Brooks Brecker

If you’re a business owner, then you know reputation is everything. Your company’s reputation can significantly impact your repeat business and your bottom line. In today’s digital page, consumers utilize online reviews to learn more about a company, product or service. According to a report from Nielsen, 84% of consumers trust brand recommendations from friends and family, while 68% of consumers trust opinions posted online by other customers. These staggering statistics show how important it is for businesses to take charge of their reputation online.

Online Reputation Management is critical to the success of a comprehensive digital marketing strategy. Though reputation management may sound like a course of action exclusively for struggling companies, this approach is actually valuable for any business that aims to consistently maintain a strong reputation online—in other words, every business. Considering that any one negative review or offhand comment, whether valid or not, can undermine search engine rankings and surround a company with an undeserved cloud of negativity, an ongoing reputation management campaign is a smart choice for all.

Millions of iTunes users were confused by the sudden addition of U2’s new album, Songs of Innocence, to their music library last month. Many thought it was a mistake until it was announced that Apple had given away the album to every user, naming it “the largest album release ever.” They wouldn’t be incorrect, as they boast that “Never before have so many people owned one album, let alone on the day of its release.” However, consumers and marketing experts had other names for the free album, which included “worse than spam,” and “a monumental blunder by the tech industry.”