5 Lessons on Brand Reputation from The New York Times

“We live in an era dominated by the unyielding influence of social feeds,” so stated The New York Times in an article Sunday titled, “How Battling Brands Online Has Gained Urgency, and Impact.”

This is a must read article for anyone managing a brand, corporate, or even a personal, reputation. In talking about the ousting of Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, and Fox’s Bill O’Reilly, the Times highlighted the impact online campaigns can have on corporate decisions.

Here are some of the key lessons from the article:

• Online campaigns against brands are powerful forces in business.
• Customers have more and more influence over the way corporations behave because their voices are amplified on social media.
• Brands no longer control the message. Social media feeds do.
• Women, accounting for 85 percent of all consumer purchases and the majority of social media users, can have a big impact on how a brand is perceived.

And finally, our take on the article:

• The only way for a brand to convince consumers that the brand is behaving responsibly, is for the brand to actually behave responsibly.