Reputation vs. Influence

Though reputation and influence are related, they are not the same thing. Reputation is what people think of you or your brand. Influence is how likely people are to do what you tell them to do. Reputation is measured on a scale of good to bad; influence is measured on the scales of low to high and positive and negative. While everyone wants others to think well of them, popular opinion is not important unless it drives results. Therefore, KD Payne’s claim that “…evaluating your reputation is largely a waste of time” (Payne, 2007) holds true; what people think about you is important, but it is more important to measure how that opinion turns into conversions.