The Search Marketing Advisor Newsletter Article:
April 2007, Volume 6, Issue 4

Your Brand’s Online Reputation: Brand Exposure Exposed

by Abbey Reider, Client Services Manager, iProspect

When was the last time you “Googled” yourself? How about a co-worker, a babysitter, or perhaps a potential romantic interest? When was the last was time you Googled your company brand name and looked closely at the results before clicking on your own listing? If you liked what you saw, you’re either one of the lucky ones or you didn’t dig deeply enough, as searches for most brands today will be able to find at least some negative content (comments, reviews, blog posts, etc.) about them.

In today’s Web 2.0 world of evolving social networks, net-savvy users, and user generated content, control over how Internet users interact with, and experience your brand has changed dramatically. Long gone are the days when protecting your brand online was as simple as buying domains like www.brandx-sucks.com before someone else did.

Go Back to the Basics

To protect your brand, monitoring the landscape and developing an actionable strategy is crucial. Start by asking yourself the following questions:

Is the negative content you find being generated by one disgruntled patron or is it a result of a larger grass-roots perception?

What types of sites are visible in the search engine results pages on phrases important to your brand? What blogs? Tagging or bookmarking sites? Discussion boards? What are the trends across the negative content?

Where does the negativity appear within the search results? A page one listing will have more repercussions than a page three listing. What engine displays the most negative content? Where does positive brand content appear in relation to the negative brand content within the search result?

How did the negative content get into the top search engine results? Are the search marketing techniques legitimate or questionable?

Absence of Voice is as Good as Admission of Guilt

Get your message out there; by not responding to negative online content, you are essentially admitting your guilt. It’s equally important to respond without appearing defensive or exposing new prospects to negativity. How is that done? The trick lies in taking stock of your current marketing initiatives and re-evaluating the approach to accomplish multiple goals as detailed below.

Go Grass Roots: Social networking sites such as blogs and discussions boards as well as tagging and bookmarking websites can have excellent visibility and are often the source of negative content about a brand. Use these third party sites as a forum to honestly and transparently respond to disgruntled consumers with a message that is consistent with your brand strategy.

Integrate Paid & Organic Search Strategies: Leverage paid search as a means of responding to the negativity directly (such as when the negativity spreads beyond the online channel and into mainstream media). Supplement pay per click with the organic listings while being mindful that page titles are visible to all users, regardless of search. Assess additional programs such as Yahoo!’s Search Submit Pro to further reinforce your message.

Take Full Advantage of Engine Products: There are dozens of engine-specific opportunities such as Google Co-op and Yahoo! Answers that can be leveraged to augment positive messages. Utilize these programs with the following question in mind – will this lead to a good user experience outside our corporate environment? If the answer is no, abort.

Optimize PR: Optimize press releases for news search engines. This gives you the best chance of attracting journalists and netting press coverage as well as maximum positive exposure.

So, as you venture off valiantly to protect your company’s brand, remember, there are a variety of means by which to combat negative online content, as well as negative offline publicity. It’s important not to panic and respond with haste. Before you do anything, sit back and think, talk to your colleagues, and carefully plan and execute a well thought-out strategy.

Note: To learn more about the potential impact of social networking sites to your online marketing strategy, and how to positively interact with the individual cultures of each site, you may want to review iProspect’s latest research study, the Social Networking User Behavior Study (with our compliments).

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The Search Marketing Advisor Newsletter Article: April 2007, Volume 6, Issue 4

Your Brand’s Online Reputation: Brand Exposure Exposed

The Search Marketing Advisor Newsletter Article:
April 2007, Volume 6, Issue 4