Online Reputation Management: A Complete Guide For Businesses

Reputations aren’t built overnight, but they can change in an instant – especially today. While traditional media, public relations, and advertising have long played a role in shaping brand reputation, in the age of social media, reviews, comments, and conversations between customers have completely changed the game. To keep up, many companies are investing in brand reputation management.

What Is Online Reputation Management (OMR)?

Online reputation management (ORM) is the process in which a company attempts to control and improve how its brand is perceived by others. This can be done internally or by hiring an outside firm. Reputation management is now playing a critical role in business strategies, with studies showing that 3 out of 4 consumers trust a company more if it has positive reviews.

In addition, there are countless social media horror stories that companies have had to weather (at great cost to their reputation and their bottom line). These factors combined have turned brand reputation management into big business.

What Is The PESO Model In Marketing & How It Helps

The PESO model, developed by Gini Dietrich of the marketing and public relations blog Spin Sucks, identifies the four media types that help build brand identity and authority in today’s digital landscape. The model has become widely popular in the brand management and marketing industry. Not only does it show how each channel works independently, but it also shows how they work with other channels within the model.

Source: Spin Sucks

Here's some additional information regarding the four types of media found in the PESO model.

Paid Media

Paid media is marketing that a company pays for. While this used to consist strictly of traditional media like television, radio, and print, today it focuses largely on digital media such as PPC ads, social media ads, and search engine marketing (SEM).

Earned Media

Earned media may be better known as publicity. This type of free media wasn’t paid for, but instead a company’s actions “earned” them this attention (whether good or bad). This often comes in the form of news coverage or reporting or through mentions and links in online stories.

Shared Media

Shared media is content that is shared across social media. Much of it is user-generated content (USG), including images, videos, and text (such as reviews) regarding a company or its products that have been posted by users of various online platforms. Shared media also describes content shared between multiple owners (e.g., co-branding and tie-ins).

Owned Media

Owned media is any content controlled by a brand, such as websites, blogs, and social media channels. The more owned media channels a business has, the larger their digital marketing footprint, which means a greater ability to reach and influence consumers.

The PESO model, shown below, has become widely popular in the brand management and marketing industry. Not only does it show how each channel works independently, but it also shows how they work with other channels within the model.

How To Run An Online Reputation Audit In 4 Easy Steps

You can’t manage what you can’t see. Before you invest time and budget into improving your online reputation, it pays to pause and run a simple audit. The goal is straightforward: understand what customers see today, where you’re strong, and where you may need to act.

Step 1: Search Your Brand Like A Customer

Open a fresh browser window and search for your brand name the same way a new shopper would. Scan the full first page of results, not just the top listing.

Note which results you control (your website, blog, social profiles) and which you don’t (review sites, news stories, directories, forums). Then try a few related searches, such as your brand name plus “reviews,” “shipping,” or “complaints.”

This gives you a quick, honest snapshot of the story your search results are telling on your behalf.

Step 2: Review Key Feedback Platforms

Next, visit the main review platforms and marketplaces that matter for your business. Look at your overall rating, how recent the feedback is, and what people are actually saying.

You’re not looking for perfection. You’re looking for patterns. Do customers consistently mention speed, reliability, or packaging quality? Do the same concerns come up again and again around response times, returns, or product accuracy?

These themes highlight where your brand is already delivering on its promises, and where operational changes could improve both the experience and the conversation about you.

Step 3: Look At Social Conversations & Communities

Social media and online communities often surface informal, honest reactions to your brand. Search your name on major platforms and in any niche communities your audience uses.

You may find unboxing videos, tagged posts, recommendations, and comparisons to competitors. You may also find questions from people who are “ORM-researching” you before they buy.

Pay attention to posts that are getting likes, shares, or replies. Those are the conversations that are quietly shaping how new people see you.

Step 4: Check Your Owned Channels

Finally, turn inward and review your own channels: your website, blog, emails, and official social profiles. The way you present your brand should line up with what customers describe elsewhere.

Ask yourself:

• Are we clear and honest about shipping times, returns, and support?
• Are we highlighting genuine reviews and customer stories, not just marketing claims?
• Does our tone feel consistent from one channel to the next?

If there’s a gap between your promises and the experiences people share, this audit will make it visible, giving you the chance to correct it before it becomes a bigger issue.

Why Is Online Reputation Management Important?

In the not so distant past, people’s opinions on a company generally had to travel by word-of-mouth (an actual conversation between people, that is). Today, opinions travel faster than ever, and reach a bigger audience, due to social media. While positive messages can give a brand a boost, negative ones can be a PR nightmare. With people having the freedom to post what they want, companies can lose control over the brand reputation.

“You can do everything in your power to boost your reputation on standard search engines like Google or Yahoo by building domain names and creating content. Social media, however, is uncontrollable,” said Juda Engelmayer, president and partner of HeraldPR, a full-service public relations and communications agency in New York. “People can tweet whatever they want, or they can go to Yelp or Facebook to post about a bad experience. This can have a huge effect on search engines.”

Whereas a company can control its Google search rankings, it cannot control individuals who may post a negative comment about its brand on social media. That’s why online reputation management is critical; supporting this statement, studies show that the majority of digital marketers (54%) consider ORM “very necessary” to their company’s success.

Monitoring social media, of course, is not the only component of ORM. It’s also about developing a strategy for how you will engage with consumers, how you will inspire conversation around your brand, how you will position your brand online, and what content you will create to draw people in.

How Online Reputation Affects Search Rankings & Ecommerce Sales

In most buying journeys today, search engines sit between curiosity and checkout. Long before a customer clicks “buy,” they’ll often search your brand name, look at what appears on page one, and quietly decide whether you’re worth trusting.

Search Results As Your Digital Storefront

When someone searches for your company, they rarely see a single result. They see a collection of pages that together act as your digital storefront: your website, social profiles, review sites, and any articles or content that mention your brand.

If those results look consistent, professional, and up to date, it sends a clear signal that your brand is established and reliable. If they find confusing information, outdated pages, or negative headlines, doubt can set in before they even consider your products.

Why Reviews & Ratings Show Up Everywhere

Reviews no longer live only on one platform. Star ratings and snippets increasingly appear directly in search results, right next to your brand name. This gives shoppers an instant snapshot of how other people feel about you.

When those ratings are strong and you’re actively responding to feedback, it reinforces the story you want your marketing to tell. When there are unanswered complaints or very few recent reviews, the silence can speak just as loudly as the words themselves.

What This Means For Ecommerce Brands

For ecommerce businesses, this connection between reputation and search visibility isn’t abstract, it shows up in real numbers: clicks, conversions, and repeat orders.

If people search “[your brand] reviews,” “[your brand] shipping,” or “[your brand] returns” and find clear, accurate, reassuring information, they’re far more likely to move forward. If they find conflicting experiences or unresolved issues, they may never even reach your product pages.

Managing your online reputation is therefore part of managing your search presence. When you protect your brand in search, you protect your ability to turn visitors into customers and first-time buyers into long-term fans.

Top 10 Online Reputation Management Best Practices

When it comes to understanding digital marketing, entrepreneur, web influencer, and New York Times bestselling author Neil Patel is at the top of the list. He has created 10 Online Reputation Management Commandments, which we’ve listed below along with some further detail.

1. Become Well-Respected

Trust is a perishable asset that is hard to gain. To build it, you need to not just engage and interact with consumers, but provide valuable content and knowledge for free so that people can create a deeper emotional connection with your company.

2. Become Radically Transparent

Transparency means allowing employees to talk about products and services publicly, honestly answering customer questions, asking for customer feedback, and not hiding criticism – but addressing it publicly.

3. Monitor What They Are Saying About You

Alerts not only let you know when your brand has been mentioned, allowing you to respond if the comment is negative, it can also bring in business. Today, many people ask questions on social media when evaluating whether or not to buy from you. That’s an opportune time to jump in with your solutions.

4. React Quickly & Politely

Some complaints are easy to address. Others may take thought and research. However, you should always respond quickly. A simple “We are working on the problem and will get back to you as soon as possible” is better than a late reply with more information.

5. Address Criticism

When you put yourself out there on social media, you’re bound to encounter criticism. How you respond to it is what builds brand reputation. The Startup highlights fives ways to respond to online criticism, such as:

• Making fun of yourself (self deprecation shows humbleness)
• Playfully refuting the criticism (the customer is wrong so you’ll want to refute it – but in a light-hearted way as not to agitate them further)
• Being overly gracious (this makes people feel heard, and if they’re simply trolling, renders them ineffective)
• Making light of the situation (this can highlight your personality as long as you offer a solution)
• Admit, apologize, and make an offer (probably your safest best).

The tactic you choose will depend on the situation, of course, so we recommend checking out their blog.

6. Treat Your Google Page 1 Like Your Business Card

First impressions count, and people have a tendency to judge books by their cover. If negative reviews and words like “scam” or “rip off” are associated with your brand on page one of a search, this can be a big problem requiring some serious cleanup (more on this in a bit).

7. Understand Your Detractors

Criticism is a learning opportunity, especially when it comes from consumers. By listening to your detractors, you may be able to find ways to improve your products or services, refine your marketing messages, alter your manufacturing processes, and much more. All of this can help to build your brand and your bottom line.

8. Attack Your Illegitimate Attackers

Yes, there’s a right to free speech online, but sometimes defamatory language, false information, and threatening language can go too far. In these extreme cases, you may want to seek legal counsel and pursue a cyber investigation.

9. Learn From Your Mistakes

Mistakes are the stepping stone to learning, so after you’ve made one, be sure you don’t repeat it in the future. For example, some companies simply hand off social media duties to a young intern (after all, they’ll understand this stuff). Over the years, this has resulted in many social media gaffes. Then, the company spends time and money on damage control. Lesson learned: hire a seasoned social media expert who understands your brand!

10. Ask For Help If Necessary

If your online reputation management efforts are not enough to protect or restore your brand image, you have the choice to request help from an outside ORM professional.

How To Handle Negative Reviews & Damaging Content Online

No brand is immune to bad days. A delayed shipment, a damaged order, or simple miscommunication can all lead to negative feedback. The true test of your reputation isn’t whether criticism appears, it’s what you do next.

Treat Every Negative Review As A Public Moment

A negative review is more than a one-to-one complaint. It’s a public moment where future customers can see how you respond when something goes wrong.

A strong reply usually does three things: acknowledges the customer’s experience, takes appropriate responsibility for your side of the issue, and offers a clear next step. You don’t need to write an essay; you do need to sound human, calm, and focused on making things right.

Avoid arguing over details in public. Instead, show that you’ve listened and that you’re committed to a resolution.

When To Move A Conversation Off-Stage

Once you’ve responded publicly and set the tone, it’s often wise to move the specifics into a private channel. That’s the right place to confirm order details, discuss personal information, or work through a more complex situation.

You might invite the customer to email your support team, send a direct message, or reply with their order number so you can investigate. After you’ve handled it, a short follow-up comment noting that you’ve been in touch and worked toward a solution can close the loop for anyone reading.

Balancing The Story With Positive Experiences

If a small cluster of negative reviews stands out simply because there isn’t much else, the answer isn’t to hide those comments, it’s to encourage more happy customers to share theirs.

Building a steady flow of genuine, recent reviews creates a fuller, more accurate picture of your brand. It also reassures new shoppers that the positive experiences far outweigh the occasional issue, and that you take feedback seriously when something does go wrong.

When Content Crosses The Line

Most criticism, even when it feels harsh, is part of doing business in a transparent, online world. There are rare cases, however, where posts may be clearly false, defamatory, or threatening.

In those situations, it’s important to document what you’re seeing, review the platform’s policies, and consider whether to request a review or removal. For more serious cases, seeking legal or specialist advice can be appropriate.

This should always be the exception. For the vast majority of negative content, listening, responding well, and improving your processes will do more for your long-term reputation than any formal action.

Plan For A Reputation Crisis Before It Happens

Most days, reputation management is about individual comments and reviews. Occasionally, a bigger issue can put your brand under a brighter spotlight: a widespread delay, a platform outage, or a story that gains unexpected traction. You can’t predict every scenario, but you can decide in advance how you’ll handle them.

Know Where You Need To Listen Most Closely

Different audiences gather in different places. For some brands, a single review site is where most of the conversation happens. For others, it might be a specific social platform or marketplace.

Identify the channels that have the biggest impact on your customers’ decisions and make sure you’re monitoring them consistently. That might mean using alerts, scheduling regular checks during business hours, or assigning specific platforms to specific people on your team.

Assign Clear Roles Before You Need Them

In a stressful moment, confusion inside your team can make a public situation worse. Spend a little time upfront deciding who does what if something escalates.

Who writes first responses? Who steps in if a situation becomes sensitive or highly visible? Who can approve refunds, replacements, or official statements? When this is settled ahead of time, you avoid delays and conflicting messages when you can least afford them.

Build Simple Playbooks For Common Problems

Most reputation issues stem from a handful of recurring situations: shipping delays, wrong items, damaged packages, or misaligned expectations. You can turn those into simple playbooks for your team.

For each scenario, outline the key facts to check, the tone you want to strike, and the standard options you can offer. These aren’t scripts to copy word for word, but starting points that help you respond quickly while staying on brand.

Keep Your Plan Up To Date

Your channels, products, and policies will change over time. Your crisis plan should change with them. Set a reminder to revisit it periodically and ask whether your monitoring, roles, and playbooks still match the way you operate today.

A plan you update in calm moments will serve you far better than one you scramble to create in the middle of a difficult day, and it will show in the way customers experience your brand when it matters most.

7 Online Reputation Management Strategies For Ecommerce

Ready to develop an eCommerce brand and get starting with your ORM strategy? Here are some of the things you’ll want to do first!

1. Audit Your Company Name

Before getting started, it’s important to take stock of what’s already out there about your company. Google your company name (and perhaps key players within the company such as the CEO) and look through the first couple of pages of results.

In order to begin cultivating a position brand reputation, you need to know what you’re up against! You may need to perform some aggressive SEO (creating good content to outnumber the bad) or consulting with a legal expert about getting false information removed.

2. Claim Your Online Space

Each domain name your company owns can help buffer against negative results, bumping negative items off page 1 of a Google search (this is generally where most people’s searches stop). So, set up accounts on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, Google+, Snapchat, Tumblr, etc. Depending on your business, you’ll want to brand out to web properties on professional networking websites like Meetup, Quora, Yelp, and the BBB.

Don’t worry, you don’t have to use all these profiles, you just don’t want anyone else to use them. There’s nothing more frustrating than finding your name has been taken, and there’s nothing worse than someone using your name to post inflammatory or embarrassing content on social media.

3. Establish Your Digital Brand

Chances are, you’ve already established a personality for your brand offline (voice, tone, style, imagery, colors). This needs to carry over to the digital realm so that consumers recognize your brand across all channels (check out our recent blog Ecommerce Branding Guide to Building a Loyal Following for more information).

4. Establish An Online Presence

First, make a regular posting schedule that’ll keep you active on all your social media networks and create positive content on a blog. Then, decide what types of content you’ll be posting. Create a variety of content in order to keep things fresh. Depending on your industry and product/service, you might consider:

• How-To Videos
• Tips
• Quizzes
• Did You Know?
• Engaging Imagery
• Company News
• Product Information/Demonstrations

Also, be sure to share other posts or stories that are of interest to you; in time, other companies will begin to share your posts. That’s a win-win!

5. Engage With Your Customers

We’ve talked a lot about this already, but it can’t be stressed enough: engage with your customers. Today’s consumer wants to feel a connection with the brands they buy, and they like to feel that their voice is heard. By interacting with them, you can help keep them as a customer, and you know what they say: It costs five times more to acquire a new customer than it does to keep an existing customer.

So, thank customers when they have something positive to say, and take their criticisms to heart and respond in a thoughtful manner (and then make good on any promises). Of course, understand that you will undoubtedly encounter trolls who don’t have legitimate complaints. Instead, they’ll post derogatory or inflammatory messages designed to get a rise out of you. Our word of advice: Don’t feed the trolls. You could wind up saying something that reflects poorly on your brand, so it’s best to just ignore them and they’ll eventually go away when they see you’re not taking the bait.

6. Set Up Alerts

Setting up monitoring accounts like Google Alerts keeps your ear to any conversations surrounding your brand, letting you know the moment it hits search results. This allows you to promptly respond to negative content, which looks good to people searching for your brand (and can even result in the negative comment being removed).

You might also monitor keywords or topics related to your industry or product; sometimes, people may post a question and if you’re the first with a response, this looks good and can earn you new business.

7. Create or Hire A Team

Online reputation management, and social media itself, shouldn’t be handled by an intern or someone unskilled in the medium. Instead, depending on the size of your business, a team should be assembled who can develop a strategy, engage in monitoring, create posts and content, etc.

Of course, you may not have the manpower or the time for such an undertaking. After all, to be successful at it, it’s a full-time job deserving of someone’s full attention. In that case, consider hiring an outside ORM firm to help manage your online persona. Trained professionals will be better equipped to handle the more technical aspects of removing negative content, and can alleviate the time-suck of monitoring content and posting new content.

Online Reputation Management FAQs

How Is Online Reputation Management Different From Traditional PR?

Public relations focuses on building awareness and sharing your message through media, campaigns, and events. Online reputation management focuses on what customers and the public are already saying, their reviews, comments, and search results, and how you respond.

The two work best together: PR helps create positive stories about your brand, while ORM makes sure those stories show up and stay visible when people go looking for you.

How Often Should I Check My Brand’s Online Reputation?

At a minimum, you should review key search results and main review platforms regularly, not just when a problem arises. Many companies check their core channels daily during the workweek, then do a deeper review monthly or quarterly.

The more active your brand is online, and the faster your order volume grows, the more frequently you’ll want to keep an eye on what customers are saying.

Should I Respond To Every Review, Even The Bad Ones?

Responding to reviews, especially negative ones, shows that you’re listening and that you care about the experience customers have with your brand. It’s not always necessary to reply to every short, positive comment, but it’s a good idea to acknowledge detailed feedback, both good and bad.

When you answer thoughtfully and take responsibility where needed, you’re not just speaking to one person, you’re showing every future shopper how you handle issues.

Can I Ask Customers For Reviews Without Looking Pushy?

Yes. The key is to make it easy and natural. You can invite customers to share their experience in a post-purchase email, in their account area, or in a support follow-up, and then thank them for their time.

Focus on asking for honest feedback, not “only five-star reviews.” When customers see a mix of genuine experiences and a brand that responds well, it builds more trust than a page full of perfect scores that doesn’t feel real.

How Long Does It Take To Repair A Damaged Online Reputation?

There’s no fixed timeline. Minor issues, like a handful of negative reviews about a specific problem, can often be improved quickly when you respond, resolve the underlying issue, and encourage more satisfied customers to share their experiences.

More serious situations, such as highly visible complaints, older negative content, or widespread service disruptions, can take longer to turn around. What matters most is that you act consistently, communicate clearly, and back your words with real operational improvements.

Does Online Reputation Management Really Matter For Smaller Ecommerce Brands?

Absolutely. In many cases, smaller brands rely even more on trust to win over first-time buyers. If someone has never heard of you before, your search results, reviews, and social presence often decide whether they give you a chance.

A strong online reputation helps you stand out against larger competitors, shows that you deliver on your promises, and turns happy customers into advocates who recommend you to others.

Start Creating Your Online Reputation Management Strategy Now

In the US alone, it’s expected that there will be 300 million online shoppers in 2023. And, more than 90% of them read online reviews before making a purchase. Not only that, 244 million Americans use social media, and they’re paying attention to what people are saying about your brand. So, Online Reputation Management can no longer be ignored or relegated to a little side project. To protect your reputation, and retain (and gain) customers, brand reputation management is a must for your eCommerce business.