Reputation management - my interview with Reputation Rhino

Here is the copy of an interview I did with Todd William of Reputation Rhino as part of a series of expert interviews with public relations and crisis communications experts.

What is reputation management? How does it relate to public relations?

Recent research found that 80% of the value of an organization is down to “intangibles” – reputation – so managing this is just as important as managing your IT or sales pipeline. Reputation management is not just fire-fighting when things go wrong, it is making sure that over the long-term your clients, your stakeholders, and the wider public have a positive view of how you do business. This involves your marketing and public relations departments focusing on the same outcomes, co-ordinating key messages and activities which align with your vision and values and protect and enhance your reputation.

What are the biggest PR mistakes you see companies make online? How could these mistakes have been avoided?

There are two key PR mistakes I see businesses make when they are in the midst of a crisis.

The first is to hide their heads in the sand and take too long to make any kind of public acknowledgment of what is going on and respond. Your clients and potential clients want to know that your business is aware of the issue and taking action to resolve the problem.

One recent example was a major fire at a hotel. The hotel took more than 24 hours to post any kind of statement on their website or social media about what had happened – and in the meantime, guests were posting on Twitter that they had arrived at the hotel to find it on fire. Hardly likely to evoke confidence that the company cared about their guests or was aware of the seriousness of the situation.

The second is when businesses refuse to apologize if it is the issue is their fault. While the legal advice might be not to admit liability, from a reputation/PR point of view, it is far better to apologise for the problem, make it clear you are doing something about it, and move on.

When I worked at the BBCs Consumer Unit investigating and exposing rogue companies on national television, the complainants always said that if the company had done the right thing and apologised, they would never have contacted the BBC to complain in the first place.

How does social media factor into your reputation management strategy?

Social media has been a game-changer in terms of reputation management. When anyone can post and everyone can read, those who want to criticize you have a global, free, and instantaneous forum.

As a result, businesses need to be continually alert to threats in terms of negative social media posts which may go viral and spread within minutes.

The drawbacks of social media are also the benefits, as it means that you can publicize your updates and positive news to an unlimited audience, and, if you are in the midst of a crisis, can use it to post updates and stamp on speculation.

What is the first thing a company should do when there is a crisis online?

If people are criticising your business on social media, the best tactic is to take the conversations offline as quickly as possible and speak to people directly, to try to halt the stream of negative posts. Do not get involved in any kind of online slanging match and make sure all your posts are factual and constructive.

In a crisis, aim to become the main source of information about the situation, by posting regular updates, and use hashtags to help people, whether journalists or other stakeholders, find them easily.

What can senior executives and companies do to better prepare for a PR crisis?

Every business should have a robust crisis communications strategy, which has anticipated potential threats to their business and created action plans to deal with these.

With a strategy in place, they can feel confident that when a crisis blows up, they will be able to roll this out, take control of communications quickly, and protect their reputation from harm.

What can employees do to help their company during and after a PR crisis?

Your employees are your best resource. You need all your team to pull together and work to keep the business running so that when you come out of the crisis, you are stronger.

As part of your crisis communications strategy, you should have worked out each person’s role during specific situations, so everyone knows what is expected of them. You should also ensure everyone is trained and confident that they can fulfil that role.

We would advise that every company have a social media policy with specific clauses about what your team can and cannot post during a crisis, which every member of staff has to abide by as part of their contract.

Is reputation management getting easier or harder? Why? 

Reputation management, and particularly the management of crises has become more difficult for two reasons.

Firstly, the speed with which news spreads around the world means that a company needs to respond to criticisms, threats or crises almost immediately, often before they know the full facts.

And secondly, social media has become a hang-out for the extreme and the cruel, which makes a measured response to any crisis or a reasonable discussion of any issue extremely difficult.

This interview first appeared on the Reputation Rhino website. If you'd like to find out more about how we can help you with reputation management or crisis communications, do get in touch: 020 8332 6200 or info@roughhouse.co.uk.