ONLINE REPUTATION MANAGEMENT AND BRANDING

Sir Eric Seyram A @SirEricSeyramA www.facebook.com/sirericseyram gh.linkedin.com/in/sirericseyrama/

Sir Eric Seyram A

About Sir Eric Seyram A.• Founder & C.E.O Aimers Africa Ltd.

Stardom Africa Ltd• MCIM, MBA • Branding, Corporate

Reputation Management And Public Relations Consultant.

• Social Entrepreneur. • Human Capital

Development Facilitator.

• Personal branding Advocate & C0ach.

Presentation 0verview • The concept of ORM and branding.• Why the need to manage online reputation?• Who cares about your online reputation?• How can a negative online reputation affect

you?• How do you assess your online reputation?• Ways to Build Your Reputation• How to undertake Online Reputation

Monitoring• Prevent Reputation Problems• ORM Strategy development • Software recommendations• Search Engine Optimization• Social Media integration• Content Creation

Personal Believe.The world is and has always been about

POWER and how you use it.

Every one loves to be powerful.

Your power determines your Control and Positioning.

There is a power struggle every where. Days of Adam and Eve, Satan examines Jesus,

your Home, workplace, industry, church, community, school, friends.

Don’t blame the politician.(Egypt)

48 Laws Of Power By Robert Green.

• Law 5. So Much Depends On Reputation- Guard It With Your Life.

“Reputation is the cornerstone of power. Through reputation alone, you can intimidate and win; Once it slips,

however, you are vulnerable, and will be attacked on all sides. Make your

reputation unassailable. Always be alert to potential attacks and thwart them

before they happen. Meanwhile, learn to destroy your enemies by opening holes in

their own reputation. Then stand aside and let public opinion hang them.”

Law 6: Court Attention At All Cost.

Everything is judged by its appearance; what is unseen counts for nothing.

Never let yourself get lost in the crowd, then, or buried in oblivion. Stand out.

Be conspicuous, at all cost. Make yourself a magnet of attention by

appearing larger, more colorful than the bland and timid masses.

Rational for online reputation management and branding

Statistics show that, when it comes time to spend money, consumers prefer to do business with a brand they not only know, but trust. That means the average person is

perfectly willing to do his or her due diligence, researching different companies and finding the one

they believe to be the most credible and authoritative in the industry. The best way to grow your business is to

establish yourself as the industry leader, edging out your competition and attracting the right kind of clientele.

This is done through brand enhancement, which leverages the power of online marketing to ensure that

when a consumer conducts a Web search for your company’s name, they find a brand they immediately

feel they can trust. Brand.com

For Personal Brands.A favorable online representation is imperative for

career advancement or personal prestige.In today’s world, Internet search engines and social

media sites serve as the primary avenues for gleaning information—and individuals can rest assured that

their names will be investigated by current and potential employers, business partners, and clients.

As such, it has never been more critical for individuals to position themselves as industry experts

and authorities. Critical though this may be, establishing high levels of personal and professional

prestige is exceedingly difficult, requiring an intimate knowledge of search engine algorithms, access to authoritative news syndicates, and the ability to

create huge volumes of doctoral-level content. Brand.com

CORPORATE REPUTATION

04/12/23

NEGATIVE

POSITIVE

YOUR REPUTATION

04/12/23

ooh Its

all…..

…….gone

wrong!!!

CORPORATE REPUTATION

04/12/23

…..Ooh that’s a wow company!!!!

REPUTATION AND MONEY

This is a Corporate World Reality ‘Reputation is more valuable than

money’ Is money the sole motivator in the

workplace? Note: There is both the corporate and individual

perspective for HR to debate

Reputation Money

04/12/23

REPUTATION AND BRAND

04/12/23

Reputation

Winning Corporate Formula

Brands have a number of strategic functionsEvery company has a reputation. Everyone you meet will form an opinion about your company, even if they have not done business with you yet. The challenge is to manage your reputation so that the opinion that people have of you is positive. This is what creates a brand.Branding enables you to:•Create a unique identity • Differentiate yourself from your competition•Position your focused message in the hearts and minds of your target customers•Persist and be consistent in your marketing efforts•Customize your services to reflect your personal brand•Deliver your message clearly and quickly•Project credibility•Strike an emotional chord•Create strong user loyalty

04/12/23

The new customer • Computer and internet savvy. (High levels of

internet penetration * (Mobile Phones/tablets and social media)

• Price sensitive (high bargaining Power)• Can see through marketing, sales promotion and

advertising gimmicks.• Highly selective because there’s lots of choice.• Mostly ABCD/zigzag/ SOFT CORE customers.• They buy brand value and addons rather than core

products.• Wants convenience and accessibility.• Requires a high level of care and unique

relationship.• Customer purchase decision making process is

becoming simpler and shorter.

What the think-tanks say....“Brands are about behavior. Get it

right and the customer will love you, at

least for a short time. Get it wrong and

don’t expect to see them again”

Professor Collin Gilligan

(Marketing Expert)

04/12/23

.... and more

“ Ensuring that business and brand walk hand in hand is all about doing what you say you’re going to do”

Venetia Howes - Shell

04/12/23

04/12/23

04/12/23

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR REPUTATION

65%

14% 12%

2% 1% 1% 0% 0% 1% 3%

CEO Board CorporateComm/PR/PublicAffairs

OtherSeniorMgmt

Legal CFO Marketing HumanResources

Other NA

04/12/23

CORPORATE REPUTATION TRIGGERS

UnforeseenRelatively unmanageableUnder performance DestabilizationFinancial difficulties Leadership change Fall in share priceRecruiting the right people (Attitude Vs Skills)

(The slow, foreseeable and manageable is becoming a norm. The sudden developments above is the danger.

04/12/23

REPUTATION IS ”EVERYTHING”

04/12/23

REPUTATION WARFARE

“ The odds are that a small-scale antagonist will target your business and pose a serious threat”.

By Leslie Gaines-Ross: ‘Reputation Warfare’ Harvard Business Review

04/12/23

FLEET OF B-52 BOMBERS

04/12/23

WHAT IS HAPPENING TO REPUTATION?

Managing corporate reputation has moved to a higher level playing field

Fighting reputation snipers is becoming a norm

Today companies have CHIEF REPUTATION strategist

Companies now operate in landscape rife with new threats in their reputation (e.g. potent new-media and social network arsenal: blogs, tweets, text messages, on-line petitions, face book protest sites, and digital video )

04/12/23

When there is bad news no one fails to hear the story

Restoring faith in the brand (The case of BP – Exploring of Deep water Horizon drilling platform

- The rules of engagement have changed for critics do no longer need the resources of an institution

- The internet has leveled the playing field between large corporate and individual activists

- Although some antagonist are truthful, not all of them are

04/12/23

Why do you need an online reputation?

If you don’t control your brand online, someone else will.

Consider recent advancements on the major search engines in:Universal search

http://searchengineland.com/google-20-google-universal-search-11232Personalized search

http://searchengineland.com/google-ramps-up-personalized-search-10430Enhanced search results

http://developer.yahoo.com/searchmonkey/smguide/sm_overview.htmlRich snippets

http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2009/05/introducing-rich-snippets.html

04/12/23

So

There are more opportunities than ever before to quickly rank negative or slanderous results.

If you don’t protect yourself, someone can easily post a comment, make a video, create a

blogpost, file a complaint, promote your competition, develop a hate site and more. Or even worse , an angry employee will leave the company with revenge on their mind and reek

havoc

Managing your online reputation isn’t shameless promotion, it’s a means of defense and

best practice04/12/23

Attackers are probably not levelheaded – those who take on large companies single-handedly are almost always highly emotional, if not irrational

Today anyone armed with a $100 digital camera and connection to internet is a potential sniper.

04/12/23

... even the experts know it “The battle over reputation does not

always favor the parties with the deepest resources. On the contrary, it tends to saddle them with greater obligations. The world’s Goliath’s are generally viewed as being in a better position than its David’s to behave reasonably, justly and humanly, even when acting in self-defense”

Leslie Gaines-Ross ‘Harvard Business Review’

04/12/23

Who cares about your online reputation?

Your online reputation can be seen in a number of ways. Whether you’re seeking employment, selling a product, looking for an investor or trying to score a date, someone is going to turn to a search engine to learn more about you. The most common groups are:√ Consumers√ Business partners√ Stock holders√ Marketers√ Journalists√ Prospective employers√ Co-workers√ Personal contacts

How can a negative online reputation affect you?

• The results of a negative online reputation may be as subtle as a user clicking on a competitor’s search result instead of yours

• Or as damaging as an industry-wide boycott of your products and/or services.

• Besides the obvious financial implications of having a company’s credibility called into question, there are potential legal ramifications that could dominate your time and cripple your financial sustainability, as well.

• This will often cement trusted news and legal results in the top search rankings so that even if a case is dismissed or resolved, you’ll be living with the consequences for years to come.

• Things like, determining who is responsible for the negative reputation, if you’ll have to reposition or remove certain employees or dealing with potential losses in workforce, add further monetary, morale and growth consequences.

HOW TO MANAGE REPUTATION Avoid disproportionate show of force

Don’t let bureaucracy get in the way. Respond at high speed – the opportunity could be lost

Empower your team to help tell your company’s side of the story ‘meet message with counter message’. Employees who share their company’s vision and values are its natural allies and most believable voices

04/12/23

Make new media your friend – unfortunately new media are often treated as a threat rather than as asset

Find sympathetic third parties to serve as “force multipliers”

Stockpile credentials now for use in battles ahead

04/12/23

How do you assess your online reputation?

Most users won’t look past the first page or two of search results, so you only need to look at a couple of pages for each keyword on the major search engines. Start with simple searches onGoogle, Yahoo and MSN for all that apply:√ Your Name√ Company√ Brand(s)√ Product(s)√ High profile employees√ Handles/usernames

How do you decide whether you need to build or fix your online reputation?

UNDERTAKE ONLINE REPUTATION AUDIT/ASSESSMENT

Use a simple spreadsheet or list to determine whether you need to manage your online reputation.

And then what?The Potential Problem

If you find that you have a number of search results ranking for your name/company that aren’tabout you (especially in the top 10), you will need to start building your reputation. Even though there isn’t an obvious problem, you still need to worry. If you haven’t actively grown your search results, then it’s much easier for something to creep to the top when someone does have a problem with your company or personal brand. By not being proactive about creating your online reputation, you leave yourself vulnerable for someone to do it for you.

The Not-So-Obvious ProblemIf there are a number of search results that are about you, but they’re indifferent, you still need to focus on growing your online reputation. Why?

When consumers, shareholders, employers, the media, etc. are seeking information about you, you want them to find relevant and positive results. If the search results are crowded with indifferent Web sites detailing competitive research and

company profiles, the user isn’t findingsomething that immediately wins them over. It’s to be expected that you’ll have a Wikipedia entry if you’re a big business, or a directory listing, but if

that’s the majority of your search presence, how is the information gatherer supposed to build a

positive impression of you?They’ve simply recognized that there’s nothing

glaringly wrong.

The Obvious ProblemIf someone reports your company to a consumer watch group, a competitor follows you around leaving negative comments or an angered customer

devotes hours to publicly hating you, then it’s pretty obvious you have an

online reputation management problem. Is that negatively impacting the search results though? If you find

a number of, or even one, negative search result, you need to fix it.

The most common reputation management problems come from

(ordered by least to most severe)√ Squatted usernames√ Squatted domains

√ Doppelgangers√ Job changes

√ Name changes√ Negative comments√ False information

√ Fake profiles√ Trademark infringement

√ Bad news coverage√ Legal documents√ Complaint sites

√ Competitor attacks√ Hate sites

√ Personal scandals√ Corporate scandals

√ Industry perceptions

What should you do about those problems?

Seek professional online reputation management

services if you don’t already have someone that can

effectively fix the situation.

The branding and online reputation management process.

1.Discover:

The first thing you need to do is to figure out who you are, what you want to do in life, while focusing on your strengths, passions and goals. After that, you should create a development plan that aligns your short-term and long-term goals.

2. Create: There are traditional and non-traditional ways to create your personal brand. The traditional ways include a business card, professional portfolio, resume, cover letter and references document. The non-traditional ways include, a video resume, LinkedIn profile, blog, Twitter and your existence on the various other social networks. While you create your brand, ensure that the content, including pictures and text, are concise, compelling and consistent with how you want to represent yourself.

3. CommunicateAfter you’ve created your brand, it is only natural (and human instinct) that you want people to see what you’ve done. Depending on your audience (hiring manager, teacher, clients), you may want to tweek your materials accordingly. To properly communicate your brand, through self-promotion, you need to have your story down pat and find the right sources that would be interested in what you have to say. I would recommend promoting others before you promote yourself as well. Communication consists of guest posting on blogs, writing articles for magazines, becoming your own personal PR person (pitch to the media), attending networking events and speaking.

4. MaintainAs you grow, the brand people see has to grow at the same time. For every new job, award, press article, and client victory (to name a few), everything you have created has to reflect that. The reason is simple:You want to use what you did in the past to get what you want in the future.Also, as you become more popular, your reputation will be knocked around and tossed throughout the web, from blog post, to tweet, to video, and more. You’ll want to keep a close eye on where your name is.

Build Your ReputationProtect Your NameThe first step to building your online reputation is to register your username. Purchase all relevant domains and TLDs. If you haven’t yet, also register your username with these five essential social networks√ Facebook√ MySpace√ LinkedIn√ Twitter√ Naymz

Set Privacy Settings

Online Reputation MonitoringTools to Track Your Online Reputation•Feed Readerservice like Google Reader: http://www.google.com/reader/•Google Alertshttp://www.google.com/alerts•Yahoo Alertshttp://alerts.yahoo.com/•Twitter Searchhttp://search.twitter.com/•Technoratihttp://technorati.com/search/•BackTypehttp://www.backtype.com/•Social Mentionhttp://socialmention.com/•BoardReaderhttp://boardreader.com/•Q&A Trackinghttp://answers.yahoo.com/•Trackurhttp://www.trackur.com/

Get InvolvedNow that you’ve secured your username, set up your profiles and created ways to track yourkeywords, you have to dive into the conversation. What’s being said about you? If there isn’tmuch, it’s time to get involved. Besides building your credibility, Build your professional and personal networks. Find your coworkers, friends, clients andbusiness partners, then befriend them. Get involved in their conversations, answers questions,keep them informed of your life or business, etc.

Do this on√ Professional sites like LinkedIn, Naymz and Plaxo√ Personal sites like Facebook, Twitter and MySpace√ School-related sites like Classmates and Reunion√ Corporate sites like BusinessWeek, Crunchbase and FastCompany√ Review sites like Yelp and Amazon√ Media sites like Flickr, YouTube or Vimeo√ Resume sites like Emurse, Resume Social and Rezume√ Bookmarking sites like StumbleUpon, Reddit, Digg or Mixx√ Popular industry blogs√ Industry-specific social networks, forums and groups√ Local social networks, forums and groups√ Special interest or lifestyle social networks, forums and groups

Position yourself as an authority in your space.

When you become an authority, the communityis more likely to link to

you, send business opportunities, refer you

to the media, etc.

Here are several ways to grow your authority

√ Start a group, organization, MeetUp or TweetUp√ Participate in Q&A sites like Yahoo Answers or ChaCha.com√ Optimize your corporate profile on the company site (if applicable)√ Create a personal Web site√ List your business in relevant local listings√ Make videos√ Make podcasts√ Create a personal blog or Tumblr√ List your blog in relevant blog directories√ Write guest posts on popular industry blogs√ Conduct interviews with industry leaders on your blog√ Get interviewed on other’s blogs or podcasts on sites like Odeo√ Speak at industry events and/or conferences√ Get quoted in local, regional and national news√ Donate to charity√ Sponsor an event or conference√ Receive nominations and awards√ Promote news-worthy information through press releases

Prevent Reputation Problems

As you grow your presence online, you’ll find that there is more to keep track of. This isn’t abad thing, but you do need to monitor and manage it to prevent potential problems. You can do this by using different social media management tools, being accessible to your customers/clients, responding to customer service inquiries, owning your negatives, building credibility and responding to criticism.

Social Media ManagementUse tools like

http://hootsuite.com/ to manage multiple Twitter accounts.√ Use http://ping.fm/ to distribute tweets to multiple social profiles at once.√ Use http://disqus.com/ to track your comment threads.√ Use http://www.atomkeep.com/ to update multiple profiles at once.√ And, keep an eye out for Social Stream to aggregate multiple social accounts:http://hcii.cmu.edu/M-HCI/2006/SocialstreamProject/index.php

Be AccessibleMost reputation problems start because the user isn’t able to effectively communicate with the business or individual. Then, in frustration, they turn to “simpler” channels like Twitter, blogs orcomplaint sites. To help combat this, display accurate contact information on and off-site. If you can’t respond within 24 hours, tell users that you will get to them within a specific time frame.Provide multiple forms of contact information. Some users will not want to contact you throughemail or the telephone. Make both options available to them.

Invest in Customer Service

If you don’t have the budget for a costly contact management system /CRM or call center, Build aWeb-based customer service portal on site. Use tools like http://www.suggestionbox.com/ orhttp://www.suggestionbox.com/ orhttp://getsatisfaction.com/ to help http://getsatisfaction.com/ to help you you do this.

Own Your NegativesWhy would you ever purchase the domain [companyname]sucks.com? Because if a user is searching for an alternative to your brand or looking to express frustration, wouldn’t you like a chance to win them over? By ranking for your negatives, you give your company one last chance to convince a user why they should stay with your service or give your product another try. You should also purchase negative domains so that others can’t make a simple hate site and rank on domain relevance.

Another important way to own your negatives

Create a Frequently Asked Question orCustomer service area on your site that asks questions with those phrases in the text like “What are some alternatives to [product name]?” Then give them a different version of your product or services or send them to a friendly partner’s site.

Build CredibilityDo you have client or customer testimonials? If you don’t already have those testimonials, make an effort to collect them in the future. Then, post those testimonials on the site. You can also track positive mentions on sites like Twitter or LinkedIn and add those to your site. Give customers the ability to add product reviews. In short, engage your community to give them recognition for finding you and build your credibility to prospective users in the process.If you belong to industry-specific associations or groups, establish trust by displaying those logos on your site. Do the same with quality rating services.And, give your users a guarantee (that you can keep), so they feel more secure with their decision.

Respond to CriticismOnce you start monitoring your online reputation and you discover there are negative comments being made,

How Should You Respond? If someone is genuinely upset, contact them and try to resolve the issue. Don’t get defensive, just apologize and give them something comparable to the situation whether it’s a promise that they’ll be treated differently in the future, a refund or free products/services. If the user appears to be a troll, a response may not be the best solution, learn how to respond to negative reviewsCONTACT ME.

04/12/23

Some 10 online branding Don’ts.

In the world of online reputation management and branding, I come across lots of mistakes that people commit. And I think at this point I

should share with you some of those mistakes and how you can avoid them

in the bid to create a unique brand and a strong believable image online.

1. Don’t be fake. Be Genuine.

A lot of people think branding is about creating an image for the

world, where as in fact, branding is about authenticity.

So know who you are, what you believe in, what your values and

unique selling prepositions are and use that as a bases for creating your

brand architecture.

2. Don’t be wishy – washy. Take a stand.

Strong brands are not all things to all people. They

are willing to take a stand and that helps them to stand out.

3. Don’t act before thinking

I see lots of people communicating, they’re thinking

branding is all about visibility, they are saying oh lets get as many messages out there as we can possibly do. That’s gona work

against you. Have a plan. Know what’s good for you and your

target audience before getting your communications out there.

4. Don’t go for quantity over quality

There are lots of people out there giving you branding advice and they’re telling

you, oh get out lots of videos on youtube, pictures, articles for your blog and other

promotional materials. That’s not what you wana do. You have to use the right

resources in building something of quality that when people see it they can believe in you and your brand value. Other wise you

are distracting from your brand value rather than adding to it.

5. Avoid the quest for fame. Choose to be selectively famous.

Branding is not about every body knowing you. Its about getting the

exact people in your target audience, knowing who you are and what your

unique promises and values are. Focus all your messages and your

communication on those people who need to know you thereby creating a

return on investment for you.

6.Don’t run out of steam in the branding process. Slow and study

wins the race.I know a lot of people that climbed on social media platforms made lots of contacts, left it and went on to other networks and then bored with that and went on another network. You

have to use a slow, steadily, methodical and consistent approach

in building your brand.

7.Don’t forget real world relationships.

Branding is not just a web 2.0 activity. You wana make sure you building a

brand in a real and virtual world and you wana take your real world

activities you are doing and translate them into the virtual world. Building a

brand on the web is not gona be as effective.

8. Don’t go it alone.

Bring in the right people and resources: Personal branding strategist, resume writers, video producers and others applicable. You wana have the best

people around you and behind you. So that what you are building is of high quality using different people with

different perspectives and expertise helping you to build your brand in the

best possible way.

9. Don’t make it all about you.

Branding is about giving. Its about creating value for your network. Its about building credibility by sharing your knowledge and expertise and what you have with others. Its not

about big promotions and taking from others. Its really about giving.

10.Don’t forget to measure.

A Lot of people go out there with a branding plan and they are saying oh

this is great and they continue working on it

without seeing if its working. Is it helping you to meet your goals?

Is it getting you to the nest level? Are the right people knowing you?

It is important to measureKnow your ROI./ROCE.

AVOID THIS BRANDING MISTAKES TODAY AND YOU WILL CERTAINLY

BE ON THE WAY TO BUILDING A UNIQUE

SELLING REPUTATION AND BRAND…..

CONCLUSION

Rethink your reputation management and acknowledge that you have considerable less control over your corporate messages than you had just a few years ago

Be prepared to deal with unknowns that can turn your company’s name to mud overnight

- Perhaps no company will ever decisively ‘win’ its reputation war; the battle is ongoing. But by changing your mind-set, adopting new tools, and taking the principles of reputation warfare to heart, you can protect your business from the worst of the snipers’ attacks.

04/12/23

04/12/23

Email: consulting@sirericseyram.com

Whatsapp or Call 0234417177/ 0243062198

04/12/23