WebPR and Online Reputation Management

“ Public relations is the practice of managing the flow of information between an organisation and its publics.” Wikipedia

How is WebPR different?

You have less control…

… over FAR MORE channels

Websites Blogs Forums Social networks Instant messenger SMS Twitter

Your market has less attention…

…and they only care about themselves

Lets look at blogs specifically…

Well over 120 million blogs

Still over new ones created daily

“kudos” blogs

“boycott” blogs

“scam” blogs

People are talking…

Why are blogs important?

They dominate search results

They are the voice of your brand perception

1.2 million people search for “Delta Airlines” each month.

So consumers have a voice like never before!

Tripadvisor.co.uk is the favourite website for UK users for holiday inspiration. European Travel Commission

88% of Trip Advisor visitors are influenced by the content the read on the site

Consumer Generated Content influences over $10 Billion per year in online travel Compete.com

Even Twitter has made things more complex!

So, how do we tame this wild beast?

We don’t!

Listen | THINK | Engage

Lets start with the listening…

Online Reputation Monitoring

“ It takes 20 years to build a reputation, and 5 minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you will do things differently. ” Warren Buffet

Wikipedia: reputation is the general opinion, or more technically, a social evaluation, of the public toward a person, a group of people, or an organization.

How is online reputation different?

It spreads faster...

… and the evidence lasts longer

2 primary methods of monitoring reputation

Mention tracking and buzz tracking

Buzz tracking uses AI to determine sentiment

It is the only realistic option for mega brands

Mention trackers report back on individual mentions

No sentiment analysis or reporting

what to track?

as much as possible

company names

brand names

employee names

service types / names

events

outgoing communications – track unique text such as article titles.

track everything and refine your tracking

Data stored for each mention:

Page Level Data URL Page title Author Date published Date picked up PageRank Alexa Rank

Mention data State (relevant/irrelevant/duplicate/spam) Media Origin (Press/Enterprise/Consumer/Directory Language Credibility (0 to 9; unknown to authoritative) Sentiment (-5 to 5, emergency to celebration, no zero) Number of phrase matches Is the mention linked to your website: Y/N

Using the Data

Trigger custom notifications based on mention status

Some examples…

High severity: trigger an SMS to the CEO Low severity: trigger an to the contact centre

High positive: trigger to marketing/PR > testimonials! Low positive: trigger an to SEO team > link building!

Reporting

who is talking about you?

what is their sentiment?

Where is it originating?

Custom reports across any criteria

Reputation scoring

Feed ALL mention data into an algorithm

Trend watching

Competitor mapping and benchmarking

strengths and weaknesses within the brand

OK… so now we understand our reputation

What are the tools we can use to communicate?

Firstly have a blog – it gives you a voice when you need one

Blogging is not just 16 year old girls Source: emarketer.com

Blogging is NOT difficult if you are an open organisation

Create a blogging culture and the rest will take care of itself

Then there is the traditional press release

But online it needs to be tweaked

Remember, they don’t care so lose the ego

And make sure its been optimised for search engines

Make sure it contains keyword rich links back to your website

Get it indexed on your site first!

Make sure its social media friendly

Social Media is designed to be shared.

Sharing through WOM, but also stimulated through social bookmarking and aggregators

The press release has evolved…

The Social Media Press Release

And with social media, comes multimedia

Use images, audio and video only where they are relevant and add value to the message

You can submit your article to free and/or paid directories

You can submit it to specific journalists and bloggers

But don’t spam

Online relationships are far more fragile

Remember, offline often = online these days!

But WebPR is NOT just about online press releases

Remember, its about managing the flow of information

Blogger relations

Dangerous, but potentially rewarding territory

Engage one on one or through a campaign

Either way, make sure you truly understand them. They are not just a marketing channel!

Be warned though… not everyone is friendly…

Don’t let it get you down!

Be open, be honest, be real

If your intentions are genuine, this will shine through

Engaging through social networks

First choose your battles

Social network efforts cost very little money, but do take a lot of time – spend it wisely!

You are in THEIR social space, act like it!

Facebook as an example…

The Google CV!

Santorum: Most Outrageous Word of 2004 American Dialogue Society

But its not just about the bad stuff…

Control your assets

Thank You