British Bankers Association engages with blogs

Well done to the British Bankers' Association for engaging with blogs. I came across this article on A View from Middle England.

The BBA has left a comment clarifying its position and informing readers what it really thinks. The way they've done this is to be applauded:

1. The BBA has been monitoring its online reputation
2. The comment is clear, concise and the contributor transparent
3. There's a link to more information for readers who want it
4. The BBA has engaged in the content of the article, accepting where it went wrong but putting the blogger straight

The only other suggestions we'd make are:
1. The username could like to an identifiable person at the BBA. This would help users (and particularly the blog owner) check the authenticity of the comment
2. If they provided a link to a specially created landing page, they could track the clickthroughs and thus learn more about the site and the views of its readers. This would help develop the BBA's blogging strategy further.

Otherwise, a good effort from which others can learn.

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?

If brands get it wrong on social media, they ruin it for everyone

A familiar challenge for corporate communicators is how to present your case in the best way. It's not easy and there's growing criticism of corporate-speak and spokespeople who don't engage with the audience. Social media is often hailed as a more authentic means of communication than the traditional media. It's a place where communication is expected to be more personal, more honest, more rough and ready.

If companies get social media right, the prize is considerable. You can talk directly to customers (without intermediaries getting in the way) in a forum where they're listening and often willing to meet you half way. This should lead to higher sales and stronger advocates for your brand.

Getting social media wrong, not only makes you look ridiculous, however. One of the reasons for the greater authenticity of social media is because it's a space mostly populated by amateurs and friends. If 'officialdom' comes into that space and acts like a tax inspector at a wedding the group of friends will just move away. That's easy to do on social media because there are lots of available platforms and low cost of entry.

There's already evidence of this happening on blogs and social networking sites and even some emerging evidence that people are being more savvy on Twitter because of fears that their space is being invaded.

So if a company gets it wrong on social media (as many self-styled 'social media experts' do on Twitter) then the most important, influential people just shut up shop and move town.

This isn't intended to warn all companies away from using social media to spread your message when it's important, targeted and promoted in the appropriate way. But do something crass and you'll not only become a pariah yourselves but reduce its value for everyone else.

How to buy advertising online

You've created your blog, now you want to promote it. Advertising costs money - but thanks to the internet you can tailor your advertising to your budget.

This guide is intended for a one-off ad campaign on Google. Corporates or large charities will require a more tightly measured and honed ad strategy. However, if you're blogging to complain about a company, get noticed by someone or kick-start a campaign, this will be useful.

There are three ways you can advertise effectively online with a limited budget:
1. buy search engine advertising for particular keywords
This works really well if you want to grab someone's attention - particularly if it's an organisation or individual.

2. buy advertising on relevant websites
If you've got a particular post which is of interest to other websites, you can buy advertising so that your ad will appear in other relevant blogs and websites (only those that accept those particular ads though).

You can advertise on search and relevant websites. Relevant sites will usually ensure your ad appears more often - but with a much lower click-through rate. The search volumes are lower and more expensive, but tend to get a higher click-through rate. Whether you choose one or both should depend on your advertising strategy.

3. target ads according to an internet user's location
This is great if you're a local business or your campaigning for something in a particular area or country.

Buying the advertising

This assumes you already have an account with Google. If not, read this article on how to create a Google account.

Setting up your account

1. Log in to your Google account
2. Click My account in the top right hand corner of google.com
3. Click the AdWords link on the next page
4. Click on sign up now
5. Choose standard edition and click continue
6. Click the button that says you already have a Google account and that you want to use your existing Google account (presuming you do) then click continue
7. Choose your preferred currency and click continue

Creating your campaign

1. Click create your first campaign
2. Choose the language and country(s) you want to target
3. Create your ad, referring to Google's guidelines about trademarks
4. For advice on writing great Google ads, click here
5. The display URL doesn't have to be the actual URL - but don't mislead people entirely
6. Choose the keywords you want to target. Read this for more advice on keyword strategies
7. Set your daily budget
8. Set your maximum budget for each keyword. To get an idea, click on 'View Traffic Estimator' to see what traffic the advert is likely to generate

Targeting your campaign at specific sites

When you start to create your campaign, you can choose to start a new campaign with placements. The system works the same but after creating the ad, you can target subjects or specific URLs to target your campaign.

Alternatively, once you've created the campaign, you can click edit settings and turn on the content option (and/or turn the search option off).

Enter your payment details when requested.

Evaluating your campaign

Next time you login to Google AdWords you can evaluate your campaign. Look to see:
1. What you're paying per click
2. Whether the number of clicks meets your expectations
3. Check your own analytics package to see whether the advertising is having its desired affect

Keep an eye on our blog for examples of effective low-cost advertising campaigns.

Responding to criticism online

We recently looked at company guidelines for managing social media. One of the most important elements of this is when a company is managing criticism of their reputation.

Deciding if and when to respond to criticism online is a key part of a modern corporate communicator's job. It's not a simply judgement and depends on a range of factors. However, there are some key questions that need to be answered methodically before a PRO can make a reasoned judgment.

Today, Newscounter is publishing its guide to responding to criticism online. It won't be equally appropriate for every company - and there will be some vital issues missing for some (investor relations, regulatory restrictions, existing relationships etc). But it should be useful confirmation of existing good practice and thought-provoking for others. Feel free to share and review as necessary.

If you'd like any copies or a bespoke version developed for your company, get in touch.

Guidelines for managing social media

Intel has a great set of guidelines for managing social media. I often get asked by corporations how they should guide their employees in the use of social media. Despite overwhelming demand, there is no single generic guide available. This is because it depends entirely on the corporate culture.

Many organisations are still deeply uncomfortable (and nervous of the regulatory implications) of allowing employees to engage with social media. So giving them a really good set of social media guidelines will probably lead to further retrenchment.

However, some companies understand the value of social media and guide their employees to use it in a responsible, constructive manner which adds value to their brand. Intel is one such company. Its social media guidelines are well worth a look and provide as good a template as any for how employee engagement in social media can protect and promote your brand.

ecb.co.uk crisis management - why it matters

We recently examined the problem the England and Wales Cricket Board had with its website keeping up to speed with the departures of Peter Moores and Kevin Pietersen.

This is why it matters.

1. If you search for Kevin Pietersen on Google, the top result is Kevin Pietersen's website. Not a problem whilst he was captain.

2. Search for Kevin Pietersen and ECB on Google and ecb.co.uk is ranked 15th, with a poorly worded meta description:


The same is true of all of the key search terms related to the affair.

Now, it may be that the ECB has such a good relationship with journalists that it successfully communicated all of its key messages directly to the media online. But even if that was the case, the number of websites that broke the news, the volume of traffic they have and the online influence they carry means that they played a critical part in shaping understanding of the story - before the ECB had communicated any messages.

Finally, the ECB has a significant database of cricket supporters. I pay a subscription to receive information on the England team straight from the ECB - and get access to the ECB TV channel. I haven't yet received an email from the ECB announcing the news. A missed opportunity.

ECB website fails in crisis management

The ECB has a few problems today. It's lost the team England team coach and captain who was also the best player. In appointing the successor they are turning to someone without the unequivocal support of his colleagues and in splitting the captaincy, going back on their publicly stated preference for the same captain of the Test and one day squads.

This is what the BBC Sport website said:


It's a difficult situation - made worse by their corporate website.

I heard that Kevin Pietersen and Peter Moores had left their posts at about 10.30 on News 24. The news was broken by Mihir Bose. It wasn't clear whether they had left or been sacked and whether the captain could be reinstated by the new coach or whether he would continue playing for England.

So I logged onto the website, ecb.co.uk. The homepage had a picture and profile of Kevin Pietersen but no news of anyone leaving:


I thought it might be slow to update so 15 minutes later tried again. This error message came up - I presume due to volume of hits:


Because it wasn't that they were updating it. Now, 6 hours later, the homepage and news page remain unchanged.

Why the corporate website so important

The corporate website is so important because it's the only opportunity you have to put your position - all of it - directly to your core constituency. And as the downtime demonstrated, lots of people look to the original source.

The ECB may have bigger issues to deal with today. But if it can't communicate its position confidently in a crisis, it will lose the support of important stakeholders.

Sharing knowledge for local government

We've recently been able to publish our introduction to using social media for local authorities. 

It's a summary of a bigger training session we completed for a client in the sector and we'd like to open it up to peer review. 

Please use the comments section to suggest, amend or criticise.

Managing your risk register

Lots of company's have risk registers. However, in a way that would make Nassim Nicholas Taleb, many of the omit high impact but unlikely events that actually do occur.

Take, for example, this story about JournalSpace. I expect they did have a risk register. And that it contained dealing with disgruntled employees. But it didn't include backing up their critical database - or the likelihood that a disgruntled employee would wipe all of their users data. The event has made the company apparently worthless.

But if you are going to manage risk, what are you doing about reputation risks online? Do you monitor your reputation? Manage the consequences? Take actions to mitigate the risks you face? Or just set aside some cash each year to manage the consequences of things going wrong (like Taleb)?

Paying to protect your online reputation

There's an interesting story on The Consumerist which struck a chord with me. Apparently, Ritz Camera offered a small financial incentive ($20) to an unhappy consumer if she withdrew her complaint against the store.

Harvey Jones were always diligent in ensuring that I removed traces of my story with them. (Incidentally, I'm sure they monitor their reputation so diligently that they've read this).

My challenge to organisations is this: no customer expects 100% satisfaction. Wouldn't it be better to show how you've converted a detractor into a promoter?

Things go wrong. The more successful the company, the more opportunities that something will go wrong. What we do expect is that when it does, we get treated well and our complaint is handled satisfactorily. And a customer who wasn't happy but now is, is a much more convincing story than a string of reviews which are only positive.

That's hard for old-style organisations to get their heads around. But that level of authenticity is what makes the great standout from the good online.

Social networking and brands

David Cushman has an interesting article here on the relationship between social networking sites and brands:

http://fasterfuture.blogspot.com/2008/12/why-cut-brands-out-of-conversation.html?showComment=1228835520000#c6807634474291829090

Discuss!

UK2 - thanks

I had a problem with UK2 recently. (The next paragraph is boring).

I registered a domain that I no longer needed. I received automated emails warning me of renewal which I ignored, because the card that I used to pay for the domain was no longer valid. I then received an email warning me that the payment would be processed anyway unless I cancelled the order. I replied to the email and received no response. I then got an email saying it had been renewed and I had to pay some sort of fine. They had no record of my email but waived the payment; a truly decent thing to do as I hadn't complied with their procedure.

UK2 thanks - and if you monitor your online reputation - I recommend you to anyone thinking of buying a domain name.

Alternative Doctor needs an alternative search engine approach

NHS Blog Doctor, one of my favourite blogs, has published an expose of the Alternative Doctor site. You can judge the legitimacy of the site and the complaint yourself. It's highlighted that the alternative doctor needs a new search engine strategy.

How influential is the Alternative Doctor site? Not very.

Yahoo reports just over 1,000 hyperlinks to the site, meaning that it has some influence - but only just. The NHS Blog Doctor has seven times as many, as you'd expect for a nationally significant blog.

Critically, the site doesn't rank particularly well on search engines. It comes number one for me on Google for a search of alternative doctor - that's good, bearing in mind the competition. However, it is not ranked prominently for any of its key terms: electronic voice phenomena, hypergravity vibration exercizer (where there isn't much competition) or cancer alternatives. In contrast, the NHS Blog Doctor post is now in the top 10 for hypergravity vibration exercizer.

The Alternative Doctor site demonstrates the importance of getting all the elements of an seo strategy in place. To be more successful it needs:

• page titles which correspond with a keyword strategy
• a higher keyword density
• more links coming in to the key pages
  

Having a video on the homepage is good - I think. But spending almost 1/6th of it debating with yourself whether this is a website, a blog, or a bit of both is a waste of all our time!

And a note to NHS Blog Doctor - you've provided more links to the Alternative Doctor than you have to anyone on the other side of the debate. Given the high value of links from your site, won't this be inadvertently helpful to him?

Indian attacks shouldn't be Google's number one

Martin Belam (who is infinitely brighter and better qualified than me) thinks that it is a failure of search engines that search results for Mumbai and India don't have stories about the terrorist attacks at the top. I don't agree.

The terrorist attacks may be the most significant thing about Mumbai or even India, today. But search results are about more than that, signified by Google's weighting to older content. The terrorist attacks will be dealt with and the city needs to recover. What it doesn't need is a prospective American tourist deciding not to visit in three months time (assuming it doesn't run contrary to state department advice) because of a legacy story on a search engine.

There are issues about news and search, demonstrated by the coverage around Bob Woolmer's death (as opposed to the reports of his murder). Google News is a step in the right direction although that's not without its problems. But if the main Google search results worked in the way Martin suggests, it could be more bad news for Mumbai.

LSO St Lukes: brilliant

LSO St Lukes is a brilliant venue with first class music making which works hard to build participation in class music. I just wanted to record my thoughts to improve their online reputation!

I first heard of LSO St Lukes when I worked for UBS, promoting its sponsorship of the orchestra.

Now I take my baby daughter most Fridays to attend the (usually free) lunchtime concerts. The event is MC'd by a local composer who gives a good, brief overview of the works and the performance is usually led by LSO players. There is almost always a local primary school class in attendance and a Q&A session in the middle allows for a bit of audience participation. The event is sufficiently relaxed that you don't feel intimidate when a baby makes a noise.

Last week I heard a double bass recital from the leader of the bass section of the orchestra. It was the best I've ever heard the instrument (even if the player had previously been a cellist - suggesting that 'he grown up' to play the bass).

I went today to their special concert for under fives. Unfortunately it was sold out (£1 tickets) but part of me was delighted that the event attracted such an audience.

If you can get there, do, because it's a great way to listen to classical music at a low cost and in a very accessible way.

Football League - could do better

The Football League could do better on their website. I really don't want to talk about the Liverpool game last night. But this aspect of Carling Cup is worth talking about: the Football League's website.

Last night the official Liverpool FC website published the team sheet 45 minutes before kick-off, as usual. However, the first draft saw Benayoun starting and on the subs bench. The next had six subs. This sparked a debate on the best Liverpool fans' site, Red and White Kop: how many substitutes are you allowed in the Carling Cup?

The conspiracy theorists argued that maybe a player had refused to play, so disappointed was he to not be in the starting XI. I tried to find out the rules. I went to Google and entered Carling Cup rules the 2007/08 version. The first result was this badly formatted page giving access to the rules as a pdf (a pet hate).

Rule 9.1 states that the team is allowed five substitutes of which no more than three can take part. And yet both teams named seven substitutes.

It could be that both teams broke the rules - or it could be that the Football League hasn't updated their website. Either way, having out of date material on the site, ranked number one on Google isn't much use to anyone.

Progressive London - web asessment

Ken Livingtone has launched Progressive London - a new coalition of interests to oppose Boris Johnson and build political support for Ken's agenda. Dave Hill has the full story.

As is fashionable these days, it's backed by a bespoke website. So what could they do differently to boost the credibility and influence of the site?

1. Have a clear understanding of your keywords
The homepage has a meta description with some (pointless) keyword tags. However, these relate only to the content that they have, rather than the issues they want to be known for. There's no Boris Johnson for a start.

2. Fix the URLs
The URLs are random strings of numbers rather than a description of the page content - bad for search engines.

3. Build the content
There should be a page for each policy that the group oppose which it should aim to be in the top 5 of Google.

4. Build the links
There are too few links to other websites and too little mutual back-scratching. Where's the link to Ken's article in The Guardian, or the links back to the websites of members of the coalition. If you're going to have a links page, at least make sure they're reciprocated.

6. Improve the user experience
This will come but it isn't great at the moment. Nowhere to interact, only a box which asks you to sign-up without any declaration of what you are signing up to, data protection pledge etc.

Any other thoughts / ideas?

Anfi Emerald fails to act

My previous post about Anfi Emerald has been met by silence. I'm a bit surprised because I asked for them to contact me on the feedback form, as well as pointing the company to my blog.

I notice that my post has now risen to 11th on a Google search for Anfi Emerald and the TripAdvisor listing (complete with my comment) appears in the all-important top 10.

I wonder if the company just doesn't monitor its online reputation or hopes that the good outweighs the bad. One thing that the company has done well is to use an online distribution company for its press releases. Whilst this makes little impact on press coverage, it often helps SEO.

Equalities and Human Rights Commission: invaluable lesson on search

The Equalities and Human Rights Commission has had an invaluable lesson on the importance of search.

It used to be easy for public relations consultants: get to know a few journalists (drink with them if necessary) write a good press release and give them a call. Job done.

Now there are far more things to consider, including what impact a news story will have on an organisation's internet reputation.

EHRC boss Trevor Phillips gave a wide-ranging interview at the weekend during which he said that Barack Obama could not have emerged in Britain's party political system because of "institutional racism" within the Labour party. He accussed (former?) comrades of willing the ends but not the means.

The remarks have provoked a strong reaction - most of which the EHRC may see as beneficial. However, does it want this to be the only issue associated with its chair?

Type "Trevor Phillips" into Google. These are the results. If you search "equality human rights commission" it may not be top 10 (yet) but with the Google News clipping and the Times article 16th it will still make an impact.

Assuming that a body responsible for seven equalities strands doesn't want to be known for this alone, how could this have been avoided? I won't give you all the tips of the trade but try putting "Tesco" into Google. Notice how the first newspaper site is ranked 17th. I know that Tesco are bigger and have been around longer. But Google - and its users - don't account for that and their perception of the organisation changes accordingly.

The standard reached by Tesco must be aspired to by any organisation seeking to influence public life.