Reputation Management A Closer Look At Blogs

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Reputation Management: A Closer Look at Blogs Blog Basics Why Blogs are important in Reputation Management Monitoring Blogs Effective Engagement in the Blogosphere

Blog Basics Technotati tracks 57 million Blogs (October 2006) 1.3 million posts per day 39% of Internet Users (57 million American Adults) report reading Blogs Sources: EMarketer, Business of Blogging 2006; Pew Internet & American Life, 2006 Blogging Survey; Technorati 2006

Blog Basics 77% think Blogs are a good way to get information about a company or product 33% of Journalists say they use Blogs to uncover breaking news or scandals Blogs account for 26% of SE rankings on Fortune 500 Company/Brand names Blogs appeared in News Search SERPS on 7 of the top 10 Fortune 100 companies; Feb 2006 Bloggers most trusted source of information about companies/products: OTHER BLOGGERS (62.8%) Sources: ComScore, BBC Report, Euro RSGC Magnet Survey, Jupiter Media, RB Search on Google News Feb 23 rd, 2006; Emarketer, Business of Blogging 2006

Why are Blogs such an important form of Consumer Generated Media? Source: Nielsen Buzz Metrics

Search Engines give Blogs an inflated “Share of Voice”

Blogs are highly visible across multiple Search channels

Blogs dominate SERPs on“Brand + [negative keyword]” searches Citing norms Linking Tagging Fast Indexing …8 of 10 top listings on “Dell Hell”

Blogs are the source of long term, consistent voices

Jeff Jarvis & Dell Hell: July ???

Bloggers can develop a following quickly (and unexpectedly)

90% of Bloggers say their favorite thing to Blog about is personal experience… 50% say they Blog about companies & products

Bloggers create CGM across multiple channels

Dave: So many CGM opportunities, so little time Dave: 2 Blogs 1 Family Genealogy Site 42 reviews (books, movies) 2 comments on Volokh Conspiracy (indexed by search engines); led to one original post on VK UPDATE: Dave is all over Yahoo Answers 26% of Bloggers have 3 or more Blogs 82% post to others’ Blogs regularly Source: Pew Internet and American Life

And not just any CGM… Bloggers are highly engaged in multiple forms of social media, which is strongly viral and visible on search engines

44% of Bloggers have taken existing content (video, audio, images, etc.), remixed it and shared online; 77% of Bloggers have authored original, non-text content (video, audio, etc.) and shared online; Bloggers report that My Space is the #2 most preferred Blogging platform (LiveJournal is #1); Bloggers link to, talk about, submit content in other Social Media So what? Bloggers and Social Interaction

Bloggers are powerful viral agents for content that is ALREADY powerfully viral… 67% of links to recent Mel Gibson videos are Bloggers

Spring 2006: Chevy launches “The Apprentice” – online contest to create the best TV commercial for the Chevy Tahoe Environmental groups seize the opportunity; ask members and supporters to create protest commercials Chevy Tahoe Example

Fearing that Chevy will remove the protest ads, creators post them on You Tube Bloggers light the viral fire

Journalists follow Blogs and the SM tools that Bloggers use

Euro RSCG Magnet Survey 51% of journalists use Blogs regularly 70% for work-related tasks 53% to find story ideas 43% to research and reference facts 36% to find sources 33% to uncover breaking news or scandals Bloggers feed other SM tools (Digg, etc.) that journalists follow

Ok, I get it. What am I supposed to do about it?

Step 1: Monitor/Listen

Monitor SERPs Establish a baseline on key terms Score each ranking as positive, negative, neutral, NA, etc. Track changes (up or down) of individual listings as you execute your SEO strategy Track changes in positive, negative, neutral visibility overall

Listen to Bloggers to get ahead of tomorrow’s Page 1 SERPs Influence of Speaker Demographics Mentions/Speakers Citation Trends

Step 2: Get Over It – Take a deep breath and Engage. If you engage effectively, there may be fewer voices to “drown out” or push down in the rankings Sources: Emarketer Business of Blogging, 2006; Edelman/Technorati Survey 50% of Bloggers write about companies once per week Only 21% report regular contact from companies they write about; most in the form of unsolicited press releases Only 2% say they don’t want contact BUT…. Engagement doesn’t conventional PR tactics!!! Contacting Bloggers is NOT a sufficient Engagement strategy

Develop a trust-based relationship with Bloggers Communicate (Talk AND Listen) regularly – the good, the bad, the mistakes Don’t develop a reputation for shilling, spamming, or participating in any unethical marketing practices! Don’t sugar coat, don’t misquote or misrepresent a Blogger’s opinion Develop a response protocol for negative coverage! 50% of negative word of mouth stems from a feeling of injustice! Dell, You Just Don’t Get It “Two posts on Dell one to one Blog have noted that they think I am very pleased and satisfied that someone from Dell called me to say they wanted to resolve the Dell technical support issues I’ve had… …So Dell, stop saying that I am thrilled with these phone calls. Because, like your blog, they are nothing but a PR Ploy…”

**Consider** Creating Blog(s) Don’t do it without a clear vision; Don’t use the Blog for spin (Dell); Be prepared for negative comments, negative reviews, etc. and RESPOND Content strategy should focus on what interests the customer, not on the marketing message you are trying to drill into the customer’s head. Interesting examples:

Engage Bloggers for feedback Bloggers are early adopters; consider allowing them to preview your new product or service or to review it; Ask Bloggers for feedback on content you may be posting to social media and develop a social media strategy that puts you in front of Bloggers Don’t be afraid of negative coverage! If there is a problem and you fix it, you will get kudos, positive coverage and perhaps a big fan

Turn happy customers into Bloggers

Encourage customer evangelists to Blog

The best marketing won’t fix bad products, bad customer service, bad business practices, etc. “You can put lipstick on a hog and call it Monique…it’s still just a pig.” Ann Richards, Former Governor of Texas Final Thought