This post was created by our Reputation Channel sponsor Webimax.

Numbers reflecting user participation on social sites were issued recently, stirring the interest of marketers and brands leveraging popular sites like Facebook and Twitter. Out of 2,000 U.S. web users asked, an astounding 85% had Facebook accounts. About three-quarters of the population use the social platform daily, and over half of those asked have at least a hundred friends. Wow, the opportunity to engage markets is there.

The Consumers Have Arrived, Where’s the Businesses?

Further research showcased what consumers do with brand-produced media. It seems consumers are more than happy to share videos, mention companies in updates, read brand-produced editorial, “like” businesses, “retweet” posts, and interact with brands in other ways. So, consumers will interact but will brave brands?

This post comes from our Reputation Channel sponsor WebiMax.

As online marketers, we celebrate the application of SEO. Quality, search engine optimization tactics help align a brand’s Web pages with particular keywords and phrases. However, the steady process takes time to solidify. A brand may benefit, perhaps reaching some goals more quickly, by engaging in other areas of online marketing. SEO unites user queries with a brand; a diligent brand executive can do the same. Consider the following ways to accelerateyour brand and online reputation.

Blog

Amazon should be pretty happy with the results from the, get ready because this is a mouthful, National Retail Federation Foundation / American Express Customers’ Choice Awards. In the age where reputation can make or break your operation Amazon and its subsidiary, Zappos, took 1st and 3rd place respectively. Of course, one has to assume that these results were arrived at before Zappos had their own brush with a potential reputation crusher of being hacked over this past weekend.

Here are the Top 10

1. Amazon.com
2. L.L.Bean
3. Zappos
4. Overstock.com
5. QVC
6. Kohl’s Department Stores
7. Lands’ End
8. JCPenney
9. Newegg
10. Nordstrom

70% of consumers said they wouldn’t buy a product from a company they didn’t like.

That may sound like I’m stating the obvious, but let’s run with it for a moment.

The statement comes from a new Weber Shandwick report called “The Company behind the Brand: In Reputation We Trust.” The report is focused on big companies with multiple brands, but the information is just as relevant for the small business owner.

The overall concept is that folks are getting pickier about where they spend their money. A great product won’t woo them, if the company behind the product can’t be trusted.

Trust means different things on different levels. For big corporations, it might mean a company that is concerned about the environment, cares about its customers and makes good when a product goes bad.

We hear so much about social media. It’s the this and the that and all things in between of business. You can reach more, do more sell more, relate more etc.etc etc. It’s hard to argue this line of thinking. It makes sense and it is real but is it overshadowing what appears to be a much bigger concern which is less sexy but possibly much more important which is the security of the online space?

Earlier we talked about the security breach at Zappos that exposed millions of Zappos customers account information (supposedly not credit card info but time will tell). As Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh put it

“We’ve spent over 12 years building our reputation, brand, and trust with our customers,” Mr. Hsieh said. “It’s painful to see us take so many steps back due to a single incident.”

If there is one organization that is usually held up as the poster child for how you should run an online company (or any compnay at all for that matter) it is Zappos. CEO Tony Hsieh gets interviewed it seems like on a daily basis to discuss the best practices that the online shoe and clothing selling machine uses to run its operation. Not the least of which is their laser beam focus on customer service as noted in their logo on the web site.

Well, as is usually the case in business and in life, it looks easy when everything is flying along just fine but when something goes terribly wrong that is the real measure of a company or organization. Today it is Zappos turn to be tested. The company’s systems were compromised over the weekend and according to TechCrunch