This Lead to a Six-Figure Salary

A Detailed Online Reputation Management Case Study and Step-by-Step Anatomy of How it Works

What if a highly successful 55-year-old New York film executive/CEO with a stellar career running media organizations and at the forefront of innovative new revenue streams couldn’t get a new job. Instead, he was “untouchable.”

Why? Because of what happened to him 19 years ago at a holiday staff party.

In these post-Weinstein times, this is hardly far-fetched. So expect more transgressions to become unearthed across industries–as they should.

Bad Behavior at Holiday Office Party–19 Years Earlier

Anyway, admittedly, it was not good: he did something embarrassing at the fete (thankfully, NOT sexually oriented or abusive). But still, this haunted him online for years, damaging his online reputation.

Moreover, since it came up prominently on the first page of Google search results, he could not get another position.

What to do? I helped build an online reputation repair program and strategy to move those few but powerful negative links down off the first page, suppressing them out of sight.

Employment Contract Canceled After Internet Search

Since searching on Google is one of the first things hiring executives and headhunters do, having several damaging links meant he might get an initial phone call but rarely a follow-up.

Amazingly, he once even got so far as having a signed contract to start a new high-level position only to have it rescinded after someone in the prospective company discovered his nearly two-decade-old bad online reputation issue.

Online Reputation Repair Process Starts with Talking

So, we began to work together. As I always do, I started by talking, asking questions, and listening–all three very powerful but sometimes little-used tools in the repair process. I needed to know what he wanted to do business-wise, his goals, and what he considered his most significant accomplishments. It’s essential to start with a straightforward biography, but more importantly, I need to understand him as much as possible to properly build an authentic online presence.

After a few weeks of talks, I came up with an initial approach. I would:

• Create subtle but strong presences on key media-related online platforms.
• Help generate content showing his multi-varied expertise.
• Share this all on appropriate business-related sites very frequently.

What I Wouldn’t Do

Perhaps just as important is what I WOULDN’T do. Of course, Recover Reputation would not write fake articles, bogus reviews, or engage in “black hat” techniques.

Because my client held many prominent positions, everything had to be perfect and extremely high; producing sloppy work would hurt his online reputation and cause even further damage. So I wouldn’t create sites that did not fit directly with his goals or achievements.

Research Past to Craft Great Bio

One of the first things was to come up with a brief three or four-paragraph bio narrative summary. I could edit this down to a few sentences if necessary, depending on the use later. Integrated into the bio were a few well-researched key search phrases to help appear in search engines.

Review Client Survey Questionnaire

After the draft bio was created, I looked for any existing content that was already online. Part of my process is to get my clients to fill out a series of about twenty or thirty survey questions, so I reviewed this for clues too (where he went to school, where he lived, clubs he joined, positions in organizations, etc.).

Focus on Business Goals For Boosted Reputation

I then took a deeper look at his goals. Although he spent years in various related industries, I needed to know what his real direction was to craft an appropriate approach to build his online reputation. Was it new technology? Cable television? Digital ad sales? Mobile media?

I looked more thoroughly at the bio, content, and vision and came up with a final and detailed reputation strategy.

Create Highly Valued and Industry-specific Platforms

The first step was to identify what platforms to create, focusing on sites most likely to appear in searches quickly. Generally, Google values sites that appear to be a good content match. 

With this in mind, I looked again at my client’s background, experience, and future goals and centered on film and media, cable television, and related sites. The ones I came up with were:

• IMDB
• Instagram
• YouTube
• Crunchbase
• Vimeo
• Medium.com
• Slideshare.net
• SoundCloud, and more

I then worked on standard business-related and widely used platforms:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Wikipedia

I brought him these suggestions to discuss. First, he preferred to have minimal interaction on Facebook to separate his private life from his business.

Personal Website and Highlight Awards

I suggested creating a personal website with his name as the domain, but he decided against it again due to privacy reasons. However, since a personal website is a powerful tool for the online repair process, I had to look elsewhere for solutions that Google would rank highly.

Fortunately, he received many awards, participated in many charitable foundations, and was an active board member. So I focused on making sure his name was on all the respective Wikipedia pages and updated his LinkedIn profile, which was large project in their own right.

Carefully Update LinkedIn, An Important Reputation Management Tool

LinkedIn is, notably, one of those highly valued sites by Google, so I spent time getting this right; when done correctly, this should show up number one or two in searches. I updated the Summary and Headline; added links to his websites in the Contact section; carefully reviewed his previous jobs and added them under

Employment: make sure there was an excellent Profile Photo; updated Interests; joined other Groups, etc. It’s time-consuming but worth it.

Promote the Writing of a Well Sourced Wikipedia Article

Writing a Wikipedia article came next. After LinkedIn, Wikipedia usually ranks well but is tricky to craft properly since only legitimate and well-referenced articles are accepted–never write one yourself or hire someone to write one for you. 

Writing this is very time-consuming because nearly every statement or paragraph was referenced by a published article, video, presentation, or news item. The Wiki piece, unlike the LinkedIn or bio material, must be written with a neutral and unbiased point of view to comply with strict Wikipedia standards–to do otherwise risks a take-down.

Nearly Immediate Results

Quickly, after a few days or maybe a week, we nearly immediately began to see progress. These two–LinkedIn and Wikipedia–moved to the first page of Google searches and thus pushed off two negative links, which was great.

Other Social Platforms

Next, I focused on creating some of the identified social media platforms, such as X/Twitter and others. Using the bio material, I quickly grabbed pertinent parts and added them to YouTube, Crunchbase, etc. I also was sure to add a bio photo, and most importantly, link back to my client’s LinkedIn account (if he had a website, I would link back there).

He was getting anxious because he had a few prospective talks and interviews coming up. But they fell through, perhaps because of the remaining negative links, unfortunately.

Identify and Follow Key Influencers on Social Media

I went back to the extensive bio and other research. I identified pertinent topics to follow on social media that might interest the potential audience my client was trying to connect to. I created a topic list that could be easily referenced. I then identified “key influencers,” such as business leaders with many followers or old colleagues, and followed them on Twitter, SlideShare, and other platforms. 

Some, in turn, would follow my client back. I then started to churn out content by re-Tweeting or sharing existing content that I think would resonate the most. This also was extremely time-consuming since the process had to be replicated on nearly a dozen sites.

Find Positive Articles Already Published

With the nascent platforms being constructed, I looked back at the list of existing positive content that I found online, which was a lot. This ranged from:

• New York Times articles were written about him ten years ago or more.
• Several high-level industry-specific trade magazine articles, where his name was prominently featured in the headline or article title.
• Images of him with celebrities.
• Videos of him at events he promoted.

In total, there were about one hundred of these. However, the problem was they were buried. Many appeared on the second through 12th page of Google searches. How to promote them? Use the social media and other platforms I just created.

Move Good Articles to Prominent Position

So, I carefully and thoughtfully began to Tweet and shared some of these older pieces on LinkedIn that might get the most traction online. As more people saw them, the more they were being clicked on. This, in turn, began to move the good articles above the several remaining negative articles.

These critical links were also incorporated into many other platforms, such as IMDB, Crunchbase, Medium.com, Slideshare.net, and more. In addition, many of the articles were re-written or converted into presentations or videos and were uploaded too.
This worked.

Continue Online Reputation Repair for Several Months

After another two or three months of constant social media sharing, following other industry leaders, and churning out other content, there was significant progress in suppressing one of the hardest and last remaining negative links. All the damaging articles were off the first page–final success.

Happy Result: New Executive Position

Perhaps not surprisingly, my client landed a mid to high six-figure job soon after completing the repair process. We both were happy.

Repair Process Summary

So, here are some of the critical tasks for the repair process:

• Research, research, research.
• Learn as much as possible about the client’s background and future goals.
• Develop a content strategy and start to implement.
• Identify key platforms–both industry-specific and general business sites.
• Gather key followers.
• Update LinkedIn and write a Wikipedia article.
• Identify and share all existing content and promote.
• Continue the above for about four months.*

*This usually takes longer. An average case such as this can last six months or more.

Bottom Line

It can be a long slog, but it’s worth it. The repair price represented only 2% to 3% of his first year’s salary. Hence, if he stayed in his position for years, the online reputation cost was negligible and provided a considerable ROI.