This is “Online Reputation Management”, chapter 11 from the book Online Marketing Essentials (index.html) (v. 1.0). This book is licensed under a Creative Commons by-nc-sa 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/ 3.0/) license. See the license for more details, but that basically means you can share this book as long as you credit the author (but see below), don't make money from it, and do make it available to everyone else under the same terms. This content was accessible as of December 29, 2012, and it was downloaded then by Andy Schmitz (http://lardbucket.org) in an effort to preserve the availability of this book. Normally, the author and publisher would be credited here. However, the publisher has asked for the customary Creative Commons attribution to the original publisher, authors, title, and book URI to be removed. Additionally, per the publisher's request, their name has been removed in some passages. More information is available on this project's attribution page (http://2012books.lardbucket.org/attribution.html?utm_source=header). For more information on the source of this book, or why it is available for free, please see the project's home page (http://2012books.lardbucket.org/). You can browse or download additional books there. i Chapter 11 Online Reputation Management 254 Chapter 11 Online Reputation Management 11.1 Introduction If Dell were really smart, they’d hire me (yes, me) to come to them and teach them about blogs, about how their customers now have a voice; about how their customers are a community—a community often in revolt; about how they could find out what their customers really think; about how they could fix their customers’ problems before they become revolts; about how they could become a better company with the help of their customers. If they’d only listen. - Jeff Jarvis on his blog, Buzzmachine.com, in 2005 Online conversations1 are taking place all the time: about politics, about Britney Spears, about a pet dog, about nearly anything. People everywhere are engaging in and creating blogs, videos, mashups, and more. It’s called consumer-generated media (CGM)2, and it’s big news for any company or personality today. We’ve learned about the tools of social media and the importance of word of mouth when it comes to viral marketing. Consumers trust each other, and search engines find that trust very relevant. Increasingly, CGM is showing up in the top results of the search engine results pages (SERPs)3. The use of social media has equipped consumers with a voice, a platform, and the ability to amplify their views. The connected nature of the Internet makes these views easy to share, and the accessibility of social media tools makes it easy for other consumers to respond. Whether positive, negative, or just slightly off center, consumers are making their views known and brands are taking heed. 1. A bidirectional discussion between either individuals or a brand and its stakeholders in Added to this is the rising prevalence of CGM in search results, particularly with the an online environment such as social media. recent integration of Twitter into search results and Google’s Social Search. Entries that companies have no control over are ranking highly in brand search results. A 2. Another term for social Google search on “brand name + complaints” will display a whole lot more CGM. media—the media that are published, created, and shared by individuals on the Internet, A company’s reputation can make a difference to its bottom line. Companies that such as blogs, images, and video. listen to and engage with their customers and appear honest and transparent can benefit from a growing fan base of loyal customers who can then turn into 3. What is seen on a search passionate spokespeople. Companies who ignore the voices of their customers will engine when a search is performed. see diminishing loyalty and a growing resentment among the vocal online 255 Chapter 11 Online Reputation Management consumers. So much so that the recent King III report on corporate governance requires that stakeholder reputation is managed in order for compliance.“King III Report,” PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2009, http://www.pwc.com/za/en/king3/ index.jhtml (accessed June 23, 2010). Research by Edelman in 2008 found that 54 percent of individuals trusted fellow consumers ahead of any other source; similarly, Nielsen’s “Trust in Advertising” found that 78 percent of people trust the recommendations of others.“Edelman Trust Barometer 2008,” Edelman, 2008, http://www.edelman.com/TRUST/2008/ TrustBarometer08_FINAL.pdf (accessed June 22, 2010); “Trust in Advertising: A Global Nielsen Consumer Report,” Nielsen, October 2007, http://asiapacific.acnielsen.com/site/documents/TrustinAdvertisingOct07.pdf (accessed June 22, 2010). Companies and individuals need to listen to what is being said about them and learn how to respond to and engage with their consumers in this world of shifting power. Figure 11.1 A search for “Macbook” shows that there are many entries on the SERP (search engine results page) that Apple does not control. 11.1 Introduction 256 Chapter 11 Online Reputation Management 11.2 The First Step: Monitor the Conversation LEARNING OBJECTIVE 1. Understand that listening to the buzz online is a crucial step in the online reputation management process. Focus groups are not required for gauging customer sentiment on the Internet. It’s all out there, connected via hyperlinks and crawled regularly by search engine spiders. Keywords4—the foundation of categorizing and indexing the Web—make it relatively simple (though possibly time consuming) to listen to the chatter online. Customers are not using channels designated by a company to talk about that organization, but the good news is that the Internet makes it easy for a company to use the channels that customers have selected. Online Reputation Management Keywords Online reputation management (ORM)5 allows a company to track mentions6 of itself, its staff, its products, its industry, and its competitors. In fact, the tools allow for the tracking of anything; it just comes down to deciding what is relevant to you. In terms of the company, one can track the following: • Brand name • URL (uniform resource locator) 4. In online reputation • Key products management, a term that is • Key personnel (names, job titles, etc.) used when searching the Internet for mentions. 5. Understanding and influencing In terms of the industry, one can track the following: the perception of an entity online. • Conferences 6. In online reputation • Patents management, the instances when a selected brand, • News company, or staff members are talked about online, usually by clients or consumers. In terms of competitors, one can track the following: 257 Chapter 11 Online Reputation Management • Brand names • Product launches • Web site updates • Job vacancies For example, if Apple were to use these tools to monitor its reputation, some keywords used for the company might be the following: • Apple • “apple.com” • Macbook, iPod, Macbook Air, iTunes • “Steve Jobs” For its industry, Apple might use the following: • Consumer Electronics Show Las Vegas • CeBIT For its competitors, Apple might use the following: • Microsoft, Creative It is also important to track common misspellings, all related companies, and all related Web sites. Tracking the names of people key to a company can highlight potential brand attacks or can demonstrate new areas of outreach for a company. Brand names, employee names, product names, and even competitor names are not unique. To avoid monitoring too much, identify keywords that will indicate that a post has nothing to do with your company and negative match that keyword in your searches. For example, “apple” could refer to a consumer electronics company, or it could appear in a post about the health benefits of fruit. Finding keywords that will indicate context can help save time. So you could negative match words like “fruit,” “tasty,” and “Granny Smith.” 11.2 The First Step: Monitor the Conversation 258 Chapter 11 Online Reputation Management How to Track: CGM and Search Thankfully, ORM does not entail hourly searches on your favorite search engine to see what is appearing on the search engine results page (SERPs), although being aware of your search space is vital as well. There are a number of search engines that allow users to narrow a search to particular media or industries, and using RSS7 (really simple syndication) means that these results can be updated regularly and kept conveniently in one place. Note Remember RSS from Chapter 8 "Social Media"? It means that you can keep track of everything in one central place. Monitoring all mentions means that the following need to be tracked: • Blogs • Twitter • News • Forums • Comment boards • Photos • Videos • Job listings • Events • Patents • Web site changes 7. Abbreviates all the content There are a number of different tools that monitor these areas and supply the most Web sites on the World results via e-mail alerts or RSS feeds. The following are some free tools that are Wide Web contain in order to provide you with specific available. content you want. RSS allows you to receive and syndicate this information without Google has several search services, some of which have been mentioned previously, requiring you to constantly and periodically adds more to the list. With the services below, an RSS feed is open new pages in your available for the search (Google Alerts sends weekly or daily e-mails with updates), browser. Also see feed reader. so that all updates can be available through a feed reader8. 8. An RSS aggregator that lets you view all your RSS feeds in one place. 11.2 The First Step: Monitor the Conversation 259 Chapter 11 Online Reputation Management • Google Alerts.