The Pope backs Counterpoint

The popularity of Counterpoint is increasing. Word reaches Newscounter towers that even the Pope understands its significance.

"I hear that it was possible to access various excerpts of the news on the internet and to have got knowledge of the problem," he says.

"I learn from this that we in the Holy See must take notice of these news sources in the future."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7938827.stm

The secret tool to protect your reputation online

There are various ways and tools you can use to protect your personal reputation online. I'm going to tell you the most effective and cheapest tool to ensure that your personal reputation isn't compromised by your biggest fan.

Be careful what you write

It's that obvious. You need to be careful what you write, what photos you post, what videos you take part in. The whole shebang. From forums to comments on blogs to social networks. Even anonymously (particularly on forums) you can't be certain that the forum owner won't reveal your identity (or be forced to).

There's no such thing as off the record

When I was a junior press officer I was always told 'there's no such thing as off the record'. And still I made the mistake of giving an unauthorised quote to a journalist. Which got used. And my then boss was not happy. The same rule is true on the internet. There is no such thing as private.

The newspaper frontpage test

I used to work for someone who said "only write something down if you are comfortable with it appearing on the frontpage of the newspaper". This had its drawbacks (no one could give her honest advice) but did protect her and her own staff from wrecking her reputation.

Why am I telling you this - that you already know?

Even the professionals get it wrong

Take this story of a PR professional who Twittered about being in Memphis. He didn't like Memphis - the home of major client FedEx. FedEx didn't appreciate his views.

Here's the story in all its glory: http://shankman.com/be-careful-what-you-post/

And remember, you are never too smart, too experienced or too familiar to ask yourself: does this cast me in a favourable light to someone who I've never met?

HMRC: thanks for the good service

I often use this blog to criticise companies with poor customer service. It makes me feel better, helps identify if there are customers in a similar position and I like finding out whether companies monitor their online reputation. Today, I hope that HMRC is monitoring its reputation.

I had to speak to the tax office today to reduce the bit of my tax bill on account and to reschedule payment of my last return. Ok, so I was on hold for a bit but that's my fault for leaving it so late. But by the time I got through, my tax bill on account had already been reduced (I filed my return last week). And my proposal for rescheduling payments was accepted with minimal fuss.

The whole process took about 15 minutes, was reasonable, well-explained and not in the least patronising. Thank you, HMRC.

Measuring effectiveness not volume

Rohit Bhargava on the excellent Influential Marketing blog advises CEOs to measure effectiveness, not volume. I believe it's sound advice and builds on our theme at the start of the year that value will trump volume in 2009.

So what does that mean for your online reputation?

Don't bother measuring volume

Everyone measures volume. How much coverage am I getting? How does it compare to my competitors? But who cares? So much content - when read - lacks any real value. It doesn't matter if 30 websites have reported your interim results or the launch of a new product. That's not just because they may not be read by many people. It's because what really matters is what impact that's had. Who's blogged about it? What was the response in the comments section? What ideas did it spark elsewhere?

Don't rely on a single metric

If you're measuring value it's an inherently complex calculation. It can't be boiled down to a single algorithm - no matter how elaborate. Why? Because you can't compare comments, pings and trackbacks on a single scale. You can't compare one long thoughtful post from a small blog but an influential person (a Member of Parliament, for example). That's why human judgement is king.

Consider the legacy

A small thing, done well, is a better internet legacy than a big thing done poorly. For example, in six months time using a mass press release distribution service may just still help search engine optimisation (although it's not that likely) but won't have created any long term relationships to which you can return. In contrast, a single well constructed blog post on the right blog can create a long term relationship with far greater authenticity.

I don't underestimate the challenge of defeating the lure of big numbers. These are only some of the ways in which effectiveness beats volume. Any other thoughts?

Should you respond to online attacks?

There's no single answer to whether you should respond to an attack about you (your brand, product or reputation) online. It depends on the circumstances, the nature of the attack, what you have to say in return, how the story might develop - and more. It's a specialist job.

However, there are some basic rules that can get you through the day to day. Thanks to Mark Pack, I've found this decision making tree from the US Air Force on the Webinknow blog. If it's useful, we'll publish our own tree later this week. It's broadly similar but relies more on analysing the site that's attacking the reputation.

Incidentally (and let's see if this works) Webinknow's author David Meerman Scott has a wikipedia entry. It's a good entry although it carries the warning that much of the data is unverifiable. The entry's history shows that it's been modified bya number of different sources - but none have strengthened the entry by adding sources. A pity, therefore, that it apparently doesn't follow the excellent advice of the USAF!

Measuring Twitter impact

There's an interesting debate on measuring the impact of Twitter.

Our experience is that not many companies track their products on Twitter. There isn't currently the volume to justify it. However, there's a growing case for doing so because:
a) Twitter is an incredibly useful tool for SEO (see Newscounter's Twitter page.)
b) Opinion formers use Twitter
c) An increasing number of journalists use Twitter personally and for new content

See some of the discussion here.

Do you know anyone who uses Twitter to monitor their brand reputation?