Do You Need Online Reputation Marketing? | Brafton

Wondering if you need online reputation marketing? The answer is probably yes — even if you feel you have a great digital presence and a seemingly spotless online brand image. 

For today’s business owners, the web is the first place potential customers look for validation, and their impression is instantly shaped by star ratings, social media posts and whether or not quality content appears on search engines. 

Online reputation marketing uses a company’s online reputation to promote its brand through positive reviews, testimonials, high-value blog posts and other brand assets that appear across multiple media platforms. While similar, it’s not the same as reputation management. 

Reputation management is defensive, using different tactics to improve your digital presence if it takes a hit or needs to be improved because of negative feedback. On the other hand, reputation marketing has an offensive stance, taking initiative and using your reviews and customer interactions to further your business online.

Let’s go through why this type of digital marketing is so important and how it’s impacted by emerging technology and customer preferences.

Popular Online Reputation Management Tools

Before getting into the nitty-gritty details, it’s best to start with platforms and services that can help you elevate your reputation management and marketing. Having a partner to assist you with your brand identity management can take some of the stress and pressure off your shoulders.

Birdeye

Birdeye is a brand reputation management company that assists businesses with creating a strong Google Business Profile (previously known as Google My Business) and digital reputation. This platform helps turn customer reviews into your competitive advantage. 

In addition to automating requests so more customers leave reviews, the tool gathers data from across social media accounts and review sites, helping you see your complete business online reputation in one intuitive dashboard.

Podium

Podium is a tool that helps businesses improve their customer feedback response time, collect more reviews and support their customers digitally. It provides a suite of management and communication tools that can help boost your identity while ensuring you never miss a single piece of negative feedback or glowing praise. 

Customized alerts that are similar to Google Alerts let teams respond instantly, improving social media presence and demonstrating attentive customer care.

NetReputation

By partnering with NetReputation, you gain a team that will examine your online content and images, social media marketing interactions and search engine results. All these paint a clear picture of areas you can improve. 

NetReputation offers reputation management, content removal, review management, crisis management, branding and reputation monitoring. This blend of defensive and offensive tactics makes it easier to manage online reputation holistically rather than piecemeal.

Mention

Mention helps take the guesswork out of your online reputation management strategy by supplying you with tools for brand management, public relations management, competitive analysis, crisis management, digital marketing research and social media management. 

Real-time listening across countless media platforms means you’re always one step ahead, actively managing online reputation rather than reacting after issues escalate.

Brand24

Analyze your competitors and gain insight with Brand24, a solution that enables you to get AI-powered access to mentions across social media, news, blogs, videos, forums, podcasts and online reviews. 

Brand24 empowers you to know how and where people are talking about your organization — providing important information for your marketing strategy, content creation roadmap and management online reputation KPIs.

Meltwater

Meltwater delivers media monitoring and analysis across several channels, helping you understand the ways people engage with your content. You can also track keywords connected to the topics that matter the most to you and your audience. 

Whether you need to audit media presence for a single campaign or conduct year-round monitoring, these insights make it simpler to refine tactics and protect brand online reputation.

The Art of Responding To Reviews

Reviews have become a critical touchpoint for consumer engagement in more ways than one. For starters, over 9 out of 10 (95%) of customers read product reviews before they choose to purchase something. 

Additionally, 58% of people say they’re willing to pay more for a product that has good reviews. With this knowledge, it’s obvious that having positive reviews that consumers can read is beneficial for driving sales and building trust.

Secondly, how a brand responds to both positive and negative online reviews can significantly influence its reputation and customer loyalty. Rapid, thoughtful engagement signals to future buyers that you actively manage online reputation and view every customer as a partner in the success of your business.

The Importance of Timely Responses

The secret ingredient to responding to reviews is timeliness. By responding quickly to any sort of feedback, you show your customers that you pay attention to detail and care what they think of your brand. It also highlights how you’re eager to address concerns or thank them for kind words. 

Using a review management tool can streamline this process by centralising feedback and sending real-time notifications to you, ensuring you never miss an opportunity to engage with your customers.

Forbes mentioned timely responses can also help you control the narrative of your brand and protect its image. For local business operators, this discipline is crucial because even one unresolved complaint in local listings can outweigh dozens of five-star ratings in the eyes of new customers.

Strategies for Addressing Negative Reviews

Brushing bad engagement under the rug isn’t a good solution for dealing with negative reviews. Deleting or ignoring any sort of feedback can be looked at as lazy and uncaring, even if it’s just one bad comment. People really like it when you take the time to engage with them, respond to their concerns and try to gain their trust back.

Here are some ways to do that:

• Always respond professionally and empathetically: Never make it seem like you’re trying to defend yourself or make excuses. Instead, acknowledge how customers are feeling and apologize sincerely.
• Offer a resolution: Provide a clear path to resolve the issue. This might include offering a discount, refund, replacement or a private follow-up. Showing a willingness to make things right can leave a positive impression and turn negative feedback into an opportunity to demonstrate stellar customer service.
• Take the conversation offline: Because you don’t want to escalate the problem or air out your company’s dirty laundry completely, encourage the reviewer to contact you directly through a private channel, like email or phone, to discuss the issue in detail. This allows you to resolve the matter without further public discussion, while still signalling to the wider audience that you take accountability seriously.
• Ask for a follow-up review: Once you’ve resolved the issue, kindly ask the customer if they’d consider updating their review. If they’re satisfied with your resolution, they may adjust their rating, which could benefit your overall public standpoint.

Best Practices for Responding To Positive Reviews

It might seem unnecessary, but responding to positive reviews is also critical. Whether it’s a simple thank-you message or a heartfelt paragraph wishing them well, acknowledging that they took the time to type out a positive review is always beneficial. Some ways to do this include:

• Personalizing your response: Avoid generic responses like “Thank you for your review.” Address the reviewer by name (if possible) and mention specific details they highlighted in their review to make your response feel genuine and thoughtful.
• Expressing genuine gratitude: Sincerely thank the customer for their feedback and for choosing your business. Showing appreciation fosters a fruitful relationship and can increase customer loyalty, turning them into voluntary ambassadors who create positive content across social media posts and forums.
• Highlighting future engagement: Mention upcoming products, services or events, or simply say you’re looking forward to seeing them again. This can encourage customers to return and stay connected with your business.
• Being consistent with your brand’s voice and tone: No matter what type of business tone you have, ensure it’s consistent in every interaction with your customers — including your review responses. Doing so reinforces your brand personality and makes the interaction feel more authentic, ultimately strengthening your social media presence.

Leveraging Reviews as User-Generated Content

User-generated content (UGC) — any content type that’s created by customers — is an invaluable asset for brands, and customer reviews are one of the most powerful forms of UGC. By effectively leveraging reviews, you can enhance your online marketing strategies, build trust and foster community engagement:

• Understand the value of UGC: People trust other people. That’s why you’re probably more likely to go to a restaurant with a long line rather than one that’s empty. This is because word-of-mouth marketing and other people’s thoughts do sway public opinion, making UGC a powerhouse for brand reputation marketing.
• Encourage customers to leave reviews: To get reviews — especially positive ones — you might need to politely ask for reviews. By training your team members on how to encourage feedback, you can build up an arsenal of brand mentions and satisfied customers.
• Incorporate reviews into marketing strategies: Don’t just ask for positive reviews online and expect them to work miracles. While they do help, a good reputation and brand image aren’t built on this tactic alone. Find ways to call attention to a positive customer experience through strategic actions and data-driven insights.
• Showcase UGC across platforms: Do you have loads of great reviews? Show them off! Highlight them on your website, post them on social media and add them to your email newsletters. Input the kind words your customers have shared wherever it makes sense to ensure prospects see high-value endorsements at multiple touchpoints during the buyer journey.

The Role of Social Media, Maps Apps, Forums and Online Directories

What might be thought of as normal, everyday platforms can actually be powerful use cases for your online reputation marketing. They not only influence consumer perceptions but also serve as vital touchpoints for engagement and feedback. 

By deliberately managing online reputation across these spaces, you maintain a cohesive online brand and minimize gaps competitors could exploit. Here’s how to get the most out of them:

Social Media

Social media allows for immediate feedback, enabling businesses to address customer concerns and showcase positive interactions promptly. Satisfied customers often share their experiences with their followers, acting as willing brand advocates. Positive posts and shares can amplify your reach and enhance your reputation.

Maps Apps

Ensuring your business is accurately listed on maps and apps is essential, especially when you are ready to sell your business. Include essential information like hours, contact details and updated links to your website. Reviews on maps apps significantly impact local SEO and customer decision-making. Encourage satisfied customers to leave positive reviews to improve your overall rating and attract new clients.

Forums

Monitoring forums can offer valuable insights into customer sentiment and emerging trends. Engage in relevant discussions to address questions or concerns directly, enhancing your brand’s reputation. Just keep in mind to always prioritize adding value to the community over direct self-promotion. Subtle, helpful responses backed by data or experience show that you are genuinely interested in solving problems.

Online Directories

Ensure your listings are complete and up to date, as these directories often serve as the first point of contact for potential customers. Actively manage reviews on these platforms by responding to feedback and encouraging satisfied customers to share their experiences. High ratings and positive reviews can significantly impact your reputation and drive business. 

Remember, a single outdated phone number or broken link can undermine months of effort, so schedule periodic audits to keep every listing pristine.

Online Reputation Marketing in the Age of AI

Generative AI, particularly in the form of chatbots and natural language processing tools, has the potential to shape public perceptions based on the vast amounts of data it processes. Understanding how AI interacts with user-generated content is crucial for businesses aiming to maintain a positive online presence. 

For example, if Reddit thinks your brand is awful, and ChatGPT reads Reddit, then ChatGPT might also think your brand is awful.

This is risky for your brand perception — not only with your audience but also with the search engines responsible for helping you reach them. A single viral negative comment can be repeated in AI summaries, news articles and voice search answers, so proactive online monitoring is now mission-critical.

On the flip side, AI can also analyse vast amounts of data and effectively understand your customers’ preferences and behaviour. This can help you enhance the customer experience and boost reputation marketing by knowing what’s most important to your audience and how they respond to your organization. With a clearer picture of customer behaviour patterns, you’re well-equipped to make impactful, data-backed decisions that resonate with your audience. 

Incorporate AI responsibly and select the right tools, then start monitoring your customer engagement and responding in a timely manner to their feedback. This way, you’ll be better placed to set the right customer expectations plus meet their exact online preferences.

Ready? Go!

Editor’s Note: Updated December 2025