Online Brand Reputation Management: 7 Things CEOs Must Know (Part 1)

As the CEO, CFO, or CTO of your company, there’s no shortage of tasks that fall under your purview. But there’s one specific activity that you may not think of until it’s too late: online brand reputation management.

Why does online brand reputation management matter? Just as most people Google the name of a company prior to doing business with it, the same is done for the individuals we do business with. And the way they choose to interact with you (if at all) can be heavily influenced by what they see on the first page of search results.

Let’s take a closer look at the 7 things that, as a C-suite exec, you must know when it comes to online brand management reputation.



1) Your Online Brand Reputation Management Matters

As an executive of your company, it is IMPERATIVE that you do online brand reputation management for yourself because it can have a significant impact on your business and your bottom line. This is no exaggeration. Imagine this scenario: You’re considering two boutique tech companies and do a quick search on their technology execs to help inform your final decision.




Company A’s CTO has a LinkedIn profile, bylined articles in industry publications, and a press release mentioning an award on the first page of her search results.


Company B’s CTO has search results consisting of SoundCloud music links, Facebook posts, and his personal blog from 2016.



Which company would you contact first? If you’re like most of us, you’d walk away from those searches feeling a little stronger about Company A, not because you discovered something bad about Company B’s CTO, but simply because you got a better feeling about Company A. Don’t ignore the opportunity costs that come from ignoring online brand reputation management for yourself.



2) You Must Take an Online Inventory

The old saying “you don’t know what you don’t know” holds especially true when it comes to your online brand reputation management. How do you know what is being said about you, if anything, if you aren’t looking? That’s why it’s so important to take an inventory of what’s out there about you.

A basic Google or Bing search is a great place to start. Search your name in quotation marks (e.g. “Sameer Somal”). If you have a common name or find you’re getting a number of irrelevant results, add qualifiers to your search like your title (e.g. “Sameer Somal” “CEO”), your location (e.g. “Sameer Somal” “Alexandria” and/or your brand (e.g. “Sameer Somal” “Blue Ocean”).

But don’t stop with just Google or Bing. Go into specific social networks like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and others and perform similar searches there. Make a note of what you find. Are you in the B2C industry? Check out review sites like Yelp, Angie’s List, and others for mentions of your name specifically and your brand in general. And for execs of B2B companies, check sites like G2 and CrowdReviews, as they may mention you.

Don’t forget about sites like Glassdoor, where current and former employees are invited to anonymously dish on companies and executives. Now is not the time to cut corners or try to save your feelings; when you’re taking an inventory, you want to get a true baseline of the current status of your efforts in online brand reputation management. No matter if it is good, bad, somewhere in between, or utterly nonexistent.

3) Review Your Competition
As you’re getting a sense of what your online brand reputation management efforts have done for you in the online arena, take a look at your competition. What CEOs in your space are doing well, getting lots of positive coverage, great press mentions, and impressive search results?
Which execs did you expect to see but have to dig to find any mention of? Are any of your competitors flat out doing it wrong, and what mistakes have they been making?

Identify what your competition is doing well so that you can borrow, emulate, and/or improve upon it. Pinpoint what they’re doing poorly so that you can avoid it. Doing these things will help inform your own online strategy.

Part 2 coming soon!

Originally published on Blue Ocean Global Technology.