Long gone are days when CEOs could maintain a low profile. In today’s social media-driven environment, business leaders need to earn the trust of their stakeholders.

The reputation of any company’s CEO can have a huge impact on the overall corporate reputation, investors’ trust, customer loyalty, and more. In other words, CEO reputation management can reduce business risks while solidifying your brand’s legacy.

Even though many CEOs balk at the idea of spending their precious hours controlling their online presence, many successful CEOs find value in it. So, why is reputation important for CEOs?

Notably, as per recent research by Brunswick Group, a business advisory firm, stakeholders trust a well-connected leader than a CEO who is not active on social media by a margin of 9 to 1.

For better or worse, the CEO has now become the face of any company. The best example for it is Elon Musk; when people think of Tesla or SpaceX, they picture Elon Musk. And the online conversation about him affects people’s perception of his company.

And since they are under extensive public scrutiny, CEOs are highly visible targets for people aiming to harm their company’s reputation. It has made an effective management CEO reputation more important than ever.

Let’s look at some of the powerful strategies for CEO reputation management . 

Have a Website of Your Name

CEOs often look to establish themselves as a brand. And in such cases, no other method is better than choosing your own name as your website’s domain name. You can also use your first name and niche as your brand name.

For instance, you can use domain names like Dr.Deepak or PharmacistPratik. Also, you can try using a catchy tagline that describes what you do.

When you have your website live, you can add all the content and information about services you offer, details about the company you work for, and additional information like your personal achievements, goals, etc. Another advantage of having a website domain with your own name is you secure your place at the top of the Google results page when anyone searches for you.

Hire an SEO Firm

While you can try to do SEO reputation management yourself or ask an employee to manage the SEO aspect of your reputation management, you will arguably always get better results with a field expert.

In addition, the time you will dedicate has to come from other things. As a CEO, you are probably already busy with other tasks, making learning and practicing SEO strategies may not be on top of your daily tasks’ line items.  

It is also worth highlighting that Google regularly makes algorithmic shifts that generally affect regular SEO practices. Meaning, what you learn today may not be as relevant tomorrow.

Remember, a better ranking in research results is also essentially free advertising.

Differentiate Yourself From Competitors

When it comes to CEO or executive reputation, be sure to keep an eye out on what your rivals are doing. There will always be a pattern of victory or failure lesson you can learn from their business model, marketing strategies, or even from the activities of the rival leader.

Find as much you can about the company reputation strategies of your competitors. See if and how they can become a threat to your own brand image, or take cues from their playbook to build your own unique and innovative brand reputation.  

Be Proactive and Reactive

What we have discussed so far establishes the fact that the lives of CEOs are divided into two broad areas, a company leader and a public figure who uses their influence to engage prospects and build the brand image.

When we say CEO being active on social media, we don’t mean giving an entry-level employee handling your company’s Twitter or Instagram account. We mean you, the CEO, getting on a social media platform and interacting with your audience.

From investors, customers, and even prospective candidates looking to join your company, all kinds of people will rely on your social media. That is to say, your social feeds can play a huge role in building the trust of your audience in yourself and your business. Imagine complaining on a company page and getting a response directly from the company’s CEO! How exciting would that be?

Try being active on your social media profile as much as possible. Apart from posting there and other PR sites, also reply to comments and mention others whenever possible. When you, as a CEO, directly interact with your audience and put effort into building a bond with them, you also build trust among your audience. It also helps build your brand reputation as people will perceive you as an individual who is a public figure and available in case your stakeholders ever need you.

Above all, when you handle your own social media, you also handle your own public relations or manage any PR crisis.

After all, as a CEO, you have the power of making all the difference for your business’s public image.

Stay Open to Any Positive Feedback or Criticism

Feedback is an excellent reinforcement that drives key performance and suggests leadership effectiveness. Both positive and negative feedback can be particularly valuable since it will allow you to monitor your overall performance, find what your customers like about your products and services, and possible improvement areas.

Additionally, CEOs who are primarily open to feedback are seen as more effective leaders than those who only seek positive responses. People also tend to trust a person or a company when they accept that they are not perfect.

In the end, everything is about showing your customers how much you value them and making them happy by considering their feedback, either positive or negative.

It is a common misconception that social media and personal life are not interrelated. People also think that it is not necessary for them to be active online and have a digital reputation. It might be okay for you to be absent online, but it wouldn’t be okay if you are a CEO. CEO reputation management is a must for you. It is important as your identity is directly related to your brand’s identity. Your absenteeism showcases a blurred image for your brand too.

Gone are the times people just used to read reviews before doing business. People now go through a whole history check of a brand as well as the CEO. CEO Reputation Management has become inevitable if you wish to look credible online.

The journey of your CEO Reputation Management goes like this:

Analyse what kind of reputation you have: First things first, go through your current profiles on social media, blogging or vlogging platforms. Are they presentable? Is a hashtag strategy followed? Are there proper updates about your whereabouts? Make a note of what kind of profile you have so that you can compare your progress and analyse your position online.

Check for negative content: Do not ignore the negative press or reviews under your name. You may think people would focus on the positive content but here the negatives overpower the positives. You should remove negative content from google search results. To do that the best way would be to hire a reputed ORM firm.

Build: The next step of CEO Reputation Management would be to build a stellar online presence. Be active on all platforms and go with the trends. You do not have to be a bling superstar, but a solid personality active online. Share your reviews on stuff that matter to you and always try to add an emotional touch to your posts to connect with the audiences.

Target your audience: Doing stuff strategically is as important as doing it in first place. Make sure you do a research of what people interested in your field and your audience want to know about. Provide the answers your audience needs and be a helpful figure online.

CEO Reputation Management refers to the process of managing one’s own online presence as a CEO. This is important as you are the face of the company when you represent it on the C-Level.

Have you ever googled yourself? What came up? Did you see any mention of your work in your firm, or what you did in your company? Many would say NO. Majority would say that there was some other CEO with the same name that is more popular than them who showed up. There is no rocket science behind them having a great online presence. It is just some SEO techniques and mastering the art of CEO Reputation Management. 

As a senior executive of the company, you must supervise and guide any number of teams under you, but often senior executives forget to monitor one essential thing: their personal reputation management.

We all know that on the web, your brand reputation holds a lot of power. It determines your target audience and what they think of you. Similarly, CEO reputation management is particularly important, as CEOs are the face of the company. People deal with people and a potential stakeholder is almost sure to google your name as well as your company name, to know more about you. In such a case, if the first page of search results is heavily dominated by negative or unprofessional content, it is likely to turn a potential investor into the investor of a competition firm, and even scare away candidates and customers.  

To build a stellar reputation online, one must start at the base and take inventory of what is already there on the internet. Doing an exhaustive search under your name on sites like Google, Glassdoor, Bing, and other social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. is a baseline for CEO reputation management. Only when you know what the world knows about you, will you be able to build on it or deter from it. This is a time to not shy away from any negative link you find, as even if you don’t click on it, someone else will and that might be more problematic. While you are taking an inventory of your own online reputation, it is wise to do the same for your competition. See which CEOs in your field are ranked high on Google searches, and which aren’t. This will help you learn from what they are doing right and wrong so that you can borrow or build on the positives and avoid their mistakes accordingly.

In today’s time, the line between personal and professional is virtually non-existent. So, while you are taking your inventory you might find some surprising or even downright alarming content, that you thought was only on your private social media accounts. Again, remember there is nothing like private social media. While you may not be able to control this, there are a number of things you can control to help boost your CEO reputation management campaign. You can consciously and consistently put out positive content through your accounts and blogs so that Google has a reason to show links that put you in a positive light. Alternatively, you can try and use ORM tools to remove any negative content from Google searches, as and when required.

How Do I Repair My Company Reputation Online?

Reputation is ALL anyone has. It takes a lifetime of careful planning and mindfullness to build, nurture and develop. If that process does not continue, reputation can be eroded extremely quickly, sometimes overnight in an instant.

In the not too distant future Reputation will be the main currency is sought after and transacted. Here’s an extract from Paramount/CBS – Star Trek First Contact (1996)

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