Reputation Management in the Chemical Distribution Industry

Natalia McDonagh

Marketing Manager, Cornelius Group

Laura Stocker

President, Tin Cans Unlimited

• What is reputation management?

• Social media in corporate reputation

• Safeguard your company reputation online

• Getting started

• Reputation readiness

• Dealing with a crisis

• Wrap-up

Social Media in Corporate Reputation

The DARK SIDE : Not without risks

– Acts of misconduct

– Disclosure of confidential information

– Defamatory comments

– Harassment and bullying

Reputation is Perception

Rights to Privacy ?...

Rights of Privacy?...

Facebook posts:

‒ Comments about hating working at the company

‒ Referred to “JesusPhone”, complained having no signal ‒ Phone XXX application “f**ked up my time zone” ‒ No mention of company, but damage to XXX brand

‒ Dismissal – fair, breaking employers ‘core values’

Rights to Privacy?...

Social media “privacy”

Employees argued Article 8 – comments made in private should be protected

Crisp v Apple Retail - comments only to his friends

BUT: had no control over comments not be copied or passed on

Could not have reasonable expectations that comments would remain private

Article 8 Argument generally rejected

Bullying and Harassment on social media

(Cyber- bullying)

Harassment conducted through social media channels

Employers are liable for acts of harassment carried out by employees “in the course of their employment”

Problem for employers:

– Often takes place away from work

– Difficult to prevent

Defense when effective Bullying and Harassment Social media policy in place

“Cyber-bullying” cont.

Otomewo v Carphone Warehouse

− Employees took phone without permission, accessed Facebook page, changed status

− “Finally come out the closet. I am gay and proud”

− Mr. O not gay and did not believe colleagues thought he was, brought a claim for sexual orientation

− Employment Tribunal found – “harassment”

− Unwanted intrusion in private life

− Employer liable – actions done at work during working hours and between members of staff

“Cyber-bullying” cont.

Jones v Tower Boot Co – interpreted more broadly

Takes place away from workplace

Only defense – employers took all reasonable steps to eliminate discrimination

Multiculturalism and Social media

When ignorance is not a defense

Jokes, political comments

Education- Tell, Tell, Tell

Disclosure of Confidential information

What is confidential information / Trade secret? Court will consider:

‒ Whether the employee ‘habitually handles’ confidential information

‒ Can it be properly classified as a trade secret e.g. Coca-Cola secret formula

‒ The extent to which information can be easily isolated from other, non-confidential, information

‒ Whether the employer impressed on the employee the confidentiality of the information

Confidence during vs after employment

Faccenda Chicken –v- Fowler [1986]

The following were NOT trade secrets;

‒ Names and addresses of customers

‒ Daily routes taken for supplying customers

‒ The customer’s requirements

‒ The days and times of delivery

‒ Prices paid “Do not possess a ‘sufficiently high degree of confidentiality’

Restrictive covenants

Apply after employment has ended

4 Main Types of Restrictive Covenant:

Non-Competition

Non-Solicitation of Clients

Non-Dealing with Clients

Non-Poaching of Employees

What on earth has this got to do with

Social Media?

Friends if on Facebook Followers if on Twitter Connections if on LinkedIn

What is the point of Social Media in the workplace?

‒ To generate work from these people and therefore

cash for the employer.

What does the law say?

Hays Recruitment –v- Ions [2008]

Following handing in his resignation Mr Ions uploaded Hays client database to his LinkedIn account to ‘connect’ with them.

Contacts would then ‘accept’ the connection which Ions used in his new business

When Ions updated his new employer all contacts received notification of that fact

Ions argued ‘no longer confidential’

Court: possibly no longer confidential but if so due to Ions behaviour so potential claim for

- breach of restrictive covenants - breach of confidentiality

After an employment is terminated

Manage social media rigorously

Reputation is Perception

We recommend:

• Employers implement a Social Media Policy (CRUCIAL!) to provide protection (with comprehensive restrictive covenants and confidentiality clauses built in)

• Social media workshops for employees (prevention and protection)

Corporate reputation management for a

chemical distributor: Join the Debate

When principal's actions influence a distributor's brand

Safeguard Your Company Reputation

• Stakeholder management

• Don’t shut the door on the brewing storm

Getting Started

• Creating a benchmark

• Monitoring your reputation

Creating a Benchmark

Monitoring Your Reputation

• Tools for monitoring

– Hootsuite/Trackur/Marketing Cloud

– Google Alerts

– PR Scorecard

– Google audit/Google incognito

What we used to call your “elevator pitch”

is now your “Twittervator” pitch!

Reputation Readiness

Do you want to manage the conversation or react to the

conversation?

Earned Media

• Public relations

– Regularly crafted news releases

– Ongoing positive relationships with the media

– Presentation and participation

Where is your center

of influence?

Shared Media

• Social marketing

– Thoughtful / well conceived, strategically based profiles on major platforms

• Managed and ACTIVE

– Blogging

Shared Media

• Comment marketing

– Wikipedia

• Transparency

Paid Media

• Advertising

– Positive branding

• Search engine optimization

– Most transactions now begin with Google

– Consider Google page 1 as your business card

Dealing with a Crisis

• Know your weaknesses

– Prepare in advance for possible scenarios

• Identify your detractors – and monitor them

• The worst has happened – now what?

Dealing with a Crisis

• Prepare a response

• Stay transparent

• Engage your networks and your brand ambassadors

• Measurement and follow up

Ethics

• Reputation management agencies – mostly bad news

• Extortionists exist

• Practice white hat tactics

Wrap Up

• Stay ahead of the curve

– The 80/10/10 rule • 80% of your effort on content you own

• 10% of your effort on content you create

• 10% of your effort on content you influence

Be Prepared

• Building a solid reputation both on and offline is ongoing

• Personal and company reputations are intertwined

Questions?

Laura Stocker

www.tincansunlimited.com

Facebook.com/tinscans

Twitter.com/tincansllc

Natalia McDonagh

www.cornelius.co.uk

Twitter.com/corneliusgroup

LinkedIn: Cornelius Group