It is critical for those who are looking to develop reputation management practices to recognize that reputation is not the same as representation, or image. What is held-out as “reputation management” by the plethora of purveyors who rise up out of a search on that term is often really something else – an expanded form of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) which has now grown beyond a focus on Google results to encompass the myriad other places and ways your name may be found online. It is unfortunate that “reputation” has become misused in the marketing of advanced SEO, because at its core, this practice is less about reputation than it is about representation. This is what much of “online reputation” management is really talking about – managing appearances.

To be sure, what people find online when searching on your name or specialty can influence your corporate reputation, but the representation of your brand online is only one of several components that make up corporate reputation. Reputation is about more than appearances, it is about the expectations that people hold, expectations which are built over time via a variety of interactions with the brand. While expectations are influenced by the way you appear online, they are also influenced in many other ways; through direct experience with the brand, through offline word of mouth, and through print and broadcast media as well as social media. Real reputation management needs to focus on measuring, understanding and engaging in all of these ways.

When “online” is attached to “reputation management”, buyers should be aware of what they are not getting. Real reputation management is about strategically and proactively building expectations of the brand which will provide advantages in positive times, and will create a buffer against brand damage should a reputation crisis arise. The better your reputation, the more it may be used to competitive advantage, and the more “benefit of the doubt” you will receive when troubles or accusations arise.

Reputation is built over time – and this is where its (mis)use as a term for marketing advanced SEO becomes so concerning. Because while real reputation management is long-term activity focused on building positive expectations amongst the full array of key stakeholders that may impact your brand, on-line representation and visibility is all about immediate results in a specific medium. If a potential or active reputation crisis arises around your brand, systems and services that promote your visibility online and seek to control other results may hold off the appearance of conversation about the problem (at least for a while), but they do nothing to help understand or resolve the reputation crisis itself.