Combines ideas from Online Reputation Management and Personal Branding into a 7-step process geared for mid-career executives and established professionals.

1. 1
7 Steps for Building and Managing
an Executive Reputation
Updated September 20, 2009

2. Quotable
“Your personal image is a part of the company’s overall
reputation if you are an owner, director, CEO or any
customer facing employee.”
–Andy Beal and Judy Strauss, Radical Transparency
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3. 3
Executive Reputation Management Process
1. Take a Hard Look at Your Online Presence
2. Address Your Beliefs, Fears and Hesitations
3. Get Clear About Your Brand Trajectory
4. Build a Consistent and Strategic Platform for Your Online
Presence
5. Create and Distribute Compelling Multimedia Content
6. Engage With and React to Your Community
7. Monitor Your Online Reputation

4. 1. Take a Hard Look at Your Online Presence

5. Assess Your Reputation
 Does your online presence accurately reflect your skills,
experience and strengths?
 Does it boost your credibility and position you as a
valuable asset to your organization?
 Do photos, videos, podcast and other multimedia content
appear in search engine results for your name?
 Have you established an presence online that could
withstand a negative incident?
“The real question is: How is brand You doing?”
–Tom Peters, The Brand Called You

6. 2. Address Your Beliefs, Fears and Hesitations
I am not a brand
My personal life is
nobody’s business
I don’t have time for
social media
They won’t Google me

7. Drink The Kool-Aid
 Do you feel threatened by social media?
 Do you embrace authenticity and transparency in your
communications?
 Why haven’t you started a blog or done guest blogging?
 How can you position your hobbies and personal interests to bolster
your professional reputation?
 Are there any personal affiliations/beliefs you have that you might
want to downplay in your online persona?
“CEOs are woefully stuck at the Web 1.0 level and need to embrace
Web 2.0 social media tools to spread their company’s merits far and
wide.”
–Dr. Leslie Gaines-Ross, ReputationXchange Blog

8. 3. Get Clear About Your Brand Trajectory
Authentic Personal Branding Model © Hubert Rampersad, 2009. Used with permission.

9. Know Yourself and Your Stakeholders
 What do you stand for?
 What remarkable, measurable and distinctive value do you
offer?
 What is your mission, vision and desired career legacy?
 Who are your stakeholders and what do they expect from
you?
 How will you put your values, strengths and gifts into a
personal brand statement?
“Authentic Personal Branding is a journey towards a happier and more
successful life.”
–Dr. Hubert Rampersad, Authentic Personal Branding

10. 4. Build a Consistent Strategic Platform for Your
Online Presence

11. Establish Your Presence
 Which social networking sites do your peers and
stakeholders use?
 Which social sites will you be able to maintain regularly?
 What is your Twitter strategy?
 Will you start your own blog or offer to write guest blogs for
other professional sites?
 What is your strategy to promote your social networking
sites?
“Personal branding is about unearthing what is true and unique about
you and letting everyone know about it.”
–Dan Schawbel, Me 2.0

12. Create a Facebook Fan Page

13. Establish Your LinkedIn Profile
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14. Find Your Blogging Voice

15. Start a Wikipedia Profile

16. 5. Create and Distribute Compelling Multimedia
Content

17. Populate the Web
 How many podcasts, videos, slides and photos about you
are posted online?
 How will you create online content?
 Have you built a Twitter following?
“Visibility has a funny way of multiplying; the hardest part is getting
started.”
–Tom Peters

18. Create Timely YouTube Videos

19. Share Your (Short) Ideas on Twitter

20. 6. Engage With and React To Your Community

21. Listen To and Engage Your Community
 Are you active on influential forums, user groups and
message boards?
 How frequently do you comment on other professional
blogs?
 What is your strategy to identify opportunities to get
involved and grow your authority with your community?
 What is your strategy to react to negative mentions of your
name?
“Joining the conversation will give you an opportunity to tell your side
of the story and repair any damage to your good name.”
–Andy Beal and Judy Strauss, Radically Transparent

22. 7. Monitor Your Online Reputation

23. Track Your Mentions
 What are the best tools to track mentions of your name?
 Have you set up Google and Yahoo email alerts for your
name?
 Does your monitoring tool search videos, blogs and other
multimedia content?
 Have you set up and optimized an RSS Reader to help
you monitor?
“It is not enough to be the best…you need a proper strategy to create a
credible and desired reputation, and the action plan to lift it into the
minds of your target audience.”
–Rob Brown, How to Build Your Reputation

24. Benefits of Personal Branding
 People trust you more
 You have a much higher perceived value
 You are differentiated from the competition
 You are always 100% authentic
 You are the “go-to” person in your area of expertise for
your specific audience
 You are known as an expert in your field
 You attract ideal opportunities
Source: Pete Kistler, Brand-Yourself.com
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25. Recommended Reading
 Radically Transparent by Andy Beal and Dr. Judy Strauss
 Corporate Reputation: 12 Steps to Safeguarding and
Recovering Reputation by Leslie Gaines-Ross
 Me 2.0 by Dan Schwabel
 Authentic Personal Branding by Hubert Rampersad
 Career Distinction: Stand Out by Building Your Brand by
William Arruda
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26. About Ron Schmidt

27. 27
Contact
Ron Schmidt
Managing Director, Rosswood Communications, Inc.
408-371-2801 Office
ron@rosswood-inc.com