In an age of information transparency, shareholders are more empowered than ever. Expectations have shifted. Shareholders are no longer satisfied with overly-groomed and mysterious boards of directors. Today, investors want to feel like they know executives and can trust them with company leadership. The lines between work and life have become blurred. Having a robust personal and professional brand is now part of the job for top executives, which is why many are enlisting the support of communications teams to build and maintain robust digital footprints.
A recent Weber Shandwick report on CEO reputation states, “Business leaders are at a pivotal point. They are emerging from a period in which CEOs kept fairly low profiles, raised to the public spotlight only by crisis or scandal…[and] have entered a golden age of opportunity in which to tell their company stories.” They go on to say that “research continues to find that CEO reputation is a fundamental driver of corporate reputation, and is unwavering in its contribution to market value” stating that an estimated 44% of market value is attributable to executive reputation—that’s nearly half!
You Can’t Afford to Ignore Digital Reputation
Crises and scandals still abound, but perhaps a more significant and pervasive threat to boards of directors and company executives is the rise of activist investing, which has most recently turned its attention to controversial ESG and DEI policies. Like life and work, the lines between commerce and politics have also blurred. The proactive promotion currently required of executives is similar to that of a political campaign, as both share the goal of winning trust and favor with constituents.
Companies must maintain positive brand awareness for all the obvious and traditional marketing constructs. But it’s rarely the faceless company entity that takes the ultimate hit in times of crisis. Instead, company leaders and individual executives stand to lose the most.
How can executives protect themselves against negative press and activist investing?
As with many things in life, the best offense is a strong defense. In this context, that defense is a proactive approach to digital reputation at the executive level. In times of crisis, it’s important to have an abundance of positive coverage or favorable assets online that can stand up as an account of values and good deeds in the face of challenges.
Experts have also pointed out that we’re no longer dependent on traditional media coverage to tell our stories. Technology and social media have given us all the power to speak for ourselves and the potential to engage audiences directly. Of course, great power comes great responsibility, and plenty of cautionary tales exist. But while fear of saying the wrong thing can create paralysis, we’d argue that saying nothing is even worse. Which is why partnering with the right communications team is a crucial reputation strategy.
Top Tools for Strengthening Your Online Presence
H2: Top Tools for Strengthening Your Online Presence
Gone are the days of simply buying your namesake URLs to mitigate a direct digital threat against you. It might help, but it’s not enough.
Haystack has been coaching individual executives and boards of directors on the best ways to bolster their digital footprints for years. Here are a few of our tried-and-true favorites:
Digital Landscape Discovery & Strategy — When in doubt, start here. Performing a D&S will analyze your existing digital presence and offer tangible insights on improving audience engagement, compensating for vulnerabilities, and optimizing future efforts.
Social Listening — By listening to the chatter, you can take control of your narrative before someone else does. Use AI algorithms to combat misinformation, mitigate risk, and increase target audience engagement.
Board Profile Videos — Production and promotion of videos that showcase individual board members may be the most powerful piece of proactive content executives could invest in. Fostering trust and creating shareholder loyalty with authentic videos goes a long way toward protecting against activists of any nature.
Ideally, every executive’s reputation would be strong enough that stakeholders would defend them in light of an activist or character attack. However, for that to happen, investors need to feel like they know and trust the executive well enough to back them.
When it comes to breaking that fourth wall and meaningfully connecting with an audience, there is no medium more effective and accessible than video because it brings otherwise static words and images to life. When done right, it humanizes executive bios and offers the sense of peeking behind the curtain of corporate marketing. People LOVE videos. Last year, over 90% of consumers said they’d rather watch a video than read copy. And can you blame them? In a world where we’re overrun with information, we’re all looking for the fastest and easiest way to absorb content.
Haystack’s video team is dedicated to helping executives and board members introduce themselves through short-form video profiles. Our nimble crews often capture such footage at board meetings, creating content that can be re-used and shared across various platforms by communications and investor relations teams. Shareholders often perform online research into companies and their executives. So, meet them where they are and give them what they want in the form of easily findable, high-quality content that clearly defines executive values and company goals.
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