Attended an interesting conference today on social reputation. Several excellent presentations and roundtables. Will add some observations in my next post but I thought I would share an interesting insight I had before the day ends. The conference was about “social reputation” which I expected would also include observations on “reputation” in general. Interestingly, there was very little conversation about what reputation is and how social reputation is a component of overall reputation. Instead, many of the presentations were about “online reputation” building mostly through two way conversations, social media and engagement. For a moment I was wondering reputation does not exist unless you are talking about social reputation. Social reputation is but one way that reputation is manifested but it is not the entirety of what reputation is all about.

I think that the fervor around social reputation may be causing people to turn a blind eye to the totality of reputation-building  — how you treat employees, act as a good corporate citizen and build high quality products and services. And of course, one has to be financially sound. You can be the best social media maven and engager but you still need these important building blocks to make sure that people want to hear from you.

I was pleased to think that a holistic approach to reputation might be the better way in the long-term. The pendulum will swing back to a more holistic approach but right now reputation managers must open their eyes wide.

[Interestingly too, two of our clients spoke and they had more holistic reputation presentations so I felt good about that.]