Created on March 24, 2025 | Updated on March 26, 2025

A Comprehensive Guide to Online Presence Management: Improve Your Visibility and Reputation

Content Marketing
A Comprehensive Guide to Online Presence Management: Improve Your Visibility and Reputation

Everyone wants to make a great first impression, especially businesses. The goal is simple: get people to like you so they come back for more and want to stick around long. But this is easier said than done.

There are tons of other brands with the same objective in mind, and they’re targeting the same customers as you. Except since it’s all digital, you can’t exactly draw a battle line in the sand and wrestle them in hopes of becoming the strongest brand.

Nope, all campaigning and “fighting” will be done online. You’ll need to come up with smart strategies if you want to win the battle of the SERPs and become the most popular company out there. How? Your best bet is to build a great web presence.

So, what is a web presence? That’s exactly what we’ll address today, along with the best strategies to knock it out of the park.

Contents

What is online presence management (OPM)?

Online presence management is basically whatever you do to manage how your business shows up online. This includes putting your best foot forward so your customers get to like what they see of you on the internet.

This way, you appear not only credible but also authentic, making it easy for them to trust your brand and engage with you. But there’s a little bit more to it than that as well.

It isn’t just about managing your reputation but also about how easy it is to find you on all digital platforms. That includes websites, social media platforms, review sites, etc. (more on this soon).

In case you are wondering, what is web presence? It is the exact same thing as online/digital/internet, etc., presence. These are all synonyms that cover everything you or anyone else share online about your brand.

Typically, this incorporates what you put out yourself on social media, blogs, and even in guest posts. On the other hand, it also includes what others say about you in reviews or on their socials.

What does web presence include?

Just like we just mentioned, your web presence is made up of several core components. This includes your:

Web page

This is the headquarters of all your operations, so you want it to be instantly recognizable and likable. Your website or landing page should make it easy for even a first-time visitor to know what you are and why they should do business with you.

It’s best if you can add loads of quality images, maybe even a video and skimmable content that highlights your products and offers.

oreo presnece

Source: Oreo

Social media platforms

If the website is the HQ, then this is the town hall where everyone comes to chat and catch up. You want to be active on as many SM platforms as possible (without burning out or posting something irrelevant).

This makes it easy to interact in real-time with your target audience and hype your products/services. Your posts here should more clearly show your brand personality, whether it’s fun, sassy, serious, etc.

oreo social media presence

Source: X

SEO & organic traffic

How often do you show up #1 in SERPs for your keywords and even your brand name? Many business online presence tactics focus on helping you rank higher in search engines. That’s because that’s the key to better organic traffic.

oreo web presence

Source: Google

Another important aspect of this is making sure that not only do you rank high but that any bad PR is contained. You don’t want prospective investors/customers googling your name, and the first thing that pops up is that scandal from a few years back, do you?

Online listing platforms, feedback & reviews

People share their experiences with brands all the time. Nudge your customers to do the same. But you also have to set up a quick response team to respond to the reviews, whether positive or negative.

oreo reviews

Source: Trustpilot

But you want to take steps to ensure it's mostly nice reviews. People actually use this feedback to decide if they're going to buy from you or not. Even better, you want to be sure there are no unclaimed listings out there with your details on it.

Content marketing, newsletter & blog

Companies that use blogging, send out newsletters, and create engaging videos get much more traffic. An infographic here and a blog post there with tips, useful info, etc., is always a winner.

For example, Oreo has a blog filled with recipes that feature their cookies as the star.

oreo newsletter

Source: Oreo

The more you use content marketing, the easier it becomes to position yourself as the best source of information for your target audience.

This is when you turn to Google Ads or maybe even an influencer or two. If your budget allows, you can go all-in and run a big ad campaign. Remember when Oreos made the Game of Thrones limited-edition cookies?

oreo paid collaborations

Source: Business Insider

Three of the cookies had the sigils of the houses fighting for the Iron Throne. A fourth had the profile of the Night King. This sparked a lot of good PR. Many fans scrambled to get their hands on all four and shared on social media with the hashtag #ForTheThrone.

oreo on social collaboration

Source: X

Later, Oreo did a similar campaign with Star Wars.

Source: X

No doubt their internet presence management team is big on breaking into pop culture. This helps them stay relevant and makes them relatable to their audience.

But you can also do smaller collabs with niche micro-bloggers. Don’t discard this tactic entirely because of smaller budgets.

Why is web presence management important?

Pretty much every company has an online presence. Even if you aren’t posting anything out there, most likely, people on the internet are saying something about your business.

It’s really going to be hard to grow a business if you are not keen on managing your online presence. Why? Simply because it has three extremely important benefits.

1. Protect your reputation

Did you know that a company’s reputation can affect 63% of its market value? Those reviews and social media posts about a brand? They all add up really fast. How your customers perceive you can be the main factor in whether they buy from you or your competitors.

It’s why people love to shop from brands that “sound” like this:

Source: X

But it goes deeper than just how appealing your online presence is. Remember those #boycott or #cancel hashtags?

Source: X

The affected companies can easily lose revenue unless they step up and handle the crisis quickly. Godaddy lost 70,000 domains thanks to one of those.

The only way you can control the narrative is by making sure you have a strong brand presence online. This makes it easier for you to also share your own side of the story in the event of bad PR.

Plus, if done well, you could build a loyal customer base, like what Apple, Coca-Cola, Nike, Starbucks, and other brands have.

2. Become more visible and reach people everywhere

Visibility is the currency of the Internet. Businesses spend a fortune trying to reach new customers all the time. But frankly, getting new clients these days without a proper presence in the online space is nearly impossible.

No one wants to spend their hard-earned money on a business that has no SM profile or even a website. If people can’t find you online, they will most likely consider you some sort of scam.

So, unless you are in the witness protection business, you know that you need to be easy to discover.

Source: X

That’s why having a digital presence management system in place is an absolute must for anyone. This includes solopreneurs, small businesses, and startups. This helps users find you and trust you — both are insanely important.

Source: X

3. Raise your engagement rates

Are you already a pro at web presence optimization? Then, you won’t have any issues getting people to engage/interact with you — kind of like these brands that seem to have mastered the art of getting people to talk with them.

Source: X

Yep, how nice would it be to make a hit post almost every week? Or maybe even make every single one of your posts viral? If you’re not there yet, no worries.

Building your online presence to that level is mostly about consistency. Put up helpful, relatable content that addresses people’s needs, and they will be all over it.

People love to share fun posts and useful tips. Content that fills those needs gets them to respond.

Naturally, you get to build on those interactions to improve your online presence. Each response to comments shows you care, which will encourage more engagement. In time, you can build your own online community and turn them into brand advocates.

Make sure to define your tone of voice and stick to it. Of course, not every brand can be sarcastic, posting memes all day long. But find your unique style that your audience can actually relate to.

8 steps to successful digital presence management

To be fair, web presence management is not so easy. But that’s exactly why we are here — to share our best practices. Try to follow this step-by-step process:

Step 1: Understand where you currently are

Start by taking a closer look at your current situation. Where do you stand? To build your “dream” website presence, you have to understand how your brand is doing right now. What do people say about your business?

There are several ways you can find the answers to this question.

If you have a social listening tool, using it would be the easiest option. But even without that, you can still gauge the audience’s perception of you from comments left on your posts. If they are mostly complaints, then clearly, you need to rethink your strategy.

No feedback at all? If that’s your case, think about whether the content you post is even relevant to your target audience. After all, if your comment section is silent, most likely, you aren’t hitting the right spot.

Another way to see what people actually think about you is to go and check forums, Reddit, and listing platforms.

When you find posts about your brand there, do they complain about your site design? How hard is it for visitors to find what they need? What kind of comparisons do they make about you and your competitors?

These can clue you in on what you need to tackle so you can appeal to your target audience. If you somehow manage to pop up on a blog about the worst website design, then you have already lost potential customers.

Source: Sage Agency

The best thing is to start by ensuring your website and social media profiles are as welcoming as possible. A clean design, easy navigation, and quality content are essential if you want people to stick around.

Source: Lings Cars

After you are done with the basics, you can start promoting your products/services. Not the other way around.

And, of course, to make sure that all your carefully created pages are showing up in SERPs, you will need to up your SEO game. Every page should have relevant keywords strategically scattered throughout to help guide users.

Step 2: Define priorities

By now, you might be excited to start improving your presence as much as possible. But wait for a second. Generally speaking, you can’t start working in all directions (unless you’re a corporation, of course).

Yes, big companies typically have budgets to have either in-house or outsourced web presence services on speed dial.

But if you’re a small/medium business, a startup, or a personal brand, your resources will be limited. That’s why you have to decide what your priority is.

How?

  • If you have done at least something before, check what was the most successful tactic and direct your resources there.
  • If you weren’t doing anything for your OPM, check what works best in your industry and for your competitors.

Besides, it’s probably the right time to pick one or two main goals and think about how you can achieve them.

For a new business, that might be raising brand awareness and generating leads. A more established one might be focused on increasing sales or improving customer retention rates.

So, your focus will eventually change, but your major goals should always be clear. After this, you can then add on other objectives bit by bit.

Step 3: Pick your channels

Like everything else, all channels are not created equal. Some platforms make more sense for certain niches than others. For example, if you are a beauty brand, Instagram and TikTok are probably some of the best choices for you.

Source: Instagram

These channels allow you to upload as many pictures and videos as needed. And we know how important it is for people to see what the products look like on actual people. Besides, both Instagram and TikTok are perfect for short-form lifestyle content and UGC.

On the other hand, you hardly find B2B businesses on Instagram or TikTok. You are more likely to see them on LinkedIn or listing platforms like Clutch, Capterra, TrustPilot, etc.

Naturally, their marketing KPIs and metrics will be different from each other as well.

Source: Capterra

If you have already used several channels, then you would have noticed that their effectiveness is different. So, what should you do?

Think about which channels are the most efficient for you. You know, the ones where your target audience likes to hang around the most. Keep in mind, though, that some platforms might not generate as much engagement but still bring the most leads. So, analyze this carefully.

Now, direct 70-90% of your resources there. But that doesn’t mean you should ignore the other channels, either.

You can always devote a small portion of your efforts towards experimenting with other options. The point is to always find ways to optimize your web presence for the most effective platforms.

Step 4: Prioritize organic and semi-organic promotion

The best web presence strategy is to prioritize organic promotion, as it always pays off in the long term. The biggest drawback of this approach is that the results won’t come immediately. But usually, the outcomes compound over time, which is important for sustainable growth.

So, try to put a bit of your resources towards organic and semi-organic promotional strategies. This is where SEO and content marketing come in. What does this look like?

Depending on your niche, you will have to create more quality content. Maybe create short, engaging, fun videos and Reels for Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok.

Source: TikTok

It’s even better if you can also invest in community building. It doesn’t have to be expensive. Even a Discord channel or a subreddit on Reddit where your customers can share experiences and get help would do.

Source: Reddit

If you have the budget for it, then there is nothing stopping you from building your own platform or even an app. Plus, you can share the best user-generated content on your SM feeds and website.

What about semi-organic promotions? This covers the occasional paid partnerships with influencers. It also includes partnerships with affiliates, giveaway events, and sponsored content. All of these can spike traffic and encourage more people to join you.

A complete web presence management strategy would not just focus on customer acquisition. It would also include a plan for how to retain them. This is where loyalty programs, webinars/workshops, etc., come in.

All of these provide some sort of incentive and can help speed up business growth when used right.

Step 5: Discover paid channels

If one of your goals is to grow sales by a certain %, paid channels could be one of the best options. They are great for when you want quick results. You could pay for ads on Google, Meta, etc.

If you have the budget for this, you can go bigger with paid ads during national sporting events. You could also erect huge billboards along busy intersections and so on.

One notable example of one brand that excels at this is Coca-Cola. They do everything, from sponsoring national sports events to partnering with athletes.

Yes-yes, none of us are Coca-Cola — we get it. But learning from the best is a good thing, you know.

Source: YouTube

Still, simply running ads during big events is not going to cut it. You also need to ensure that your adverts are inspiring and relatable.

Every good promotional campaign out there tells a story and has elements of emotion woven into it. This is the secret to making sure that your paid ads give you the desired outcome.

Step 6: Make sure you are building a coherent brand

Whether you hire an online presence management service or DIYing it, you can’t be random or undecided. You must be clear on what actions you need to take or what direction you need to follow.

Start with a unified approach to all channels and strategies. Ideally, you should begin with branding (logo, colors, fonts, etc.) and tone of voice — they must be consistent across all platforms.

Source: Starbucks

You want to ensure that your brand resonates with your audience and is easily recognizable.

Your messages also need to be the same across the board. Anything other than this would be confusing. The goal is to manage online presence in such a way that you build a unified brand presence. One that inspires confidence in your audience.

Many make the mistake of thinking that it’s bad to repeat the same thing over and over again. But in reality, it isn’t. Good marketing is constant repetition, after all. People have to hear the exact same message dozens of times to actually remember it and associate it with your brand.

Step 7: Keep an eye on your reputation

As we mentioned earlier, your reviews can directly impact your sales rates. Your reputation (just like visibility) is another online currency when it comes to web presence marketing. So, keep your eyes on what people are saying about you on review sites and platforms.

Encourage your clients to give you feedback on their experiences. This includes their impressions of your products, services, website, etc.

There are several ways to do this. Start with your customer success or customer support teams. Ask them what your clients are saying. If they don’t have too much feedback, tell them to ask the customers about their experiences.

Next, you can go through review platforms like Yelp, Capterra, Trustpilot, or even Google Maps. Is there something you weren’t aware of?

Source: Yelp

Also, you can invest in the occasional press releases here and there. For this, you don't need to be in a crisis management mode (like trying to manage bad press after a lawsuit).

Share the news you have in your company, whether it’s a new release, rebranding, some event, or anything like that. The more positive information about your company comes up when people google your brand name, the better.

And, of course, it is important to manage any negative feedback. If someone isn’t satisfied, address it as soon as you can.

Step 8: React to news to stay relevant

A big part of managing a marketing presence is to remember that you do not exist in a bubble. Instead, take part in current relevant trends and events. Engaging with current affairs helps you stay relevant and makes you relatable to your audience.

There are many examples of brands that key into this. It can be hashtags on popular current streaming shows or issues. For example, here is Greggs jumping on the news about Duolingo’s death.

Source: X

Or, another time, they also reacted to these posts from other brands.

Source: X

As we all know, people loved it. This sparks discussions and gets users to comment and share, making it a very effective tactic for engagement. The best part? It makes you memorable because people experience an emotion and talk about you.

3 tools for online presence management

Online presence management can be quite complex. You need lots of accurate data to help you make the right decisions. This is why it’s essential to have the right tools helping you, such as:

Social listening tools

This is software that alerts you when people are talking about your business or your target keywords. Even more importantly, it allows you to understand their emotions about you as well. This is called sentiment analysis.

Source: Brandwatch

This way, you can tell when the mention is made in a positive or negative context. You can set most of these tools to give you real-time updates as well as a summary at a fixed time.

Depending on your preference, you might even be able to compare your mentions against your competitors.

SEO tools

A large part of an online presence manager's job is ensuring that the brand constantly posts the right content. Content that aligns with what people want. For this, you’re clearly going to need SEO and SEO tools.

There are all kinds of optimization software (since it’s really so broad), but most will have tons of features. These features allow you to perform several SEO activities using the same tool.

For example, you can go for Semrush or Ahrefs for anything from keyword research to competitor analysis. These can also help you with your link-building efforts — whether you want to see your referring domains or find new backlink opportunities.

Source: Semrush

But there are some tools that are specifically designed for just one or a few functions. For example, Google Analytics or Google Search Console have more basic functions. But they can still be helpful as a part of your SEO process.

Plus, with the Google tools, you don’t have to worry about payments since they’re free.

Social media management tools

SMM software helps you automate many tasks. This includes posting content and interacting with your followers. Typically, you can create and schedule your publications for all SM platforms in just a few clicks.

Source: Hootsuite

You also get notified when you receive new comments, and you can set up some quick replies when certain keywords are triggered.

Besides, some of these tools come equipped with social listening features, so you don’t need a separate subscription for that. Best part? You can track your online web performance across several platforms from one place. You just need to find a proper tool.

Do you need online presence management services?

Here’s the thing, though. Knowing how to define web presence and how to actually create a strong one are two separate things. Mastering OPM takes a lot of time and effort — a lot.

Sometimes, you just don’t have that time right now. Or maybe you’re still trying to learn the ropes, but you'd like to get started as early as possible. Then, later, you can DIY it. Other times, you’d really like to, but it might just be too much to add this to your list now.

If you’re in any of these situations, it might make more sense to get an online presence management service to handle it for you.

Yet, of course, it isn’t mandatory.

Conclusion

Still with us so far? You’re the best! We’ve looked at web presence definition and went on to look at real-life brands smashing it. If you use the tips we’ve shared here, you should be doing the same, if not better, in no time.

Of course, that will only be the case if you actually stick to it. You see, like almost every other thing, consistency is crucial. You can’t try to do something once and then throw in the towel.

Pick whatever methods you feel are most suitable and give it your best. Slowly but surely, your brand presence will feel the impact.

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