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Reputation Management- Defined

Reputation Management is a bad word. It has too many connotations (most of them negative) and by virtue of the “sell by fear” initial marketing messages by the early pioneers of the industry, most local businesses (dealers included) see reputation management as a necessary evil. Something to fix.

Thank you, Reputation.com for introducing a new digital advertising category by scaring the hell out of us. Thank you portals for stealing our page one search traffic to then call on me to spend money to advertise or moderate my profile page that I never asked for in the first place.

Let’s put all that behind us and look at this through a different model…

Let’s break down what Reputation Management really is. By pure definition:

Reputation = overall quality or character as seen or judged by people in general

Management = judicious use of means to accomplish an end

Now this is starting to make sense but what is the end? What are the means? Recently, I’ve come up with my own definition of Reputation Management and want to know your thoughts.

Reputation Management was the first concrete step into socializing search and was the foundational piece of creating a truly local online experience. At its core, Reputation is about consumer engagement. A winning Reputation strategy can be measured by the interactions of a community and by the willingness for businesses to participate and evolve.

Your community consists of your customers and your prospects. In this manner, we are all “community managers”, but most of us don’t take a judicious approach to define our end then invest into it the means to succeed.

Think about it. If you look at an end to simply attract a few months of good reviews, have you accomplished any real end? Can you afford to leave your community disengaged after meeting such a short term goal?

Tell me what you think.

- Brice Englert
March 7, 2013

Reputation Management- Defined

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