How to build a proactive reputation management strategy for your brand

Key Points

• Managing your brand reputation isn’t about waiting for crises – it’s about shaping the narrative, building trust, and maintaining credibility before problems escalate.
• Continuous monitoring, strategic planning, and active engagement allow brands to stay ahead of negative sentiment and amplify positive experiences.
• Empathy, humor, and authenticity in responses – whether to complaints or reviews – turn potential pitfalls into opportunities to build loyalty.

Not long ago, reputation was built slowly – through word-of-mouth or trusted industry experts. Today, it can unravel in seconds. One viral complaint on social media has the power to flip a brand’s image overnight.

It’s not enough to do damage control when things go wrong; it’s about building trust, earning credibility, and turning online interactions into opportunities on a regular basis.

This guide will help you audit your brand’s reputation, give you proactive strategies to shape the conversation, and offer real-world examples of brands that got it right.

Why a reputation management strategy matters

A reputation management strategy is non-negotiable for building brand trust and a competitive edge. It means your brand is proactively shaping how your customers and prospects feel about your company. You’re not just prepared for a crisis – you’re managing what they read or hear online about you every single day. 

With 46% of consumers trusting online reviews as much as personal recommendations, reputation management can mean the difference between a customer choosing you, or turning to one of your competitors instead.

Although they sound alike, reputation management is very different to review management:

• Review management: Brands react to ratings and comments after they’ve been posted.
• Reputation management: Brands actively shape the conversation across their online platforms.

A comprehensive reputation management strategy puts you in the driving seat – not stuck in damage control mode. 

Why proactive beats reactive

Customers want answers now; Emplifi’s research reveals that 52% expect a response to questions posted online within an hour. Being proactive means you’re one step ahead: 

• You’re in control. You’re guiding the narrative, rather than frantically responding to negative comments.

• You build a solid fanbase. One bad review doesn’t derail you when you already have plenty of excellent ones to back you up. 

• You create robust playbooks. When a crisis hits, you know exactly what to do, and who needs to be involved. 

Let’s look at how you can build a proactive reputation management strategy in 4 simple steps.

Step 1: Conduct a comprehensive reputation audit

Before you can improve your brand reputation, you need to know exactly where you stand. A reputation audit takes a 360° view to see what people are saying about your brand, where they’re saying it, and how often. 

Where to start

Begin by making a list of everywhere your brand appears online. Include every channel where your brand might be mentioned by prospects, customers or critics.

Think about: 

• Social media: Note every channel you appear on, as well as those you don’t (people could still be talking about you there). Consider the biggest platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, X and LinkedIn before tackling newer options like Bluesky and Threads.
• Review sites: Google, Trustpilot, and G2 are the obvious choices, but remember websites like Yelp and even Glassdoor where former employees could be leaving damaging reviews about your company. 
• News & media: Journalists writing about your brand in online publications, influencers talking about you in industry blogs, and press mentions across the internet. 
• Forums & communities: Gen Z, in particular, are turning to other users to gather information before making a purchase with Reddit ranking one of their most trusted platforms, ahead of traditional search engines. Check forums like Reddit, Quora, and Discord groups to uncover what customers are saying about your brand.
• Niche review sites: Scour review sites in your particular niche such as TripAdvisor (travel), Avvo (law), and Healthgrades (healthcare). 

Anywhere your customers can leave a star rating or a comment belongs in your audit.

Why social listening is vital for large businesses

Scrolling through mentions manually might work for a small brand, but at scale? Impossible. That’s where social listening tools come in. They’ll automatically pick up any mention of your brand online as well as analysing the context and sentiment behind the comments.

While a social listening tool will do the heavy lifting, you’ll only get out as much as you put in. 

Here’s how to do just that: 

• Define your goals: Are you trying to spot emerging trends, measure sentiment, or track competitors?
• Design smart queries: Use keywords, hashtags, product names, and competitor mentions.
• Filter for relevance: Narrow your data by platform, region, language, or even influencer type.
• Analyze sentiment at scale: Spot positive, negative, and neutral patterns to understand how audiences really feel.

You’ll quickly be able to see what your audience is loving, and what’s not working so well. 

Your audit shouldn’t be a one and done deal – conversations can change on a daily basis. Treat your audit as an ongoing process, and review it on a weekly or monthly schedule to get the best results. 

Step 2: Develop your strategic plan

An audit gives you the “what.” Now you need the “how.” How will you ensure brand sentiment remains positive, and your company is seen as a trustworthy entity? Let’s dig in: 

Set your goals

Use the SMART technique to set realistic goals. Make them Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Based. Your audit should tell you where you need to focus your efforts to build a more positive reputation. For example: 

• Increase positive reviews on Google and G2 by 20% in the next 6 months.
• Improve overall sentiment score from neutral to positive in the next 3 months.
• Reduce average response time to customer questions to under 1 hour.

Lock in your core messaging & values

Your online presence should be consistent across every platform, no matter who is speaking on behalf of the brand. 

As a team, you should outline: 

• Tone of voice (e.g., professional, approachable, bold).
• Non-negotiables (what you always say yes or no to).
• Key brand values to weave into feedback and communication.

Build your internal playbook

An internal playbook gives you the headstart you need when a crisis hits. Your playbook will outline the steps you need to take, and who needs to be involved, no matter the scenario.

It will mention: 

• When to respond publicly vs. privately.
• How to handle positive, neutral, and negative feedback.
• Escalation paths for urgent issues (e.g., PR crisis).
  

Assign responsibilities

When you need to respond within minutes, there’s no time to waste. Clear ownership avoids slow responses, which can be damaging for your brand. Define who does what from the get-go, so you know who will be responsible for:

• Monitoring (who’s keeping an eye on reviews and mentions)
• Responding (who handles customer replies).
• Reporting (who tracks progress against goals).
• Press enquiries (who will represent the company, particularly if a crisis occurs)

Step 3: Implement proactive measures

Staying one step ahead puts you in control of the narrative. It shows customers that you’re trustworthy, and happy to resolve any issues as quickly as possible. 

Creating advocates for your brand is one of the most effective ways to prove you’re a reputable business. By building an impressive online presence, you’ll create an overwhelmingly positive experience for prospects searching for your company. 

Encourage reviews

93% of customers read reviews before buying – think of it as a digital word of mouth recommendation.

Here are some of the best ways to encourage reviews: 

• Always follow up purchases/enquiries with an email, requesting a review for your brand. Reiterate the benefits of purchasing with you e.g. speed of delivery, B Corp status, or quality of the product, so the customer is reminded to include this in their review. 
• Focus on the platforms that matter most to your customers e.g. Google, G2, TripAdvisor, or TrustPilot to build up your repository of positive reviews. 
• Encourage staff to ask for reviews, particularly if they feel they have done a great job.
• Some platforms allow you to incentivize customers to leave reviews, with gift cards, discounts or freebies. You’ll need to ensure it remains an honest account of their experience, and you’ve clearly labelled that the review is incentivized, otherwise you could be in breach of advertising standards. 

Create positive content

You only get one chance to make a good first impression. Search results can unearth everything from negative reviews to unflattering press mentions, but savvy content marketing and SEO tactics can put your valuable content front and center. 

• Publish blogs, web pages, case studies, and success stories that highlight your strengths. Mention awards you may have won or how you’re engaging with your local community. This can all help to build the positive story you want to tell about your brand.
• Optimize content for high-intent keywords your customers are actually searching for. An SEO specialist can help you grow your traffic exponentially by including keywords that can rival your competitors, and boost your public image. 

Engage on social media

40% of internet users aged 16-64 turn to social media to research new brands or products. It’s a powerful way to shape how your audience perceives you and with consistent posts, you become a familiar face. You should: 

• Share updates regularly so you’re always part of the conversation.
• Reply to comments and DMs quickly – silence can be as damaging as a bad review.
• Use interactive tools like polls, Q&As, or live sessions to build a sense of community and accessibility.
  

Leverage influencer marketing

Credible voices = credibility for your brand. The right influencer can help you amplify trust in ways traditional ads never will.

• Use an influencer management tool to find influencers who genuinely align with your values and audience.
• Partner with nano and micro-influencers for niche communities where trust runs deepest.
• Measure the impact not just in reach, but in sentiment and trust signals.

Don’t wait for negative reviews to pile up. Proactive measures ensure that when challenges arise, your positive reputation already outweighs the noise.

Step 4: Master the art of response

With 96% of consumers looking for negative reviews specifically to see how a brand handles them, it’s in your best interests to respond to any negativity quickly and constructively. 

A smart, empathetic response can turn the tide and help critics become happy customers. 

Lead with empathy

Remember that your customers’ feelings always come first. They want to know they’ve been heard before you launch into an explanation of what went wrong. 

• Give a sincere apology: A simple “We’re sorry you had this experience” goes further than jumping into defensive mode.
• Don’t pass blame. Even if the issue wasn’t entirely your fault, deflecting responsibility can damage trust.

Explain your next steps

Don’t be afraid to be open about what you’re doing next. Show that you’re taking feedback seriously.

• Outline the steps you’re taking to resolve the issue – without overpromising.
• Keep it short, clear, and action-oriented. Customers want to know the solution you’ll be offering them as soon as possible. 

Make the conversation private (when needed)

Not every issue should play out in public, particularly when it comes to sensitive information. 

• If the back-and-forth risks becoming lengthy, invite the customer to continue the conversation via DM, email, or phone.
• Keep in mind that any sensitive data they’ll need to share with you (e.g. address, phone number) should be protected, and should never be shared on a public platform.

Don’t forget the positive reviews

Your most loyal customers deserve to be celebrated. Don’t miss an opportunity to turn them into repeat visitors or ambassadors for your brand. 

• Thank customers who leave glowing feedback, and share their reviews across your social media or website. 
• Personalize your service to make them feel valued – even a handwritten note with their order goes a long way. 
• Engaging with positive reviews helps transform happy customers into loyal advocates who keep spreading the word.

Examples of reputation management in action

You can see examples of reputation management in action every day, just by logging on to any social media channel. Here are two that turned potential missteps into moments of trust and connection.

Southwest Airlines: Taking accountability

When a customer called out Southwest on social media for a frustrating delay, the airline didn’t hide behind corporate jargon. Instead, they:

• Responded quickly – acknowledging the issue within minutes.
• Apologized sincerely – no excuses, just empathy.
• Offered a clear next step – moving the conversation to DM to resolve the traveler’s issue.

This public display of accountability gave other customers confidence in the brand; they saw a company that cares about its passengers, not one that shies away from criticism.

Key takeaway: Speed & sincerity can win customer trust. Be empathetic to the customer’s situation and respond as quickly as possible to stand the best chance of success.

Skyscanner: Turning complaints into viral wins

When Lloyd asked Skyscanner what to do with the 47-year layover it had suggested in Bangkok, the company could have dismissed it as a mere glitch. Instead, Jen from their social media team offered some genuine suggestions, responding with warmth and humour:

• Jen’s playful message poked fun at the absurd situation. Her suggestions included a cruise on the Chao Phraya river, and a visit to the Moon Bar.
• She included a personal follow-up to assure Lloyd the issue would be fixed – “(p.s. thanks for letting me know about this – I’ll get some folk to look into it!)”
• Jen continued to respond to replies on the post, even up to two years later, building brand continuity and trust.

Jen’s response turned a potential embarrassment into a moment of relatability and connection, garnering over 21,000 likes on Facebook and plenty of media coverage. 

Key takeaway: Not every mistake needs a stiff response. Sometimes, leaning into humor can humanize your brand and spark positive buzz.

Step 5: Monitor, analyze, and evolve

Reputation management is an ongoing task. The way people talk about your brand today won’t be the same six months from now and the brands that stay ahead are the ones who continuously listen, measure, and adjust.

Why continuous monitoring matters:

• Conversations don’t stop at the end of the working day. They’re happening 24/7 across review boards, social media, blogs, and forums. If you’re not tracking sentiment in real time, you’re already behind.
• Customer expectations evolve quickly. What worked last year (or even last quarter) might not resonate anymore. You need to be able to move quickly, while staying true to your brand values. 

How to measure success

Reputation management can seem like a vague notion if you don’t know exactly how to measure it. Focus on these outcomes to assess whether your strategy is working: 

• Review ratings: Are your average star ratings improving? Are you reducing negative spikes?
• Sentiment score: Are conversations trending more positive or negative over time?
• Response time: Are you meeting customer expectations by responding quickly and consistently?
• Engagement quality: Are your proactive efforts (reviews, social posts, influencer campaigns) driving authentic engagement?

A reputation strategy is never static. It should evolve with your audience, industry, and competitors. By committing to continuous monitoring and analysis, you’ll not only protect your brand but also uncover new opportunities for growth.

How Emplifi can help you

Your customers aren’t reading your press releases to understand what your brand is all about – they’re looking to social media to see how you react to complaints, and customer forums to see what others are saying about you. 

Emplifi’s unified platform gives you everything you need to control the conversation when it comes to your brand. Get access to powerful social listening tools, streamlined analytics, and the reporting tools you need to protect your reputation.

Book a demo with one of our social media experts today.