own advantage to amplify its reach and presence among its audience. Even celebrities and TV networks join the bandwagon of people engaging with the brand on social media.
Don’t believe us? Here’s the team making the most out of the celebrity, Ryan Reynolds wit!
Netflix is a highly customer-centric brand and it leverages social media well to build relationships with followers. The brand is active to post witty replies to customer queries and engage them in conversations to help them feel like they are talking to a friend. This approach has helped them build a loyal fanbase and a compelling social presence.
Netflix follows the fundamental rule of prioritizing every customer interaction, no matter how trivial. It considers every interaction as a chance to build a better relationship with the customer and reinforce themselves as a brand that cares.
When it comes to utilizing big data insights, Netflix has been using it to determine which new TV series or movies they should create. Thanks to data insights, it is able to predict viewing preferences and provide personalized recommendations by logging in and analyzing every customer interaction.
What’s more, with social listening, Netflix followed a fan’s social post and helped him propose to his girlfriend (with help from series stars Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant) turning the whole thing into a promotional video for the show.
Takeaway – You can do it too with social listening!
Netflix is simply killing its social media game and effective social listening is fueling its strategies.
But what can brands learn from this?
One place to start is to find YOUR own unique voice. What makes YOU unique. What aspect of you can your customers connect to quickly? Finding your unique voice can be one step towards building a winning social strategy and presenting you with the competitive advantage you require.
Your brand voice needs to be authentic and clearly communicate what you’re all about. Netflix aced this by voicing themselves as a young movie or TV buff, and that resonates with their millennial audience perfectly.
And lastly, don’t miss out on the benefits of social listening and what it can uncover for your brand. Pay close attention to customer data and unlock the right kind of content that can connect with them.
Ready to bring conversations on your side? It’s time to start social listening today!
In an increasingly digital landscape, establishing and maintaining a strong online presence is pivotal for businesses. As brands expand their footprint in the online realm, safeguarding their reputation becomes imperative. Managing reputational risks is integral to sustaining trust and credibility.
In this blog, we delve into essential strategies for reputation risk management, highlighting the crucial steps to build and preserve a positive online image in today’s competitive business environment.
What is a reputational risk?
Reputational risk in business encompasses the threat of harm to a company’s image, standing, and brand perception, arising from actions, events, or public perception.
Reputational risk in the online realm revolves around the threat of damage to a company’s digital image and brand perception. It arises from negative reviews, social media backlash, data breaches, or misinformation that spreads across digital platforms, impacting customer trust and market credibility.
This risk involves the potential for decreased sales, diminished online visibility, and a loss of consumer confidence due to viral content, cyberattacks, or online controversies.
Reputational risk management in the online realm for businesses holds paramount importance due to its pivotal role in shaping customer perception and brand credibility.
In today’s interconnected digital landscape, where information travels at lightning speed, a company’s online reputation policy can make or break its success. Reputational risk examples include a negative review, social media backlash, data breach, or viral misinformation which can swiftly damage a brand’s image, eroding consumer trust and loyalty.
This erosion directly impacts sales, market standing, and financial performance. Moreover, a tarnished online reputation can undermine investor confidence, hinder partnerships, and diminish competitive advantage.
Effective reputational risk management involves proactive monitoring of digital channels, swift response strategies, robust cybersecurity measures, and consistent efforts to cultivate a positive online presence.
By safeguarding and nurturing their digital image, businesses can fortify consumer trust, maintain market relevance, and ensure resilience against potential crises, ultimately securing their long-term viability and success in the fiercely competitive online landscape.
What are the types of reputational risk?
A brand’s reputation can be at risk in different ways. Here are the most common ones:
1. Negative media coverage
Unfavorable news stories or articles about a business can damage its reputation. Online news platforms, blogs, or articles can reach a wide audience quickly, impacting public perception negatively.
2. Social media backlash
Viral content, controversial posts, or public disputes on social platforms can rapidly escalate, creating a negative buzz around a company. This can damage brand image and trust among consumers.
3. Ethics scandals
Instances of unethical behavior, whether it’s fraudulent practices, discriminatory actions, or other moral breaches, can severely tarnish a company’s reputation, especially when shared and discussed online.
4. Data breaches and cyberattacks
Security breaches leading to the exposure of sensitive customer data can significantly erode trust and credibility. It not only affects current customers but also potential ones wary of a company’s security measures.
5. Lawsuits and legal issues
Public legal battles or disputes can cast a shadow on a company’s reputation. Coverage of lawsuits or regulatory issues can influence public opinion and consumer trust.
6. Leadership crisis
Public controversies involving company leaders or executives can impact a business’s reputation. Instances such as misconduct, scandals, or conflicts can reflect poorly on the company.
7. Culture problems
Negative reports or exposure related to a toxic work environment, discrimination, or poor employee treatment can damage a company’s reputation, affecting both internal morale and external perception.
8. Poor financial performance
Consistent poor financial results or publicized financial struggles can signal instability, impacting investor confidence and consumer trust.
9. Poor product quality
Complaints, recalls, or negative reviews regarding product quality can spread quickly online, damaging a brand’s reputation and consumer trust in its offerings.
10. Regulatory noncompliance
Failure to adhere to industry regulations or legal standards can lead to negative publicity and legal issues, impacting a company’s reputation and trustworthiness.
Managing these risks involves proactive measures like ethical business practices, transparent communication, crisis management strategies, robust cybersecurity, and diligent compliance with regulations to safeguard a business’s online reputation.
How to mitigate reputational risks?
Include these points in your online reputation management strategy to mitigate reputational risks.
1. Lean on the core values
Upholding and demonstrating the company’s core values consistently across all online interactions and communications is crucial. This involves aligning actions, messaging, and decisions with these values, ensuring they guide the company’s conduct. By showcasing integrity, transparency, and ethical practices online, businesses can build and maintain a positive reputation.
2. Mandate internal compliance training
Educating employees on best practices, ethical conduct, and online behavior through mandatory compliance training is essential.
This ensures that all team members understand and adhere to company policies, industry regulations, and ethical standards when engaging online. It helps in minimizing the risk of inadvertent actions that could damage the company’s reputation.
3. Focus on public relations
Proactive engagement in public relations strategies is vital for managing online reputation. This involves maintaining open and transparent communication channels with stakeholders, promptly addressing issues or concerns, and actively shaping the narrative about the company through press releases, media relations, and crisis communication strategies.
Building a positive public image can help mitigate the impact of negative incidents.
Utilizing social listening tools allows businesses to monitor online conversations, mentions, and sentiments about their brand in real time across various digital platforms. This enables proactive identification of potential reputation risks, allowing companies to swiftly respond to and address emerging issues before they escalate.
Analyzing data from social listening tools helps in understanding customer sentiment and making informed decisions to protect the brand’s online reputation.
5. Regularly monitor social media and news
Consistently monitoring social media platforms and news outlets helps in staying updated about what’s being said about the brand. This proactive approach allows swift identification of potential issues or negative sentiments circulating online.
By monitoring these channels regularly, companies can address concerns, respond promptly, and mitigate the impact of any emerging issues before they escalate.
6. Engage transparently and responsively
Transparency is key in online interactions. Engaging with customers, stakeholders, and the public in an open, honest, and responsive manner builds trust. Acknowledging feedback, addressing concerns, and providing timely and transparent information demonstrate a commitment to resolving issues and maintaining a positive online reputation.
7. Implement a crisis communication plan
Having a well-defined crisis communication plan in place is crucial. This plan outlines protocols, roles, and strategies for responding to potential crises or negative incidents swiftly and effectively. It involves predetermined steps for communication, identifying spokespersons, and managing the dissemination of information to mitigate reputational damage during crises.
8. Quality control and product safety
Ensuring stringent quality control measures and prioritizing product safety is essential. Consistently delivering high-quality products or services builds trust and credibility. Companies need to have robust quality assurance processes in place, adhering to industry standards and regulations. Regular checks, testing, and compliance with safety regulations help prevent issues that could harm the brand’s reputation due to product flaws or safety concerns.
9. Regularly review and update policies
Continuously reviewing and updating company policies regarding online conduct, data handling, customer interactions, and crisis management is vital. This ensures that policies remain current, align with industry standards, and address emerging digital challenges. Regular updates help in adapting to changing online environments, reducing potential risks, and maintaining ethical and legal compliance.
10. Grading a brand’s messaging
Assessing and grading a brand’s messaging involves evaluating the consistency, tone, and alignment of the messages shared across various online channels. Ensuring that the messaging reflects the company’s values, resonates with the target audience, and remains consistent across platforms is crucial. This helps in avoiding misunderstandings or conflicting communications that could harm the brand’s reputation.
11. Responding to disruptions
Having a proactive approach to responding to disruptions, whether they are negative comments, social media backlash, or external crises, is essential. Swift and well-thought-out responses demonstrate accountability and a commitment to resolving issues. By acknowledging disruptions promptly and transparently addressing concerns, businesses can mitigate the impact on their online reputation.
12. Control customer service mishaps
Effective social media customer service is integral to managing an online reputation. Addressing customer complaints or issues promptly, empathetically, and professionally can turn negative experiences into positive ones. Companies need robust customer service protocols to handle complaints, inquiries, or mishaps, ensuring that customers feel heard, valued, and satisfied, thereby preventing potential reputational damage.
13. Identify and assess the risks
Begin by identifying potential risks that could affect your online reputation. This involves social media monitoring of sentiments, customer feedback, industry trends, and potential vulnerabilities. Assessing these risks helps in understanding their potential impact and devising strategies to mitigate or manage them effectively.
14. Assess your business operations
Evaluate how your business operations, processes, and interactions align with your desired online reputation. Assessing these operations involves reviewing customer service protocols, data handling procedures, product quality controls, and employee conduct. Identifying areas where operational improvements can strengthen your online reputation is crucial.
15. Integrate your reputational risk strategy into business planning
Incorporate reputational risk management as an integral part of your overall business strategy. Aligning your business goals with reputation management ensures that strategies for building and safeguarding your online reputation are included in your business planning. This integration allows for proactive measures to be implemented across various aspects of the business, ensuring a more comprehensive approach to mitigating reputational risks in the online space.
How can software help in reputation risk management?
Radarr leverages artificial intelligence and advanced machine learning to provide real-time monitoring of online conversations, enabling proactive online reputation management.
With insights into brand health, competitor benchmarks, and influencer identification, Radarr empowers companies to address potential reputation risks before they escalate. This proactive approach allows businesses to respond swiftly, mitigating issues before they spiral out of control, and fostering a positive online image.
Book a demo today and discover the difference it can make for your business.
