The Reactive Approach (Avoid as much as possible.)
Often times search marketers approach an organic search strategy like we would a human maze at the state fair. We enter through the starting gate and follow a path until we run into a dead end. Once we hit a dead end—we stand still for a minute—scratch our heads and attempt to figure out a different path to help us successfully exit. While this reactive approach can work—it’s clunky, it doesn’t always sit right with clients, and it’s not indicative of subject matter expertise.

Our clients (internally and externally), who invest significant time and resources into developing an organic search strategy, expect us to not only follow search engine best practices, but to be ahead of them.

The Proactive Approach (Pick me, pick me!)
While it’s impossible to always be ahead of every search engine change, we can position ourselves in such a way that mitigates their impact to our strategy and clients. Let’s return to the human maze analogy. What if, upon entrance to the maze, we received a map that showed us the way forward? What if search engines gave us a map to help us navigate their maze? Believe it or not, they have.

When I switched careers from Web designer to search engine marketer, I knew nothing about organic search. I thought I did, but in reality I had no clue. To get my feet wet, I read through Google’s Webmaster Guidelines. All these years later, while so much has changed, two of Google’s most important quality guidelines have stayed the same:

1. Make pages primarily for users, not for search engines
2. Avoid tricks intended to improve search engine rankings

I have found that, for the most part, Google only makes changes when it believes change can improve the customer experience. While some may argue how successful Google has been in some of its “improvement” hypotheses, I believe Google’s intent has remained consistent. If search marketers take to heart the notion of building for users and not for search engines, we’ve then essentially adapted a proactive mindset.

What This Means:
In a blog post by Rand Fishkin of SEOMoz, “How Google’s Panda Update Changed SEO Best Practices Forever – Whiteboard Friday,” Rand shares his thoughts on the term SEO becoming obsolete because SEO has evolved into so much more than just traditional organic search. And in order to be successful in search results, we have to adapt the mindset of a web strategist or inbound/performance marketer. This means that we have to evolve past the mental paradigm of SEO and broaden our skill set to include a meaningful understanding of:

• User Experience Design
• Information Architecture
• Creative Concepts
• Creative Copywriting
• A/B and Multivariate Testing
• Accessibility Guidelines
• Web Analytics
• Social Media Integration
• Consumer Linguistics

The bottom line is that Google generates revenue when its search results are high quality and useful to its users. That doesn’t mean just the search result on the search results page is quality and useful, but the entire customer journey is successful as well. If you are building your Web experiences and digital assets with overall quality and utility in mind, then you are already on the right path.

Original blog post on www.conductor.com.

Over the past few years, I’ve heard several pitches from SEO automation companies who swear that their product is the ultimate solution.  And while some are very impressive and provide decent intelligence, there ain’t all that much difference between em’.  I’ve also had the opportunity to use a few of the top SEO automation tools in practice, and while somewhat helpful, I wouldn’t rely on them, on their own, to get me through a client engagement. 

Then came an article on AdAge.com titled “As Growth of Search Marketing Slows, Agencies Change Tack”.  One of the most bothersome statements in the article was,

“Pure search agencies are up against a wider swath of agencies that can buy technology to set up shop. Even some clients are licensing that technology themselves to handle search in-house.”

Anyone can train a monkey to use the various automated SEO software tools out there, but you can’t train them to think critically.  If all you plan on doing is following recommendations from an automated tool, I’ll take you on any day!  As I’ve said and written many times before (as have many others), SEO is both an art and a science.  You can’t automate that!  Think about it, ultimately, if everyone uses the same tools and follows the same cookie cutter recommendations from automated reports, who wins?  I’ll tell you who wins, the brands and agencies that use people like me.  I’m not saying that these automated tools can’t be helpful.  With some of the good tools, you can quickly identify issues like

• Keywords that have significant upward and downward movement
• Meta-data that are too long or don’t contain keywords
• Duplicated meta-data
• Some high-level technical obstacles possibly preventing search engines from accessing your Website or pages
• How competitors are doing in comparison to you and very high-level tactics to help gain ground on them

Using SEO automation tools as a reference is ideal and is smart.  What’s not wise is leaning solely on these tools as the answer to being competitive in organic search.  These tools cannot help you:

• Intimately understand a Website from a search perspective
• Identify usability issues
• Identify areas for information architecture improvements
• Articulate different strategies depending on technology and enterprise constraints
• Thoroughly use social media to boost organic search visibility, performance and CRM
• Develop important relationships with bloggers, writers, publishers and key influencers
• Explain many of the slick SEO strategies your competitors employ
• When you’re meeting with stakeholders who are asking questions that a standard report can’t answer (which is more often the case than not)

Last year, Google changed their algorithm over 500 times and sometimes twice a day.  http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/another-look-under-hood-of-search.html.  As Rand Fishkin stated in one of his great Google Panda posts,

“Virtually everything you do on the Internet with your website can impact SEO today. That is especially true following Panda. The things that they are measuring is not, oh, these sites have better links than these sites. Some of these sites, in fact, have much better links than these sites. Some of these sites have what you and I might regard, as SEOs, as better content, more unique, robust, quality content, and yet, people, quality raters in particular, like them less or the things, the signals that predict that quality raters like those sites less are present in those types of sites.”

One last note about Rand and SEOmoz.  Most of the automated SEO tools out there use SEOmoz data to power their results.  I highly highly recommend using SEOmoz as a solution for automation.  It’s affordable, smart, and in the right hands can provide awesome intelligence.

But I digress… Real SEO is not a commodity as some in the digital space have suggested as of late.  Real SEO is not something that can be replicated by automation.  Real SEO is not just thinking about keywords and meta-data.  Much like doctors studying medicine to help patients… Real SEO is what’s practiced by experts who have dedicated their careers to understand code, content, brands, search engine algorithms and user preference.

One of my math professors in college used to say to us,

“If you’re going to use a calculator, you better be prepared to explain to me how you would solve for the problem without it.  That’s the only way to truly understand mathematics.  If you’re given a word problem, a calculator isn’t going to help unless you truly understand the question.”

In conclusion… use tools… use as many of them as you can afford.  But it’s not wise to think that these tools can replace someone who truly understands search.  The Force without a Jedi Knight is just a BSO… bright shiny object.

Have you ever known someone that’s the “go-to” person when you’ve needed information on a particular subject?  Or how about someone who is so knowledgeable and passionate about a topic that they inspire you to feel the same?

A good friend of mine in Arizona, John, is a car aficionado.  He’s a walking Kelly Blue Book and car encyclopedia.  John loves cars—it’s his passion—and it’s inspiring.  When I first moved to Phoenix, I was a new college graduate, making very little money.  I was stuck driving an old beat-up Toyota Corolla that would have never gotten past the Arizona DMV inspection.  I desperately needed a new car, but I wasn’t making enough money nor had I been working in one place long enough to get financed for a reliable vehicle.  Then I met John.  John is so influential within the auto community, that he was able to make a few phone calls and get me into a brand new Nissan Sentra.  It was the first new car I ever owned.

Over the years, John and I became good friends and we often talked about cars.  I was never a “car guy,” but John turned me into one.  Because of John, I became passionate about sports cars, driving fast, and wanted to be more like him.  As I began to grow in my career and started making better money, I was able to afford nicer things.  And what I wanted more than anything was brand new Ford Mustang convertible.  On a Saturday afternoon, I wandered into a Ford dealership and fell in love with a beautiful black top, red Mustang with tinted windows.  I knew I had to have that car. After a few frustrating hours of going back and forth with the sales guy on the price, I walked out of the showroom, called Johnny and asked for his help.  John said,

Adam, while you’re sitting with the sales guy, call another dealership—tell them what you’re being offered, and I bet you’ll get them both into a bidding war.

So, I did it, and it worked.  I got the car at $5,000 less than the sticker price.  On top of that, I landed gap insurance and was able to extend my 3 year 30,000 mile warranty to a 5 year 100,000 mile warranty for no extra charge.

The reason why I tell this story, is because we can learn a lot about becoming a social influencer from John.  Being a social influencer isn’t about automatic tweets, buying sponsored placements in social networks or gaming algorithms.  In my humble opinion, that’s all hogwash.  To me, being a social influencer means being considered both an online and offline trusted subject matter expert and being someone that people feel comfortable reaching out to.  It’s about being someone like Johnny.

It’s a Gift

I believe that people who are naturally gifted at socializing and networking in real life have the potential to be the most socially influential people on the Web.  Why?  Because they’ve got that “it” factor.  Some people are cut out to be powerful social influencers and others aren’t.  Let me tell you, I’ve sung my share of Van Halen tunes at Karaoke.  Will I ever be a David Lee Roth or Sammy Hagar?  Not a chance.

It’s Not Preachy

Being a social influencer involves the art of communicating your knowledge and passion in a personal way.  We as people don’t like to be talked at or talked to, we don’t like impersonal messages, and we don’t like know-it-alls.  We like to connect with people who we can relate to and make us feel like we’re part of the community.

Give your opinion and share your thoughts, but do it in a way that attracts people.

It’s About Having a Point of View

When I was asked to write for this blog, I was a bit apprehensive.  I said, “I don’t know if it’s wise.  I mean, I’m pretty opinionated and I don’t want to attract any negative attention to MRM from those that would disagree.”  Our General Manager, Mark Singer gave back some great coaching and said:

“Don’t worry about being controversial.  It’s important to have a point of view no matter who does or doesn’t agree with it.”

I’ve adopted that philosophy and have started blogging regularly for MRM, which helped lift my visibility within MRM and the IPG family of agencies.  So, speak your mind and get over your self-doubt.

It’s About Quality Over Quantity

It’s okay to ask people to read your content and to pass it on if it passes the smell test.  But ask politely and try to make it a personal request.  Also, please-please-please don’t beg for PR.  Teddy Roosevelt coined the phrase, “If you build it, they will come”.  I believe that to be the case in becoming a social influencer.  Put your wallets away and save your money on buying perceived equity.  If you’re putting out smart, sexy and engaging content, if you’ve got personality, if you’ve got a point of view, if you stay on point, and you distribute your content correctly, in time you’ll organically generate a following; thus leading you to a high quantity of quality followers without even asking.

It’s About Having a Findable Repository of Content

It’s one thing to tweet, share, comment, and participate in social networks.  It’s another thing to build a library of content that people can refer to when they need information.  In other words, have a place where you can show off your thought leadership.  I highly recommend creating a blog and keeping it up to date.  I also recommend socializing your content through Twitter, Facebook, G+, social communities, etc…

Also, optimize your blog and its content for organic search.  When people look for information, they use search engines so it’s important to be findable.  On top of traditional SEO, integrate social functionality on your site that allows readers to socialize your content throughout the Web.  Finally, show your blog visitors that you’ve got people that read and trust your content.   Throw a Twitter and/or Facebook widget on your site that displays those who are following and/or like you.  If people enjoy reading your content, trust its legitimacy, and it’s easy to share, you’ll find that your work gets distributed to a variety of social places.  This amplification can and will lead to your success as a social influencer.

I recently ran into someone who said, “Hey, I really enjoy reading your blog!”  I said, “You read my blog?”  And she said, “Yes! Of course I do!”  What a great compliment!

It’s Organic

Let’s be real folks… Rome wasn’t built in a day.  It takes time to become a thought leader and social influencer—the question is, is “Do you have the heart to stick it out?”  There are a lot of similarities between social media and organic search (SEO).  One of those similarities is that most of the time, results aren’t instant.  You’ve got to give it time and give your “brand” a chance to build up equity within the community.  Keep focused, keep on rockin’ it and in time, you’ll be influencing others.

It’s About Being Scalable

I’m considered to be an influencer within a pretty amazing network/group of digital professionals.  However, am I a Danny Sullivan or a Pete Cashmore?  As Whitney Houston would say, “Oh hell to the no!”  Will I ever be?  Who knows?  As I said above, it takes time to build up your reputation and prove yourself.

I recommend looking at your reach of influence in scale.  When I started running again, I’d get frustrated by not hitting my goals.  I knew I had to run at least 30 minutes, but at about 18—my head would start saying, “Adam, you’re so tired… just stop now, you’ve ran long enough!”  And I would listen.  Then I started setting smaller goals for myself, like:  run for two minutes and then up the speed +.1.  Then run another two minutes and up the speed +.1.  In a matter of weeks, I was running for 40+ minutes and killing it on the distance.  It’s because I set small achievable goals for myself.

Do the same with growing your social influence.  Set a long-term goal, but make sure you set smaller-achievable goals along the way to help you get there.

It’s About Social Networking

Being promoted by recognized social influencers can help you build credibility within the community you’re looking to influence.  It’s like high school all over again.  In order to be considered popular, you’ve got to hang with the popular crowd.  This doesn’t mean that you should be cliquish.  What it means is that you should spend time focusing on building relationships with those in your industry that have already built up considerable equity.  Once you’ve gained their trust and they can vouch for you—they will.

It’s About Love

You’ve got to love what you’re doing and love talking about it.  If your subject matter is a bore to you—your flame will burn out quickly.  If you love what you do, people will see that and it will catch on.  It’s infectious.

Most social influencers are passionate about what they do.  Sometimes we’re referred to as “nerds” or “geeks”, but it’s a crown we wear proudly.  If you love what you do, then the rest will fall in place!

In Closing

There’s so much more to say about becoming a social influencer, but I think this post is long enough.  Please keep an eye out for more to come!

A few weeks ago, I had an interesting user-experience design meeting with a group of really smart digital folk.  One of my recommendations was to include Google’s +1 and Facebook’s “like” buttons on a client’s newly designed page templates.  To me, this was a no-brainer—why wouldn’t we include them?  I explained how vital social signals are becoming to search engine ranking algorithms and building the social equity of content.

Everyone in the room agreed with the recommendation… that is, everyone except one of our brilliant measurement and analytics guys, Richard Hartstone, who mentioned that both Facebook and Google drop third-party cookies on to a user’s computer when someone uses the “Like” or “+1” buttons.  He then pointed out that the client has a strict policy against third-party cookies being transmitted via their site.

With privacy being such a hot button issue, it may just be a matter of time until legislation makes it much more difficult for marketers to use third-party cookies.  In Europe, Dutch politicians have taken a serious step in that direction.

“The nightmare scenario of an opt-in/opt-out patchwork in Europe seems to be coming to fruition. After the sensible approach from the British government as to how to implement the EU’s ridiculously vague directive, Dutch politicians have decided to throw its growing digital media sector under the “privacy” bus. Yes, Dutch legislators have gone all-in with the directive, implementing a hard opt-in option for all “non-essential” cookie tracking. In a country where many highly-questionable misdemeanours are tolerated by society, it would seem that anonymous third party cookie tracking is seen as too much of a moral affront to privacy-sensitive politicians” http://goo.gl/Ws3MG

Looming questions remain about what this all means for digital marketers, advertisers, and social networks.  Some are:

• Are there other ways for social networks to leverage user-engagement without dropping third-party cookies?
• How will brands fare that do not allow third-party cookies to be dropped from their site?
• Will there be a point at which the major search engines minify the effect of social signals on organic search rankings because laws become too restrictive?

Either way, the complexity of this issue is one of the many reasons I love digital advertising so much!

The combination of technology and social media has made it easier for brands and people to communicate and interact with each other in real-time.  It has given voice to the voiceless.  And it has allowed ordinary people to do extraordinary things.  The social media revolution has led to many new and innovative entrepreneurial endeavors and ways of communicating with each other.

While social communication has given us a way to engage online in a rich way, it has also amplified the reach of the egotistic and cliquish behaviors that we as humans tend to exude in real-life.  This is often evident in brand-to-consumer communication.  Big brands, advertisers, and influential social figures tend to act like divas in their communication styles.  In other words—they behave as though it’s our privilege to talk to them and not the other way around, even though the follower/customer is often the reason for the organization’s success.

• How often have you noticed hundreds if not thousands of responses to a question a brand posted on Facebook, yet the brand hasn’t posted back once?
• How many times have your replies to someone you follow on Twitter gone unrecognized?

In 2010, e-Marketer reported that 36 % of new media users stop following brands due to lack of engagement and communication.

People who follow other people and/or organizations aren’t looking to be talked to or talked over… they’re looking for interaction.  Imagine asking a store clerk for help just to have them look the other way.  Would you continue to give them your business?  What if someone asked a question, and when you answered—there was no response back?  Would you be likely to respond to them again?  How many times would it take until you stopped volunteering feedback and found somewhere else to contribute?

It’s as simple as the concept of a Website contact form.  If you fill out an on-line contact form, once submitted, you typically land on a confirmation page or at least get a confirmation email.  It lets you know that your message has been received and you feel validated.

The bottom line is to ALWAYS consider:

• Where you came from
• What it took to get where you are now
• Where you want to go in the future

And remember—you can’t get there by yourself.

Below are some high-level tips to be more effective and successful in communicating with your social media friends, followers and readers:

• Facebook/Google +
• Don’t post and coast:  Make sure to monitor user feedback and respond where appropriate
• Set expectations:  If you can’t commit to providing feedback in a timely manner, just say so—people appreciate honesty
• Tone:  Choose your tone of communication carefully and understand your audience.  Speak to and not at
• Be randomly consistent:  You know who is actively engaging with you.  While responding to everyone is most likely impossible, it’s important to talk to your base and make them feel valued,  Create a contact calendar and be faithful to it
  
• Twitter
• “Thank you” goes a long way:
• Publicly thank your new followers
• Thank people who re-tweet your content
• Don’t be pompous:
• No one likes a big head, so be humble
• Be gracious:
• If you want your followers to take action, ask nicely and thank them for doing so
•  Be real:
• A personal touch to tweets will get people’s attention
• Blog
• Respond to as many of the comments on your blog posts as possible
• Thank readers who subscribe to your feed
• Let readers know that you value their opinion
• Build relationships with engaged readers

Last but not least—follow the golden rule.  It will take you a long way.

Please visit Adam’s personal site at http://www.adamdince.com

In front of an audience of 2,500, they discussed how technology is transforming creativity – in music, in marketing and in the way we live our lives. Watch video, view pictures and read press about this outstanding event…

WATCH

 

“Almost every interaction from a marketing perspective, between a brand and a consumer is in some way, shape or form, impacted by technology. Technology amplifies creativity and expands what it can mean.”

- Marc Landsberg, CEO, MRM Worldwide

VIEW

READ

The Hero Behind Guitar Hero: A Faulty Circuit
Tod Machover speaks on the Cannes panel about “Guitar Hero” and how he actually credits a faulty electrical gliltch for the inspiration. Machover discusses how the “hyperbow” turned out to be his starting point for “Guitar Hero”.

Will.i.am and Tod Machover: how technology ignites creativity
Popular musicians Will.i.am and Tod Machover discuss their views on how technology is changing music. Both agree on the concepts of finding the next big thing and pushing the tools that already exist to create new dreams.

Technology and its Transformation of Creativity – Cannes Lions 2011
Will.i.am and Tod Machover share the idea that you need to solve your own problems for there to be movement because everything is changing so fast. Machover adds his input about how the newer generation should get their creative ideas away from computers and how technical and creative ideas together are the key to success.

McCann and MRM panel discuss how technology is transforming creativity
Black Eyed Peas singer Will.i.am joined MRM Worldwide’s chief executive Marc Landsberg, composer Tod Machover and Intel’s vice president, creative services Johan Jervoe to discuss how technology is transforming creativity in a discussion hosted by McCann Worldwide’s chief Nick Brien.

Black Eyed Peas Will.i.am: ‘Ad agencies are yesterday’
Black Eyed Peas front man Will.i.am spelt out to adland today how the changing media climate and shifting consumer habits are having a profound and absolute impact on global marketers looking to reach consumers.

McCann Worldgroup & MRM Worldwide “transform” creativity with Will.i.am
On the Cannes Panel, Will.i.am discussed how as technology continues to change the way we live, consume products and services and relate to content and to one another, it is also the biggest driver of innovation in marketing, moving at the speed of light.

Sam Weintraub (Winner of Season 1)
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Alexandra Askot
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Michael Mitzman
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Naari Edinger
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Nobu Wasabayashi
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Will DiMondi
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A Look Back at Season 1

Successful innovation relies on finding and leveraging “The Tipping Point.” The tipping point is that magical place where technology and consumer need collide and create a whole new set of behaviors (or enable old behaviors in a new way). Finding and leveraging the elusive tipping point is not easy, but can create momentum that will propel your company to the top.

The Perfect Wave
Surfers devote their lives to finding and riding a perfect wave. Every summer the surfing community makes their pilgrimage to Puerto Escondido, Mexico, to find and ride the perfect wave. It is no accident that the beaches of this small Mexican village yield massive bone-crushing waves. Factors like ocean dynamics, sandbanks and wind produce these waves. If you find the factors, you find the waves.

Are there consistent factors that make tipping points? If so, and we can identify those factors, we can find (or create) tipping points and ride them to innovation success. There is certainly a lot of instinct and “I know it when I see it” in finding a tipping point, however, I believe that at least one of these three things is usually present in guiding and influencing innovation.

1. Better Technology
Sometimes somebody just makes a better widget. When almost everybody has a widget, and somebody makes a much better one, it takes off and changes everything. The best modern day example is the iPhone®. When Apple® launched the iPhone on June 29, 2007, everything about mobile computing changed. Better technology changed our expectations and, as a result, rewrote the rules for an entire category. The smartphone segment as we know it today was designed by Apple, but now includes Android®, Blackberry®, and Windows® trying to do more than just follow their lead. The new smartphone segment opened the door for innovation for many, but most especially for app developers.

2. Big Consumer Benefit
When an innovation solves a basic human need in a very simple way, a tipping point is created. Amazon® understood Newton’s First Law of Motion. An object at rest remains at rest unless something makes it move. Consumers want convenience, and there are a lot of things that they will buy from their “at rest” state in their own home. Amazon started with the easy stuff like books, and made consumers comfortable with this new “buy online” model for low-consideration, low-risk purchases. Amazon then added value to the equation by making suggestions, while slowly adding in more and more types of items available to buy. Amazon capitalized on a consumer need or desire to create widespread e-commerce. The rest is history.

3.Money and Power
Often there are competing solutions to the same problem. It seems logical that the best technology will win, but often, it’s just not that clear. In the Blu-Ray vs. HD DVD battle, both technologies had a long list of pros and cons, supporters and naysayers. Despite the overwhelming opinion that Blu-Ray was the better technology, the debate roared on for a very long time because both sides had strong backing from powerful players with lots of cash. Once the majority of movie studios and game makers chose Blu-Ray, the war was over. The lesson: even though Blu-Ray was ultimately the superior technology, Sony® would have lost the war without money and the ability to persevere during a long battle.

Making Waves

Tipping point opportunities are not marked with big flashing signs. They are never obvious, and only rarely “found in the wild.” Often, they must be created. It may not be possible to manufacture the perfect wave, but you can make a ripple by throwing a stone in the pool.

Where to start:

Solve someone else’s problem

Napster changed the music industry forever. Consumer need? Yes! People loved sharing music and accessing music digitally (especially getting music for free). But it failed because the people who created the music, and the people who produced the music lost 25% of their revenue. (Oh, and it was illegal!) Enter iTunes. Apple stepped in and solved “the Napster problem.” Hey consumer, here’s your music digitally, and it’s legal. Hey music industry, we’ll pay you! Bingo! Tipping point created.

Be a Band-Aid technology

QR (or Quick Response) codes are taking off. I’m seeing them everywhere, even in the Target toy catalog. Why? Consumers get value from connecting the real world with digital content. Barcodes don’t do enough with the new mobile revolution. Augmented reality and image recognition is not yet ready to trigger experiences with real objects. Mobile phones cannot yet read RFID chips. But, QR codes CAN connect the digital world with the real world. They are a Band-Aid technology for a growing need. Yes, RFID chips or mature image recognition capability will replace them, but they pave the path and celebrate success in the meantime. Again, tipping point created!

Solve a problem that consumers don’t know they have

In 1996, General Motors launched OnStar®. Before OnStar, no one ever imagined that your car could call 911. General Motors looked at vehicle safety in a whole new way. They turned it upside down, and in doing so, found an opportunity to solve a problem that consumers never thought about. No matter how safe the vehicle, accidents happen. When they do, people get hurt. When people get hurt, they need help. What if your car can get you the help you need? Enter OnStar. Tipping point created. The battle for innovation in vehicle telematics rages on today.

Surf’s Up!

To realize innovation you have to do something. Action is required. You cannot surf from the beach!

1. Get in the water. Get on your board. Give it a try. If the perfect wave passes by while you’re watching, you missed your wave. To realize a real success, it usually takes some education, some tools and some effort. Get started.

2. Be prepared to fall. You must fail to learn and to succeed. Innovation success is almost always preceded by many failures.

3. Fall smart and adjust future tries. Don’t just fail; know WHY you failed. This failure may lead to the next success Maybe you went for the wrong wave, maybe the timing was wrong. Learn from every “failure” and apply it to the future.

4. Succeed smarter. Use successes to propel you to your next attempt. Use the adrenaline as fuel. Understand WHY it worked, and try your best to replicate the circumstances the next time.

Then…repeat.

Teresa Nord

Follow My Twitter: @teenord

Why digital reputation is neither about digital nor about reputation, but about brands doing their job.

With the explosion of social media, the concept of digital reputation has become a hot topic for brands and companies, and a whole new market of digital reputation specialists is emerging, from software vendors to specialized consultants and agencies. But what do you do once you’ve invested a few dozen or thousand dollars in such software? Who does the job? Which agencies are most relevant? Is it only a PR issue?

Let’s take a broader view to examine how the way “reputation” is defined can considerably change the perspective on the subject. We’ll then see the real impact the Internet and social media have on brands and companies, and how a brand’s reputation should be managed in a digitally interactive world. Which will naturally lead to the clarification of roles and responsibilities. And the winner is… not the specialized agency.

What is a brand’s reputation about in the first place?

An interesting definition of reputation is given by Bertrand Cesvet in Conversational Capital:

“Your reputation is the result of the relative proximity of three factors to one another, as follows:
• Who you ARE
• Who YOU SAY you are
• Who PEOPLE SAY you are”

Who you are covers the products, services and the specific way a company operates. This dimension is the direct responsibility of the company and of its various departments (marketing, communication, HR, finance, purchasing, etc).

Who you say you are corresponds to the image the company or brand wishes to display to the public. It is both the responsibility of the company and of its communication and PR agencies.

Who people say you are corresponds to the way the company’s stakeholders : (consumers, clients, partners, employees, competition, and shareholders) describe it.

The closer these three dimensions are, the more coherent and continuous the image and reputation of the brand will be. The further apart they are, the bigger the disconnection between reality, the company declarations and its stakeholders’ perceptions.

Managing a brand or a company’s reputation means, therefore, managing all three dimensions. It is not only a communication issue, it is about maintaining coherence and continuity along the way.

What has the Internet and social media changed?

The Internet hasn’t changed the reality of a company or of a brand (what it is).

It has, however, created a disruption in the way its communication is handled, through the convergence of two main factors:

1. Easy access to communication facilities to all through blogs, forums, social media, social bookmarks and viral functionalities.
2. Predominance of search engines and search with keywords, allowing new “associations” to take place by publishing contents from different sources and spheres on the same page (the opinion of a company’s product near a testimony from a former employee, for example).

Before Internet and social media	Today
The brand or company’s voice dominates the market place. Except for major issues, what users say remains confined to limited spheres which are rarely connected.	Stakeholders’ voices can be as « noisy » as the company’s voice, inter-connected and frontierless. They are also more credible.
Building the brand’s image is the responsibility of communication agencies. Managing a brand’s reputation mainly consists of managing crisis situations in a reactive mode, and very often through PR. The company is in “control” mode: negative public opinion is a communication failure that must be punctually corrected.	Managing a brand’s reputation overlaps with managing its image. Information available on the Internet and, thanks to search engines companies, brands can no longer control it. They are required to switch from « control » to « exchange » mode

How can a brand manage its reputation in a digitally interactive world, then?

Managing its reputation means managing all three factors discussed above while integrating digital media specifics.

Who the brand or company is:

Basically speaking, a brand or company that is coherent doesn’t need to « manage » its reputation; it follows naturally. Reputation being the visible part of the iceberg, a problem at this level must particularly draw the company’s attention to internal malfunctioning that must be remedied. The series of suicides in France in companies such as France Telecom/Orange or Renault illustrates this well: Who really thought the problem was communication. It’s obviously much more serious than that!

In that sense the Internet turns an organization’s and company’s processes upside down. It facilitates and even encourages better integration between communication, marketing, sales and client support teams within the same company. It also challenges the traditional set of values in companies by upgrading certain functions that were much less valued in past years – client support and call centers, for example – which are now strategic and can have an instrumental role in a brand’s reputation management (Zappos). This “upgrade” of certain roles cannot take place without considering the company’s organization and value chain globally, if patches are to be avoided. For example, should a strategic service (like client support is becoming) still be outsourced to lower costs?

Who the brand or company says it is:

At this level, the main change is that the brand’s communication is no longer the sole territory of the communication director and his/her partner agencies. It becomes everyone’s responsibility, with two major consequences:

1. Every employee is a potential brand/company ambassador, speaker or critic, training employees about the impact of the Internet and to use it properly becomes a critical management issue.
2. Training managers and leaders is fundamental too, for transparency and accountability are the new rules. Leaders who do not seek to hide problems, but rather address them with honesty, manage difficult situations better than others. Some do it quite cynically and although keeping one’s promises remains the key to success, communication favors obvious transparency.

Who people say the brand or company is:

• Controlling information in an on/off mode (for example, trying to shut down unpleasant rumors or replace them with positive information) is dead. What used to work with media without “history” doesn’t work on the Internet, where everything is traceable irrespective of publication date.
• The Internet forces companies to change their paradigm: When information can no longer disappear, the impetus is to make positive information show up first, which cannot be sustainable in the long term without making a major change in the communication and public relation strategy. It is about building a lasting and two-way relationship with relevant stakeholder communities as opposed to publishing press releases, or letting employees endorse the role of brand ambassadors (such as IBM or Microsoft evangelists). When this is done properly, positive word of mouth in fan communities builds a great brand reputation.

So whose responsibility is it, ultimately?

This inclusive approach to reputation allows for a clarification of roles and responsibilities between brands, vendors and agencies by demystifying the concept and the impact of digital media, which should help brands and agencies avoid some frequent mistakes:

1. Digital reputation is not a grail only Web specialists can reach. Reputation is first and foremost the responsibility of the brand or company, and even more specifically of its leaders. Before becoming a communication problem, it is a management problem. It is a sign that something is malfunctioning, and in that sense, it is the best customer feedback ever (if taken into account). The effect digital media has on reputation is only a symptom of the problem. Calling a social media specialist out of panic will never solve a management issue.
2. Reputation is not a sausage that can be sliced and shared by a dozen agencies and specialists. A sum of discordant sounds will never produce music. A choirmaster is necessary, and must be at a communication direction level reporting directly to the board. Some brands understand this perfectly well, but many others have diluted this responsibility into so many marketing and communication teams that their partner agencies spend most of their time – and budget! – coordinating their efforts. Managing one’s reputation properly may therefore call for an internal reorganization first.
3. It does take time. Because managing a brand’s reputation ultimately means managing the brand’s relationship to its customers and stakeholders, a solid and lasting relationship cannot be a day’s work. The right partners are consequently seasoned professionals, capable of translating a company vision into a brand relationship project while mastering digital media specifics. If your agency’s experience of managing long-term relationships, with communities (journalists being a community, for example) is based on trading gifts rather than content, it is not necessarily a good sign.

In summary, the concept of digital reputation or digital identity must not be the tree that hides the forest, allowing for hazardous experiments with improvised specialists. A brand or company’s reputation is, no more, no less, than its intangible capital, as Bertrand Cesvet analyzes in Conversational Capital. It has the great benefit of re-inviting brand leaders to connect with their clients and to face their stakeholders, and thus their responsibilities. It is up to them to manage their brand or company’s reputation first, and the digital strategy will come naturally. Positive word of mouth generated by an engaged brand community will be the most visible consequence and can be almost effortless when the brand’s work is done properly. The winners will be those who listen and honor their engagements in the real world in which we all live.

Youmna Ovazza

Follow My Twitter: @YoumnaOvazza

Jackie Dodd
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Chase Domergue
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Samantha Weintraub
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