Econsultancy: Reputation management to grow in popularity

The market for reputation management products and services is set to grow this year, according to a new forecast.

Econsultancy says that the rise of real-time content and social media, along with better awareness of the need to monitor brands online, will drive demand for such offerings in 2010.

However, some of the challenges that companies face when it comes to implementing an online strategy for reputation management include resourcing issues and taking on staff with the right skills.

Some digital marketing professionals may also struggle when it comes to identifying the right metrics for reputation management, according to the report.

"Monitoring can help prevent the rapid distribution of negative sentiment and, as a consequence, more companies are starting to see the value and take reputation management seriously," explains Aliya Zaidi, senior research analyst for Econsultancy.

Social media monitoring could be particularly important in light of recent research suggesting that a growing number of people are making purchases from the companies they follow on social networking websites.

The study by Chadwick Martin Bailey and iModerate Research suggested that 51 per cent of fans of Facebook Pages and 67 per cent of Twitter brand followers are likely to buy products and services from the firms they are connected with.

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