Ever since the rise of the two separate disciplines of social media marketing and reputation management, there has been an open debate about whether or not to cross-classify the various platforms encompassed by them. Is Facebook a component of reputation management? Is Yelp part of social media marketing? Are they really just a singular entity with different components?

The connections are clear. Facebook has reputation attributes to it. People can review businesses on the platform. They talk about businesses all the time on social sites – it’s not limited to Facebook.

The inverse is true as well. Sites like Yelp do have social components to them. People can become friends with other Yelpers. They can like their reviews and share them on social sites.

Add Google Local to the mix and now you have a full-blown social/review hybrid.

There is no doubt that reputation management and social media markting are similar enough to classify them together in the same way that cars and trucks are both vehicles. With this stipulated, it’s fair to say that there are two disciplines operating in the same field that differentiate themselves through goals and techniques. Managing reputation is a completely different set of strategies than marketing on social media.

Should companies specialize in both? Can they specialize in both and still offer the right level of service to each? Our opinion is that, despite the similarities, there is no way for a company to serve both masters without sacrificing quality unless they separate the disciplines and operate them independently. The social media marketer, if they’re really worth their weight in gold, cannot keep up with the changes and demands of reputation management and visa versa.

It is for this reason that we’ve chosen to specialize in reputation. While we are pursuing a partnership with a social media marketing firm, reputation management is simply too specialized to start delving into its close cousin on the marketing side.

We specialize in managing reputation, delivering the highest level of service and expertise in this challenging discipline.