Proactive Reputation Management

Presented by: Tony Wright

CEO of WrightIMC

“If I tell my Facebook friends about your brand, it is because I like my friends - not because I like your brand.” – Mike Arauz, Undercurrent

Why do people write reviews?• The two leading reasons people

contribute content to social shopping sites are the need to feel part of a community (31%) and recognition from peers (28%). (IBM Institute for Business Value, August 2011)

Do people really trust online reviews?

• Users put great trust in their social networks. One-half of Beresford respondents said they considered information shared on their networks when making a decision—and the proportion was higher among users ages 18 to 24, at 65%. (eMarketer, October 2010)

• 90% of consumers online trust recommendations from people they know; 70% trust opinions of unknown users. (Econsultancy, July 2012)

Does this stuff go viral?• The average consumer mentions

specific brands over 90 times per week in conversations with friends, family, and co-workers. (John Moore, WOMMA, 2010)

Why should you care?• 70% of Americans say they look at reviews

before taking the next step to conversion. (Google, Zero Moment of Truth )

• 53% of people on Twitter recommend companies and/or products in their Tweets, with 48% of them delivering on their intention to buy the product. (ROI Research for Performance, June 2010)

• When making purchase decisions, North American Internet users trust recommendations from people they know and opinions posted by unknown consumers online more than advertisements on television, on the radio, in magazines and newspapers, or in other traditional media. (Nielsen Online, April 2011)

 

Understanding the Landscape• Blogs• SERPS• Reviews• Message Boards• Hate Websites• Twitter• Location Based Sites• Social Bookmarking

Sites

Monitoring the Landscape• Tools come in all shapes, sizes and

costs• When evaluating a tool, know what it

will be used for• Know where a tool gets it’s data• Understand what a tool can and

can’t monitor• No one tool gets it all

Not being proactive?• “Doing PR during a crisis is like

eating healthy during a heart attack” – Unknown person from my Twitter stream

Rip-off Reports, Negative Reviews, Bad SERPs, Oh My!

• Most companies do NO reputation management until a crisis hits

• If a crisis hits a blank slate, the crisis wins

• Companies with unmanaged reputations will most likely lose infinitely more in a crisis than those with managed reputations

Social Media Policies• What can your employees say

online and to whom?• Most current policies are more

about keeping folks off Facebook during working hours – this is misguided

• Should be created by HR, Legal and Marketing…preferably someone in marketing with social media savvy.

Employee Education• Everyone from the CEO to the

Janitor needs to know they influence online reputation

• Hold annual seminars for all employees – show them positive and negative reviews

• Reward employees who are mentioned in positive reviews

The thing about reviews…• Your online reviews will not, and should

not be perfect• Your review ratio is a logorythmic scale.

The more reviews you have, the more room there is for negativity

• Deal with negative reviews offline where possible

• Watch out for Mobile Syndication! Yelp and Iphone anyone?

Proactive Review Strategy• ASK YOUR SATISFIED CUSTOMERS FOR REVIEWS!

– Don’t be pushy, but do ask. Think of it as asking for public feedback

• Understand your review landscape and try to sculpt reviews to affect SERPS

• Forward facing employees should go through the review process on relevant sites once a month to help customers understand how to create reviews

• What are you doing to make your customers actual FANS?

Influencer Identification and Outreach

• Invest in good tools to identify influencers – there are several

• Influencer identification is an ongoing process– Surveys of existing customers can be

useful, but are hard to execute• Create ongoing relationships with

influencers – provide them value

Influencer Identification and Outreach

• DO NOT SPAM INFLUENCERS– Ask permission to send them items

• Meet influencers offline whenever possible– Having a beer with an influencer can

determine their opinion of you during a crisis• Consider monetary support of influencers

causes

Be Part of the Conversation• Encourage employees to be

subject matter experts in relevant online places

• Offer value throughout your entire Web presence

• Be prepared to offer customer service in a public forums (watch resources)

Creating your Plan – Who should be Involved?• Marketing

• IT• Upper Management• Crisis Consultants• HR• Representatives from the rank and file• Unions (if applicable)

What to consider?• Online and offline – but pay more

attention to online, it’s harder• Monitoring – YOU MUST MONITOR YOU

BRAND AT ALL TIMES!• Mock scenarios – how will you handle

each. Think worst case scenarios• Technical execution of responses• Response Responsibility• Do you know your search results before

the crisis?

Reputation, Influence and Branding

• Reputation, branding and influence are not the same thing but are interconnected

• Of the three, start working on reputation. The others will come if reputation is good

• Don’t let good branding get in the way of a good reputation (logo police, anyone?)

• Monitor your reputation. Create a formula for keeping your reputation solid – deal with snags as they come

Thank you for time

Tony WrightCEO/Founder

WrightIMCtony.wright@wrightimc.com

@tonynwright972-215-7167