Shaping your brand’s reputation is somewhat an art – you never have complete control, and much of what your audience sees is determined by their predispositions and what others have said about you. The age of digital media makes it no longer an option to be carefree about your brand’s public image. But, what exactly can you do to influence your online brand reputation?

First and foremost, you have to make an effort to engage with your audience. Social media has made it so much easier for consumers to give feedback and share the brands they love to their circles of influence. By making yourself available to your customers and showing transparency, you make it more likely for people to boost your online reputation themselves.

One easy way to make yourself accessible is through blogging. When you share blog posts and updates, you open the voice of your brand to be heard. People want to feel a personal connection to companies and the people who lead them – a blog bridges that gap between consumer and company or influencer.

Blogs also encourage user-generated content, on your website, on social media, and on third party review sites. If people like the content you share, they are likely to comment or post it to their social accounts for others to read. Blogs don’t have to be company-focused, either. The best blogs address problems and questions consumers face in their daily lives. The more relatable your blog posts are to the customer, the more likely they are to gain traffic.

Blogs rank well in online search engines, usually over your product or services pages. People typically don’t search for a product to solve their problem or question – they want the information to address it first. Blogs are a great way to provide this information to your audience, therefore ranking higher and repressing negative links and reports. This is especially important if you have a negative review or mention on a third-party website. You want your branded content to outrank the negative press.

Guest blogs or positive blogs from other websites linking back to yours also boost search engine rankings. They create positive brand awareness from people not directly looking for your site or brand and can lead more traffic to your site. These positive mentions also promote a positive online reputation and can repress negative links or mentions of your website. Reach out to other blog sites or contributors to create these online communities and be sure to mention other brands in your blogs.

Blogs promote a favorable brand image for users who read your content if they are well-written and contain positive keywords pertaining to your brand. If a site visitor likes your blog content, even if they aren’t interested in your product at first, they may continue to visit your site for more insight and begin to trust you as an authority on a particular subject. From there, they will be more likely to buy from your brand over a competitor that hasn’t developed that trust.

For a more in-depth look at Online Reputation Management, read this article.