Chapter 12

Manage Reputation

Not so long ago PR firms listened by monitoring mass media sources, like print pieces and broadcast transcripts. Their efforts relied on rudimentary techniques, such as clipping books, human analysis, and basic reports on the volume of coverage, themes, and their sentiments. This all changed when these firms realized that ordinary people were holding conversations online. What had been water-cooler chats, sideline banter at soccer games, and Q and A's with local experts on some product or other moved to social spaces via keyboard presses and Internet connections.

Upon looking into online word of mouth, marketers and agencies recognized that it combined details and opinions about product features, plans, and experiences, and, importantly, the companies themselves. They saw how those conversations could bring Olympian companies to their knees, as famously happened to Dell, or to elevate niche players, like Zappos, to the pantheon.

Social media is more than a place for chitchat; social networks and their communications tools enable people to coordinate pressure tactics aimed to persuade companies to take actions they desire. Moreover, such movements do not need centralized leadership or control as they once did, since information sharing is continuous, handheld, and global. These developments place companies (and many institutions) in unfamiliar and potentially vulnerable positions, due to the intensity and speed with which their products, business practices, and/or executives can appear in opponents’ crosshairs, as the Nestlé episode amply demonstrates later in this chapter. Old-school control strategies—like taking down information, or closing access—no longer work and, typically, backfire.

Listening is critical to protecting, repairing and building reputation. The bone-shaking impacts of external events on the corporation as a whole mean that listening insights are relevant and need to be shared throughout. Consequently, the sharp lines dividing PR from other business functions like advertising, marketing, operations, product development, legal counsel, and customer support have blurred. Reputation management has become a shared responsibility throughout organizations.

Winning Plays to Manage Reputation

This chapter examines reputation management in the social media era. The case studies we analyzed, from both small and large companies, revealed the following six winning plays:

• Anticipate issues and concerns. Help your company gain valuable lead time by adopting “always-on” social media listening tactics. Regularly monitor key sites that customers, prospects, and relevant stakeholders visit frequently to tune into and follow their conversations. Steve Rubel, Edelman Digital's Senior Vice President and Director of Insights, talks about this within the context of awareness. Companies need to develop foresight, to know what is happening around them, and to be aware of what key people are doing, thinking, and feeling about companies, products, and services (Rubel 2010).

  For example, routine surveillance led toy and board game maker Hasbro to discover an Amazon review that referenced the death of a young child attributed to playing with one of the company's popular toys (detailed in the “Discover Product Threats” section later in the chapter). This event prompted Hasbro to undertake a full-fledged social media listening project, the insights from which guided its very disciplined and effective customer-centric response. Commit to a listening program to help your company avoid nasty surprises and lower the risk of significant or lasting reputation damage.

• Understand the voices in the conversation and evaluate their positions. Issue positions are seldom only two-sided, pitting customers against companies. They usually involve multiple stakeholders. Apple's “antenna-gate” issue, where the phone was faulted for dropping calls when held a certain way, was a three-way affair that involved Apple, iPhone customers, and the tech/consumer electronics media. Apple realized that consumers and the media held different positions: Customers considered the problem minor, whereas the media thought it major. Apple's response had to and did address and satisfy the opposing concerns of both groups. Keep in mind that stakeholder groups may not be homogeneous in their outlooks; people within them may hold different opinions and viewpoints. Analyze social media conversations to discover and dissect areas of interest, to ensure that all relevant perspectives are addressed.
• Bring together complementary sources of data to develop a full picture. Do not rely on social media listening data alone; use triangulation, a method of using a variety of data sources to tell a rich story. See Chapter 3 for a discussion of triangulation. Apple listened to social media conversations and consulted its own records, which included product sales trends, return rates, and call center logs. By examining customer behavior, Apple enhanced its confidence in the conclusion that customers did not find the antenna issue nearly as critical as the media commentators. That insight influenced Apple's communications strategies for customers and the media, as well as its resolution policies (see “Understand Which Voices Are Driving Comments”).
• Engage stakeholders to help enhance or restore reputation, both internally and externally. Leverage social media listening insights for reputation management strategy, but directly engage with stakeholders to bring about change. Every case we reviewed showcased the different ways companies remedied their situations. One small Web services firm intercepted disgruntled customers to resolve its problems quickly. Food product giant Nestlé changed suppliers for one of its most essential ingredients, in an attempt to satisfy the environmental demands of interest groups, customers, and other interested parties (read “Engage in Social and Environmental Issues”). Electronic game maker EA Sports rebutted a programming error made public through YouTube by submitting its own entertaining and creative video that generated much goodwill among gamers (described in the “Convert Negative Sentiment” section).
• Involve related business functions or units when engaging and responding. Hasbro's toy recall didn't involve only the communications disciplines; it also engaged the operations and legal departments. Share listening data across your organization to achieve a common understanding of the issues and insights, and present them in a framework to which colleagues can relate. Prepare engagement plans as far in advance as possible to cope with various potential scenarios of unfolding events and threats. Companies that are caught flat-footed in a crisis, like Nestlé was, can appear tone-deaf and inadvertently fan the flames of discontent. (To Nestlé's credit, the company managed to pull a 180 by moving from good, old-fashioned control-oriented defense to eventually joining the conversation and engaging sincerely with consumers.) In contrast, brands that are able to appraise the situation, bring resources to bear, and deal with troublesome matters in ways customers want—as Hulu did—can strengthen relationships while repairing, and possibly improving, their image (see “Share Listening Insights with Business Partners”). The best plan may be to head off controversy in the first place by taking an early and visible role in important issues.
• Expand foresight for more sophisticated preparedness. Most of the examples we cover portray a sudden crisis around a product or service issue with which companies grappled short term. Given the intangible value of reputation, it's in most companies’ intermediate and longer-term interests to respond to reputation problems adroitly, confidently, and effectively. Instead of making it up as you go along or doing a hasty search for guidance, institute a set of principles relevant to your company or product. Use social media listening to explore potentially reputation-threatening events, and pay careful attention to social media activity, the different voices, and their tactics. Assess the ways in which companies—perhaps your own—got a handle on the problems, attempted to resolve them, and evaluated their level of success. The next time listening signals tell you trouble is brewing, you will already be ahead of the game, when every second counts.

Companies use a variety of tactics to manage their reputations. Our case study analysis revealed six that we examine through case studies:

• Discover product threats.
• Listen to all relevant voices, not just some.
• Understand which voices are driving discussion.
• Listen to customer dissatisfaction.
• Convert negative sentiment.
• Engage in social and environmental issues.

Discover Product Threats

Not too long ago, regulatory agencies and companies themselves announced when product issues affected consumer safety. But social media has changed this, along with so many other things. Today's online conversations include product reviews and forums that enable customers and prospects to review, rate, discuss, and alert readers to benefits and problems alike. In fact, ratings and reviews are a big business in and of themselves, with vendors such as BazaarVoice (www.bazaarvoice.com) providing turnkey solutions that post reviews and comments on product or retailer Web sites. They also extend the reviews’ reach by syndicating them across different sites, thereby allowing people to easily locate them through Web searches. These developments have enabled product news and reviews to spread nearly instantaneously, making social media listening a priority for those companies committed to managing their reputations. Organizations that remain proactive through regular social media listening improve their chances of dealing effectively with good and bad news. Hasbro's case demonstrates this point.

During the 2006 holiday selling season, a Hasbro employee performing a routine check of Amazon product reviews discovered a comment no manufacturer wants to read. A toddler had died playing with one of Hasbro's products, a toy bench and workshop complete with tools, screws, and nails. The toy maker immediately contacted the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which found upon investigation that the nails were only suitable for children three years or older, and found that the product labeling was correct. “The toy without the nails does not present a hazard,” Consumer Product Safety Commission spokeswoman Julie Vallese told the Washington Post: “Parents don't have to take the entire toy away; they just have to remove the nails.” Hasbro voluntarily recalled the product and offered a gift certificate to product owners in exchange for nails they returned (quoted in Shin 2006).

Parents’ concerns and anxieties can reach fever pitch when their children's safety is at risk, and especially when putting lots of thought into the perfect holiday present. News of product recalls tends to generate widespread media coverage, giving consumers a great deal to say on blogs, message boards, and review sites. The choice to manage its response required that Hasbro do a lot more than check a review site. The company had to monitor and analyze substantial numbers of posts and comments. To do so, it worked with full-service social media listening vendor TNS Cymfony to identify and track themes, analyze consumer reaction, evaluate Hasbro's response, and monitor the progress of the crisis. Hasbro learned that the major conversation drivers centered on safety and foreign production of toys, and that specific concerns were directed toward two specific brands, but not the Hasbro brand overall. These insights shaped Hasbro's communications and response, and ensured that it directly addressed customer concerns.

The responsibility of managing recalls is spread out across different departments. Products need to be taken off store shelves; customer service has to ramp up; legal strategy must be developed; and government relations need to be opened. Hasbro involved consumer insights, senior management, marketing, PR, and operations to share the social media listening results and evaluate how best to act on them from their functional perspectives.

The results were positive. Post volume dropped by 75 percent after the first week, signifying that the communications and response were calming the situation. The way that Hasbro handled this crisis earned 42 percent more positive mentions than negative ones, and the company “was able to address specific product issues and concerns in a timely manner and maintain consumer confidence.” One consumer statement summed it up pretty well: “I have bought in confidence this year in light of the recalls. I think it's unfortunate [that] they happened, but I have to say that my confidence has not been compromised. They were extremely proactive in getting toys off the shelves” (TNS Cymfony 2009). Social media listening enabled Hasbro to address specific consumer concerns in close to real time; its insights contributed to an authoritative response and headed off damage to its image.

Listen to All Relevant Social Media Sources, Not Just Some

Listening to appropriate sources for social media listening lets companies hear the “right” voices, as well as the full spectrum of conversation topics. This is essential to achieving constructive data, and directly influences the quality and utility of listening insights derived from data analysis. Assembling a family of relevant social media sources assures completeness; in contrast, failing to include important sources risks missing important discussions, skews investigations, and results in misleading insights, since source data is incomplete. (See Chapter 1 for a discussion on voices.) An experience American Airlines (AA) had with a service interruption teaches us about the problems of relying on limited sources.

There are certainly legitimate reasons for airlines canceling and rescheduling flights, such as poor weather conditions. Travelers deal with these from time to time, and while they aren't happy about it, the sting is somewhat relieved by knowing the cause is a just one. It's an entirely different matter when airlines cancel flights and disrupt travel for reasons completely within their control. Such an event occurred with American when the airline halted all its MD80 flights over four days in 2008 because it had neglected to comply with an engineering compliance/change order on wire bundles, as ordered by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). According to a representative, the airline “used every communication channel available to stay in contact with people and let them know what was going on.” After monitoring comments, AA “felt that the information was generally correct and balanced enough to where we didn't have to get involved in the conversation. Some of the comments were tough to take, and on some blogs people were actually defending us.”

Customers, however, were furious, not only at the delays, but at the company and its executives. Comments responding to the news on popular blog PlaneBuzz asked: “OK, so would it be tacky to bring up the issue of executive bonuses right now?” Another: “Why would you think the CEO would have any morals or ethics?”

Blog analytics company Hitwise revealed that Web site complaints about the airline went up 25 percent over the same time a year earlier. Instead of having a response mechanism in place to address customers in a timely manner, AA instructed travelers to e-mail their opinions, which resulted in a 13 percent spike. But the next stat was eyepopping: About 75 percent went to social networking site MySpace to vent their frustrations (Qualman 2009).

This case sharply outlines the perils of limiting the social media sources to which a company listens. American Airlines fell short in a number of key ways:

• First, it was not thorough. Although AA claimed to use “all communication channels,” its online monitoring appeared to be limited to the blogosphere, as there were no mentions of any other social media.
• Second, AA failed to scrutinize social networks. People use social media for different purposes: Blogging and social networking are not equivalent, and it's a mistake to assume that they are. Consequently, AA could not get to the specifics of comments expressing anger, frustration, or support about delays or the airline. It certainly would have been instructive to learn what travelers thought about AA's maintenance practices, and their perceptions on booking future trips. Such insights could rebuild trust and confidence.
• Third, AA missed valuable opportunities to engage with its customers. By failing to join the conversation, the company wasn't able to support defenders. It also missed the chance to confirm, deny, or help affected travelers with issues, which allowed the back-and-forth to continue, with no apparent end to the storm—other than time and the unknown, likely detrimental impacts on the brand.

Understand Which Voices Are Driving Comments

Should, as the saying goes, “the squeaky wheel get the grease?” In other words, should marketers and advertisers pay the most attention to the loudest voices?

Social media is rife with voices clamoring for attention, essentially shouting, “Listen to me! I have something to say.” It's important to know which voices to heed, and understand what they are saying. At times, these voices can be at odds with one another, which presents companies with the problem of evaluating them, judging their merits, and deciding on a course of action. Apple iPhone 4's “antenna-gate” is one example.

Encouraged largely by unrelenting conventional and social media attention to what was perceived as a major product misstep—a faulty antenna implementation on its newly launched iPhone 4 that caused dropped calls if held a certain way—Apple was hammered by authoritative voices for its slow and poorly executed progression of responses to resolve it. The company initially blamed users for holding the phone incorrectly; it then claimed that a software glitch caused the problem and promised a patch to fix it. However, Apple's deeper investigation revealed that there was some truth to the holding issue—primarily affecting people who held the phone in their left hand—but the software problem related to another matter. Apple CEO Steve Jobs eventually held a press conference announcing a solution: free phone cases to remedy the holding/dropped call problem. Jobs also detailed factual data that helped put the matter in perspective, and made it clear that the problem was not Apple's alone; other carriers experienced similar problems, which they documented on their Web site.

Jobs also made a significant point based on insights gleaned from social media listening, which were then triangulated with Apple's own records (see Chapter 3 for a discussion of triangulation). Customers, Apple found, were not nearly as lathered up about the issue as the journalists, pundits, and gurus. Jobs documented that logged calls into AppleCare for the antenna problem amounted to only about one-half of 1 percent of all calls for the iPhone 4; sales kept exploding, and the product return rate was under 2 percent, well below the 6 percent of the previous iPhone model. In short, his conference worked: Google search levels, which serve as a proxy for interest, spiked on the day of the press conference, and then quickly tapered off to lower levels as people considered and apparently approved of Apple's response (Rappaport 2010).

Apple's appraisal of these voices and their different positions toward the iPhone validated the company's approach to resolving the issue. The brand maintained positive views among customers by fixing the problem for the small number of people experiencing it, and shifting the negative sentiment expressed by the authorities to neutral or better by countering with the facts. Apple successfully balanced expectations or demands for immediate and expensive remedies, such as a wholesale product recall, with getting the facts out and establishing a basis for their actions (Cooper 2010; German and Ogg 2010; Winterfeld 2010; Google Insights for Search 2010).

Listen to Customer Dissatisfaction

Customer dissatisfaction can potentially lead to customer loss and impaired ability to attract new purchasers. Companies must understand the reasons underlying dissatisfaction to develop insights for reversing the sentiment and help keep them on a growth path. The two companies we discuss next experienced high levels of dissatisfaction: The first was caused by a failure to tune into customers; the second was caused by a service change. We'll look at the social media listening-inspired strategies they employed to turn their situations around.

Tune into Customers

“My Dell Hell,” the classic case of a prominent blogger who lambasted Dell's customer service, opened the industry's eyes to the importance of blogger relations and engaging with customers. Dell famously responded with DirectToDell and Dell Ideastorm, the latter driven by none other than Michael Dell himself, remaking the company inside to match its world outside.

Portland-based Internet marketer and software solutions provider NetBiz encountered a similar situation to Dell's. Despite the fact that some of its 12,000 small business clients were loudly complaining on blogs, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social networks, the company didn't know it, because it wasn't listening to social media. After NetBiz finally caught on, the provider realized that although there was truth to some of the comments, plenty of them were inaccurate or distorted. Taking a page from Dell's playbook, NetBiz decided to turn the situation around and smash its “wall of silence” by social media listening, engaging, and providing service in new ways. Its actions can serve to instruct companies of all sizes.

Starting with social media listening, NetBiz used a combination of free tools, like Google Alerts, and low-cost services, and created a presence on key social media sites to pick up the conversation. Now, when company listeners encounter dissatisfied customers, they escalate to direct engagements by approaching individuals to understand the reasons they're unhappy. They then work jointly toward finding solutions. Developing relationships with prominent small business and search bloggers allows NetBiz to tap into their expertise and guidance. Together, all of these activities help the company develop deeper insights into customers and prospects.

Also seeking to become more transparent, NetBiz started a blog that showcased customer successes, a very active Q&A section concerning all matters related to Internet and small business marketing, and stories about its charitable and community-based activities (see Figure 12.1).

Figure 12.1 NetBiz listened to customer complaints and responded with a program modeled on Dell's.

The company created a branded community on Facebook to have another social media listening post, to educate, engage, and develop new insights. NetBiz shows companies that are in the process of determining how to implement social media listening with modest budgets and goals that it can indeed be done—and done well.

Share Listening Insights with Business Partners

Online video streaming Web site Hulu licenses selected content from hundreds of sources, such as TV networks, movie studios, cable properties, and Web sites. The TV networks dictate which programs Hulu can stream; for example, in 2009, when FX asked Hulu to remove episodes of the popular series It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia from the site immediately, Hulu complied. A short time later, Hulu users expressed their outrage across social media, airing frustration at the lack of warning and explanation for the removal of the series. Gathering and analyzing the content and sentiments in Twitter updates, complaint e-mails, and blog posts regarding the issue, Hulu CEO Jason Kilar consulted with FX to craft an acceptable solution. Together they agreed that episodes could run for two weeks, and then be removed. Kilar then conveyed the news in a letter, along with an apology to users for the poor way in which his company handled the show's removal. This quick, smart response stopped the snowballing negative sentiment toward Hulu in its tracks. Numerous blogs republished Kilar's letter, which was received warmly by Hulu-ians for the company's honesty in admitting fault and for giving users another chance to watch the show (Kilar 2009; Saleem 2009).

Convert Negative Sentiment

Customers will take companies to task over small and large problems alike if they affect enjoyment or detract from the product experience. The “holy grail” turns the words of naysayers, complainers, or smart-alecks around to create positive results that engage a community. EA Sports’ example shows us how this was done with humor and style.

Can Tiger Woods really walk on water? One fan of Electronic Arts’ popular Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 game, Levinator25, thought otherwise. He even went so far as posting a video on YouTube calling out a glitch in the game: Tiger striding across a water hazard and hitting his ball seemingly from a perfect lie.

EA Sports, the game's maker, regularly monitors its discussion boards and noticed references to the video. Companies facing this kind of publicity might expect an uproar from their core audiences, especially when they are so passionate. Comments on the Tiger Woods forum show just how deep they run; every feature is scrutinized, analyzed, and commented upon. Here's an example:

In regards to this flagstick hitting issue, am I the only one who thinks the sound of the impact needs work? Really, it sounds more like hitting a mud wall than a metal or fiberglass flagstick. Minor point, but again it would lend it more towards the “sim factor.”

One reply: “It just happened to me on the first hole at Wolfcreek—from maybe 3 inches up the pole right into the sand trap 15 yards away—very unrealistic if you hit it almost at bottom level.

Let's remind ourselves: They're talking about a video game.

A company that's been in business for many years, it's safe to say EA Sports understands its audience, due to the social media listening it has done in its “brand backyard,” from sources like user forums, and “consumer backyard” sources, where gamers congregate (see Chapter 1 for more detail on backyards). EA also gleaned from game designers that players love “Easter eggs” and other hidden features and surprises they can uncover.

Rather than responding conventionally, EA Sports—as the old software saying goes—“treated the bug as a feature.” The brand publicly responded a short while later to Levinator25 and its community with a YouTube video featuring the “glitch,” followed by the real Tiger Woods making the shot.

Figure 12.2 Responding to a negative video criticism of its popular Tiger Woods game, EA Sports created its own YouTube video, which not only defused the point, but was warmly embraced by its community.

Rather than describe the video, you can view it on YouTube; just type this link into your browser: www.bitly.com/eavideo_woods.

Gamers really appreciated EA Sports’ effort. The brand not only countered the “glitch” comment; it generated enviable levels of engagement that strengthened connections between players and the game. In September 2010, YouTube viewing stats showed Levinator25's video getting a tad over 1 million views; EA Sports reply video, over 5 million YouTube views—and viewers commented and rated the video at higher rates. EA Sports built upon the buzz around the video response for marketing the game's 2009 edition (YouTube 2010).

Engage in Social and Environmental Issues

People look for companies to address social and environmental concerns that arise from their own, or from their industry, profession, or business. This has been true since the publication of Rachel Carson's landmark book Silent Spring in 1962, which documented the effects of the widespread use of synthetic pesticide DDT. Global warming, habitat destruction, and sustainability are just three hot topics many companies face today. Worldwide sensitivities to these and other issues continue to increase, spurred by globalization and companies scouring the world for supplies and finding ways to produce or secure them. How companies manage and communicate such issues has a considerable effect on the marketplace: Customers and prospects use them to assess company reputations and their purchase decisions, while regulators and interest groups may launch investigations, demand accountability, or give praise.

Managing reputation requires companies to act and engage in social and environmental issues, not just listen passively to social media conversations about them. Companies can be reactive or proactive. We'll examine two cases: a reactive one featuring Nestlé, and a proactive one launched by P&G in 2010.

Embrace Engagement

Nestlé's case differs from most others discussed earlier because the food manufacturer was targeted by special-interest group Greenpeace for its environmental practices. In March 2010, Nestlé came under fire for buying some of its palm oil supply—a key ingredient in its popular Kit Kat bar—from a firm that had been accused of repeatedly destroying Indonesia's rainforest to plant palm trees. In an act to protect Indonesia's rainforest and endangered orangutans and other rare animals, Greenpeace unleashed a global social media protest that spawned from a video that went viral. The video depicted an office worker biting in to a “Killer” bar, packaged identically to Nestlé's Kit Kat, and finding an orangutan's finger. The gruesome and bloody video satire sparked massive consumer outrage about Nestlé's palm oil sourcing in thousands of postings, tweets, and uploads to blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

Nestlé listened to the online protest, but was unsure of how to conduct an appropriate social media response. Initial attempts to neutralize the complaints were naïve and defensive because the company did not understand the value of engagement and conversation at that time. Nestlé's traditional command-and-control communication tactics and censorship enraged people. The company had the Greenpeace video removed from YouTube, citing copyright infringement. This backfired by prompting even more curiosity about the video and increasing anti-Nestlé sentiment. Nestlé's Facebook page filled with criticism, to which it responded by furiously hitting “delete” on all negative comments concerning the palm oil debate. Its online reputation took a hit, with people describing the situation using words like “disaster,” “nightmare,” “meltdown,” and the cleverly wordsmithed “kitkatastrophe” (Hickman 2010; Infegy.com 2010; Greenpeace.org 2010).

Nestlé started learning how to display more open-minded behavior and begin addressing the problems head-on. The company apologized on its Facebook page and opened itself up to discussing the issues and stating its case: It explained that it had already ceased operations with the criticized palm oil firm, and noted it only ever purchased 1.25 percent of its supply from them.

Not long after the release of the Greenpeace video, Nestlé announced a “zero deforestation” policy, and partnered with the Forest Trust to monitor its conduct. Greenpeace extolled Nestlé's policy adoption and commitment to sustainable palm oil production as an important victory.

Nestlé's case highlights a few additional points worth discussing. First, Greenpeace gave a lot of credit to people around the world for participating through social media and taking their own initiatives. In the organization's words, “People are awesome!” Greenpeace viewed its role as offering guidelines for citizen action but not masterminding or scripting every move; it trusted that people would use measured judgment, coordinate among themselves via social tools, and do good things. Second, the campaign started and ended in just 10 weeks. That's less than one business quarter, and a time frame within which few executives have experience for making big market-influencing changes. For contrast, another earlier successful Greenpeace campaign for infant formula took 10 years. Last, several of the tactics Greenpeace used overwhelmed Nestlé to such an extent that the company did not have adequate response plans. For example, Greenpeace encouraged people to friend Nestlé's Facebook site, switch their avatar pictures to the “Killer” logo, and negatively comment on palm oil. More than 20,000 did (Social Media Club of Sydney 2010). We can expect that high-pressure global social media campaigns will become more prevalent as greater numbers of people join social networks.

Align the Company

Companies like Procter & Gamble have proactively made large-scale commitments to social issues. P&G's global focus on sustainability, for example, intends to position the company as out in front of the issue, shape positive images, win new customers, and avoid reputation-harming protests and citizen actions. Here's how CEO Bob McDonald explains it:

Consumers are more skeptical today and more cynical than ever before, and want to know what they're buying into. When we do the right thing, consumers give us the benefit of the doubt and help us win at the first moment of truth, when they're in front of a shelf, or in front of the Internet, buying a product. I think when you do the right thing, with social networks the way they are today, the business just takes off (quoted in WARC 2010, emphasis added).

However, sustainability entails more than a single company deciding on good innovation, production, and marketing practices, which are then communicated to consumers. That is outdated paternalistic strategy. Sustainability requires an evolving dialog and adaptation in which companies, consumers, scientists, and governments collaborate over time. It also means continuously gathering and interpreting early signals through worldwide social media listening, in order to understand the conversations, what's working, what's not, where new interests lie, and adjusting accordingly.

Summary

Managing reputation in the social media era presents companies with unfamiliar challenges and vulnerabilities. We must recognize that companies are no longer separate from customers, but rather part of their conversations—a trend that can quickly turn positive or negative, and impact marketplace performance accordingly. Brands need to anticipate those turns in order to confidently and effectively plan, engage, and respond. Social media listening provides companies with insight from marketplace signals for doing so.