All posts by Shannon M. Wilkinson

About Shannon M. Wilkinson

Shannon Wilkinson is the founder and CEO of Reputation Communications.

Social Media, , , , , ,
social media reputation risks

On April 2, The Wall Street Journal published an interview with me: “CEOs Face Reputation Pitfalls If They Avoid Social Media.” It focuses on the dangers social media poses to executives, and on the reasons mistakes seem to happen so often.

The article is behind the newspaper’s pay wall, but you can read the full text here.

I would like to elaborate on some of the important points the interview touches on. Social media can be an attractive way of engaging with your consumers and the broader public, but it can easily turn into a reputation headache. No executive should have a Twitter account – or any presence on social media – unless she or he has a very clear strategy and measurable goals. And for executives in a regulated industry, or that have already been the target of negative publicity, our advice is to stay off.

Your Presence on Social Media May Not be Worth the Exposure

Why? Unless being active on social media serves a specific objective, it isn’t worth the exposure.

In some cases, social media can be a very effective tool. If the public strongly identifies the CEO with the brand, that CEO can use social media to build the audience for the brand. Elon Musk is a good example. He is Tesla (and everything else his company does). Mary Barra is on Twitter and uses it well. Social media is also often a good match for senior execs in advertising, media, fashion and transportation.

On the other hand, Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks, is not on Twitter. But Starbucks itself is, and has over seven million followers. Howard Schultz gets plenty of media exposure already. If he had a Twitter account there is a chance he may get too much attention…and attention that would detract from the Starbucks brand.

Social Media Tips for High-Profile Leaders

If you are a high-profile leader in any industry – or organization – and have not yet adopted social media but are thinking about it, consider taking these steps:

Study the social media landscape, paying special attention to what your peers are doing. Who is doing it well? Who is not? Who is staying away entirely?

Identify what you hope to achieve. Consider how it could impact your organization and its brand. Who will manage your account?

Mistakes do happen. How will you respond to a crisis? Are the benefits worth the possibility of a crisis? An example of one: 500 Twitter followers lampooning your last tweet…and then protesting your salary and recent layoffs at your firm.

The golden rule for social media is to stay neutral. If you want a presence but don’t want to create waves, post about topics that are safe. Avoid stating opinions that aren’t in line with your organization’s brand. That will help you avoid joining the list of executives whose social media gaffes have made headlines.

 
 
Crisis Management, ,
Social activism impacting reputations

Risk Management has published “The New Reputation Risks: What You Need to Know for 2015,” an article explaining trends I expect to see play out in 2015.

Risk Management is the leading journal for risk managers, and I wrote this piece to help that audience anticipate changes in the risk management landscape—specifically, in the area of reputation risk. It includes our predictions for the biggest potential reputation-related crises in 2015, as well as a look at the current shape of the reputation management industry.

 
 
Crisis Management, , , , , ,
Korea Air

Earlier this month, Cho Hyun-ah, the daughter of Korean Air’s CEO and an executive at the airline, caused an international social media firestorm. She berated the crew of a Korean Air flight for serving macadamia nuts incorrectly, then forced the pilot to return to the gate while taxiing out of JFK. Her behavior sparked international headlines. Extensive analyses about the reputational fallout on Korean Air and her father’s business empire followed.

The Wall Street Journal’s “Crisis of the Week” column weighed in and invited me to comment.  (I suggested that Cho Hyun-ah step out of the public eye for a period of time. When she makes a new start, she is in an optimum position to use her access to Korea’s wealth, power and influential as a platform for helping the less fortunate.)

Reputation Risk Isn’t New to Business…But Has Taken a More Prominent Role

Reputation risk isn’t new to business. But over the past two decades it has taken a more prominent role in the business world. The Internet, and social media in particular, has introduced a new level of transparency to business operations and culture, and a new level of empowerment to consumers.

If one employee makes a misstatement on social media, and it gains viral momentum in the community at large, it can be a crisis for the company. When that employee is the daughter or son of the company’s owner, it can become a defining one.

 
 
Crisis Management, , , , , , , ,
Crisis management

Every day, it seems, another major American brand experiences a crisis. Despite a large and experienced  industry of experts that fix them, they don’t seem to be going away. Last fall the CEO of Microsoft became one of many corporate leaders to unwittingly create one.

Why are so many CEOs stumbling in the diversity department? The problem often starts internally. Statements and actions by CEOs and other leaders portray them as out of touch with the people their companies target as consumers. Outrage ignites online, goes viral, and then lands on prime-time news. CEOs and boards are surprised over the impact of their actions or statements. They are often puzzled as to why a backlash occurred at all.

If you are a CEO, there are several steps you can take to ensure you don’t become the next target of online backlash. The first is to understand why these crises are happening so often and what they share in common.

My recent Forbes.com piece,  The Most Successful CEOs Embrace Customer Diversity, sheds light on the problem. How else can CEOs incorporate a more well-balanced blend of diversity within their corporate cultures? Conduct a search for #diversity and you will find plenty of suggestions.

 
 
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Pharmaceutical giant Sanofi has been in the news recently. It is investigating whether its international affiliates may have made improper payments to doctors. But thanks to some excellent crisis management, headlines are focusing on how Sanofi is handling the issue instead of on possible wrongdoings.

I contributed to this piece, published today on The Wall Street Journal’s website, that examines Sanofi’s response in more detail. Other major pharmas, including Novartis and GlaxoSmithKline, have faced similar issues. Sanofi, however, has distinguished itself with a proactive approach to reputation management.

These situations serve not only as examples of how crises unfold in the Internet age. They also illustrate a type of problem that can be difficult to avoid in a global economy: in other countries, payments we would consider bribes are seen as simply a cost of doing business. International industry has not found a way to resolve those cultural dissonances…but Sanofi has demonstrated one way to manage the crises they produce.

 
 
Online reputation management, , , , , ,
Reputation Communications

The explosive growth of the Internet has dramatically changed the demands of reputation management. The manipulation of search engine results—what used to be considered the central activity of ORM firms—has lost its utility as search engine algorithms have grown more sophisticated.

The National Cybersecurity Institute Journal has published my new paper addressing this topic. “The New Demands of Online Reputation Management” provides an overview of the leading online reputational threats faced by companies in the United States, as well as an explanation how such events unfold, the motivations behind them, and how they can be protected against and resolved.

 
 
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Reputation Management in the Elon Musk Twitter Era

A few weeks ago I attended the S.H.E. Summit, one of a growing number of women’s empowerment conferences recently highlighted by the New York Times. A variety of factors have fueled this trend, but one major catalyst is the increasing influence of hashtag activism, especially in the corporate world.

A 2011 Guardian article about Occupy Wall Street was the first to use the term “hashtag activism,” but writer Eric Augenbraun’s wariness about “breathless claims about the birth of a new form of technology-based social movement” is still shared by many today.

Speaking at S.H.E., MSNBC host Krystal Ball challenged those reservations. She highlighted numerous examples of how social media activism has had a real impact on women’s issues, including a successful campaign to get an offensive plastic surgery simulation app removed from the iTunes store, a project that has crowdsourced sexual violence data in Syria, and the online outrage that forced Lululemon to replace its CEO. “Even when it’s just sparking a conversation through a hashtag, I think that’s important,” Ball said when talking about #YesAllWomen. And hashtags have certainly sparked quite a few conversations recently.

Hashtag Power

While introducing Ball, S.H.E.’s Margaret O’Brien White’s quoted a recent Forbes piece by Susan McPherson, “Empowering Women and Girls, One Hashtag at a Time,” which compiles a wide range of noteworthy campaigns. “This is truly the breakout year for driving awareness on women and girls’ issues through hashtag activism,” McPherson writes. Millennials and the LGBT community have already made waves in this arena, but women form a majority on social media, and the collective power they can wield is becoming increasingly clear.

As the Lululemon and other crises have shown, that power can effect a change at the highest levels of corporate leadership. “Leadership is about feeling that you are the owner of your own experience and future,” McKinsey & Company’s Joanna Barsh remarked in another S.H.E. Summit talk. As more and more women realize that fostering this sense of ownership on social media moves them toward similar empowerment in the real world, the momentum is only going to pick up.

How Corporate Leaders Can Navigate this Growing Movement

How can corporate leaders navigate this growing movement? Follow the conversations I’ve referenced here as they continue to develop, including #hashtags on Twitter. Stay aware of the key issues concerning women, especially those regarding employment opportunities, the lack of women on boards and the glass ceiling that continues to face many. If you’re a CEO, tuning in to these and related concerns will help you avoid becoming the focus of the next wave of hashtag protests (and nightly newscasts). It will also help ensure you avoid the type of online reputation crisis that can impact your brand as well as your company’s stock valuation.

 

 
 
Crisis Management, Social Media, , , , , ,
Crisis management

CEO Mary Barra has not been able to stop GM’s crisis. But her 2.0 crisis communications skills are an asset to GM. They can be judged by the transparency and skill with which she handled the recall catastrophe on the Internet.

Barra’s communications strategy incorporates multiple digital media platforms. She has used these channels to respond to the crisis with a strong and genuine message. In addition to harnessing social media like Facebook and Twitter to connect directly with customers, she has also addressed the recalls in a series of videos, a USA TODAY editorial, and even her commencement speech at the University of Michigan earlier this month. CEOs can learn much from studying her playbook.

If this topic interests you, please see my full analysis on Forbes.com: Crisis Communication 2.0: Mary Barra Strong in Adversity.