The new rules of brand reputation
For years, marketers and communications professionals have been taught to control the brand narrative. Define the message. Build the campaign. Push it out. Measure the response. But that model no longer reflects how reputation is built or trust is earned. Today, a brand’s reputation is shaped by employees, customers, creators, and online communities and forums like LinkedIn and Reddit. The…
Today's marketing landscape no longer allows brands to control their reputation. In the past, marketers dictated the message, built campaigns, and measured responses. However, today, a brand's reputation is shaped by employees, customers, creators, and online communities like LinkedIn and Reddit. These conversations directly influence people's perceptions of a brand and provide the information AI tools feed to users. Trust and reputation are now built by people and in places the brand cannot control.
To manage this shift, brands must convene and guide conversations rather than control them. This means showing up where people already discuss their brand, enhancing the conversation's usefulness, providing credible information, and ensuring the brand's story is clear. Brands are like parties: they set the guest list, send invitations, prepare the menu, and arrange the table, but they don't script the dinner conversation.
To convene effectively, brands should participate in communities rather than just advertise to them. These communities, not brands, often drive the conversation. Before engaging, ask if there's a reason to be there, if you can answer community questions, or offer expertise that makes the conversation more useful. If the answer is just for visibility, it's better to purchase an ad.
Equip the voices shaping your reputation by partnering with influencers and their communities. Influencer power isn't determined by follower count but by their ability to move information, whether from a creator with 10,000 followers or a million. Provide accurate, evidence-based information to these voices, trusting their authenticity and allowing them to tell the story in their own words.
Lastly, work with AI rather than against it. AI is becoming a participant in the conversation about your brand, gathering information from both controlled and uncontrolled sources. Communicate your brand story in a clear, understandable way to make it easier for people and AI to interpret and cite. This will increase your brand's credibility and reputation. Remember, reputation is earned daily, and the most credible version of your story may come from someone else.
Written by urgent.news from Fast Company's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
