Why Every Modern Business Should Be Focused on Corporate Reputation (and How to Improve It)

At the intersection of people and purpose sits corporate reputation: a perception held by your employees, customers, and internal and external stakeholders about who you are as a brand. It is a combination of your company’s past actions and its potential future impact and behaviors.

Unfortunately, the perception of corporate reputation in the United States is diminishing. According to a recent study from the Reputation Institute, there was a nearly 20% drop in consumer belief that brands appear genuine about what they say and stand for. But it also found that companies with enhanced corporate brand strength have a higher reputation.

The good news is you have some control when it comes to strengthening your corporate reputation. Below, we’re sharing the key audiences involved in shaping your corporate reputation and best practices on LinkedIn. We’ll also point you toward our upcoming webinar on June 12, which will take a deep dive into these topics.

Essential Corporate Reputation Audiences

Effective corporate communication is a two-way street. Most companies have a plan in place for monitoring and engaging with the following audiences:

• Media opinion leaders
• Policymakers and regulators
• Investors
• Employees
• NGOs and other influential stakeholders

All of these audiences can be found and reached via LinkedIn, leveraging our sponsored content and other paid solutions. We will talk more about these tactics in our upcoming webinar.  

Content Strategy for LinkedIn

We recommend incorporating three pillars into your reputation programs:

• Corporate Communications. The most effective efforts are always-on and build cumulative impact by sharing breaking news, peeks behind the corporate curtain, company milestones, and more.
• Executive Thought Leadership. Encouraging your C-suite executives to be visible on social media can pay outsized dividends. The public wants to hear from CEOs. According to recent research from Edelman, 64% of respondents say CEOs should take leadership roles in policy rather than waiting for government action. Additionally, 54% say executives that are transparent on social media are the most trustworthy.   
• Third-Party Amplification. The most underutilized audience may be sitting right under your nose: your employees. LinkedIn research shows that content shared by an employee has a 2x higher click-through rate than the same content shared by the organization itself. LinkedIn Elevate can help streamline employee sharing.

Where Can You Learn More?

In our upcoming webinar, Rachel Steinberg, Susan Borst and I will discuss a simple, three-step process to build and sustain your brand’s reputation on LinkedIn. You’ll learn:

• Why LinkedIn is uniquely positioned for reputation management
• How to find your essential audience that can help strengthen your corporate reputation on the platform
• Best practices for developing content and keeping your message in front of key stakeholders
• How to maximize engagement with a mix of corporate and brand communications, executive thought leadership, and third-party articles

The webinar is coming up on June 12th at 3:00 ET/noon PT. Register now to save your spot. We’ll see you there!

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