About a week ago, my boss gave me a copy of Larry Weber‘s Sticks & Stones: How Digital Business Reutations are Created over Time and Lost in a Click. The book was a gift from his wife who works for Weber’s PR agency Racepoint. At first I wondered if the book was going to be an inflated “look at what we did” style book that has become vogue in the world of PR and social media. However, I was presently surprise to notice that the book was not written for PR and SM pros, but rather members of the C-suite who should be more in tune with the efforts of their communications teams, either internally or externally.

The book itself was a quick read that took me about three or four sittings to rip through, and was more of a page turner than most business books are.  I would recommend it to any other PR pros out there, but would also advise a read to those in marketing who would like to learn more about the subject, or an executive trying to wrap their heads around what their communications team is talking about. Its also a good educational tool that social media is not always about Sell, Sell, Sell and the key role that reputation management plays.

Perhaps the biggest takeaway for me was the thread that all of our online reputations hangs on is quite thin. Big companies are an easy target however one of the biggest examples was a small town real estate pro who made the mistake of popping off about a renter who’s home fell out of order while serving in the military. Needless to say his reputation was beyond repair while a large company like Taco Bell was able to repair an image that was cause by a video of rats in a NYC store. Granted, Taco Bell’s parent company was able to spend and spin to get out of the mess, but their reputation was tainted from the event along with their untimely response to the it.

In a world where everything is online in an instance PR pros and companies need to keep on the ball and be ready for the unexpected. The book is not an end-all-be-all, however it is a good starting point to map out your corporate strategy. Here is a chart that was in the early stages that just jumped off the page at me:

1. Identify your key stakeholders and the issues that matter most to them (and to you)
2. Analyze your reputation among these stakeholders, especially as related to key issues
3. Set priorities and goals for reputation management
4. Identify online opportunities for contact with stakeholders
5. Implement creative approaches to promote dialogue key issues
6. Monitor and measure your reputation, then tweak tactics as needed
   

If you want to give the book a read, click here to give it a go.

About a week ago, my boss gave me a copy of Larry Weber‘s Sticks & Stones: How Digital Business Reutations are Created over Time and Lost in a Click. The book was a gift from his wife who works for Weber’s PR agency Racepoint. At first I wondered if the book was going to be an inflated “look at what we did” style book that has become vogue in the world of PR and social media. However, I was presently surprise to notice that the book was not written for PR and SM pros, but rather members of the C-suite who should be more in tune with the efforts of their communications teams, either internally or externally.

The book itself was a quick read that took me about three or four sittings to rip through, and was more of a page turner than most business books are.  I would recommend it to any other PR pros out there, but would also advise a read to those in marketing who would like to learn more about the subject, or an executive trying to wrap their heads around what their communications team is talking about. Its also a good educational tool that social media is not always about Sell, Sell, Sell and the key role that reputation management plays.

Perhaps the biggest takeaway for me was the thread that all of our online reputations hangs on is quite thin. Big companies are an easy target however one of the biggest examples was a small town real estate pro who made the mistake of popping off about a renter who’s home fell out of order while serving in the military. Needless to say his reputation was beyond repair while a large company like Taco Bell was able to repair an image that was cause by a video of rats in a NYC store. Granted, Taco Bell’s parent company was able to spend and spin to get out of the mess, but their reputation was tainted from the event along with their untimely response to the it.

In a world where everything is online in an instance PR pros and companies need to keep on the ball and be ready for the unexpected. The book is not an end-all-be-all, however it is a good starting point to map out your corporate strategy. Here is a chart that was in the early stages that just jumped off the page at me:

1. Identify your key stakeholders and the issues that matter most to them (and to you)
2. Analyze your reputation among these stakeholders, especially as related to key issues
3. Set priorities and goals for reputation management
4. Identify online opportunities for contact with stakeholders
5. Implement creative approaches to promote dialogue key issues
6. Monitor and measure your reputation, then tweak tactics as needed
   

If you want to give the book a read, click here to give it a go.

About a week ago, my boss gave me a copy of Larry Weber‘s Sticks & Stones: How Digital Business Reutations are Created over Time and Lost in a Click. The book was a gift from his wife who works for Weber’s PR agency Racepoint. At first I wondered if the book was going to be an inflated “look at what we did” style book that has become vogue in the world of PR and social media. However, I was presently surprise to notice that the book was not written for PR and SM pros, but rather members of the C-suite who should be more in tune with the efforts of their communications teams, either internally or externally.

The book itself was a quick read that took me about three or four sittings to rip through, and was more of a page turner than most business books are.  I would recommend it to any other PR pros out there, but would also advise a read to those in marketing who would like to learn more about the subject, or an executive trying to wrap their heads around what their communications team is talking about. Its also a good educational tool that social media is not always about Sell, Sell, Sell and the key role that reputation management plays.

Perhaps the biggest takeaway for me was the thread that all of our online reputations hangs on is quite thin. Big companies are an easy target however one of the biggest examples was a small town real estate pro who made the mistake of popping off about a renter who’s home fell out of order while serving in the military. Needless to say his reputation was beyond repair while a large company like Taco Bell was able to repair an image that was cause by a video of rats in a NYC store. Granted, Taco Bell’s parent company was able to spend and spin to get out of the mess, but their reputation was tainted from the event along with their untimely response to the it.

In a world where everything is online in an instance PR pros and companies need to keep on the ball and be ready for the unexpected. The book is not an end-all-be-all, however it is a good starting point to map out your corporate strategy. Here is a chart that was in the early stages that just jumped off the page at me:

1. Identify your key stakeholders and the issues that matter most to them (and to you)
2. Analyze your reputation among these stakeholders, especially as related to key issues
3. Set priorities and goals for reputation management
4. Identify online opportunities for contact with stakeholders
5. Implement creative approaches to promote dialogue key issues
6. Monitor and measure your reputation, then tweak tactics as needed
   

If you want to give the book a read, click here to give it a go.

About a week ago, my boss gave me a copy of Larry Weber‘s Sticks & Stones: How Digital Business Reutations are Created over Time and Lost in a Click. The book was a gift from his wife who works for Weber’s PR agency Racepoint. At first I wondered if the book was going to be an inflated “look at what we did” style book that has become vogue in the world of PR and social media. However, I was presently surprise to notice that the book was not written for PR and SM pros, but rather members of the C-suite who should be more in tune with the efforts of their communications teams, either internally or externally.

The book itself was a quick read that took me about three or four sittings to rip through, and was more of a page turner than most business books are.  I would recommend it to any other PR pros out there, but would also advise a read to those in marketing who would like to learn more about the subject, or an executive trying to wrap their heads around what their communications team is talking about. Its also a good educational tool that social media is not always about Sell, Sell, Sell and the key role that reputation management plays.

Perhaps the biggest takeaway for me was the thread that all of our online reputations hangs on is quite thin. Big companies are an easy target however one of the biggest examples was a small town real estate pro who made the mistake of popping off about a renter who’s home fell out of order while serving in the military. Needless to say his reputation was beyond repair while a large company like Taco Bell was able to repair an image that was cause by a video of rats in a NYC store. Granted, Taco Bell’s parent company was able to spend and spin to get out of the mess, but their reputation was tainted from the event along with their untimely response to the it.

In a world where everything is online in an instance PR pros and companies need to keep on the ball and be ready for the unexpected. The book is not an end-all-be-all, however it is a good starting point to map out your corporate strategy. Here is a chart that was in the early stages that just jumped off the page at me:

1. Identify your key stakeholders and the issues that matter most to them (and to you)
2. Analyze your reputation among these stakeholders, especially as related to key issues
3. Set priorities and goals for reputation management
4. Identify online opportunities for contact with stakeholders
5. Implement creative approaches to promote dialogue key issues
6. Monitor and measure your reputation, then tweak tactics as needed
   

If you want to give the book a read, click here to give it a go.