Guest article by Jörg Reiser
How important is the topic of brand reputation and reputation management for companies? What options do companies use to identify online threats that could damage a brand's image? The social media listening tool SentiOne conducted a survey asking managers how they monitor and protect their brand's online image and reputation. The results show that a large proportion of managers overestimate their control over their own brand and do not use technology to monitor the internet.
According to the survey, brand reputation is extremely important for all managers. 90 percent of respondents stated that it plays a very important role in the development and success of a company. Even managers who are not responsible for marketing or communications stated that they attach great importance to the topic of brand reputation. Looking at the internet, more than 80 percent of 
Respondents stated that the internet is extremely important for building a brand image. The rapid development of the internet and the associated rapid advancement of digital transformation have made this topic even more important. And managers are well aware of this fact. A full 92 percent of them state that certain online activities can have a negative impact on the brand. It's therefore not surprising that 90 percent of managers are concerned about finding negative opinions or comments about their brand online.
Various tools largely unknown
However, the survey clearly shows one thing: A large proportion of the managers surveyed overestimate the control they have over their own brand online. This is because they are still very inexperienced in how they monitor the web. Almost half of those surveyed say they only read websites and portals to find out what is being said about their own brand online. However, this approach is very time-consuming, laborious, and superficial. A social media listening tool could provide a solution here. However, 72 percent of those surveyed do not use this technology. Almost half of the managers do not know what such a service offers or what data it can generate. Over 40 percent of those surveyed have no idea that such programs exist.
But with a social media listening tool, managers could gain better insights and data-driven evidence to make the right marketing decisions, for example. Social media listening tools should therefore attract more attention in Germany and demonstrate to companies how efficient and valuable they are for monitoring and protecting a brand online.
