Measuring and Analyzing Brand Reputation
These days, competition is fierce, no matter your industry. The most successful companies use positive brand reputation to boost their competitive edge and customer loyalty. Building a solid brand takes hard work, but the benefits are incomparable.
Here, we explain how to measure brand reputation and conduct a thorough brand reputation analysis. Implementing these simple ideas can attract more business and strengthen company performance.
What is brand reputation?
Before we get into the importance of brand reputation, what is it? Brand reputation identifies how competitors, customers, stakeholders, and the public perceive your company brand. Reputation is not how companies market themselves but how others view them. It encompasses word-of-mouth, customer service, employee retention, and societal relevance.
Most executives say brand reputation is a significant, widespread topic that is one of their greatest challenges. It depends on public opinions and a positive online reputation, which can change at a drop of a hat. Just one individual experience, good or bad, can change how much people trust you and your brand’s message — which impacts how you attract top talent and new business.
Why is measuring brand important?
Successful companies often measure brand awareness and reputation because they know it can change frequently and quickly. Regular monitoring helps leaders manage changes and grow faster than their competition. Plus, company reputation management helps companies increase customer loyalty, retain top talent, and understand their position within the market. Overall, it allows leaders to identify bottlenecks in their business and opportunities for growth.
How to measure brand reputation
To analyze your brand in the most productive way possible, you must first learn how to measure brand reputation. Effectively measuring your reputation helps companies save money, set actionable goals, and understand larger trends. To measure brand awareness and reputation, start by looking at these metrics:
Brand loyalty
Brand success and reputation depend on customer and employee loyalty. Start tracking repeat customers. If the number is unsatisfactory, determine how to add value to the customer experience. Standard metrics for measuring brand loyalty and identifying barriers include:
- Customer lifetime value (CLV)
- Customer loyalty index (CLI)
- Repeat purchase rate
Improving brand loyalty, both externally and internally, is always an important goal to have. Loyal customers improve profit and organic word–of–mouth, which keeps your doors open. It ensures that customers keep enjoying your products or services in the future, even when encountering competitors or uncertainty.
Social media research
Another way to measure brand reputation is by calculating social media reach. Successful brands count their total follows, interactions, likes, and mentions. It’s also important to track how influencers and the public talk about your brand on social media. Determine where your company gets its most meaningful social media interactions and establish a positive, strong message there.
Google rankings
Search engine optimization is a massive component of brand promotion and reputation. Google ranks companies using a complex algorithm, promoting only the most relevant and helpful content. That means the more relevant and valuable your brand content is, the easier customers can find it.
Companies must learn how to measure their google rankings, whether with a tool, new marketing program, or third–party consultant. The process helps leaders understand where their brand positioning within customers’ online search results and how to improve it to reach more people.
Online reviews
Online ratings and reviews are another great way to measure your company’s brand reputation. A positive online presence convinces more people to buy your products or services and write a positive review. Check out what everyone’s saying and who’s speaking the loudest. Record what you find and explore how your organization can improve the customer experience enough to impact future online reviews.
Website visits and subscriptions
It’s also beneficial to look at your website subscriptions and visits. Start tracking how many users visit your website, how long they stay, how many visit repeatedly, and what they’re looking at. It is the perfect way to gauge how to improve the customer experience. Plus, it’s helpful to understand what customers like engaging with.
Conducting a brand reputation analysis
Once you understand how to measure and monitor your brand reputation, it’s time to analyze the results. Brand reputation analysis is an incredibly eye–opening process. There are a few different types of analysis tools out there, but these provide the most productive insights:
Share of voice
Share of voice looks at your brand positioning on specific topics. More specifically, it looks at how well your brand attracts attention within your target audience. Share of voice compares your company’s brand visibility to direct competitors and the rest of the market. Growing your share of voice is one of the best ways to improve your internet authority and popularity.
Sentiment analysis
Some argue that sentiment analysis is the most critical brand reputation analysis metric. That’s because sentiment analysis measures context, language, and general attitude toward your brand and its products or services. Customer sentiments can be negative, neutral, or positive. When monitored over time, sentiment ratios explain more significant customer trends. This type of analysis helps companies gather data on customer feelings and values.
Competitive analysis
Share of voice is a singular kind of competitive analysis. There are a few other kinds, like mentions by channels— which compares your competitors’ visibility within various online channels. Both types of analysis are considered competitive analysis because they show how your brand stacks up against the competition. This option gives you great insight into organizational strengths and weaknesses.
Build brand reputation with Top Workplaces recognition
Employee feedback is a major component of brand reputation. Showcasing real employee comments from a credible, third-party survey provider builds an authentic, people-first brand that job seekers, customers, and business partners can trust. Nominate your organization today to build brand credibility and get the recognition you deserve!
Energage is a Certified B Corporation that helps organizations measure, shape, and showcase their culture to build a sustainable competitive advantage. Having launched the industry’s first employee engagement survey in 2006, Energage draws on the employee feedback collected through the leading employer recognition program – Top Workplaces – to maintain the industry’s most robust workplace culture benchmarks.
