Executives Discover Online Reputation Management

A new survey from Weber Shandwick suggests online reputation management is becoming a concern for top executives worldwide. As a result, C-level executives increasingly are turning to the Internet as a way to gauge their company’s reputation.

When asked about the effectiveness of the Internet as a resource for judging reputation, global executives reported that the best uses of the Internet are for investigating business rivals (64%) and partners (60%), capturing customer feedback (63%) and exploring new employment opportunities (60%).

While the report suggest that nearly two-third of all executives are concerned about employee sabotage and misdirected email, the report says a majority of executives are “out of touch” when it comes to rogue employees online.

A large two-thirds (66%) of global executives are either unaware or do not want to admit that employees are badmouthing their companies online.

Internet websites such as Jobvent.com and Topix.net provide individuals with a way to express their opinions anonymously. Add other social media to the mixture, and the ability to turn rumor into reputation becomes a battle waged in real-time.

This is no surprise to many who write about the impact of social media. Gerald Baron at CrisisBlogger correctly points out that as companies begin shedding jobs to control costs, the number of “I Hate My Job” posts will increase proportionately. It is important, therefore, that corporate communicators prepare ways to engage stakeholders and open lines of honest communication with those released as well as those who survive layoffs.

Here are other articles I have written on this topic:

• What Twitter’s DoS Attack Can Teach Us
• Writing a Strategic Communications Plan: Evaluation
• Writing a Strategic Communications Plan: Key Messages
• Why You Should Be Proactive with Bad News
• What to Do When 100,000 People on Facebook Hate You
• Three Things People Want to Know in a Crisis
• Using Social Media in a Public Health Emergency
• Facebook Caves on Usage Agreement
• How Do You Respond to Online Criticism?
• New Campaign for Will County Health Department