In today’s socially connected world, just one bad review or negative post can quickly spiral out of control and damage your reputation beyond repair. It’s best summed up with a quote from Warren Buffett, “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.”
Whether you engage or not, there’s a whole conversation happening on social media around your brand, weighing up the pros and cons, likes and dislikes. While you can’t control the narrative, you can certainly take steps to put your brand in the best position.
And the payoff is worthwhile, with social media allowing brands to connect with their audience more personally while building trust, loyalty, and credibility. In fact, 64% of buyers who feel a close connection with a brand are more willing to pay a premium price for its products and services.
Read on to explore some unpopular truths about social media, some undeniable benefits to reputation management, and one tool to make all this possible.
What is social media reputation management?
Social media reputation management is often misunderstood as the pursuit to control the narrative surrounding your brand. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Reputation is earned from building long-standing connections with customers and cultivating a positive community across social platforms. Ultimately, a brand’s reputation mirrors how customers perceive your business, its values, and beliefs across platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.
Social media is where customers go to share their thoughts, and it’s the negative thoughts that often get the most traction. Whether it’s outrage over the TikTok ban or beautiful moments during the award season, the conversation starts on social and the ensuing repercussions makes the next day’s headlines. Because of this, social media plays a huge role in brand reputation: brand reputation management must start on social.
A brand reputation strategy is multifaceted and involves brands posting content, responding to feedback, conducting performance audits, and leveraging social listening data. It’s a full-time job that requires the right tools to get through the data to find out what your audience is saying. If this all sounds like a lot of work, let’s uncover the opportunities and pitfalls to remind you of the importance of engaging with your audience.
Impacts of social media on brand reputation
The impact of social media cannot be overstated. It can be an incredible force for good, launching many brands into the stratosphere, and also disastrous if not utilized properly. Whether a brand will prosper or perish is highly dependent on people’s feedback and perception, which carries momentum. With just a click of a button, people can share their experiences, thoughts, and criticisms with the world.
It can feel like walking on a tightrope when even innocuous efforts, like Toys “R” Us AI generated ad campaign, can damage a brand’s reputation in a matter of minutes. And cancel culture is still alive – a recent survey shows that 94% of consumers will boycott a particular business due to negative online reviews. It’s true that nothing goes unseen on social and there’s a long list of companies that wish to go back in time and do things differently.
The power and reach of social media and reputation come at a cost to brands as consumers have more power over your brand’s narrative more than ever before, making it crucial to establish a direct line of communication with your audience. While this adds an entirely new layer of complexity for companies, there are multiple benefits to engaging in reputation management that far outweigh the risk, if done correctly.
6 Benefits of Strong Social Media Reputation Management
The pursuit of a positive, recognizable, and influential brand reputation on social media is a noble one as it’s a long-term strategy. But like anything else in marketing, the practice of engaging customers strategically and cultivating a deeper understanding of your audience are all rewarded in time.
1. Attract new customers and partners
Social media is your business card for the digital age, often serving as your storefront, catalog, and register all in one. Potential buyers will always do their research, and a strong social media reputation enhances brand awareness and trust. Engaging with your audience through comments, messages, and posts and highlighting positive reviews and customer testimonials can directly influence potential customers. This trust translates into higher conversion rates, as customers who see this social proof are more likely to convert from prospects to loyal customers. Companies with a good social media reputation are seen as more trustworthy and reliable, increasing the likelihood of potential customers doing business with you.
e.l.f. cosmetics are famous for leveraging social media insights to develop new products and partnerships with massive impact. Partnerships with Roblox and Reese’s Book Club launched the brand into a demographic triangle of parents, kids, and e.l.f. in a way that captured imaginations. Limited edition product lines of Corpse Paint were developed to capture the goth aesthetic in partnership with a drink already synonymous with the audience, Liquid Death.
2. Retain existing customers
By keeping your audiences engaged and being transparent in managing your business, consumers will be more likely to stay loyal. This loyalty can go a long way in increasing the customer lifetime value of your brands. Active social media reputation management creates trust and personalized connections, making your customers feel part of a community. Addressing potential issues before they blow up shows you’re on top of things and care about their experience. Plus, being open and honest on social media makes your brand seem authentic and trustworthy, keeping customers coming back.
Urban Outfitters’ #UOCommunity is a prime example of effective social media reputation management. They consistently encourage customers to share their unique looks and experiences with Urban Outfitters products. By featuring these customer photos on their official Instagram account, Urban Outfitters makes their followers feel valued and part of a larger community. This user-generated content strategy not only enhances customer loyalty but also attracts new customers through authentic and relatable posts.
3. Differentiate and set expectations
Managing social brand reputation is crucial for differentiating a brand and setting consumer expectations. It helps establish a unique brand identity, build trust, and foster customer loyalty. Clear communication, consistency, and responsiveness are key aspects that consumers value highly in a well-managed reputation.
Wendy’s stands out with a bold, witty social persona. Their real-time engagement, characterized by clever responses and playful roasting of competitors, makes their social media highly engaging. This strategy has boosted online visibility and built a loyal community of followers. Customers expect entertaining and timely interactions, knowing Wendy’s values quality and humor.
4. Build trust and enhance brand recognition
Better engagement and long-term brand success are powered by authentic connections. Proactive and positive interactions on social platforms allow consumers to voice their opinion, feel empowered, and ultimately remember your brand. And that’s exactly what you need: even in our technology-driven reality, word of mouth has never lost its power. If anything, it’s only gotten stronger as a recent study showed that 91% of consumers trust peer recommendations as much as online reviews.
Duolingo has brilliantly built trust and enhanced brand recognition through its engaging and humorous content on TikTok. The language learning app has skyrocketed in popularity by creating relatable, funny videos featuring its cheeky mascot, Duo the owl. By cleverly responding to user comments and jumping into trending challenges, Duolingo has forged genuine connections with its audience.
5. Obtain valuable first-party insights
Establishing an open line of communication allows your brand to listen to your customers for a deeper understanding of their preferences, behaviors, and sentiments. Compared to quantitative third-party data, these insights are qualitative and rich with authentic information straight from the mouth of your target consumer. This deeper understanding helps businesses tailor their products, services, and marketing strategies to meet customer needs more effectively. This is invaluable for creating targeted personas and personalized campaigns with higher conversion rates, impossible with just guesswork.
T.J. Maxx effectively uses social media to manage its reputation by engaging directly with customers, sharing user-generated content, and highlighting positive reviews. This strategy has significantly increased their brand awareness and customer trust, directly leading to higher sales and a loyal customer base.
6. Attract and retain top talent
People want to work for companies with a superior reputation as it brings them not only a sense of fulfillment and prestige but also some trust that it’s a good place to work. If someone says they work for Apple, for example, there are already certain connotations and assumptions they’ll make based on their reputation. Even after starting a position, the pride employees feel about the company they work for leads to an increased sense of purpose in their work.
Protect your brand reputation with Viral Nation Secure™
Managing your brand’s reputation can be particularly challenging in today’s socialized world, where anyone can easily air their opinions, discuss, or criticize online. More than ever, brands must be proactive in managing and monitoring their online presence. The right reputation screening platform can shield your brand from unexpected crises, allowing you to maximize online engagement while minimizing risks.
An effective reputation management strategy requires ongoing monitoring, engagement, and a proactive approach. Luckily, there’s a more efficient way to tackle this, eliminating the need for time-consuming, biased manual research. Enter Viral Nation Secure™, the most advanced AI-powered screening and monitoring platform on the market.
Here’s how Viral Nation Secure™ protects brand reputation:
- Comprehensive Audit: Secure™ conducts in-depth audits to uncover your current online reputation. This detailed narrative highlights both strengths and areas of concern, ensuring you have a clear understanding of your brand’s standing.
- Ongoing Monitoring: Using both qualitative and quantitative methods, Secure™ tracks mentions, listens to comments and criticisms, and analyzes analytics continuously across all major platforms. This 24/7 monitoring ensures that you are always aware of what is being said about your brand.
- Proactive and Reactive Messaging: Secure™ ensures your messaging is timely and effective, helping to build, improve, or repair customer trust as needed. Whether you need to address a crisis or engage with your audience positively, Viral Nation Secure™ has you covered.
- Real-Time Alerts: Stay informed with real-time email alerts whenever risky behavior is detected. This allows you to address issues promptly and efficiently, safeguarding your brand’s reputation.
Brand reputation is make or break
Social media is an incredibly powerful tool that can shape your brand’s reputation in an instant. But it can either elevate your company or bring it down in seconds. That’s why having the right strategy and tools in place is crucial. The key is being able to catch negative sentiment as soon as it appears and address it before it spirals out of control.
With platforms like Viral Nation Secure™, you can do just that. Social media has undoubtedly made it easier for brands to connect with their audiences, but it also means you need to be on top of what’s being said. Keeping a close watch helps protect your brand from reputational damage and bad publicity, ensuring you stay ahead of the game.
