Sticks and Stones: How Digital Business Reputations Are Created Over Time and Lost in a Click [Hardcover]

Larry Weber (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 14, 2009

"Larry Weber has made an important contribution to helping any leader understand how to manage and protect reputation in a digital world. The influences on reputation have spun out of control, and this book is a highly actionable approach to move from reacting to managing one of every organization's most important assets."
—Michael E. Porter, Bishop William Lawrence University Professor, Harvard Business School

"In Sticks and Stones, Larry Weber presents a compelling look at the challenges of protecting corporate reputation in a world where company information can cross borders and gain momentum in an instant via the Internet. Drawing on his keen eye for communications trends, Larry offers practical advice for navigating this ever-changing environment. Corporate leaders would be wise to embrace his counsel."
—Ron Sargent, Chairman and CEO, Staples, Inc.

"Businesses no longer control their brands. At best, they can influence the communities of constituents who debate, shape, and refine their definition of what the brand means to them. Marketers and business executives can tap into these conversations to form incredibly rich and lasting bonds or allow themselves to be rolled by them. Larry Weber understood this dynamic long before most commu-nications thought leaders. In Sticks and Stones, he delivers not only bountiful examples of the best and worst practices in reputation management, but also practical advice that any leader can use to understand and shape reputation in this complex new world. This is a must-read book for the modern marketer."
—Paul Gillin, author, The New Influencers and Secrets of Social Media Marketing

"In today's interconnected world of social networking, 24/7 blogging and Twitter, a company's livelihood relies, in large measure, on its ability to build a reputable online presence. Sticks and Stones is a must-read for any leader in business, academia, or politics who wants to achieve and maintain a 21st-century, online competitive advantage."
—Deborah Wince-Smith, President, Council on Competitiveness

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Words really can hurt you; here's how to influence the conversation and counter the attacks.

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 theycome 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 formanaging 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.

About the Author

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.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (July 14, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470457384
• ISBN-13: 978-0470457382
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #460,092 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Larry Weber is founder and chairman of W2 Group, a next-generation marketing services ecosystem organized to help marketing officers in their new roles of online community builders and content aggregators. W2 Group companies Digital Influence Group, Racepoint Group and Two Martinis are leaders in social media marketing in paid and unpaid media. For the past thirty years, Larry has advised hundreds of companies of all different sizes and industries, helping them to navigate a wide spectrum of business challenges and marketing opportunities. Along the way, he founded Weber Shandwick, one of the largest public relations agency in the world. His experience has afforded him a crow's nest view of the evolution of marketing, reputation management, influence and brand that inspires his vision today. Larry lives with his wife and three children in Massachusetts.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Reputations will never be the same again, September 26, 2009

By 

Debbie Hemley (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sticks and Stones: How Digital Business Reputations Are Created Over Time and Lost in a Click (Hardcover)

If you care about your reputation, the reputation of your business or organization, or for that matter, the ones you have any affiliation with, then you must read Larry Weber's new book, Sticks & Stones. You won't think about reputation the same way again!

Debbie Hemley

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Reputation in Digital Age, August 3, 2009

By 

Busy Izzi (NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sticks and Stones: How Digital Business Reputations Are Created Over Time and Lost in a Click (Hardcover)

In today's Wall Street Journal (8/3) page B6, the headline "For Companies, a Tweet in Time Can Avert PR Mess" says it all.

Sticks and Stone talks about how to monitor the web and how to respond, keeping your reputation intact and your customers positive. Mr. Weber says "Today there is no line between customer relations/public relations and reputation." True! And the speed with which people pick up ideas, stories and comments is breathtaking, so your digital presence must constantly keep up. The advice is similar to the directions on a shampoo bottle: Wash, rinse, repeat.

Chapter 10, The YouTube Juggernaut, had some cool case studies and strategies for YouTube success. Chapter 11 explains how to find and deal with negative information, criticism and crises. It's a must read.

I think this book would also be useful to nonprofits, mom-and-pops, the self-employed, and government agencies.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Real-world examples & advice to manage your online reputation, July 23, 2009

By 

David M. Scott "David Meerman Scott" (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sticks and Stones: How Digital Business Reputations Are Created Over Time and Lost in a Click (Hardcover)

Managing your reputation used to mean one-way broadcasts of your company's messages. But social media and the online world means corporate reputations are made and broken in moments.

Sticks & Stones is an excellent book for anyone looking to understand what social media means to business reputations today. However, if you are a CEO or CMO who has come up through the ranks having understood offline communications, the book is especially for you.

Larry Weber is a storyteller. His real world examples draw from his decades of experience (including building one of the largest PR agencies in the world). He knows his stuff--he's been part of this revolution from the beginning.

So if you're wondering "Should I start a corporate blog?" or "Should the CEO be on Facebook and Twitter?" Larry is the man to ask. He puts online communications through social media into perspective and contrasts based on what you're likely already doing in the offline world.