the mount vernon report fall 2009 - vol. 9, no. 3

8/8/2019 The Mount Vernon Report Fall 2009 - vol. 9, no. 3

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More and more people are going online forinformation; approximately 5 billion peopleworldwide use the Internet daily. Consumers,

journalists and investors are all searching for content onthe Web. Smart marketers are aware of the shift frompushing information out to external audiences toend-users selecting and pulling content, and have beenquick to take advantage of the opportunity to increasetheir companys visibility by incorporating search engineoptimization into their Web site, marketing and publicrelations mix.

Search engine optimization, or SEO, is a method of increasing awareness of and driving traffic to a Web siteand its content by increasing the Web sites rankingamong search engines. The higher a Web sites ranking,

the more prominently it will be displayed in theresults and, therefore the more likely to be visusers. People using a search engine like Googletypically only click on the first few links on the fiof results. SEO can increase visibility for a procompany, making it a great tool for advanciorganizations reputation.

However, negative or damaging information canusing the same principles of optimization. In theworld, word-of-mouth happens via link-buildingexample, someone publishes a negative commenyour company. Others read it and start linking tblogs and discussion groups. These postings are foon to more people and the next thing you knownegative information is at the top of search engine

T he more digital the world of communications becomes, themore valuable the content. The fact that we can access news andinformation on a constant basis does not change the basic rulesof news the information must be interesting to the reader, timely andaccurate. At a recent communications conference led by social media

guru Paul Gillin, he alluded to a Washington D.C.-based online newsservice that raced to get content out to constantly beat the competingconventional newspapers and wire services. That competitivenessis customary for the media as they strive for exclusivity andto be first with the story. The kicker here was that thismedia outlet was happy to go with a standard of 85percent accuracy in their reporting. The idea was thatreaders would self-correct the inaccuracies inmuch the same way Wikipedia does. To me, this is adangerous melding of facts and fiction.

Perhaps this dilemma has always existed, but themoment to moment urgency of digital media seemsto call for speed to trump accuracy and let the market-

place decide the truth. Media ethics, in some respects, hasbeen a slippery slope as the business of news has always beenin conflict with the nobility of reporting the truth. Bias has alwaysexisted in news media as owners and publishers exert their influence oreditorial policies over purportedly objective editors and reporters.

In the digital and social media world we live in today, it appears that thewill of the masses overrules the sometimes brave and singular voice of the individual. Or is that even true? Social media is less about breakingnews and more about dialogues or online conversations between andamong interested parties. The old rule was that the media did not tell youwhat to think, but what to think about. The message of social media is

that the parties talk about only what they wish to talk about and on thown schedule and terms. If you are not interested, you do not participIf you do not agree with what is being discussed, you start anotconversation or group of like-minded people and spawn yet another oubased upon common interest. So, social media is both social a

anti-social at the same time. Also, with search engine optimization, more attention your conversation is paid, the greater prominence (whsuggests validity and credibility) of your point of view.

There are dangers here, but also great freedom. The partiipant is the governor and arbiter of opinion. Im not sur

where this leaves the person who goes against the graa person such as a Gandhi or a Mandela whose viewmight not have made it to the top of the search enginparade. But then again, their powerful words anthoughts may have caught on faster and spread evefurther with the digital tools we have today.

This issue of theMount Vernon Report is devoted to the

world of social media and reputation. We touch upon thbrave new world of the big four Twitter, Facebook, YouTuband LinkedIn. I suspect that even this list will morph into the b

two or three, and then split up again to birth more venues for spreadinformation. But no matter the channel, content remains king. Tweet

President and CEOMorrissey & Company

T H E W O R L D O F S O C I A L M E D I A A N D R E P U T A T I O N

F a l l 2 0 0 9 v o l . 9 n o . 3

Issues Affec t ing Reputa t ion Management and St ra tegic Communica t ions

I invite you to join the conversation and share your thoughts and ideaan organization's reputation. Please join me on my Reputation Excelhttp://blog.morrisseyco.com.

Managing Your Reputation Through Search Engine Optimization

Social media is lessabout breaking news andmore about dialogues or

online conversationsbetween and amonginterested parties.

S E O C ON TI NU ED O N PA GE 2


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Now that great tool for managing your reputation has become adetriment. What to do? Here are a few tips:

M O N I TO R To be prepared to mitigate the damage, a company mustfirst be aware of the discussion about its brand and products. There area number of tools available to help you listen to the onlineconversation about your company such as Google Alerts, which sendse-mails when your company appears in the news or on blogs. MBuzzspecifically monitors social media and provides daily reports and analyt-ics. Another method is to have your SEO team analyze what sites,forums, etc. bring the most traffic to your Web site and then monitorthem.

BUILD LINKSLink-building should be a major part of any SEOstrategy. Think of it like networking. The more people in your network,the more exposure and recognition you receive. The same is true forconnecting your Web site with other content on the Internet. And, likenetworking, the same rules of you scratch my back, Ill scratch yoursapply. Bad news rises to the top of the search engine results becausemany people shared links to the content you can do the same withgood news. Specifically, build links outside your corporate domain,including news sites, corporate blogs and other pages outside your Website. Make it a practice to ensure that the content on these sites isconstantly updated and fresh.

E X A M I N E K E Y W O R D S Another SEO strategy is keywordselection and density. In the case of negative press, you want to cremore good than bad by optimizing around select key words. Sinnegative press is likely showing up when consumers search under ycompany name, you will want to focus your SEO efforts on thospecific keywords with the goal of driving positive hits up, whpushing the negative ones down. How do you determine the bekeywords to use? There are many elements that go into keywoselection and there are several services that provide data on what seterms are being used and how often. Some of them charge to provide information and others, like Google Keywords, offer the information free. They have several basic and advanced options to help select relekeywords.

In this age of instant publishing via the Internet, information bogood and bad travels at lightning speed. News is updated so frequenthat people only pay attention to what is at the top of the page, henthe need to manage your reputation online using the valuabtool of SEO. This is just a peek at the world of SEO.

~ Lauren DiGeronimo

S E O C O NT I NU ED F R OM PAG E 1

Social media has changed the rules of marketing and public relations.Through forums like Facebook and Twitter, consumers yield more powerthan ever before; according to a survey by the Opinion Research

Corporation, 84 percent of Americans say online reviews influence theirpurchasing decisions.1

Part of the value and allure of public relations is the impartial third party;consumers may give more credence to a journalists opinion over anadvertisement because that journalist is theoretically unbiased. Social media isa lot like traditional public relations; it involves relinquishing control andmaking yourself vulnerable, while providing the opportunity for (even betterthan third-party endorsement) end-user endorsement.

As with the advent of the Internet and e-mail, organizations are nervous aboutcontrolling employees use of social media ensuring these mediums are not adistraction, and controlling the content (and the organizations reputation).

E S TA B L I S H I N G PA R A M E T E R S

In the 90s, organizations began policing and restricting use of the Internet ande-mail by limiting sites employees could access and even monitoring e-mailcontent. While policies like these are sometimes necessary, most organizationshave come to trust employees judgment. And, it seems most people behaveresponsibly (we havent seen the workforce disintegrate due to the potentialdistraction posed by the Internet and e-mail).

Recently, organizations have begun instituting policies relating to blogging, and use of networking sites like MySpace, Facebook, anThese run the gamut from extensive legalese to simply: Be professi

While its important to communicate with employees about these multimately, organizations should trust their teams. Employees caorganizations greatest asset; if you believe in the quality of your orgwork and treat your employees with respect, you shouldnt need ansocial media policy.

A proposed policy: Everything you say should be truthful, kind and n

This rule applies in any situation, and social media is no exceptiohelpful guidelines to share with your team:

Always take the high road.If your organization is the subject of a negative Tweet, for exaadvise employees to step back and calm down before respondiNever get into an argument or debate; always take the high roanaysayers will often change their tune.

Be responsive (timeliness is important, too).This demonstrates your organizations commitment to its audieand will only positively impact your organizations reputation.Responsiveness will also help fuel more positive discussion, inyour visibility on social networks.

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Ethical Guidelines Truthful, Kind and NecessaryE T H I C S A N D P O L I C I E S I N S O C I A L M E D I A

E T H IC A L G U I DE L I NE S C ON TI NU ED O N PA GE 31 The New York Times , Managing an Online Reputation, Kermit Pattison, July 30, 2009


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Postings are permanent.Once you post something, you can no longer control it and you cant take it back.Venting during a moment of frustration may not be worth it when you cant face afellow employee the next day or feel embarrassed in front of your boss.

Social media is subject to the same limitations release of financialinformation, client confidentiality, etc. as other communications.Employees should be aware of this and understand that the same consequences app

M O R E T H A N A H O B B Y

Anyone can blog, tweet or network online, and the lines between work and hobby are oftenFor example, software engineers are big bloggers because theyre passionate about technand out of the office. A blogger develops a following who believes that person is interestrustworthy. Sooner or later, followers figure out the blogger works for company X and wothat bloggers views are independent or company-sponsored.

While thats a good example of why it may be useful to have a general social media policy(because even if theyre not blogging on your behalf, employees can still be linked organization), some organizations are going beyond that and hiring individuals for the spurpose of supporting social media through tweeting or posting on Facebook.

When is this necessary and appropriate? If you answer yes to multiple questionsyou may want to consider creating a role like this or dedicating some existing resourc

Is social media an important avenue for your customers and audiences? Does youorganization appear often in social media conversations?

Are you trying to grow your business? Does your staff lack the capacity to address comments made about your organiza

in the blogosphere, on Twitter and on other social networking sites?

Guidelines to keep in mind regarding social media support within your company:

Individuals shouldsupport the company, not necessarily promote the company. It must be crystal clear that individuals are representing the company. Specific guidelines should be developed for these roles, aligned with the organiza

goals for social media. Social media interactions are not a substitute for customer service; they should re

people to customer service representatives, if necessary. These interactions are notracked by CRM software, so organizations cant measure responsiveness throughsocial media (yet).

Keep in mind that the goal of social media is to participate in the debate as a peer, and eveyou say should be truthful, kind and necessary. And, as Peter Morrissey says, If that sousomething a nun would say, thats because it is.

~ Megan Page

If you believe in the quality of yourorganizations work and treat your

employees with respect, you shouldntneed an extensive social media policy.

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Netiquette TipsThe basic guideline for onlinecommunication is common sense.But with new applications and explosive

growth, a refresher never hurts.Below are the top seven rules.

1. You cant un-ring a bell. Once youveput something on the Web, its there foreternity.

2. Understand the limits of yourcontrol. Anyone can take your image orposting and repurpose it.

3.The Internet does not operate in avacuum. Most people can figure outhow to get around basic security blocks.If you wouldnt want your boss orgrandma seeing it, dont post it.

4. Spell-check. Online communicationfeels quick and informal, but the basicrules of English still apply to everythingfrom e-mail to Facebook to blogs. Twitterand texting get a pass because of lengthconstraints.

5.Understand the core purpose ofeach tool and network. Party picturesdont belong on LinkedIn, posting yourresume on MySpace is odd.

6.Act with purpose. Its educational to test out various programs andapplications to better understand themand determine their usefulness. Notevery platform is right for every user andsituation. Find what works best for you.

7.Be truthful.~ April Wildermuth

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The Mount Vernon Report is published and copyrighted 2009 by Morrissey & Company, an independent Reputation Communications firm headquartered at 6 Edgerly Place, Boston, MA 02116 full attribution is given to Morrissey & Company. Further commentary or response to any of the topics discussed in this issue is welcome and should be directed to 617-523-4141 or via [email protected].

Printed on recycled paper. In an effort to conserve natural resources we have altered the format of the Mount Vernon Report to omit the use of an envelope.

Please visit us on the World Wide Web at: http://www.mountvernonreport.com RepEx Blog: http://blog.morrisseyco.com/

Morrissey & Company6 Edgerly PlaceBoston, MA02116

Reputation AdvisorIn an online environment where everyone is a critic, maintaining apositive reputation can be challenging. Negative reviews can becomedetrimental to ones reputation; but positive reviews, are traditionallythe best source of new business. Online forums and communities such asYelp, Citysearch and Yahoo! Local can be powerful word-of-mouth tools.

Managing your online reputation requires a whole new skill set,including monitoring online conversations, engaging with customers andpromoting your good name on mediums that are constantly updated andchanging. Here are some considerations for businesses interested inpreserving and protecting a positive online reputation:

Monitor the online conversation.The first step is to tunein and see what is being said about your business on the

Internet. Setting up Google and/or Twitter alerts to notify youwhen your business is mentioned in a review or blog is helpfulin learning what peoples first reactions are, how searchable thebusiness is and where you are being discussed. Some of thelatest technologies include Trackur, Google Alerts, Technorati,and RapLeaf. Knowing this information is also useful whendetermining your search engine optimization (SEO) strategy.

Create policies.Companies need policies for how employeesspread information online and how to respond to online com-ments. Business owners must develop guidelines and adopt tech-nologies that can help manage their online reputation and clearlycommunicate these guidelines company-wide. It is very importantthat companies have a response mechanism in place in order toavoid unethical or harmful communication. For example, JetBlue began to

monitor and use social media as a way to reach out to customers directly inthe aftermath of its highly publicized February 2007 flight delays. Today,they use Twitter to communicate with passengers about weather delays andfield questions about why JetBlue charges $7 for pillows and blankets.

Engage with customers.Responding to reviews both formal andinformal is a delicate part of customer relations. Business owners areadvised to respond to reviews in a timely manner to show readers thatthey are listening and they care about their customers. A negative reviewrequires special attention, so it is best to allow yourself some time to

think before engaging the reviewer in a considerate manner. The mimportant thing is not to argue with the customer. Remember the goldrule of customer service: the customer is always right. Recently, scompanies, such as UPS, have recruited people to search for complaon Twitter and offer help as well as act as customer service intermediaThomas@UPS posts public responses on Twitter to apologize and try win back customers, while some business owners choose to privamessage the reviewer.

Protect your good name.Take advantage of these platforms; they cando more for your business than just protect your onlinreputation. Platforms such as Twitter and Yelp can also servetools for marketing, analytics and communications. Onlinreviews are a gold mine of business intelligence. Analyze me

to get a better sense of your customer demographics. Fexample, Yelp has a dashboard that allows business ownerskeep track of page views.

Do not write false reviews.Dont write false reviews to puff your business or trash a competitor. You can severely damayour reputation (and look really silly). Businesses have been plicly exposed for falsifications and suffer majoembarrassment. For example, Lifestyle Lift, a cosmetic surgcompany, had ordered employees to pretend they were satisficustomers and write glowing reviews of its face-lift procedon Web sites. The company also created its own sites of face-reviews to appear as independent sources. As punishment, company had to pay $300,000 in penalties and costs to the sta

and agree to stop publishing anonymous reviews on Web sites as we

identify any content created by employees. The best way to ensure translate positive reviews online is to offer good products and servicehonest, be attentive.

Remember, the Internet has become a complex ecosystem in which plic opinions can help or hinder a business online reputation. It is crufor business owners to know how to monitor, manage and measuonline reputation and to remediate problems faster when they occ

~ Liza Stewart

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