How brand reputation has gone digital

Your Brand Reputation is shaped on social media. It is no longer built solely through PR, word-of-mouth or traditional media. Today, it is created, and sometimes, destroyed online and in real-time. Platforms like X, LinkedIn, Instagram and TikTok have become powerful spaces for expression, where anyone, from consumers and activists to journalists and media outlets, can influence how a brand is perceived.

Negative or high-risk content can take many forms: a customer complaint, a poorly worded statement, or a post from a critical influencer. These can quickly gain traction and spark widespread conversations, nationally or even internationally, escalating into a full-blown crisis within hours.

Why social media is the driving force behind online reputation

Social media moves fast, and no two platforms are the same. While X (formerly Twitter) has long been known as a breeding ground for PR crises, it’s no longer the only network where reputational risks emerge. Instagram, TikTok, Bluesky and LinkedIn have all become spaces where backlash can break out and spread rapidly.

Take Instagram, for example. Once seen as a lifestyle-focused platform filled with travel, food and aspirational content, it’s now also the site of high-profile brand controversies. One recent example: The Nike India Boycott.

The same applies to TikTok, YouTube, and increasingly, LinkedIn. Once strictly professional, LinkedIn has shifted — its user base has diversified, conversations have broadened, and heated debates are becoming more common. As a result, it’s not unusual to see brand-related controversies gain traction there too.

Another growing trend? Cross-platform amplification. A crisis that starts on one platform can easily spill over to others — making it even more important for brands to monitor conversations holistically and in real time.

The risks brands face in the age of social media

As the social media landscape continues to evolve, crises are becoming more frequent — and the risks for brands are multiplying. The most common include:

• Reputational damage: loss of trust from consumers, clients, partners, and the media

• Calls for boycotts: public backlash leading to organised consumer mobilisation

• Financial impact: drop in sales, revenue loss, or share price fluctuations

• Employer brand issues: difficulty attracting and retaining talent, affecting long-term competitiveness

• Legal and regulatory risks: investigations, administrative sanctions, or financial penalties

• Loss of competitive edge: falling behind competitors and risking market share

Online reputations are built, and broken

A brand’s reputation is no longer shaped solely by its official communications, public statements, or corporate actions. It’s also influenced by the perceptions and interactions of a wide range of stakeholders, from employees and customers to partners, journalists, and the general public.

Reputation takes time to build. It’s forged through consistent values, meaningful commitments, and the day-to-day interactions that define how a brand behaves. But despite that long-term effort, it can all be undermined by a single event, message or campaign. Some common examples include:

• A misjudged ad campaign — such as Guerlain’s controversial “quantum” face cream

• A poorly received statement from a company leader or employee

• Ethical or social missteps — including accusations of greenwashing

• Product issues — as seen in the Citroën recall

• Health and safety crises — like the Buitoni and Kinder food scandals

• Staying silent in the face of a sensitive situation

• A controversial rebrand — for example, Jaguar

• A partnership that sparks backlash — such as the Pernod Ricard controversy

Protecting online reputation through social listening

In today’s environment, using a social media monitoring tool is no longer optional — it’s essential for brands, communications agencies and institutions alike. Social listening offers real-time insights that are key to anticipating crises, understanding emerging narratives, and adapting communication strategies accordingly.

An effective monitoring strategy operates across three crucial phases:

• Before the crisis: Proactive monitoring, supported by structured alerts, helps identify weak signals early on — and flags any unusual spikes in attention around your brand in real time.

• During the crisis: Social listening provides a clear, real-time picture of what’s happening — who’s speaking, on which platforms, using what kind of language. This visibility allows teams to adjust messaging quickly and coordinate their communications response.

• After the crisis: Post-crisis analysis offers valuable insights. Understanding how the crisis began, which communities amplified it, when conversation peaked, and how your brand was perceived helps strengthen your future response strategies.

Social media monitoring: the cornerstone of a 360° online reputation strategy

To truly manage your online reputation, it’s vital to monitor all social media platforms and gain a comprehensive, accurate view. Ignoring any one platform is risky, a crisis can start on LinkedIn, spread on TikTok, be debated on X, and amplified on Telegram. Limiting your monitoring to just one channel means missing early warning signs that could go viral. An effective strategy requires broad coverage.

This is exactly where Visibrain stands out, offering the most comprehensive social listening coverage on the market. It provides exhaustive monitoring across all key platforms: LinkedIn, TikTok, X, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Bluesky, Threads, and Telegram. This 360° view enables organisations to stay alert, identify potential crises early, and anticipate risks, no matter where they arise.

Anticipate a crisis with Visibrain alerts

Visibrain has developed an advanced alert system designed to support communication teams, analysts and monitoring professionals in their day-to-day work. These real-time or scheduled notifications let you know immediately if a post about your brand starts to go viral, if a public figure comments on your organisation, if mentions spike above normal levels, or if a press article begins gaining traction.

Alerts are available across all the social media platforms monitored by Visibrain and come with powerful yet intuitive customisation options, making it easy to adapt to different use cases.

Users can choose to receive alerts via the channel that suits them best, whether it’s email, Slack, Teams, Telegram, or even SMS. One key advantage: there’s no limit on the number of alerts, ensuring maximum responsiveness without constraints.

Track a crisis in real time with Visibrain reports

Alongside alerts, Visibrain reports provide a clear, structured, and evolving overview of the situation. They’re designed to help communication teams visualise the most relevant data at a glance, based on the criteria that matter most to them.

Like alerts, reports are unlimited, you can share them with as many recipients as needed, and choose the most convenient delivery method: email, Slack, Teams, or Telegram.

Fully customisable, these reports adapt to the specific needs of each situation. They can include quantitative insights (e.g. volume trends, number of active users, breakdown of mentions) as well as qualitative analysis (e.g. most viral posts, hashtag or keyword clouds, sentiment overview). A valuable tool for managing crisis communication with speed, clarity, and confidence.

Get a clear, real-time view with Visibrain's SMARTboards 

Visibrain dashboards offer a streamlined, real-time view of online conversations, a crucial asset for managing your brand’s reputation effectively. Fully customisable in both form and function, dashboards can be tailored to reflect your brand identity by incorporating your colours, logo, and key metrics relevant to your specific needs.

They consolidate data from all monitored platforms, giving you a comprehensive overview, while also allowing for detailed focus on individual or multiple platforms. This is especially useful for comparing tone and messaging across networks.

For instance, a crisis may be framed and discussed very differently on LinkedIn, where the tone tends to be more professional, than on Instagram, which favours a more visual and spontaneous style. This level of granularity helps teams fine-tune their messaging for each channel and better understand the expectations of every audience.

Example of a Visibrain SMARTboard:

Reputation monitoring isn’t just about detecting incidents, it also requires continuous, real-time analysis. That’s exactly what Visibrain SMARTboards are designed for. These dynamic dashboards track all the key metrics linked to brand reputation: post volume, breakdown by platform, engagement levels, number of comments, impressions, and more.

SMARTboards also allow for the creation of custom segments to sharpen your analysis. For example, you can isolate and monitor posts from influential figures, such as political leaders, journalists or opinion-makers,and measure their impact in real time. This level of granularity gives communication teams a true 360° view, blending both quantitative and qualitative insights to help refine strategy in step with the evolving conversation.

Spot opportunities for your brand with social listening

Social listening goes far beyond detecting early warning signs, it’s a powerful strategic lever for brands.

By analysing online conversations in real time, it becomes possible to identify concrete communication and engagement opportunities. Some key examples include:

• Identifying high-potential content creators: With Visibrain, you can spot creators already talking about your brand, your sector, or related topics. These profiles can become valuable brand ambassadors for future campaigns, events, or long-term partnerships. By analysing their audience, tone, and engagement levels, you can make smart, strategic decisions that align with your brand goals.
• Detecting emerging trends in your sector: Social listening helps you stay ahead of the curve by spotting new behaviours, topics, and audience interests before they go mainstream. By tracking conversation shifts, trending topics, and recurring themes, you can fine-tune your content and communication strategy accordingly.
• Surfacing key hashtags and strategic keywords: Social platforms are fertile ground for new hashtags and keywords. Spotting them early allows you to optimise your messaging, tap into cultural moments, and position your brand as an active listener within the digital ecosystem.
• Reacting to viral content and high-potential conversations: On social media, a single post can go viral in hours. Monitoring these posts helps you understand their tone and traction — and respond as a brand with speed and relevance. Whether it’s a funny tweet, a meme, or a trending news topic, knowing how and when to join the conversation can boost engagement and strengthen your connection with your community.

Detect content creators for future campaigns

In the fast-moving world of influencer marketing, one of the main challenges lies in identifying and collaborating with the right profiles: those who genuinely align with a brand's identity and values.

This is where social media monitoring plays a crucial role. It enables brands to spot creators who are already talking about them, or about topics closely related to their sector. These voices, often authentic and passionate, represent a valuable opportunity for natural, credible partnerships that resonate more strongly with audiences.

In the example below, a brand in the beauty and cosmetics sector might monitor the keyword “beauty” on TikTok, a platform where content on this topic is particularly active and fast-moving. With the help of social listening tools, the brand can identify the most influential creators based on specific criteria such as follower count, volume of comments, engagement rate, and more.

It’s also worth noting that brands can use social listening to identify nano-influencers, creators with smaller but highly engaged communities. With advanced filters like those offered by Visibrain, it’s easy to isolate and analyse these profiles, paving the way for targeted, high-impact collaborations. These partnerships are often perceived as more authentic by audiences, and can drive meaningful engagement at a local or niche level.

Spotting emerging trends

New trends emerge on social media every day, some short-lived and others more long-term. In this fast-moving environment, it is essential for brands to be alerted quickly to rising topics so they can respond at the right moment with relevance and precision.

That is exactly what social listening enables. It detects viral content in real time, identifies trending hashtags, and monitors conversations as they gain momentum. By capitalising on these early signals, brands can adjust their messaging, create content that aligns with what matters to their community, and boost impact while staying agile.

The rise of keywords and hashtags 

Beyond trends, keywords and hashtags play a central role in spreading content and structuring conversations. Their appearance and growing popularity provide valuable signals for brands that want to stay connected to their audience.

Social listening allows for the rapid detection of new terms and expressions gaining traction. This gives brands the opportunity to integrate these codes into their communication. Using relevant hashtags at the right time improves visibility, optimises social SEO, and strengthens connections with targeted communities.

For example, in recent years the hashtag #BookTok has seen a huge boom on TikTok, becoming a viral phenomenon among book lovers. Social listening helps identify the most used expressions, keywords, and hashtags to reveal sub-trends such as the most popular books, trending literary styles, and authors gaining momentum.

Reacting to viral posts

On social media, some posts go viral in record time, generating a large volume of conversations around a topic, event, or point of view. For brands, being able to detect these spikes in interest allows them to respond quickly and appropriately, speaking up at just the right moment. This strategic reaction to a viral post can boost the brand’s visibility, create a stronger connection with its community, and demonstrate active listening. Social media monitoring is therefore an essential tool to capture these opportunities in real time and adapt communication to the current mood.

Example: In June, Marks & Spencer took advantage of the virality of the japanese fruit sandwich, to release their own Strawberries & Creme Sandwich. This move resulted in almost 40,000 likes on Instagram: around 30 times their page's average engagement.

Original article by Marie Guyomarc’h, adapted and translated by Sophie von Mensenkampff