Chad Angle: navigating social media as a celebrity or high-profile executive
With social media use more prevalent than ever before, well-known individuals with high-profile brands need to start thinking about their digital presence
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In the digital age, with personal data and information becoming increasingly available online, people all over the world are starting to recognize the rising importance of managing their online reputation as a critical aspect of their personal and professional lives. Online reputation management (ORM) is the practice of developing and deploying strategies to shape public perception of an individual or organization, helping to steer the online conversation in a positive direction.
This article will explore the reputational risks posed to public figures by social media, sharing best practices to help celebrities and high-profile individuals enhance their public image without compromising their professional integrity or privacy.
ORM strategies focus on monitoring and analyzing online conversations to identify and address content that could potentially cause reputation damage. For celebrities and high-profile executives, every Tweet, comment, and criticism contributes to the fabric of their digital reputation. For people in the public eye, ORM is essential, narrowing the gap between self-perception and online reputation, empowering the individual to take control of the online narrative that surrounds them.
ORM centers around crafting a digital footprint that aligns with the individual’s personal brand and values. It is the practice of crafting a digital presence that accurately portrays an individual’s achievements, aspirations, and identity.
The first step for an individual keen to protect their online image is learning what people are saying about them. This can be achieved by conducting various internet searches using their name and a combination of other identifying information, such as their hometown and the projects they have worked on. Prior to conducting this online search, it is important for individuals to log out of their internet browser, as otherwise their past search history will affect the results Google shows them.
The next step involves deciding which items should be suppressed and made more difficult for people to find. Online content that reveals a person’s private and personal information like telephone numbers or their address should be removed, as this data leaves them vulnerable to being stalked, burgled, or targeted for identity theft or fraud. They will also want to downplay comments that could have a negative connotation, as well as unflattering images and content that portrays them in a negative light. Celebrities and high-profile executives are only human, and like everyone they are prone to the occasional mistake. However, as they are constantly scrutinized, even the smallest faux pas can have a cataclysmic impact. It is therefore essential for public figures to manage their brand effectively by owning up to mistakes, which in turn gives them more control of the media narrative.
The public judge celebrities based on what they discover about them on the internet. It is therefore essential for public figures to take active steps to protect their reputation on social media. Key aspects of a person’s life – including their career, personal relationships and finances – can all be impacted by comments posted on social media. This is especially the case for celebrities and business leaders with a huge internet audience and millions of followers.
High-profile individuals are completely at the mercy of the press and media as they build and maintain their personal brand. Just like business brands, they can attract a flurry of negative press for insensitive social media posts, watching their reputation decline in minutes after just one ill-advised post or Tweet. To protect their image, public figures must take charge of the online conversation that surrounds them, as a strong online presence makes people infinitely more marketable, significantly affecting their earning potential. The bigger the star, the more their personal brand is worth.
As lucrative as personal brands can be, they are also notoriously fragile. Endorsement offers can quickly dry up or even be retracted where someone in the public eye finds themselves at the center of a PR crisis. In fact, simply being associated with another individual or organization at the center of negative headlines can tarnish a celebrity’s reputation. It is therefore crucial for high-profile individuals to invest in building a positive online reputation as their best defense against smear campaigns and other negative content.
This is particularly the case for public figures, who frequently find themselves the target of rumors and abuse that spread across the internet like wildfire. Being targeted in this manner can inflict catastrophic damage, irrespective of whether the accusations are true or not.
Chad Angle is head of ReputationDefender, a Tempe, Arizona-based company that has helped in dev the online reputation management industry. ReputationDefender helps public figures to develop and deploy full circle ORM strategies, safeguarding their reputation and monitoring the internet constantly – checking for negative content and either pushing it so far down the search engine rankings it is no longer a threat or eliminating it completely.