Whether you are a small business owner or a high profile CEO, reputation management is becoming increasingly important as people use Google and review sites like Yelp and Angie’s List to research brands and products.

Consider the following statistics about Reputation management:

• 80% of adults are “very” or “somewhat” likely to consider buying products recommended by real world friends and family. (source: Pollara)
• 78% of executive recruiters routinely use search engines to learn more about candidates, and 35% have eliminated candidates based on the information they found online (ExecuNet)
• 87% believe the CEO’s reputation is an important part of a company’s reputation. (Hill & Knowlton)
• 90% of consumers trust recommendations from others. (Forrester)
• Consumers traffic to the top 10 review sites grew on average 158% last year (Compete.com)
• 97% of people who made a purchase based on an online fair review found the review to be accurate (Comscore/The KelseyGroup, Oct. 2007)
• 92% of people have more confidence in information found online than from a salesclerk or other source (Wall Street Journal, Jan 2009)
• 61% of people rely on user reviews for product information or research before a buying decision is made. (Razorfish, 2008)
• 34% of people have turned to social media to air their feelings about a company. 26% to express dissatisfaction, 23% to share companies or products they like. (Harris Poll, April 2010)
• 75% of people don’t believe that companies tell the truth in advertisements (Yankelovich)
• 100% of those reading this post have either a personal or corporate reputation to protect (Marketing Pilgrim)

What does this tell us?

What the stats tell us is that consumers and business are increasingly using the Internet to research individuals and business before they even consider hiring people or purchasing products and services.

For businesses this may mean that someone wrote a negative review about you and it went unanswered. For a high profile person (e.g., politicians, celebrities); it may mean that something they did in the past is preventing them from succeeding in the future. Regardless, managing one’s reputation online and ensuring the reviews and news is accurate is being increasing important to both businesses and high profile individuals.