White paper

Quick facts

• 4% of people believe in advertising
• 78% believe in recommendations even if they come from people they do not know

“E-reputation is simply the transposition of the way people experience a brand onto the Internet… with all the knock-on effects that this can have.”
Thibaut De Norre, analyses & communication director, AuxiPress

Monitoring and measuring online…
Social media monitoring makes it possible to follow up conversations, to collect information, to identify trends, to analyse the brand’s influence and to evaluate the brand’s image (as well as the image of the competitors). Is it positive, negative or neutral? The answer to this question is the starting point and allows the needs of the company and the brand to be determined and goals to be set in terms of e-reputation. It is at this point that the real work of online brand image management begins. Managing e-reputation means that at this stage it becomes necessary to communicate, to get involved in the discussions and to add a real value to the content to be transmitted in order to improve the brand’s image and to increase its credibility: make the most of the off-line reputation! From the e-reputation to the reputation, it is crucial to ensure that the company or the brand projects a coherent image and to establish a strategy that is in line with the goals that have been set. This strategy has to be coordinated across the company’s whole communication plan: external and internal communication, recruitment, training, prospecting, sales, research and development, customer service…

Transparency and argumentation
Transparency and argumentation are essential to managing e-reputation. A good strategy is to position messages and arguments on the same level as negative messages in order to give the public the chance to make up their own minds. Even if explaining oneself and acknowledging shortcomings may be harder than  acting in bad faith…

…acting off-line
Although it is important to control and monitor the conversations on the web,   the human relationship is what counts in the end. If consumers turn to the Internet and social media in order to express themselves, it is because they haven’t found the way to do so in real life. Accepting the means and understanding the techniques is crucial to moving forward, to listening in order to improve, to managing the services provided and ultimately, the reputation. Beyond communication and conversation, this must incorporate a proactive approach that allows words and actions to be coordinated. It is a question of fostering the development of the E-reputation by meeting the expectations of the customers.

Conclusions

E-reputation is simply the transposition onto the web of the real-world reputation. It represents a challenge for companies because of its rapid repercussions and because it calls for a new way of listening to what is said and of dealing with the customer’s needs. Monitoring the e-reputation will therefore lead to action (off-line): responding in the best possible way to the customer’s needs. Thus, there is not an on-line and an off-line reputation, but a global perception of the company and the brand, requiring a strategy that can be applied at all the different levels in the company, both on-line and off-line.