Law enforcement agencies have traditionally been behind the curve with using digital, social media and reputation management tools in their day-to-day operations. To help police departments become more effective in engaging with a digital media savvy public, three other experts and I have become active presenters in The Hetty Group’s Coptics Program. With the Coptics workshops and consulting program, Florence Chung, Bill Carmody, Matt Horace and I aim to help law enforcement professionals expand their use of the platforms that are helping shape public perception.
The Wall Street Journal has published an article about our new initiative. “Business Offers Blueprint to Improve Law Enforcement Optics,” by Ben DiPietro, is reprinted in full here.
“A group of reputation-management experts has banded together to create a program to help law enforcement agencies better manage their social media engagement and improve their perceptions with people and within communities. The so-called “Coptics” program developed by the Hetty Group draws from best practices employed by large companies that already have seen the value in being active members of social media to tell their stories and address issues that if not handled properly could blow up into big controversies, said Florence Chung, founder of the Hetty Group.
“We believe that if you aren’t telling your story, the world will,” said Ms. Chung. “And the world often doesn’t know the facts.” Shannon Wilkinson, chief executive of reputation-management firm Reputation Communications, said that although many people in law enforcement have stayed away from social media out of fear or because they prefer to stay out of the spotlight, doing so only cedes the conversation to their critics and others who aren’t representing their viewpoints. For law enforcement agencies or companies wanting to get more active in social media, Ms. Wilkinson said they need to ask themselves two questions: “How do we want to be perceived and by what audience? And how are we currently perceived and by whom?”
Bill Carmody, a digital marketing expert and chief executive of the firm Trepoint, said by teaching law enforcement how to be part of the digital conversation, and giving them tools to properly engage their audiences, will allow for departments to get involved in discussions before they go viral. Through better engagement, when incidents do occur, law enforcement will be in a better position to respond in real time because “that’s where the conversation is happening,” he said. “Your brand is being shaped by social media if you’re not shaping it yourself.”
Matt Horace, a former law enforcement official who now serves as a law enforcement analyst on CNN, said whether it’s a law enforcement agency or a big corporation, an organization needs to know how to manage a crisis and the communications surrounding it. And a key part of that is engaging on social media, knowing what’s being said and interacting in a way that is authentic and not in a way that seems disingenuous or that will erode trust. “This can’t be a stunt,” he said.”
If you work in law enforcement and would like to schedule a workshop or consulting session, please visit The Hetty Group. We also welcome support from corporations and philanthropies that would like to underwrite a workshop series in their community.
Left to right: Shannon Wilkinson, Matt Horace, Bill Carmody and Florence Chung lead an August 18, 2016 Coptics workshop at the National Asian Peace Officers Association Conference in New York City. Photo by Leven Bastian/Jolie Photography.
“Employment Matters” columnist Mindy Stern recently interviewed Reputation Communications’ CEO Shannon Wilkinson about online reputation management. These are highlights of the column:
Why is reputation management important for small business owners? Reputation management is important because most purchasing decisions by consumers are now made after conducting online research. You can’t control what people say about you on the Internet, but you can counterbalance it with compelling, factual information and visuals to tell your story and engage potential clients, customers and journalists. That is what reputation management does.
How is reputation management relevant for job seekers? Reputation management gives you the opportunity to present your best self on the Internet. That is where it is being assessed by potential employers.
What do you consider the most important thing for our readers to know about protecting their online reputation? The average Google page has 10 entries. The more of those you “own,” the more of a protective digital firewall you will create around your online reputation.
Baylor is the oldest continually operating university in Texas. Chartered in 1845, the private Christian University is a nationally ranked research institution. Now it is embroiled in a crisis: sexual-assault victims, administrators accused of being indifferent to the issue and athletes who reportedly conducted the assaults. Kenneth Starr, a former U.S. Solicitor General, has resigned as chancellor at Baylor as “a matter of conscience.”
Benjamin Wermund, higher education reporter for the Houston Chronicle, has been covering this story since it broke. He interviewed several communications experts about Baylor’s handling of the crisis. Reputation Communications’ CEO Shannon Wilkinson recommended more transparency, including participating in the discussion on social media:
The school could do more to go on the offensive online, where the news about the scandal initially broke and where most people are forming — and sharing — their opinions of the situation. It could push its message out more on social media, including via Twitter, where the school has said little about the situation to its more than 68,000 followers. They aren’t addressing the crisis on Twitter, and they need to. They need to have a system to participate in the discussion, otherwise they completely lose control over public perception of how they are managing this.”
An Epic Crisis Facing Higher Education
We have written extensively about the sexual assault crisis at U.S. universities. Here are our most relevant posts, including a recent one about a different type of scandal at UC Davis.
Institutions throughout the U.S. have failed to provide the information and resources that students need to protect themselves from becoming victims of sexual assault on campus…and to appropriately address the crisis when they are. If you would like to learn more about the issue, we recommend viewing The Hunting Ground, a documentary film about institutional cover-ups of campus sexual assaults. CNN premiered it last year.
This week we interview our founder, Shannon Wilkinson. She discusses the online reputation management (ORM) industry, the goals of the clients it serves and the types of services Reputation Communications offers.
How does Reputation Communications differ from other online reputation management firms?
We specialize in providing guidance and solutions for executives, leaders and professionals in business, culture, law enforcement and philanthropy, as well as their organizations. That includes artists, authors and their representatives. We have made a point of taking a leadership role in the industry by contributing to consumers’ understanding of online reputation management. There is a lot of conflicting information out there, and this can be confusing for them. So we have published extensive educational content, and links to other reliable resources, on our You(Online) blog. It has attracted readers from all over the world.
Who is your average client?
Someone who is not highly active on social media but has a visible presence on the Internet due to media coverage of their career, company or initiatives. In the majority of our cases, clients have not been proactive in taking ownership of their online image. Often they just want to create a polished personal brand on the Internet. Sometimes a crisis, major or minor, has prompted them to start actively managing it. Increasingly we are the second online reputation management provider they have used when a first one has been ineffective or not the right fit.
What kind of help do they seek?
Everyone has a specific goal. They want to know how it can be met, how long it will take and what it will cost. Some clients are too invisible online and want to create a distinctive online presence. Others have too much visibility, but their online image is dominated by third-party content. It isn’t negative or inappropriate, but it doesn’t represent them authentically. Because we have a history of building a strong media presence for clients, sometimes they utilize us to begin building or expanding one. Common reasons our clients reach out to us include online legal notices and media coverage that might be years old, or pertain to a personal or professional crisis. Often the material that shows up at the top of Google results isn’t necessarily negative, just out of date. It doesn’t reflect our client’s current brand. We can fix that. Other clients come to us looking for different outcomes. Some are concerned with protecting their personal lives. They are closely watched, and their private lives are drawn into the public sphere—regardless of whether they want that. We help them create a digital defense so third-party reportage about their lives doesn’t take control over their image. Or, their personal data is published on several “people search” databases. We remove it.
What are common issues businesses face?
Businesses are now grappling with consumer and employee reviews and how to best manage them. We often consult on that issue and recommend the best review management systems for their type of issue. Companies also seek help updating or editing Wikipedia entries. Several businesses we have worked with used public relations or crisis management strategies to try and improve an online reputation issue, but it didn’t work. ORM utilizes optimization and SEO techniques that such programs often lack.
What is the most common mistake that causes online reputation issues?
Not being proactive in taking ownership of your name on the Internet. Closely following that is the related problem of waiting too long to address an issue. Three years is the average amount of time many of our clients have waited before taking action.
How does Reputation Communications’ approach differ from other providers?
We are different from the ORM providers that market themselves online to individuals. We don’t advertise and don’t have an 800 number. Our approach would not be appropriate for the customers those providers are pursuing—most often people that are looking for a fast and inexpensive way to “suppress” unwanted online content. That is usually a low-priced, low-quality solution that Google and other search engines frown upon. For that reason, we don’t use the word “suppress.” Nor do we use mass-market suppression techniques. We replace online content.
We also don’t promise a quick fix. ORM can take weeks or months. Our clients are generally very careful with their brand, both online and off. Our strategies don’t involve any actions that dilute a client’s online image with generic or low-quality content. Many of our clients are as concerned with building a stronger brand as they are with repairing reputation damage, if they have any. Often we do restructure search results and displace content from page one of Google search results. This requires creating new material and optimizing it to ensure it replaces the old. Our clientele base needs high-quality content that is appropriate to their brands and adds value. That scenario is our specialty. Except for some social media content creation services, we don’t work offshore. Privacy is the main reason. We are accustomed to working offline and meeting confidential needs.
What is your pricing structure?
Our most accessible service is our consultations, which cost $1000. That is a four-hour service in which we assess a situation and advise the client on the most effective ways to mitigate it or reach their goals. We created this service to help new clients make the right decisions regarding best approaches, strategies and—sometimes—providers. Our next level is our consulting service, which encompasses 20 hours of counsel. It can be utilized over a three-month period, costs $5,000 and is most often used by clients who can implement a program independently but need a strategic plan and our guidance.
Our other services average $3,500 to $5,000 monthly for content creation and media representation, and can be higher for enterprise-level organizations or VIPs. Pricing is higher for clients that have a large amount of online content and need a more comprehensive program. Design and IT services are additional and are billed by the hour and the project. Our team creates extensive digital content and we have a large network to draw from for special projects. We also have an extensive public relations background which is summarized in Our Story.
An ORM campaign often requires six to twelve months to substantially change the structure of search results. So we aim to provide our clients with the best range of approaches to choose from. That includes our Reputation Reboot advice column, Essential FAQ overview and related help at You(Online) They can tell a lot about our approach by reading that material.
Shannon Wilkinson is the founder and CEO of Reputation Communications. She is a frequent contributor to The Wall Street Journal’s “Crisis of the Week” column and is often interviewed in the media about reputation management issues and practices. She is a presenter at Coptics: Policing in the Digital Age, a consulting and workshop program for law enforcement professionals.
This is the fourth in a series of interviews with experts whose work relates to online reputation management.
Today’s episode of the Today show on NBC featured commentary from Reputation Communications. Part of a segment on online travel reviews, the coverage reflects a growing concern among consumers regarding the credibility of such information. Our thought leadership was also highlighted in a recent USA Today article, Fake online reviews trip travelers.
Not so long ago, Volkswagen claimed the top auto industry spot in Fortune’s annual World’s Most Admired Companies list. The Economist highlighted the Germany automaker’s global ascent in an article titled “VW Conquers the World.”
Now a scandal has put Volkswagen’s reputation in freefall. It comes at a time when Germany is in the world’s eye – leading the EU toward resolution of many issues, most notably the migrant crisis. VW is Germany’s largest employer and as iconic as Starbucks or Ford is in the United States. As far as scandals go, this is a massive one. It has damaged the opinion that many of us have had that the brand means something special—an opinion that extends back to the Beetle.
General Motors covered up faulty ignition switches for years — and they resulted in several deaths as well as 30 million recalls. But GM is back and selling lots of cars. Can Volkswagon recover?
We spend a lot of time observing best and worst practices in reputation rebuilding at companies large and small. Here are our top tips for VW’s beleaguered leadership.
Follow Mary Barra’s lead. As CEO of General Motors, she has performed crisis management almost flawlessly. All CEOs can learn from her use of social media to communicate with consumers.
Take a page from Toyota. We’ve written extensively about why and how the top car company has adeptly rebounded from multiple crises.
It’s worth taking a look at the tremendous shifts in reputation VW has experienced over the course of its 75-year history.
An Unlikely Origin
VW began as a state-supported operation in Nazi Germany. While Hitler heralded the Beetle as an affordable “people’s car” (in German, volkswagen), VW’s early years did not live up to that reputation. “Only 630 Beetles were made there during World War II—and distributed to the privileged,” according to Der Spiegel.
A Reputation Reborn
Demand for Beetles during the occupation kept VW alive following World War II, but there was little international interest. After looking at the company as a possible acquisition, the CEO of Ford, for instance, famously concluded that VW wasn’t “worth a damn.” But over the coming years Beetle’s popularity made it a symbol of West Germany’s “economic miracle,” and VW’s success was “one of postwar Europe’s most glittering economic achievements,” according to a Time magazine article from 1963. By that year it was the world’s third largest automaker, and less than a decade later the Beetle’s total production count eclipsed Henry Ford’s Model-T.
Transformation: from “Hitler’s car” to “Beetlemania”
Upon its initial introduction in the United States, VW’s reputation couldn’t escape the Nazi association. “I even tried calling the VW the ‘Victory Wagon’ to take the curse off it, but the press referred to it only as ‘Hitler’s car,’” said Dutch car dealer Ben Pon, who shipped the first Beetles stateside in the late 1940s. Soon, though, New York agency Doyle Dane Bernbach wiped away that stigma with a string of unforgettable advertising campaigns, including “Think Small,” Advertising Age’s top campaign of the century. By emphasizing VW’s impact on an owner’s reputation and image instead of the traditional touting of features, these campaigns were an innovative and influential development in the history of advertising.
Post-Beetle: less risk, but no more mania
When Beetlemania subsided, the void left by such a defining model threatened to undo VW’s reputational gains. Not wanting to repeat the same mistake, the company unveiled a more diverse series of models, including the Passat, Golf and Polo. VW acquired Audi in 1964, and those new models integrated the technology and luxury Audi was known for. They prevented VW’s image from flat-lining but ushered in an extended period of mixed results. Things began to look brighter by the turn of the new millennium, as Audi’s jump to the luxury class occupied by BMW and Mercedes-Benz gave VW’s reputation a boost in the same direction.
Poised for a boom
Reputation has played a major factor in VW’s more recent global endeavors. In many countries “it has been around long enough to be seen as a domestic firm, so protectionists usually leave it alone,” according to The Economist. Its longstanding reputation in China helped distinguish it from pack in the world’s largest auto market. “VW bet on China nearly 30 years ago,” The Economist noted. “A glut of cheap cars is hurting prices in China but VW’s premium models are doing well.”
Rebuilding its image will be crucial for VW’s future success. Only a few years ago, its crowdsourced “People’s Car Project” engaged China’s drivers, attracting 119,000 ideas and 33 million hits. Incorporating that kind of virtual strategy in the climb to regain its reputation might help VW recover…if it can.
Our exclusive new guide to taking ownership of your online image is out. How to Look Better Online: Online Reputation Management for CEOs, Rising Stars, VIPs and Their Organizations was written by our founder, Shannon M. Wilkinson, in collaboration with our editing, content and design team.
How to Look Better Online draws upon our experiences improving and preventing the online reputation issues faced by a range of our clients. It is available as a downloadable eBook for all platforms. You can see a preview, learn more details and order a copy here.
What are a few of the most common mistakes CEOs and top executives make that can lead to reputation damage to them and their organizations?
Ms. Wilkinson: Many CEOs…they don’t own a lot of real estate in their name online, and they have not been proactive in creating a strategy to publish information about them on the Internet. When that happens the world creates your profile online, or Internet bots do. Whatever information third parties publish about you–whether credible or not, whether quality or not–will fill out the top pages of the Google search in your name and you have no control over that. The longer that stays the more difficult it is to replace it with more relevant information.
Are these the same issues they were dealing with a few years ago? How has the reputation risk landscape changed?
Ms. Wilkinson: The reputation risk landscape has gone through three developments. The first, which CEOs noticed around 2005, was the first wave of proliferation of anonymous malicious commentary that appeared widely on the Internet and was often directed toward companies, toward CEOs. The second wave was the proliferation of consumer reviews online, particularly geared toward customer service and complaints. The third phase we’re in now is the lack of privacy online, the continual spills of confidential in-house memos and emails, and of course the hacking.
What are some best practices executives and organizations can take to make it less likely they will fall victim to reputation slip-ups?
Ms. Wilkinson: The first is to look at the company’s internal culture. A lot of negativity comes from employees so it’s a good time to look inside at the opportunities employees have, and to look at diversity and inclusion, particularly providing women with opportunities. This is really the hot seat CEOs face now. This is going to be an issue for every company—employees, consumers are looking at how equitable companies are at providing opportunities for women, minorities, the LGBT group.
What makes top executives susceptible to engaging on social media in a way that can cause them reputation headaches?
Ms. Wilkinson: Some lack an understanding of how many people use social media and how they use it. I think most CEOs don’t encounter issues because of what they say on social media, it’s what is said on social media in response to their actions, that is the bigger threat. They’re so scrutinized and it’s so easy for a comment to be taken out of context.
About You(Online)
Reputation Communications publishes You(Online) to help educate CEOs, C-Suite executives, rising stars and high net worth individuals about online reputation management.
Reputation Reboot addresses real-life online reputation management (ORM) challenges faced by CEOs, executives, VIPs and their organizations. Unless they are public figures, their names and related descriptions of all individuals and companies discussed are changed to protect their privacy. For a quick look at the types of situations facing many professionals, scroll down and check out the headlines.
Online reputation management enables you to take more ownership over what appears about you on the Internet.
Without it, the world controls how you look online.
Here are ten examples of the ways online reputation management is used by individuals, companies and organizations.
To ensure up-to-date and accurate information dominates search results for an organization or individual’s name.
To ensure that factual, credible reference material is readily available online.
That reduces the chance that fraudulent information will impact a brand.
To remove unwanted or inappropriate information, photographs or other content from the first few pages of Google search results.
To monitor social media and online forums for red flags signaling potential on- and offline threats against high-profile individuals and their organizations.
To create a strong online presence about a topic.
That presence acts as a barrier against potential distortions from third-party content, including anonymous and defamatory material. Without it, such items can go straight to the top of searches – and stay.
To ensure that your story is told by you and not by former partners or other potentially biased parties.
To establish a reputation within your area of expertise on multiple online platforms.
To create an online legacy for a VIP who is preparing for retirement or to exit an organization.
