Reputation Monitoring

Context

Use this when a local business needs a systematic, ongoing approach to tracking its online reputation. One-time audits miss emerging trends and slow-developing crises. This skill establishes the monitoring infrastructure: which platforms to watch, how often, what triggers an alert, who responds, and how to track changes over time. It produces the framework that makes ongoing reputation management sustainable.

Procedure

1. Inventory all review and mention platforms relevant to the business type and industry.
2. Establish baseline metrics per platform: current rating, total reviews, review velocity, sentiment distribution, response rate.
3. Define monitoring cadence per platform based on volume and impact (daily for high-volume, weekly for lower-volume).
4. Configure alert thresholds: rating drop triggers, negative review cluster detection, fake review pattern flags.
5. Design escalation flowchart with severity levels (1-4), response SLAs, assigned owners, and escalation paths.
6. Create monthly reputation report template with all tracking fields and trend visualizations.
7. Set up sentiment tracking methodology: classification approach, theme extraction categories, trend tracking format.
8. Document the full monitoring SOP so it can be handed off to a team member or automated.

Output Format

# Reputation Monitoring Setup: [Business Name]

## Platform Inventory
| Platform | Profile URL | Claimed? | Current Rating | Reviews | Velocity | Priority |
|----------|-----------|----------|---------------|---------|----------|----------|
| Google | [url] | Yes/No | [X] | [N] | [N/month] | High |
| Booking.com | [url] | Yes/No | [X] | [N] | [N/month] | High |
| TripAdvisor | [url] | Yes/No | [X] | [N] | [N/month] | Medium |

## Monitoring Cadence
| Platform | Check Frequency | Response SLA | Owner |
|----------|----------------|-------------|-------|
| Google | Daily | 24h (negative), 48h (positive) | [name] |
| Booking.com | Daily | 24h (all) | [name] |
| TripAdvisor | Weekly | 72h | [name] |

## Alert Thresholds
| Alert | Condition | Severity | Action | Owner |
|-------|-----------|----------|--------|-------|
| Rating drop | >0.2 point drop in 30 days | Level 2 | Investigate, report to manager | [name] |
| Negative cluster | 3+ negative reviews in 7 days | Level 2 | Root cause analysis, management alert | [name] |
| Crisis review | Safety/health complaint | Level 3 | Immediate response, ops notification | [name] |
| Fake review pattern | 3+ suspect reviews in 48h | Level 2 | Document, report to platform | [name] |

## Escalation Flowchart
### Level 1 — Monitor (single complaint, isolated)
- **Response SLA:** 48 hours
- **Action:** Respond using standard template, log for tracking
- **Owner:** Review responder

### Level 2 — Respond (pattern emerging, 3+ related complaints)
- **Response SLA:** 24 hours
- **Action:** Respond to all, investigate root cause, notify manager
- **Owner:** Manager + review responder

### Level 3 — Intervene (rating drop >0.3, or media attention)
- **Response SLA:** 4 hours
- **Action:** Activate response team, prepare public statement draft
- **Owner:** Director + communications

### Level 4 — Crisis (safety incident, viral coverage, legal risk)
- **Response SLA:** 1 hour
- **Action:** All hands, legal review, official public statement
- **Owner:** Executive team + legal + PR

## Sentiment Tracking Template
| Month | Platform | New Reviews | Positive % | Neutral % | Negative % | Top Theme (+) | Top Theme (-) | Rating Change |
|-------|----------|------------|-----------|----------|-----------|--------------|--------------|--------------|
| [month] | Google | [N] | [%] | [%] | [%] | [theme] | [theme] | [+/-X.X] |

## Monthly Report Template
1. **Reputation Health Score** (composite 0-100)
2. **Platform-by-Platform Summary** (rating, count, velocity, response rate)
3. **Sentiment Trend** (positive/neutral/negative % vs. previous month)
4. **Theme Analysis** (top themes from negative + neutral reviews)
5. **Alerts Triggered** (any Level 2+ events this month)
6. **Competitive Snapshot** (top 3 competitors ratings + review counts)
7. **Actions Taken** (responses sent, issues resolved, escalations handled)
8. **Next Month Focus** (priorities and improvement targets)

## Monitoring SOP
- **Tools:** [list of tools/platforms for monitoring]
- **Daily check process:** [step-by-step for daily reviewer]
- **Weekly roll-up process:** [how to compile weekly summary]
- **Monthly report process:** [how to generate monthly report]
- **Handoff documentation:** [how to train a new team member]

QA Rubric (scored)

• Platform coverage (0-5): all relevant platforms for the business type are included with appropriate cadence.
• Alert precision (0-5): thresholds are specific, data-driven, and proportional to business context.
• Escalation clarity (0-5): severity levels have clear criteria, SLAs, owners, and actions.
• Sustainability (0-5): monitoring process is documented well enough to be handed off or automated.

Examples (good/bad)

• Good: "Google Reviews: checked daily, response SLA 24h for negative, 48h for positive. Alert: if 3+ negative reviews mention 'cleanliness' within 7 days → Level 2 escalation → operations manager investigates, review responder acknowledges publicly. Monthly report tracks sentiment trend by theme. Owner: front-desk manager. Backup: marketing coordinator."
• Bad: "Monitor reviews. Respond quickly. Alert if bad reviews." (no platform specifics, no SLAs, no thresholds, no escalation levels, no owners, no tracking)

Variants

• Setup variant: first-time monitoring infrastructure establishment for a business with no existing system.
• Audit variant: evaluate and improve an existing monitoring process (fill gaps, tighten SLAs, add platforms).
• Seasonal variant: adjust monitoring cadence and alert thresholds for peak vs. off-peak seasons.
• Crisis variant: rapid deployment of enhanced monitoring during an active reputation crisis.