I will be attending Goodwill Industries International‘s 2014 Summer Conference in Orlando, Florida, on Wednesday and thought I would share a flawed extended cut of the presentation with you before I chop it down to fit the forty-five-fifty minutes I have, down from the hour and twenty-three minutes it is right now. So, enjoy the extended version of the presentation.
The presentation is an overview of online reputation management (ORM), something I often refer to as defensive SEO. It’s pretty much soup to nuts, though it’s not comprehensive.
However, it does focus more on prevention than it does crisis management or response. Really, the only true way to combat an online reputation attack is through prevention; otherwise, you had better call an expert such as me at Gerris Corp because if you lose control of your reputation online without having control of your first three pages of Google in advance, then you’re doing to have to pour both talent and treasure into a deep hole for at least three months before you see any real change, six months before you see any permanent change, and a year before the threat is effectively neutralized.
The deck is a little rough so there are some mistakes in the deck, but the education is all there. If you read the deck and watch the video, you’ll at least be taking the first steps towards taking back your reputation online. Special Thanks to Attorney John Yannone for his support.
Feel free to own the yacht but hire a crew if you’re not yet seaworthy. If you get my drift and want to adopt the yachting lifestyle yourself but either don’t have the mad sailing skills yourself, don’t yet posses a world-class crew, and don’t know yet where to go, then you should give me a call or reach out me by email — so I can help you pilot your vessel now, in the tranquil blue-green shallows of the Caribbean, as well as in the roughest seas and into — as well as out of — the storm.
If you’d like to chat more, call me at +1 (202) 869-3210 Ext 0001 email me, or feel free to self-schedule a 15-minute call, a 30-minute call, or a 60-minute call with me.
Here’s a transcription of the entire deck:
Digital and Online Reputation Management as presented to Goodwill Industries International’s 2014 Summer Conference in Orlando, Florida, to be presented on Wednesday, August 6, 2014, 1:30 PM, Northern E-3.
If you leave your reputation to chance, online, Google will fill the void that is left by your inattention of fear. You need to create fresh content.
Creating online content and dominating search is not
About filling Google with junk but you need to fill the voidControlling – and owning – your reputation online depends on pushing negative content down past page three of Google, etc – owning all the beans
Users typically retain their browsers default setting of 10 results/page
Remember that 93% of people never go beyond the first page of search engine results and almost no one goes beyond page three
Online reputation management is akin to defensive SEO
The Technique
SEARCH – Actively seek out positive and neutral content about your brand that already exists and aggressively “promote” it to all of the search engines
CREATE – Create additional positive and neutral content about your brand
LEVERAGE – After positive pages and content has been identified and created, leverage established Google mojo
The Effect
NEGATIVE RESULTS BURIED – Those pages we promote climb past the negative pages, and push the negatives down to a point in the results where very few people are ever going to stumble across them
POSITIVE RESULTS KEEP THE SEARCH ENGINES’ ATTENTION – We compare this strategy to the sort of countermeasures – called soft-kill measures – that aircraft use to evade missile attacks: chaff-decoys, flare-decoys, and radar decoys.
Online reputation management (ORM) is the practice of making people and businesses look their best on the Internet. To accomplish that, people need to control their online search results because they frequently contain inaccurate, misleading, or outdated material which can adversely influence how web searchers view them.
Gerris understands that we live in a world where the Internet records everything and forgets nothing – every photo, comment, post, status update and tweet about your brand can be stored forever.
Our Online Reputation Management (ORM) services will help you prepare for a social media crisis before disaster strikes or help you mitigate the damage that a current crisis could be causing. Our team is based in 5 continents, which means someone is on hand 24/7 around the clock to help assist your should a crisis arise.
Digital and Online Reputation Management Goodwill 2014 Summer Conference
Presentation Transcript
Digital and Online Reputation Management Wednesday, August 6, 2014, 1:30 PM, Northern E-3
Take Control of Your Reputation Online About Chris Abraham ? Principal Consultant, Gerris Corp Contact info ? chris@gerriscorp.com ? www.gerriscorp.com ? +1 202-352-5051 Social Media ? Twitter.com/chrisabraham ? LinkedIn.com/in/chrisabraham ? Google.com/+chrisabraham ? Facebook.com/chrisabraham ? YouTube.com/chrisabraham ? Slideshare.net/chrisabraham ? Pinterest.com/chrisabraham Chris Abraham Getting to know your presenter
Intro to Online Reputation Management (ORM)
What Is Online Reputation Exactly? Your online reputation is ? What shows up in the search results ? What people say about your company on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites ? Any reviews of your company or work environment ? Anything published in the mainstream press ? Any academic or trade publications ? Any photos or videos tagged with your name ? Public records connected to your business ? You are judged primarily by the first page of search results ? Incredibly easy to find and access this information ? No filter: everything is available all the time ? No statute of limitations: the Web is forever
How People Search Key Stats ? 53% of users do not go past the first two results for any given search ? 89% of users do not go past Page 1 for any given search ? 99% of users do not go past Page 2 for any given search ? You are judged primarily by the first page of search results
The Importance of Online Reputation ? More than 80% of reputation damage risks come from a mismatch between the buzz and the reality (Digimind) ? Reputation risk is the greatest risk facing companies, with as much as 75% of a company’s value based on reputation (Economist Intelligence Unit) ? 92% of Internet users read product reviews and 89% of people say that reviews influence their purchasing decisions (eTailing Group) Some key statistics…
The Importance of Online Reputation Auto dealerships with few online reviews or negative average scores saw their search referral traffic drop by as much as 86% when Google started placing reviews under business websites (DealerMarketing.com) A difference of one “star” in the average rating in a typical online business profile can lead to a 5–9% difference in revenues (Harvard Business Review) 72% of consumers trust online review as much as word of mouth (Local Consumer Review Survey) 85% of consumers conduct online research before making a purchase and 89% trust online reviews (Cone Inc.) Consumers are 25% more likely to research online reviews for high-cost purchases such as automobiles (Cone Inc.) 86% 5–9% 72% 89% 25%
Online Reputation (ORM) Threats
Inflammatory Google Suggestions Rumors can have a serious impact on your online reputation Suggestions pop up because many people are curious about the rumor1 High search volume creates a feedback loop: Google thinks this is relevant2 New searchers see the inflammatory suggestions, giving criticisms more authority3
The Web Is Forever Wells Fargo First Interstate Takeover ? Major blunders, such as the Wells Fargo takeover of First Interstate Bancorp, live on in the search results ? Critical articles from the 1990s continue to rank prominently ? Becomes a permanent black mark for anyone doing research on Wells Fargo
Search Results Are Not Chronological Wikipedia (contains criticism) Company profile Critical news articles Positive image results Attacks by blogger Third-party profile Company profile Critical news article Third-party profile Mark Hurd, former HP CEO, Google p.1
Results Reflect Old News Example: D. E. Shaw Group ? A good reputation requires positive, high-quality validations by third parties ? The D. E. Shaw Group has good control of the top few results, but the rest are misleading and give a poor impression Google p.1 Results Outdated news; No mention of D. E. Shaw’s recent positive performance 6–8 No relevant third-party sites in the first page, other than Wikipedia 9–10
Propagation of Misinformation Example: Whole Foods ? A search for “monsanto” brings up the suggestion “whole foods” ? Results strongly suggest Whole Foods was bought by or supports Monsanto ? In fact, Whole Foods has been a vocal critic of Monsanto for many years Google p.1 Results
The Reputation Economy Example: Vodafone ? The Web gives powerful tools to consumers to validate corporate communications ? Online reputation often more important than brand Consumer Generated Art “I Hate Vodafone” Forum Parody Websites/Social Media
Key People Affect a Company’s Reputation e.g. Commercial Estates Group Limited ? Gerard Versteegh has received criticism online for his extravagant tastes ? Top of his search results is an inflammatory post on CrazyBillionaire.org ? This result ranks on a search for his company too
A Note About Style News articles appear in embedded news feed more easily than press releases Google p.1 Results Example: Forest Laboratories ? Critical news articles highlight tension between company and Carl Icahn ? Public companies have higher coverage based on performance, making losses more visible ? ORM is not SEO: Negative Content Is Also Optimized for your Search Results News page only shows negative information, company appears silent in midst of turmoil Waiting several days to respond gives negative press more time to take over results News
Online Brand Attacks by Consumers Company website 1 Attacks on forums and social media 2–7 Attacks on forums and social media 9
Defamatory Attacks by Former Clients • One-star rating in the results is enough to deter most searchers Critical blog postings 1–2 Negative reviews 3 ? Even if libel is proven, website likely to remain online
Mistaken Identity e.g. Timothy Thurman Lawyer ? Top 8 results are about Timothy D. Thurman, arrested by the FBI for committing mortgage fraud against Korean immigrants in Los Angeles • Search results include negative reviews, news articles, and blog attacks ? Timothy B. Thurman practices law in Pittsburg and is unrelated to this issue ? Only about 10% of prospective clients would actually get to the bottom of the page before deciding to try a different lawyer
Armoring Your Online Reputation (Before a Crisis)
Google Abhors a Vacuum Creating online content and dominating search is not about filling Google with junk – but you need to fill the void If you leave your reputation to chance, online, Google will fill the void that is left by your inattention or fear. You need to create fresh content.
Hiding a Needle in a Needle Stack • Users typically retain their browsers default setting of 10 results/page • Remember that 93% of people never go beyond the first page of search engine results and almost no one goes beyond page three • Online reputation management is akin to defensive SEO • Controlling – and owning – your reputation online depends on pushing negative content down past page three of Google, etc. – owning all the beans
People Are Already Talking About You Online Listen Before You Leap • Get to know what people are saying about you online – Be specific – Include your staff and executives – Don’t make any assumptions • Note Potential Allies and Enemies – Collect a list of people who are already talking about you • Consider who you may engage • Keep an eye on those who are critical
People Are Already Talking About You Online Alerts There are online tools that will let you know if you, your brand, and your staff are mentioned online – Google Alerts (free) • www.google.com/alerts – Sysomos Heartbeat • sysomos.com/products/overview/heartbeat/ – SDL SM2 • sdl.com/products/SM2/ – Synthesio • www.synthesio.com – Radian 6 • salesforcemarketingcloud.com/products/soci al-media-listening/
General Principles Prevention is more effective and less expensive than treatment1 Aim to control as many of the search results as possible2 Empty search results create vulnerability3 Avoid clicking on negative/critical websites, which increases their relevance4 Be proactive with online reviews5 ? (Almost) never comment on critical blogs or forums ? Avoid communicating with attackers ? Avoid discussing the defamation in online channels ? Diversity is important: choose several types of sites
Building a Good Reputation is Not Easy Actions need to match words1 Pay close attention to public sentiment2 Proactive online reputation to protect against attacks or misunderstandings3 Ongoing, high-quality interaction with stakeholders4 Reputation Management for key executives or other prominent figures5
Do an Aggressive Domain Name Buy • Misspellings Domains – yourecompany.com, yurcompany.com, yourcompanie.com, for example • Variation Domains – xyzprogramme.com for the British, for example, rather than xyzprogram.com • Similar Domains – Domain investors and marketers often steal traffic and harm brand by creating similarly branded and named properties that succeed parasitically off of common user error and intentional misdirection • One example is bedbathbeyond.com, rather than bedbathandbeyond.com for the home wares superstore • Transposed Letter Domains – youcrompany.com, yourcompayn.com, etc.
Do an Aggressive Domain Name Buy • Search String Domains – Make a list of keyword search terms and phrases that one might use to find yourcompany.com and register as many of them as possible • Staff Member Domains – Consider registering the domain names for your executive team, C- suite, and board • Unfriendly Domains – It is important to make sure that any derisive domain names are registered – Competitors are not above hosting slanderous web sites and web properties – Even though yourcompanysucks.com may never be used or even registered, the price of registering even dozens of domain names at $9/year is cheaper than any crisis response or legal actions
Dominate the First Page of Google Control all possible social media profiles • One of the easiest ways of doing a quick search results land grab is to secure as many social media profiles as makes sense – Be sure to spend some time filling out every required section – Links, bios, names, and keywords are essential parts – Be sure to include all keywords terms that are apropos • KnowEm.com can make the process easier
Review Sites • Encourage your customers to say nice things about you • Make it as easy as possible to write reviews for you – Name the preferred review sites by name – Include review sites’ names (Charity Navigator, Yelp, etc) – Suggest what to write (people have writer’s block) • Don’t be shy to make bold requests for reviews – Displayed at point of sale or in stores – In a message on sales receipt – As part of the official messaging via email, mail, or newsletters – Via social media
Social Networking Services Social media is becoming an essential pulse point for Google and other organic search engines • Google+ Page – the least popular by arguably most important for influencing Google’s organic search results • Google Profile – Google’s algorithm has changed; Google requires that each contribution is backed by an identifiable “author” • YouTube Channel – The 2nd largest search engine with results that come up in routine Google search • LinkedIn Page – LinkedIn is a powerful and search optimized • Facebook Page – SEO optimized and a powerful platform to prepare in case you need to message during a crisis • Twitter – Ditto
Goodwill as a Publishing Empire • Blogging – as long as it’s on a separate domain • Publishing – many online magazines accept articles – Huffington Post, Medium, BuzzFeed, Forbes, etc • Aggregation – some sites aggregate “best of” content – Business2Community and others repurposed good content – Many feed their content to Google News and Yahoo News • News Source – apply to become a wire service – You can apply to be a source for Google News • Cross-Pollination – many hands make light work – Sharing up – GII can aggregate best of content from regionals – Sharing down – regional Goodwills could share GII news – Share laterally – cross-pollinating across regional
Influencer Marketing • Online Engagement – people collect and self-organize – find them! – Facebook & LinkedIn Groups, Pinterest boards, Flickr groups, online forums • Blogger Outreach – if it exists, there’s a blog about it – Include the long tail – reach out to hundreds of bloggers and not merely top-25 • Content Marketing – creating stories others will post and share – Guest Blogger – Infographic – Videos – Events – Pledge Drives I have been doing earned media marketing for over seven years, including blogger outreach and influencer marketing for Alzheimer’s Association, The Fresh Air Fund, Greenpeace, Habitat for Humanity, International Medical Corps, and Miriam’s Kitchen – bloggers and other influencers are willing to bend over backward to help out – for free (that’s what earned media means)
Evading Long-Term Damage (After a Crisis)
When a Crisis Occurs: Don’t Panic! • Don’t click – If you find anything bad online don’t click on it (Google tracks building interest) • No, do not speak to the media – Take time to prepare your response – Your response has consequences – Rely on your crisis managers – Stay off of Twitter, Facebook, etc. • Alert your chain of command – You’re probably not properly trained • Call Communications & Public Affairs – They can give you guidance • Prepare (or activate) talking points – Do not wing a response – Prepare in advance if possible • Initiate online reputation management plan – ORM is about keeping the crisis off of permanent search results – Just because something’s in the news doesn’t mean it’ll end up on search
The Technique • SEARCH – Actively seek out positive and neutral content about your brand that already exists and aggressively “promote” it to all of the search engines • CREATE – Create additional positive and neutral content about your brand • LEVERAGE – After positive pages and content has been identified and created, leverage established Google mojo Online Reputation Management (ORM) Briefing
The Effect • NEGATIVE RESULTS BURIED – Those pages we promote climb past the negative pages, and push the negatives down to a point in the results where very few people are ever going to stumble across them • POSITIVE RESULTS KEEP THE SEARCH ENGINES’ ATTENTION – We compare this strategy to the sort of countermeasures – called soft-kill measures – that aircraft use to evade missile attacks: chaff-decoys, flare-decoys, and radar decoys Online Reputation Management (ORM) Briefing
Online Reputation: First Steps Claim www.yourcompany.com and as many useful variations as possible1 Fill out profiles on industry listing sites, review sites, social media (e.g., Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter)2 Create new content: start a blog, publish information of relevance to the business, generate positive press, get involved philanthropically3 Be a part of the conversation: the Web is going to say something about you whether you like it or not4 Engage in social media, communicate regularly with your stakeholders, respond authentically to their concerns, share information of value5 Keep tabs on all of the websites connected to your business, especially those you don’t control: forums, review sites, social media6
Common Mistakes
Mistake: ORM Isn’t SEO Example: Com Hem ? One of Sweden’s largest telecom providers ? No amount of SEO spend can fix an ORM issue Company website is optimized 1 Critical websites/forums also optimized 4–5 Unrelated travel site 10
Mistake: Relying on Litigation ? Success rates are low (although sometimes litigation is appropriate) ? Weigh the pros and cons: litigation can make the problem worse e.g. British Chiropractic Association ? In 2008, the British Chiropractic Association sued science writer Simon Singh for criticizing them ? Provoked serious backlash ? Even 4 years later, half of the Page 1 results for the BCA are negative portrayals of the case
Mistake: Will-Not-Review Agreements Why not? ? Ethically questionable ? You may end up on the “Wall of Shame” of review sites ? Unlikely to hold up in court: ? Coerced agreement ? First Amendment violation ? Alienates clients and prospects ? Encourages searchers to go digging for negative reviews
Mistake: Threatening Litigation Why not? ? Most attacks by clients fall under the category of opinion, not considered libel ? Negative information may be reposted even if successfully taken down ? Litigation tends to attract a landslide of negative reactions ? Even if you win, your reputation may have already been irreparably damaged ? Search for “gelareh rahbar dds” ? Google p.1 #4, 2 years later ? Seen by >50% of potential patients
Mistake: Posting Fake Reviews Why not? ? It’s illegal ? Can be detected algorithmically ? Short-term, ineffective solution ? You will get caught up in the review authenticity “arms race” ? Review sites and researchers constantly refining approaches ? You need to keep buying into fake-review services forever to one-up them ? Savvy reviewers can spot fakes and read up to 10 reviews before making a decision ? If people see a lot of fakes, you risk an online backlash FTC Guidelines on Fake Reviews http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/10/endortest.shtm
Mistake: Commenting on Attack Blogs/Forums Why not? ? Places emphasis on the unwanted content, pushing it higher ? Search engines will think this content is more important than it is ? You probably won’t change the visitor’s mind ? Likely to attract additional attacks based on your comments ? Search for “edward dove dds” ? Google p.1 #3, 1 year later ? Seen by >60% of potential patients
We would be happy to help Do You Have Any Questions?
Take Control of Your Reputation Online About Chris Abraham Chris Abraham Feel free to get – and keep – in touch with me! ? Principal Consultant, Gerris Corp Contact info ? chris@gerriscorp.com ? www.gerriscorp.com ? +1 202-352-5051 Social Media ? Twitter.com/chrisabraham ? LinkedIn.com/in/chrisabraham ? Google.com/+chrisabraham ? Facebook.com/chrisabraham ? YouTube.com/chrisabraham ? Slideshare.net/chrisabraham ? Pinterest.com/chrisabraham
