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Online Reputation Management (ORM)

3 Steps to Balance Risk and Reward!

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Rob Thomas – WSI Consultant (UK)

• LinkedIn Search– 97,072 results

• WSI very focused on ORM– 4 of top 10 are

WSI Consultants• Rob’s passion!

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Webinar today• Structure:– Introduction

• What is Online Reputation Management (ORM)• Why is it important

– The 3 Steps to balance Risk & Reward• Monitoring• Analysis• Influencing

– Digital Crisis Management

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Introduction

• Remember the old adage?– Good tell one, bad tell 10!– Online multiply the impact x ‘000s

• The buzz can be good or bad– You can’t control it – But you can influence it

• Successful businesses listen and act!

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What is Online Reputation?

• Sum of what you do, say and what people say about you:– Good = increased customers & sales– Bad = reverse trend and may even go bust!

• Online Reputation Management means:– High ranking good publicity is the goal– Focus search results where ever they are

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Why is ORM Important today?

• When people check you out they find:– Hopefully your website…..– But lots, lots more:• Comparison site information• Social Media comments• Review sites• Discussion groups / blogs

– All this = ORM

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You may have heard on these?R

isk

Reward!

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3 Steps to balance Risk Reward

• Step 1: Monitoring:– Google and Yahoo! Alerts

– Social Mention

– Radian6

– HootSuite

– Technorati

– Addict-O-Matic

– ReputationDefender

– WSI ReachCast

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• Live in North America from 1st Jan 2011

• Due to go live in the UK in early Q2 this year…..

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• Step 2: Analysis– Healthy conversations are both +

and – in origin– Provided you are listening you can

turn both into + ORM– Analyse and strategize:• Immediate appropriate conversations• Strategic change communicated too!

3 Steps to balance Risk Reward

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Balancing Risk & Reward

• I don’t meant to scare you!• If you are ‘proactive’ (rather than reactive):– Then you can reduce the risk– But you should not stop listening– That takes us nicely onto step 3

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3 Steps to balance Risk Reward

• Step 3: Influencing– When the situation is a crisis (more in a minute)

• Traditional PR responses are being challenged by the Digital Age– instant opportunity to improve the brand– delay can only damage

• It is the opinions of customer that count

– Proactive steps can help suppress negativity:• If the ratio of + to – is 10 to 1, then do the math(s)• Take an active part in your industry blogs for instance

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Step 3: Influencing - How

• Select the right social technologies:– Segment your customers first– Then match to the right ones– The most popular ones, Facebook

& Twitter may be a match but check– Your ‘Tone of Voice’ is important– Demonstrate your expertise to enhance your reputation

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Digital Crisis Management

• Digital Crisis Management Plan:– Vital to have plans in place to deal with them– Success is driven by:• Timing• Response &• Sincerity

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Digital Crisis Management

• 5 Development Stages of a Digital Crisis Management:1. Speed2. Hyper-transparency3. Dialogue4. Search5. Brand Enemy

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Digital Crisis Management

• 5 ways to prepare for Digital Crisis Management (DCM):1. Monitor2. Respond Instantly3. Keep a regular tone4. Educate your employees5. Establish a business-wide “Digital Crisis Strategy”

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Summary & Further Resources

• The 3 steps to ORM are:– Monitor– Analyze– Influence

• Don’t be a victim be a winner:– Take control of your ORM

• Download the white paper @– www.getwsipowered.com

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Any questions you think of later?

We’re just about to do the Q & A but first:• http://uk.linkedin.com/in/robthomas• For more information and/or support in implementing

your own Online Reputation Management system – please get back in contact with your local WSI Internet Marketing Consultant who would be pleased to assist you

• http://www.wsimarketing.com/locateimc.aspx

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Q & A

• Any questions left to answer from the webinar?Thank you for attending