A positive online reputation builds trust and credibility with your audience and helps you stand out from competitors. But sometimes, despite your best efforts, your business might attract negative attention. Whether it’s an unfavorable comment, review, social media post or press mention, without action, these incidents can spread like wildfire online and become a full-blown PR crisis.

Reputation management services help businesses handle and avoid these situations, minimizing professional damage and guiding them through the storm.

But how do you know which online reputation service is the best fit for your needs?

In this article, you’ll learn what an online reputation management service is, how they support businesses’ goals and our recommendations for the best providers in the market.

What is a reputation management service?

A reputation management service is a professional service or software platform that helps individuals and businesses optimize and control how people perceive them.Reputation management services usually include a range of strategies, such as search engine optimization (SEO), content creation, social media management and review management. These services help people monitor and improve their online reputation and quickly respond to negative feedback or other reputational threats.

3 benefits of using a reputation management service

News travels fast in today’s ‘always-on’ social media landscape. Regardless of your intentions, one negative comment or review could lead to a more serious situation that could harm your business’ reputation. Reputation management services protect your brand and help you maintain a positive and professional image through the following advantages.

Proactive crisis management

Successful crisis management isn’t just about putting out fires but actively preventing them in the first place. Reputation management services help organizations consistently monitor and maintain their social media channels, business listings and other online platforms to foster an overall positive and trustworthy digital presence. They also help businesses curb potential PR risks with timely alerts for spikes in message volume or negative sentiment that could spiral into a bigger issue if not handled promptly.

Helps build and maintain your brand community

Social media and review sites are important online channels for engaging with your brand community. Any feedback you get through them, positive or negative, is an opportunity to connect with people. Reputation management services help you quickly address your audience’s concerns, resolve issues and acknowledge their comments, showing your brand community how much you value their opinions and actively listen to them. This will deepen your connection.

Improves the credibility and trust of your brand

According to a 2024 BrightLocal survey, 77% of consumers check at least two review sites or platforms before making a purchasing decision, and 71% of consumers would not consider using a business with an average rating below three stars. While managing and responding to reviews on multiple review platforms manually can be time-consuming, reputation management services streamline this work to keep your average ratings high and ensure your customers feel good about choosing you.

9 best reputation management services for your brand

You might have different reputation management needs, depending on your industry and company size. For example, smaller companies or individuals may prefer to work with an agency that can handle this work for them. In comparison, a large fast-food chain may need software to handle a high volume of comments and reviews.

Here are some of the top reputation management service solutions, from managed services to software platforms.

1. Sprout Social

Preview of Sprout’s review management dashboard showing sources, ratings and tags.

With integrations to platforms like Google My Business, Yelp, TripAdvisor, Facebook and Glassdoor, Sprout Social helps users centralize their social media and review management. Sprout’s unified Smart Inbox saves you time and stress monitoring and managing reviews across various sites and helps your customer care teams respond to reviews faster.

Additional features like sentiment analysis, social listening and AI-powered workflows let users keep a close eye on their audiences and quickly jump into the conversation if needed.
Here’s a quick overview of some of our most notable listening tools.

  • Smart Inbox: Our unified inbox aggregates all of your brand conversations into one place, so you never miss a message.
  • Brand Keywords: This custom search helps you keep track of relevant Twitter/X discussions, even if users don’t tag your brand directly or use specific hashtags.
  • Trends Report: This report will show you trending hashtags and topics related to your brands, as well as which people and brands engage with you the most.
  • Keyword Report: This report highlights keywords related to your brand, competition and industry. Use it to discover keyword usage patterns, track hashtag campaigns and keep tabs on your industry.

2. Reputation

Reputation’s Reputation Score feature, which includes other metrics like average ratings and social media sentiment.

Reputation offers a broad suite of reputation management features, such as business listings, review management, survey tools and help desk ticketing. Notable features include the Reputation Score (like a health rating for your online reputation), a customizable dashboard and a mobile app.

3. ReviewTrackers

ReviewTracker’s review management features, which shows average ratings and review volume across multiple sites: Google, Facebook, TripAdvisor, Grubhub and Foursquare.

ReviewTrackers helps businesses monitor and analyze reviews, improve their online presence through local SEO strategies, and leverage customer feedback to enhance experiences. It also includes noteworthy add-ons like employer and software brand monitoring and app store monitoring.

4. Podium

Podium’s auto-reminder review management feature, which shows a text review request and sample customer review.

Podium is a reputation management solution with core features like Google and Facebook review management, calling and SMS messaging and social messaging. It integrates with over 200 tools and systems and has an AI assistant function for quick message replies.

5. NetReputation

NetReputation’s reputation management process, which includes five steps: research, development, content, publishing and promotion.

NetReputation provides online reputation management services to individuals and companies. The team’s process starts with a reputation analysis, where they identify top keywords, all positive and negative results featuring their client’s name or brand and any ongoing and potential reputational threats. Then they develop your websites and business directory listings and create, optimize, publish and promote content to foster a more positive reputation for you.

6. Google Business Profile

Google Business Profile review summary.

A Google Business Profile is a free business listing on Google Search and Maps. This profile contains essential info like your company’s phone number, location, and operating hours, as well as more personalized content like business photos, posts and attributes to identify your business as Black-owned, women-owned, veteran-owned or LGBTQ+ friendly.

Customers can leave reviews and questions on a Google Business Profile, which owners can respond to publicly. The platform also offers analytics on search keywords and reviews.

7. BrandYourself

BrandYourself Reputation Score report that shows reputation scores in a color-coded manner

BrandYourself offers online reputation management software and managed services for individuals and businesses. Their software gives users a free risk scan, a Reputation Score report and suggestions for improving their online presence. Their managed services include review management, personal branding, employee branding and harmful Google result suppression. They also have paid add-on features for private info protection, dark web alerts, SEO and social media cleanup.

8. Reputology

Reputology's homepage hero section.

Reputology, which is now part of ASG MarTech’s suite under the Grade.Us brand, is a review monitoring and management platform that helps businesses monitor, respond to and analyze their online reviews. They offer 24/7 review monitoring, automated email notifications, sentiment analysis and customizable surveys. One standout feature is their analytics, which allows customers to track their company’s performance at the organization, regional and storefront levels.

9. Birdeye

Birdeye’s review management features, which shows a centralized dashboard, example reviews, and responses.

Birdeye is a reputation management and digital customer experience platform for local brands and multi-location businesses. They specialize in review management, social media management, business listing management, messaging, appointments, payments and survey features. They’ve also integrated AI into many of their features, like AI-assisted responses and translation for review management.

Getting started with reputation management

Reputation management services are valuable tools for improving and maintaining your online reputation, but they’re not magic fixes. Improving and managing your online reputation takes time and effort, so you must be patient and realistic about what’s achievable.

It’s also important to note that some services are best for brick-and-mortar businesses with multiple locations, while others are more tailored for individuals with personal brands. So take your time to research and choose one that fits your organization’s needs and budget. Don’t forget to read the reviews and testimonials of these services’ own reputations as well.

Ready to start boosting your reputation? Get started with Sprout Social with a free 30-day trial.