how to effectively manage brand reputation on social media

In 2015, the Volkswagen brand faced a major scandal involving vehicle emissions and their impact on the environment. This caused significant damage to the company's reputation, leading to prolonged legal battles. Once a beloved brand among many consumers, Volkswagen lost their loyalty and trust. In this situation, the brand's image and reputation came "face to face".

What is the difference between image and reputation?

Image is the brand’s persona crafted by the founder, creative director, and team. It is manageable, which is its main distinction.

Reputation is formed through customer feedback and external opinions about the business and its products. Media coverage plays a crucial role here—mentions of the company or its leadership in news, articles, or interviews significantly shape reputation.

Managing reputation on social media is a complex process. Reputation often develops spontaneously, even chaotically. However, it can be influenced. For instance, hiring a branding agency for SMM services helps create a social media management plan, steering the direction of reputation development and ensuring effective responses to external factors.

How does social media influence brand reputation?

Social media are powerful tools for reputation management. Here’s how they address key challenges:

1. Increasing brand awareness: Social media enables brands to reach large audiences, enhancing recognition. Regular posts, participation in trends, use of hashtags, and user interaction contribute to this.

2. Building loyalty: Communicating with customers, answering questions, resolving issues, and hosting contests and promotions all foster loyalty.

3. Creating a community: Social media helps build a community where customers can share experiences, discuss products, and interact with the brand and each other.

4. Promoting products and services: Social media effectively showcases new products and services, highlighting their benefits. Using user-generated content (UGC) boosts brand visibility and drives sales.

However, social media can negatively impact a brand’s reputation as well. Open forums allow users to express themselves freely, which can lead to heated discussions or conflicts. Negative reviews, tagged posts, or public complaints about poor service or product quality demand swift action from PR managers. Monitoring and promptly addressing feedback in SMM is critical.

Tools for monitoring reviews and comments

Manually gathering feedback from multiple platforms is inefficient. Here are tools that automate this process, saving time and effort:

1. Medialogia. A Russian service that analyzes message sentiment, user engagement, audience demographics, and brand mentions. Trusted by companies like RZD, Alfa-Bank, Telegram, and VK.

2. Brand Analytics. Tracks up to 3 billion messages monthly, categorizes reviews by tone, and generates reports in formats like DOCX, XLSX, PDF, and CSV.

3. YouScan. An international tool used by brands like McDonald’s, L’Oréal, and Google. It identifies review sentiment, provides audience insights, recognizes text in images, and filters spam.

4. Babkee. Gathers data on mention authors, evaluates message reach, and traces original sources and duplicates. Partners include VK and Odnoklassniki.

For reputation management in search results, SERM (Search Engine Reputation Management) strategies are effective. SERM ensures users see more positive results in search engines. However, it doesn’t track or resolve issues on external platforms like social media.

These services are essential for large companies with significant media influence. They help control reputation and quickly react to brand mentions.

How to respond to positive and negative reviews?

Ignoring customers’ feedback, whether positive or negative, signals indifference. Customers appreciate care and attention from brands.

Tips for responding to negative comments:

1. React quickly. Address customer issues promptly to avoid an information vacuum, which can attract media and competitors.

2. Apologize for mistakes. Even if you disagree with the criticism, remain calm and polite. Apologize sincerely for any inconvenience caused, avoiding clichés or overplaying emotions.

3. Acknowledge the problem. Never ignore negative feedback. Show empathy and understanding to validate the customer’s feelings.

4. Offer solutions. Provide one or more ways to resolve the issue, such as compensation, discounts, or product replacements. Small gestures like freebies can restore loyalty.

5. Move to private messages. For highly public or emotional situations, shift the conversation to private channels to resolve matters directly.

6. Avoid arguments. Do not argue with customers or shift blame onto them. Focus on maintaining a positive and constructive tone.

7. Do not delete negative reviews. Deleting reviews can raise suspicions. Instead, respond constructively and professionally to demonstrate accountability.

Tips for responding to positive comments:

1. Express gratitude. Thank customers for their feedback and express happiness that they are satisfied with your product.

2. Acknowledge highlights. If customers praise specific aspects of your product or service, acknowledge these and show appreciation for their input.

3. Share positive reviews. Highlighting positive feedback on your platform reinforces trust and demonstrates audience satisfaction.

4. Promote additional services. Use the opportunity to suggest other products or services, linking to your website if appropriate.

5. Engage further. Build a dialogue by responding to comments and asking follow-up questions. This fosters engagement and demonstrates genuine interest.

These strategies help prevent reputation crises where brands risk losing their established image.

How to prevent and manage crises in SMM?

When a crisis damages a company’s reputation, PR and marketing teams must focus on protecting the brand on social media.

Steps for crisis management:

1. Early Detection.

— Monitor mentions. Use social media monitoring tools to track both positive and negative mentions.

— Engage with the community. Stay active in platforms where your target audience interacts.

2. Assess the situation.

— Analyze causes. Identify the type of crisis—internal (e.g., technical issues) or external (e.g., offensive advertising).

— Identify stakeholders. Determine affected parties, including customers, employees, investors, and media.

— Evaluate risks. Assess the potential reputational and financial impacts.

3. Develop a response strategy:

— React quickly. Respond to comments and inquiries within 24 hours.

— Be honest and transparent. Provide sincere answers without hiding the problem.

— Create a communication plan. Assign roles, prepare response templates, and choose platforms for audience engagement.

— Leverage content marketing. Use formats like videos to convey emotions or written content to explain solutions factually.

4. Learn from the crisis.

— Analyze mistakes. Identify root causes to prevent future issues.

— Update strategies. Revise reputation management approaches based on lessons learned.

— Implement preventive measures. Develop protocols to mitigate potential crises.

Restoring trust and loyalty after a crisis takes time and effort. A brand’s long-established image can suffer, making continuous reputation-building essential.

How to encourage positive reviews from customers?

Consistency in receiving positive reviews is crucial for maintaining a favorable reputation. Here are some recommendations:

— Excellent service. Support customers throughout their journey and resolve issues promptly.

— Bonuses and surprises. Delight customers with unexpected bonuses to increase brand loyalty.

— Review links. Request reviews, emphasizing their importance for the brand’s growth.

— Win-Win incentives. Offer rewards, such as discounts or gifts, for positive feedback.

— Engage actively. Thank customers for their reviews and show interest by continuing the conversation.

— UGC content. Encourage influencers or regular users to create posts or videos featuring your product, increasing brand mentions and reach.

Social media is an effective tool for shaping a brand’s presence in the media. Proper profile management, engaging content, and responsive communication are vital steps to building and maintaining a strong reputation. For more insights, read our article: «Communication strategy: simplifying the complex».