What Is Reputation Management Theory? Our 2025 Guide

Reputation management theory is the strategic process of creating, maintaining and protecting an individual’s or brand’s online reputation over time. It informs the ways that a person or business owner can take charge of their online presence.

In this guide, we will explore the components of online reputation management theory. We’ll give you a better understanding of what it takes to shape public perceptions of you and your brand in today’s digital environment.

Do you need help with your digital presence and online reputation management in the business world? Call us at (844) 458-6735 for an in-depth audit and valuable insights from an expert.

What Is Reputation Management Theory?

Reputation management theory focuses on how people and brands manage their public perception, specifically when it comes to the actions and communications that influence how others perceive the person or company.

Key components of reputation theory include:

• Authenticity: Honesty and transparency are required to build credibility with your audience and avoid PR crises.
• Perception Control: Various elements affect the perception of your brand, including online reviews, PR, social media posts, and word-of-mouth.
• Crisis Management: Controversies and negative events should be addressed swiftly and professionally for the sake of damage control.

Never forget that your brand image is a source of power. Your reputation can affect how people feel about you and your business, as well as your coworkers, family, friends and even competitors.

Your Reputation and Competitors: Game Theory

Reputation is an important part of game theory, especially when it comes to the elements that make your reputation stand out.

When you’re known for something specific — your best characteristic, and the one thing you do better than the rest — your competitors will have no choice but to back off when it comes to that trait.

Smart brands want to fill in the gaps that their competitors are missing. They don’t want to compete in an arena where another business has already won.

By maintaining a strong reputation for a specific attribute, your brand claims that territory and corners the market for it. If a competitor were to pop up who wanted to beat you at your own game, they’d need to spend a considerable amount of money and effort to attempt it. And they still may not succeed.

By having a savvy corporate reputation management strategy and dominating in a niche, you can keep a large slice of the market pie for yourself.

What Are the Core Elements of an Online Reputation?

There are 3 core elements of an online reputation: image, identity and personality. Though these may sound the same at first, they have distinct differences. Let’s discuss each one.

Image

Your brand image is the external view that others have of your personal or professional brand. You can influence your image by your behavior, but ultimately, others make the decision.

A positive image means that your audience will trust your brand and be loyal to it. A negative image means that the public (and even your personal connections) will likely avoid your brand.

Identity

Your brand identity is how you define your brand, and it includes elements like your mission, values and vision. Think of brand identity as the narrative you create and that you want others to associate with your brand.

A solid brand identity makes it easier for the public to understand your purpose and differentiate you from competitors. Without a strong brand identity, though, you’ll weaken your brand’s recognition and authority in the industry.

Personality

The easiest way to think of a brand personality is to compare it to a person’s personality. How you approach your interactions with others, your tone, and your style all go into brand personality. On a deeper level, your brand’s personality is what will connect emotionally with your audience.

If you fail to develop a brand personality that accurately reflects your brand identity, it’ll be difficult to connect with potential customers. Without that emotional connection, there’s no reason for them to choose your brand over another.

Pro Tip: Pay Attention To What’s Coming From the Inside

It’s important to mention that everyone involved in a company plays a significant role in the company’s reputation. Anyone who is speaking or sharing information about your brand shapes public perception. That includes your employees and stakeholders.

When paying attention to public sentiment, make sure to also listen to the messages that are coming from within your brand, not just outside of it.

How Is a Business Reputation Made?

 

Most of the time, when someone searches for your business — or the types of products or services you offer — they don’t know much, if anything, about your business.

In this scenario, when someone finds your brand online and wants to learn more about your company, they’ll base their opinion on whatever they find out about you. This can happen in a matter of seconds, which is why it’s so important to know the first impression you’re making on your audience.

The perception that someone gets about your business through blog posts, online reviews, social media channels, word-of-mouth and more matters. 

If you have a poor online reputation, potential customers are not necessarily going to take the time to find out if the negative content is true or not. They’ll likely believe what they see and move on to one of your competitors.

Which Strategies Build a Positive Reputation?

Online reputation management involves a number of strategies to shape the public’s perception of your brand. In general, ORM is the practice of influencing the public perception of an individual or company by leveraging online information about that entity.

Included in the process is the strategy of monitoring online mentions of a person or organization and addressing any damaging information. In order to determine reputation management needs, it’s also important to monitor social media and search engine results for the person’s or brand’s name.

After gathering online reputation insights from monitoring, an assessment can be made as to how to best resolve issues like negative content or poor reviews.

This is the foundation of reputation management theory — determining how to manage public perception and align the brand image with the company’s identity and values.

Once you’ve found out where a brand’s online reputation currently stands, you can make decisions about how to improve a poor reputation or capitalize on a good reputation. A public relations (PR) campaign may be implemented to increase positive visibility or decrease negative visibility, for example. 

Content suppression tactics may also be used to “hide” negative content in Google search results and have positive content prominently display instead. A good reputation manager will publish enough neutral and positive posts in order to push down negative content that’s ranking highly in Google results or on social media platforms.

From 24-hour monitoring to upscale content creation and promotion, our team of ORM experts can help you create the online presence you deserve. Contact us at (844) 458-6735 for more information.

Taking Control of Your Online Presence

While you can choose the information you share with the public and your target audience, you can’t control the conversations they have about your brand. And they are definitely having those conversations and listening to what others say:

• For more than 45% of internet users, one of their main reasons for going online is to research products and brands

• Over 76% of internet users go on social media to learn about brands and products

• Upwards of 93% of online shoppers read reviews before making an online purchase

• 91% of consumers say their perception of big brands is impacted by reviews of local branches

• Customers pay more for the same item from a company they’re unfamiliar with versus one that’s had a recent scandal

Given the number of people who are willing to discuss real customer experiences — and especially negative ones — the only truly effective way to create a positive online reputation is through your behavior.

First and foremost, be purposeful about the images, videos and other content you share. Remember that everything you put online is findable through online searches or background checks.

It’s also important to appropriately and professionally respond to online reviews, especially negative ones. Publicly handling negative feedback in a way that reflects well on your brand shows others that you prioritize your audience and care about how others feel about you.

Other helpful strategies for creating a positive reputation include focusing on the customer experience, representing your brand in an honest way, and actively engaging with your audience online.

How To Manage Your Online Reputation

Reputable companies that manage brand reputation will improve your rankings and showcase your positive characteristics while pushing down negative results associated with your brand.

Additionally, media monitoring tools are used to learn about new brand mentions the moment they appear online. This way, you can react to any feedback you receive, both positive and negative, allowing you to stay active with the community and continue to shape your online reputation.

Here are common reputation management tactics that the pros rely on:

Online Reviews and Ratings

Always keep an eye on what other people are saying about your brand on the internet. 

Look for both positive and negative reviews. Find ways to build on the positive reactions, and also address the problems people have with your product or service. 

It’s always best to respond politely and professionally, offering concrete solutions to problems.

Social Media Management

To use social media effectively, you need to communicate your brand value to your audience. Show them what sets you apart from the competition.

Harness the power of eye-catching content for your profiles to get people noticing your brand. Different social platforms have a variety of ways to create and promote content, so take advantage of what’s offered.

If possible, work with influencers who reach your target audience to improve your authority and spread awareness for your products or services.

Search Engine Optimization

Most internet users don’t go past the first search engine results page (SERP), with less than 1% clicking on a result on the 2nd page. Moreover, the top 3 Google search results get more than 54% of all clicks.

That’s why it’s crucial to rank positive content at the top of the first SERP.

Additionally, if you have negative brand content that’s ranking highly on the first page of search results, you’ll want to push it to the second page or further.

Search engine optimization (SEO) can lead to a better perception of your brand, along with more organic traffic to your website and increased conversions.

Don’t wait — get started today with online reputation management or repair. Give us a call at (844) 458-6735 to learn more.

Ethical Online Reputation Management

There are a number of ORM and SEO techniques that work, but Google strongly recommends against using them.

For example, Google doesn’t want websites to post auto-generated content (as in, AI content) as-is, because this creates too much low-quality, similar content online.

Other forbidden SEO strategies include:

• Using automated programs to create links to your site
• Hiding keywords to mislead users and Google
• Keyword stuffing to cheaply rank that content on the SERP

By violating Google policies, Google can push down your web pages in search results or even remove your content from its directory altogether.

While you may have the chance to fix the problems and resubmit your content to Google, there’s no guarantee that it’ll be listed in the database again. And even if it is, you may have to start from scratch to get those high rankings you once achieved.

The way you’re perceived online matters, and a poor online reputation can damage your personal life and your professional opportunities. Find out how to create the online reputation you deserve by calling (844) 458-6735 today.

Professional ORM Services Can Help

At ReputationSciences.com, we work with clients who are ready to create, grow or repair their digital reputation. Whether you’re prioritizing your personal or professional online reputation, our team of experts and tailored services can help.

Through our parent company, NetReputation, we offer a range of ORM services, including ad management, local SEO, review monitoring, content removal and more. Our tried-and-true strategy includes auditing, repair, monitoring and management, and our services will be customized to your unique needs.

Call us today at (844) 458-6735 to learn more.