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Sticks and Stones: How Digital Business Reputations are Created Over Time and Lost in a Click

by Larry Weber

Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2009

In today’s wired world, business reputations are built and destroyed online. Blogs, citizen journalism, and instant information have made the consequences of a bad reputation more devastating than ever. Though it may be intangible, a good reputation online is your company’s most valuable corporate asset. It builds customer loyalty, helps attract talent, and earns shareholder confidence — and that leads to better bottom lines and bigger profits.

Until now, there’s been no straightforward guidebook on building your online reputation and keeping your brand message intact. In Sticks and Stones, PR guru Larry Weber gives you the rules and tools you need to build and safeguard your company’s online presence.

Weber explains the important concept of online equity — the sum total of the positive impressions that your company or product makes on customers, communities, and stakeholders. The bigger your supply of online equity, the easier it will be for you to overcome negative impressions — whether they come from news sources, bloggers, or anyone else online. Sticks and Stones shows you how to build reputation equity through online publicity, organizational moral purpose, and strong business relationships.

Inside, you’ll learn how to:

• Monitor and measure your reputation
• Set priorities and objectives for building and protecting your reputation
• Engage, involve, and influence your stakeholders
• Set responsibilities and internal policy for managing the online conversation
• Develop your online reputation and build equity
• Master YouTube — whether you’re a small business or a mega-business
• Successfully counter innuendo, rumors, or lies about your products, services, or policies
• Minimize the damage from mistakes and crises

This book gives you an effective framework for managing your online reputation by discovering who your key stakeholders are and what issues they care most about — and how to keep them happy.

Larry Weber leads W2 Group, a next-generation ecosystem of marketing service companies that help CMOs in their new roles of content aggregators and community builders. W2 Group companies include Racepoint Group, a global public relations firm with special expertise in digital media relations; Digital Influence Group, a social media marketing agency; and Two Martinis, a branding firm that aligns brand vision and customer experience in a social media world. Earlier in his career, Weber founded Weber Shandwick, the largest public relations agency in the world. He is also cofounder and chairman of MITX, the world’s largest online advocacy organization, and the author of Marketing to the Social Web.