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 messengerSMS 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 dont! 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 anto the contact centre High positive: triggerto marketing/PR > testimonials! Low positive: trigger anto 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 dont 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 dont 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 Dont 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