“The first thing 80 percent of the population does when they want to find out something is they go straight to the Internet,” says Myatt. “So, how you show up on the Internet has a high impact on other’s initial decision about you.”
The mistake a lot of companies and executives make is that they only hire someone to help with their reputation when they are already in trouble. Then it’s often too late to repair the damage.
“A brand takes years to build, whereas a reputation can be destroyed over night,” says Bayer.
Most mainstream and Internet public relations and reputation management firms recommend being proactive.
“Everyone needs to pay attention to, engage in and help shape their own reputation because we live in a world where information can suddenly get passed around globally. And because it is not necessarily accurate information, it makes reputation management even more crucial,” notes Kathy Bloomgarden, co-CEO of Ruder Finn Inc., a New York public relations agency, and author of Trust: The Secret Weapon of Effective Business Leaders.
There are a couple of first steps in regard to executive reputation management. The first is to stop pretending you know what your reputation is and that you have the skills to manage it. This is a time-consuming task, so hire people who know what to do and will dedicate the time to it, because you are paying them to do so. A company like IRM asks for a minimum six months contract because it takes time to get written articles, quotes, etc. placed and indexed properly into Google.
IRM, for example, had a client who worked at a small management-consulting firm and needed to get more credibility in regards to the energy industry. “What we try to do is find gems in someone’s background and highlight those on the Web,” says Kader. “As it turned out, this person had a lot to say about energy but was never published. We worked with him on a white paper, which was picked up by an industry publication and put on their Web site, appeared on his company’s Web site, plus on blogger’s Web sites. It looked like this person has been talking on this subject for a long while.”
Some firms recommend a reputation “audit”, which pretty much of what it says it is, an audit of all the information out there about you and your company.
If negative publicity about you and your company starts threading through the Internet, or bloggers have been creaming you, the most important thing not to do is go on their turf to answer the attacks. The best response is to gather all the good information about you, create positive position statements (a white paper, announcement of awards, press releases, etc.), and then have the professionals make sure they get you the best Internet exposure.
“What we try to do is have more of the positive listings show up above where the blogger commented and have that one get pushed back so it does not appear front and center,” says Kader.
Traditionally, says Bloomgarden, the three basic rules to follow when your reputation was under siege were, “Be fast (in response), be honest and be accessible.” Today, it’s necessary to add one more direction and, “be on the Internet.”
TAV
Proactive vs. Reactive
It is much easier to maintain a reputation than trying to build a new reputation from the ruins of a damaged one.
If something negative about you goes to the Internet, develop a position and get it on the Web quickly.
Do not try spinning information that is not true. Remember, the truth is probably just a mouse click away.
Continually monitor what is being written about you on the Internet.
Use reputation management as part and parcel of career management.
