Linkedin ‘vibe shift’ behind key trend in reputation management
Linkedin has quietly evolved into an important comms channel as professional and private lives merge, according to a new report that pulls out key reputational trends.
The report from We Are Social also advises businesses to tread the line on diversity initiatives, be prepared for a general lack of trust, and treat internal business communications as external.
We Are Social CEO Suzie Shaw took Mumbrella through the report ahead of the launch of a new reputation management practice the agency is undertaking with comms veteran Paul Edwards.
The reputation blitz comes after the social agency repeatedly encountered clients whose social data requirements morphed into reputation management and on to corporate communications.
The report
In identifying five key reputational trends (see below), the agency used data from social-listening sentiment analysis of online conversations around 50 leading Australian brands.
A recurring theme is a disconnect between corporate and popular perception – whether over technology, diversity and equity initiatives, or the status of internal communications.
The report – full title “Reputation at the speed of social” – noted a trend that it called “the inside-out corporation”. This is the tendency for the internal operations of a company to be made public, usually through social media.
“Internal communications are no longer internal, and corporate culture is no longer confined within the four walls of a business,” the report reads.
An aspect of this culture migration is the increasing use of personal, “real” personas in business settings, a change seen most clearly on LinkedIn.
“LinkedIn is a bit of a dark horse, particularly in Australia,” Shaw said. “It’s a very strong platform. Australia is one of the most highly penetrated markets in the world, and the growth is very strong.”
“The culture that’s developed around LinkedIn is a pretty positive one from a corporate marketing, brand building and reputation management perspective, because there’s a lot of thought leadership there.”
Over the past five years, there has been a “vibe shift” on LinkedIn as its status as a purely professional network has loosened, and business has become more tolerant of personal stories.
“There’s this era of more vulnerable leadership where people are opening up and telling more human and the both stories about themselves and their points of view.”
“I think this blurring of the lines between work and home that was driven by remote working and hybrid working, [and also] this era of the EVP (Employee Value Proposition) where employees are more candid and vocal about what they want. That all plays out on LinkedIn.”
The report cites the example of Spotify CEO Daniel Ek making direct-to-camera videos on social media. Cultivating this direct connection during normal times is an investment that pays off during negative media cycles, because leaders have an unmediated public connection.
An example in Australia is Private Media CEO Will Hayward, who regularly posts videos direct to camera on LinkedIn.
Will Hayward takes to LinkedIn
Paul Edwards, who led corporate comms at ANZ, Foxtel and Energy Australia, agreed with the report that for many bigger companies he has worked with, postings on social media are actually a form of internal communications.
“Open rates on emails to employees are probably sub-30 percent,” he said. “Employees attach a degree of believability to something that you are willing to put your name to externally.”
“A lot of the following that we [at ANZ] had on social channels was from employees, and [social messaging was] specifically designed to reach employees because, with branch staff for ANZ or frontline staff at Coles or Woolworths, how are you going to reach them? They’re not sitting at a computer terminal, waiting for your latest missive.”
Handle diversity with care
The report is nuanced in its handling of DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion). Its core insight is the growing discrepancy between what the majority of people care about and corporate diversity and equity initiatives, particularly when the cost of living is rising.
“There was a time when corporations were being pressured to be overreactive: ‘We need a position, we need a policy on this, we need a policy on that.’” Shaw said. While some causes are appropriate for corporate initiatives, others are not.
Examples of missteps given in the report include the backlash against Woolworths pulling Australia Day merchandise, and Great Northern beer backing away from National Park advocacy.
“When it comes to DEI think very carefully about what it is that’s right for your organization,” Shaw said. “Don’t get caught up in an arms race unless you’re truly committed to it because your consumers, your stakeholders, your shareholders may call you out.”
The corp comms opportunity
Paul Edwards and Suzie Shaw
Shaw said that historically, most of We Are Social’s work has been focused on consumer marketing and socially led campaign activity.
“We were finding organizations that we were working with, coming to us and asking if we could firstly help them better understand how they were being perceived online,” she said.
“Over time, we found that the information alone wasn’t an answer to their problem. And we were moving more then into the strategy space and then the execution space. And it struck us that there was an unmet need. Corporate and consumer communication can’t be bifurcated.”
“In our view a lot of corp comms teams have been somewhat blindsided and a little blinkered, and we want to help organizations better navigate the landscape. We are social specialists, but we are not corp comm specialists and hence the partnership with Paul, who I’ve worked with previously.”
Edwards, who set up ANZ’s Blue Notes platform in 2014, said that while traditional media is still relevant, the pool of journalists working in any given area is much smaller. That means that corporate comms operations that focus on media are much less effective.
“My experience as a chief communications officer is that corporate comms has been much slower to embrace social and digital than our colleagues in marketing. And I think that’s left the function a little bit behind.”
For the record: The five trends (summarised from the report)
- The customer–shareholder disconnect. Rising economic pressures and social media scrutiny have put corporations, their profits and their people under the microscope. Australians are calling out price gouging and tone-deaf leadership. Empathy and transparency are critical to rebuilding trust.
- The DEI dilemma. Diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts face new scrutiny, requiring companies to move beyond virtue signalling to authentic action. To pass the ‘pub-test’, corporations must ensure initiatives are truly inclusive, action-led, and grounded in authenticity.
- The inside-out corporation. In an era of radical transparency, internal culture is now synonymous with external reputation. Workplace culture is public domain, thanks to TikTok, LinkedIn and Glassdoor, where employees can be influential storytellers. Companies that effectively harness employee-generated content (EGC) will thrive.
- The rise of vocal advocates. With trust in institutions declining, people turn to credible peers and independent experts for guidance. As we shift from a ‘deference’ to a ‘reference culture’, the future of advocacy lies with credible voices on social media. Corporations that partner with trusted voices to shape public sentiment can reap reputational rewards.
- Technological tension. Tech and innovation can drive business growth, but also spark public fear. From AI to data breaches, Australians are anxious. To build trust, companies must lead with human-centric decision-making and transparent storytelling.
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topics
Corp Comms
corporate communications
LinkedIn
Paul Edwards
Reputatino
Suzie Shaw
We Are Social
“Interesting story” ?
(Great piece)