Magnify Your Reputation

How To Measure Your Brand Reputation

Each of us has a brand. We may not even be aware of it. Your brand is what you stand for; it is your reputation. Your brand is influenced by your online activity. However, it is much more than your digital footprint or online presence. Your brand is not completely in your control. Ultimately, your brand is determined by how your customers, employers, suppliers, employees, etc. perceive you or your company, product or service. Good, bad, or indifferent, your reputation resides in their minds. How you make people feel is a big part of your brand. Your brand is strengthened or weakened with every interaction you have with every peer, direct report, client, supervisor, family member, and friend.

The following are suggestions to measure your brand reputation:

1.    Conduct a 360 review

Does your opinion of how effective you are as a leader match what others think? A 360 review is designed to allow you, the person being reviewed, to receive anonymous feedback from peers, direct reports, managers, customers, family and more. This is a great way for you to identify your strengths and blind spots. You will assess yourself and compare that with what others think. Then you can work to close the gap, if they exist. A 360 assessment has the greatest impact when the person being reviewed is open to improvement for becoming a better leader. If the tool is being used for remediation, make sure you have someone trained to administer and deliver the feedback.

It is possible to conduct 360 assessments on an intact team or entire department. This may be beneficial if the team over or underestimates their impact and effectiveness. Here is a link to a 360 review I like.

2.    Answer the following questions:

• Do people listen when you speak? Do you hold people’s attention in meetings and presentations?
• Do people take you seriously? Do they know you will keep your commitments? Can they give you assignments without worry?
• Are you and your services in demand? People ask you to do things because they know it will get done. People outside your department come to you for help. Customers call you for help with problems not immediately related to what you do.
• Do people invest in you? Do they buy your ideas, services, products and projects?
• Do people want to work with you? With unemployment currently at about 4.2% in the U.S., employers are struggling to meet their demand for the best talent. Under these conditions, you are likely to get job offers. If so, would your current employer fight to keep you?
• Do you have low or high turnover? People don’t leave companies, they leave their bosses. They will choose to stay with you or leave you based on how you make them feel, based on your brand.
• If you were a stock, would your value be rising? Are your annual earnings rising?
• What happens if you make a mistake? Are you given grace or is punishment swift?

A coach can be a great asset here.

3.    Access tools to measure your online reputation:

• Crystalknows.com provides personality insights based on your online profile. This tool is designed to help you communicate better with others. I learned about this from a client. The report was not accurate for behavioral profile. However, it was gratifying because it was based on the information I share on social media. This represents what I believe, what is important to me, and what I strive to be. It represented the behaviors I am working to develop.
• Yext.com This measures the online brand for your business.
• Talent IQ Aggregates all your online personal information including social media and your employment history. This helps recruiters and companies identify top talent that is a good fit based on a hire ability score. Other applicant tracking systems of note: Taleo, iCIMS, Workday, Greenhouse, Smartrecruiters, and Levers.
• Employer branding: Glassdoor.com and Themuse.com.

Your personal and corporate brand can have a powerful positive or negative impact. When people trust what you and your services stand for, they are more likely to engage you and recommend you. If you are not aware of your reputation, start measuring it today.

Proactively magnifying your brand and reputation will pay great dividends in your ability to influence, make change, negotiate, get promotions, attract new business, keep your best employees, maintain team member engagement and more. You can’t completely control what others perceive and think about you but, you can deliberately work to make each interaction with you or your company a positive one and quickly work to correct any negative ones. Start today!

The author Spencer Horn is the President of Spencer Horn Solutions, LLC. He regularly speaks, trains and coaches on how to strengthen your brand.

Other topics that may interest you: How To Make Yourself Instantly More Valuable; How To Make A Stronger Impression; Leadership Is About Impact Not Intention; What Is Innattentional Blindness Costing You?; Is The Fundamental Attribution Error Destroying Your Team?; Cure For The CEO Disease; When Being Too Smart Hurts You; How Asking Questions Strengthens Your Team