Last week’s post on RM stirred up some good response so I’m continuing with the topic (just in case I’m on some kind of roll here). 

I’ve noticed that there is no shortage of Reputation Management white papers available on the Web today.  Essentially, these “how to” white papers boil RM down to a three step process:

1.) Monitor
2.) Analyze
3.) Engage

In other words:
1.) Fly a small plane to Mars and collect the DNA samples of all Martians;
2.) Compare to human DNA, send results back to earth via satellite feed;
3.) Sit down with the Martians (after you’ve chased them around with needles trying to collect their DNA) and negotiate a WMD treaty.
(And please be back by Friday night; we have symphony tickets.)

What I’m trying to say here is that each of the *three* (ha!) steps is about as big as Texas and way more complex (I’m a Texan so I can say things like this and get away with it).  As always, the devil is in the details.

Let’s start with monitoring and analyzing.  You have, roughly, four options:

1.) Manual retrieval, sorting and analysis (or, Bandaids and Bubblegum)
This is where you assign a staff person (or nine) to search Technorati each day, sift through various feeds you’ve set up on multiple keywords, spend hours on forums and networks that are important to your brand, curse Andy Beal for putting together that nice list of about a bjillion tools you need to incorporate into your monitoring regimen, and then manually wade through the data and make judgments about what it all means.

Key Challenges:  If people are actually talking about you, (your brand, your products, your issues, etc.) the amount of data can become unwieldy PDQ.  If you have a PR crisis, you might end up drowning in data with no way to sort and analyze it quickly enough to respond adequately.  You will miss a lot.

2.) Semi-automated retrieval; manual sorting and analysis
A few tools out there will help you automate the retrieval process, i.e., collect data from monitored sources (Note: Be sure to ask what sources are monitored; I’ve seen “tools” that were no more than a lame attempt to recreate Technorati, with no monitoring of sources beyond the Blogosphere).  Automated retrieval can certainly help make the process more manageable, but at the end of the day, you still have to figure out a way to sort and analyze (positive vs. negative, new vs. existing, toss out the spam, identify influencers, etc.). 

Key Challenge: Not a lot of truly useful, “middle of the road” tools out there. You will still have to manually monitor some sources that the tool doesn’t pick up and you will still miss a lot.

3.) Automated retrieval, mostly automated sorting and semi-automated analysis
Companies like Nielsen Buzz Metrics and Cymfony offer the sticker shock solution, but if the volume of chatter is high and/or your needs are more complex, the price probably works out to be cheaper than the hours you would burn trying to manage it all manually (and these tools are certainly far more effective).  A couple of things to note/watch for if you go for door #3:  First, spam is a huge issue that no one has quite figured out.  This can impact your results dramatically.  Human beings are almost always required.  Second, even the cream of the crop solutions depend heavily on the brains of humans, so it is good to know who is looking at your data and making actionable recommendations (hopefully not an intern).

4.) Build your own: After all, even if you select an automated solution, there is always a fair amount of custom work that has to be done in order to set up proper monitoring.  Companies that build custom search tools are a good option (Vivisimo for example).  The World Bank recently released a beta version of a tool that is free to anyone who wants to participate in the open source Drupal community.

Some things to consider if you build your own: It takes a lot of computing power to spider a significant portion of the Web each day and bring it back for sorting (ask Google). Sorting that data by topic, positive/negative, etc. is a complex process that requires a significant amount of human brain power (ask me, I married a computational linguist).

The field will no doubt grow as agencies in the social media realm start to develop their own proprietary tools (us included) .  Of course, once you’ve got the monitoring and analysis part down, you have to do that “engagement” thing, which is another topic entirely (and many, many blog posts). 

(Note: We’ll be releasing our own white paper on Reputation Management at the London Search Engine Strategies conference in a few weeks.)
 

“Sign-up for weekly email alerts and newsletters” – it’s a pretty common statement found on many non-profit and corporate e-commerce Web sites. Some organizations or companies even go the step further and ask for the user the frequency that they would like to receive email communications. Granted, nobody will say ‘email me daily;’ but bi-weekly, monthly, quarterly options are the norm and you should be asking your constituents how often they want to be communicated with.

So, when I – as a user/member/donor – ask to be communicated with on a weekly basis, I should get an email once a week. I’m probably one of the few that keep a spreadsheet of the emails I receive, the frequency, and the calls-to-action to track email communication activity of the orgnizations I support and ‘keep an eye on.’ But if a person is loyal and ‘bonded’ to the organization, then the organization should keep their promise and communicate weekly.

Most email systems are able to segment users on this very basic level, and all organizations should create a calendar that addresses the frequency issue.

When you are thinking about what and when to communicate, let the user request guide what you say and when you say it:

• Weekly emails – these should be very high level and very short – just a quick update on any major activities, or announcements on upcoming campaigns or other related (future) calls-to-action. Because these are created more frequently the design can be a little lighter and less visually focused. This email should not scroll.
• Bi-Weekly emails - should include the same information as the weekly emails, but include images or more design elements and stronger calls-to-action. This email can scroll a bit, but nothing that would appear overwhelming.
• Monthly emails - can include more detailed information about the previous month’s activities, and should include reporting on member and donor responses to previous communications. By doing this, you may be able to convert a less frequent subscriber to a more frequent subscriber – and more loyal constituent. This is also a great time to announce the following month’s campaign or appeal.
• Quarterly emails - on a quarterly basis you should be communicating high level review of all activities, compared to your overall organizational goals for the year. Announce any major campaigns or other high level goals that may not be addressed on a monthly or weekly basis.
• Yearly emails - everyone should receive a yearly email that is longer and goes deeper into the results from the year. Also, plan the coming year and state the goals and what will be needed from members and donors. If you carefully state your goals, and then continue to communicate status, your overall responses should increase.

It may be slightly more time consuming to communicate or create an editorial calendar based on the frequency that the user requests – but the long term lift in responses will be drastic. Remember, each email doesn’t need to be a long-vetted document – but a quicker more personal communication that engages the recipient.

Yesterday was the 32nd running of the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington D.C., and also marked the first time that I’d attempted to run a full marathon (I’d completed 2 – 1/2 marathons in the month of September, but they were 2 weeks apart). Part of the registration fee covers an online training program, where you could pick the program based on your goals. I decided to go for the ‘I want to finish’ program, which is designed to get you over the line in less than 7 -1/2 hours. I followed that plan as closely as I could, listening to my knees when they told me that I should hold off for a day or three.

The Marine Corps Marathon itself has a few built in goals. Firstly, you have to finish the race in 7-1/2 hours. Secondly, you have to ‘beat the bridge’, which means that you have to be at the bridge leading from DC back into Virginia (the 19 mile marker) before 5 hours, otherwise they open the bridge up to traffic. Then there’s an unofficial goal, that I heard a lot of people talking about; they wanted to finish in less than 4 hours, 29 minutes, and 20 seconds. Why? Because they wanted to “Beat Oprah”, who ran the marathon back in 1994. Believe me, Oprah wasn’t on my radar.

After 5 months of training, Sunday finally came, and there I was at the start line. Based on my past performances in the 1/2 marathons, and in my training, my estimation of my finish time had risen. I figured that I could do the 1/2 marathon in just over 2 hours, then if needs be walk the rest and still finish in plenty of time. My ideal would be to make it to 18 miles in 3 hours, and go from there.

So I lined up with the 4 hour pace group, hoping to keep up with them until the 1/2 way mark, and I almost did. Just after the 12 mile marker I felt that it was time to let them pull away, but still, I made it to the 13.1 mile marker in 2 hours 1 minute and 30 seconds, nicely on track. Continuing on, I started to slow some more, and even walked for a while, yet when I hit the 18 mile marker it was at 2 hours and 59 minutes. After that I slowed down some more, speeding up only when I hit a Tylenol station, which removed some of the pain. Finally I crossed the finish line 4 hours 48 minutes and 5 seconds after I started, which is actually good enough to qualify me into some other local marathons, should I decide to do so…

So, I matched my starting goals, and exceeded my finishing expectations. I’m really happy with my time, and it’s also good to know that because of my race, RedBoots will be sending a check to the Exceeding Expectations Foundation to help them encourage at-risk kids to move their lives in a positive direction, using the sport of triathalon as a vehicle.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off for a well deserved massage.

Following on from our post the other week about MySpace and PayPal teaming up to help raise money for nonprofits, today I received an email from PayPal which shows that they are indeed pushing this program, as well as one on Facebook. What’s more is that they’re also featuring their microfinance investment program (MicroPlace) in their email. Both of these articles in the same email are great examples of how they’re being a socially responsible company, and will thus attract considerable goodwill.

Now if they could just sort out those Paypal Phishers, things would be great.

Social media is more than just social news sites and social bookmarking, it’s audio, video, and it’s conversation, creation, and co-creation – “mash-ups.” Video should fit into your marketing efforts. Video isn’t just for television commercials or infomercials anymore.

With nearly half of all Americans online with a high-speed internet connection, and 72% of all online video viewers downloading or streaming video at least once a month, video is hot.

And it’s not just big brands that are embracing video in their marketing efforts online.

While music acts may be getting the largest amount of press for embracing social media and developing their fan bases in record time prior to signing a recording contract (see Terra Naomi and Colbie Callait) and then receiving mainstream radio success, lawyers, blender manufacturers, chiropractors, politicians, and realtors, amongst thousands of others, are making videos and uploading them, sometimes with just a simple webcam, (though proper video production is generally the recommended route, as seen from the examples.) But for the budget conscious, or those just interested in getting their little toe dipped in the video waters, testimonial videos, recorded presentations, and demonstrative videos can make for very effective marketing and be created with little more than a cheap digicam and some appropriate planning.

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With the World Series underway and my Red Sox winning the opening game 13-1 after coming back from a three mobile games to one deficit against the Cleveland Indians, I thought I’d write a post that tries to outline some of the parallels between the benefits of good web analytics and the principles of the Red Sox organization. A stretch? Maybe. But I couldn’t resist making the attempt.

When John Henry bought the Red Sox in 2002 he hired a young Theo Epstein as his general manager and they began to orchestrate an organizational shift in the philosophy of how to build a baseball team. Henry quickly moved to hire a man named Bill James as a “statistical advisor.” No, James was not being hired into a front office position to help forecast future cash flow, but rather he was hired as part of the baseball operations team. The hire made perfect sense when you look at Henry’s background as a commodity trading advisor manager, but to the casual fan it was probably quite perplexing. Why would a baseball team hire a statistician in the baseball operations department that has typically consisted of the general manager down to the video coordinator? The simple answer is that in the same way that good web analytics can move a company from making decisions based on gut feelings to one that is a data driven company, so too can the plethora of data within baseball be used to transform an organization into a data driven team.

Bill James has brought revolutionary ideas into the baseball world that have often been applied to how the Red Sox build their minor league system and the types of players they go after in free agency. Among some of the ideas he has stressed are:

• Individual ballparks have a profound effect on a ballplayer’s production
• The largest variable determining how many runs a team will score is how many times the leadoff hitter gets on base
• Much of what we perceive as pitching is actually defense

He has also developed numerous metrics that allows the decision makers to evaluate players on a deeper level than just numbers such as their batting average, home runs, stolen bases, or fielding percentage. Some of the metrics he has developed include runs created, range factor, defensive efficiency record, Pythagorean winning percentage, major league equivalency, and secondary average. He has also stressed the importance of on base percentage as a more valuable metric than a player’s batting average.

Many of his ideas have been incorporated into the Red Sox organization from the types of players they draft all the way up through the minor league system to the major league club and free agency. The results are quite astounding. From the time the Boston Red Sox came into existence in 1908 through 2002 when John Henry purchased the team they had won 4 world series titles and made the playoffs 13 times. In the five years since, the Red Sox have made the playoffs 4 times won 1 World Series and are now looking to win a second World Series in the past five years.

Bill James has helped turn the Red Sox into an organization that made decisions in large part on gut feelings into a data driven organization. While he can’t be given the credit for all the recent success, he can be credited with helping to change the fundamental philosophies of how the Red Sox build their organization. The real credit has to go to the many extremely talented individuals who work for the Red Sox and have built the organization into what they are today.

These same philosophies of being a data driven organization hold true in the world of web analytics. As we all know, there is a plethora of useful data that can help drive meaningful change and begin to build your site up as an industry leader. Unless your company has made a conscious decision, however, to become a data driven company then the money that has been poured into your web analytics package will go to waste. In order to make the shift to a data driven company you must have the talented individuals in place that can make sense of the data and who have the ability to bring to the surface the metrics that will drive data driven decisions.

Just as the Red Sox have gone from the team that hadn’t won a championship in 86 years to one that is now a perennial World Series contender, so too can you transform your site. All you need to do is follow the Red Sox model of changing to a data driven organization and hiring exceptionally talented employees that can make sense and use the data to drive meaningful change.

GO RED SOX!!

Whenever I run across the term “reputation management” these days, I know what is coming next: A nice long “how to” on dominating search engine shelf space (this post for example is excellent). I give a lot of credit to the search industry for educating clients on the consequences of leaving online reputation unchecked. However, I fear we may have created a monster. At the end of the day, search is a necessary, but insufficient condition in the struggle to define a brand. And while hiring a good search firm is a good idea (for a lot of reasons), it doesn’t mean you’ve got reputation management covered.

Consider this:

1.) Most of the consumer generated media found on social networks like Facebook may never make it into the search engine rankings because the content isn’t spidered. Conversations on many social networks take place “under the radar” of search engines – visible to hundreds, thousands in some case, but not necessarily visible in search. (Note: Recent changes in spidering of some SN’s will change this somewhat, but as long as members have the option of keeping content private, many conversations will continue to take place under the radar.)

2.) Dominating the first page or two of results is great, but it could mask a big problem. For example, we found that one of our clients was being trashed by a competitor on a very small Forum. Unfortunately, that Forum served a niche group of high value customers – influencers – in the space. The damage done within the confines of that little Forum never made it to page one of the SERPs but it resulted in significant lost business for the client in a very short period of time.

3.) Search is the last step in a long process that starts with a lot of big picture questions. Your search marketing firm can optimize the Enterprise Generated Media necessary to dominate search shelf space, but who creates and maintains that content? Who ensures that it is strategically integrated into your communications mix? Most importantly, who tracks the cost/benefit of your EGM assets?

The reality is that your search engine rankings are usually not where the real problem lies. More likely it is your product, your customer service, etc. If that is the case, you’ll need to decide on the goal early on: Is it to make detractors less visible or to have fewer detractors? Sure, there will always be unfair detractors and you do need to protect that shelf space to make sure that they don’t get an unwarranted share of voice in your brand. However, in all our years of experience in this area, we’ve only had one client that could link 100% of their problem to a single, nutty detractor.

Having a say in how your brand is defined in the world of Web 2.0 requires more than a search engine strategy. It is about content creation, engagement, and understanding where you really are with your customers or donors. After you’ve got that part covered, call the search engine firm to make sure that your efforts are accurately reflected in the SERPs.

I recently started to analyze how one of our new clients has their analytics package setup and if it’s configured to report on the appropriate KPIs.  As is often the case, there is a ton of data, but no structure or reasoning for what data points were being used.  In addition, it has been difficult for each stakeholder to go in and find the data they need to analyze in order to make data driven business decisions.

While it’s great for an executive or director to look at trends for your top level data, that same data isn’t going to be of much use for those responsible for specific aspects of the site or the marketing initiatives that are driving traffic to the site.  If you want each stakeholder to actually use the data coming from your analytics package then you need to provide them with an easy way to view the data that is relevant to their business area and have the capabilities to dig deeper into the data if necessary.

That is accomplished by creating dashboards specific to each stakeholder.  Each dashboard should provide the trends for the segments and KPIs that are relevant to each stakeholder.  This provides a picture of what is happening without requiring people to dig for the data they need.  If you make the data easy to find and easy to understand then each stakeholder is going to be more likely to use the data to drive change and improve the business.

This is no truer than in the world of sport. The most expensive team in baseball, the New York Yankees, are sitting in their mansions watching the rest of the world series with a pained expression on their faces… again. Chelsea FC, funded by a billionaire, spending money like it’s going out of fashion, have yet to win the European Champions League, and last season didn’t even win the English Premier League. For years, the New York Rangers had the biggest payroll in Ice Hockey, yet each year (apart from 1994) they saw teams with lower payrolls, and lesser known players take home the prize.

So what’s this got to do with this blog? Nope, we’re not changing to a talk sports format. What I want to talk about here is the concept that throwing money at a situation will make a company the best in the marketplace. If that were true then the big companies with all the money would control everything, and the little companies would never have a chance. Smaller companies have the natural advantages of being nimble, quick to adapt, and less encumbered by bureaucracy. All of which are ideal traits in the fast moving world of the internet, traits that can mean more than having full coffers.

As far as SEO, having more money just means that you can throw more people at your site, which is when you will at one point or another run into the law of diminishing returns. In other words, nine women can’t produce a baby in a month. Sure, they may have more clout in the market with their name, which may provide some benefit for them, but maybe they have to pass everything through ‘corporate’ before it’s approved? Maybe they have conservative corporate guidelines that prohibit using social media sites & tools? Maybe they’re stretched in so many different ways that they are not able to concentrate on search marketing as effectively as the small company? Maybe the area where the smaller company operates is such a small piece of the overall strategy of the larger company, that it’s not seen as a high priority to concentrate resources.

True, with PPC (pay per click), the company with the deeper pockets can spend more than the smaller company. However, if the smaller company is smart, and uses their analytics wisely, they can maximize their ROI to generate much more business for every dollar of ad spend than the larger company. Plus, the way that the PPC engines work, they don’t allow any one company to buy up all the spots, in fact each domain / account combination is limited to one slot at a time, so even if they’re willing to spend the money to be at the top, that still may not be the best for them if their ad copy isn’t great / their landing page isn’t optimal / their quality scores are lower.

Whatever the reason, the playing field on the internet represents the best, and fastest way for a small company to compete with the big companies even with their huge financial advantage, just so long as you make the right moves, remain open to new ideas, and flexible enough to implement when the situation requires that you do so.

Your personal reputation and your employer’s reputation are crucial. When one suffers, so might the other. While understanding the importance of reputation management is one thing, it is quite another to track and monitor the right things. Reputation management experts can tell you that you should be monitoring mentions of the name of your company, and members of the executive staff and board of directors, but proper and extensive reputation management goes beyond monitoring and responding. Here are five tips to getting more out of your reputation management monitors: Measure the Who, What, Where, When, and Why.

Measure the Who: Who is saying things?
Different people have different knowledge and motives. Determining who is saying things and how influential they are in their online communities may help determine how persistent and damaging the news will become. Break down who is talking. Look for:
- Former employees
- Customers
- Journalists
- Bloggers

Measure the What: What are people saying?
A mistake may hurt a person or company, but other issues may reveal systemic problems that will only continue and potentially snowball into even larger concerns. Organize what people are talking about based on the topic. Look for:
- Customer service
- Product defects
- Questioning management decisions
- Financial information

Measure the Where: Where are people saying things?
Consumer generated media can appear in many places. Breaking down the types of sites may help determine the reach and any viral aspects of the mention. Look for:
- Blogs
- Forums
- Social news sites
- Review sites
- Mainstream media
- Personal sites

Measure the When: When are people saying things?
The time of day and day of week are likely less important than knowing if people are saying things after their first contact with you and/or your company, or after many years of working with you. Look for:
- First contact
- Repeat contact
- Loyal contact
- Before/After official press release
- Before/After purchase

Measure the Why: Why are people saying things?
Not everyone is out to get you, even with negative commentary. Some negative mentions may be criticisms, though not necessarily constructive. Look for:
- Criticism
- Revenge
- Social change
- Public awareness

Remember to rate the tone of both positive and negative mentions. Don’t just focus on the negative! There should be plenty of positive buzz that you can work to expand and grow as part of your proactive reputation management efforts.