Reputation Management in a Web 2.0 World
Finding out what is being said about your company, its brand and products is becoming increasingly difficult as it becomes easier for your customers to voice their praise, or complaints, online. In the world of online marketing, social media and blogs, an organization’s reputation can be enhanced or tarnished in the time it takes a post to spread across the Web.
Hoping that negative or positive postings will come to your attention simply isn’t enough anymore. Online reputation management requires an understanding of how information is posted, shared and tracked on the Internet. In this issue, Catalyst Director of Project Management Jennie Bendowitz answers questions about protecting your brand in a Web 2.0 world.
Q: What is the difference between SERP brand monitoring and reputation management?
Jennie: Brand monitoring simply means scrutinizing the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) to identify positive, negative and neutral uses of your brand name online. Reputation management refers to proactively engaging with what you find online. Being able to be responsive to negative postings is very important. You want to be able to respond to the writer, get them to retract or, even better, update or correct their posting.
Q: What are the benefits of reputation management?
Jennie: Reputation management is essential to protect your brand on the Internet, strengthen customer relations and outpace the competition. In general, marketers have a natural tendency to think only positive things of our products. Monitoring the SERPs also provides us with a holistic view and high-level market research. For example, we recommend analyzing tagline searches prior to launching a new campaign to see what results you get.
Q: Does reputation management vary across industries?
Jennie: Yes, it has different applications depending on the industry. For example, in the consumer packaged goods arena, online brand monitoring can be an extension of influencer and brand advocate discovery. You can find out how people feel about the brand, and engage with them and their peers. A second option is market research, gathering feedback for future product development.
In the healthcare space, reputation management has a different use. Because of regulatory oversight, pharmaceutical companies are required to respond to postings regarding adverse effects. Reputation management takes on a more proactive role in which companies prepare legally approved website content with which to shape the message and respond to any negative buzz online. They also prepare unbranded landing pages for people searching on “[medication] reactions†so searchers hear their message instead of a competitor’s (or anyone else’s for that matter) on the topic.
Q: What’s the difference between monitoring Paid and Organic search results?
Jennie: In the sponsored, or paid listings, it is important to identify anyone who is misusing or abusing your trademark or brand name to prevent infringement, inappropriate use or worse, brand-jacking. One example of domain hijacking is “Swiffer.†If you type “Swiffer†into Google, there is a URL with three Fs — swifffer.com. Most searchers don’t look at the URL to see if they are linking to the legitimate company.
On the Organic side, you want to monitor select keyphrases for your brand to be vigilant for any posted threats, boycotts or other negative publicity. You can then evaluate the risk and determine appropriate action for both positive and negative postings.
Q: What should brand managers monitor?
Jennie: At the very least you should track your brand name in the SERPs, including variations on brand, to protect your brand equity. The brand manager or the company should come up with a tolerance level to establish what percentage of negative messaging the company will tolerate.
Q: What can a brand manager do if they do uncover negative postings online?
Jennie: You need to investigate the facts internally before taking action. Be honest. Explain what you have done to rectify any issue and offer to resolve any complaints personally or have a senior-level staff member offer to try to continue discussion offline. Rally friends, clients, peers and utilize your allies. You should always optimize your online assets – web pages, videos, press releases, and images – and obtain third-party links to reputable sites to get higher rankings and push negative postings down.
About Jennie Bendowitz
Jennie Bendowitz is the Director of Project Management dedicated to Biogen Idec, Novartis and Proctor & Gamble. She has seven years of experience in project management and nine years online marketing experience. Before joining Catalyst she worked at ACIS (American Council of International Studies) managing all aspects of the ACIS and divisional websites. She has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (BSBA) degree from Boston University’s School of Management.
