"Online Brand and Reputation Management" - Steve Taraborelli (UDR) - 2009 AIM Conference

This is not about…

Online Brand Protection Monitoring

Who is (mis)using your website content

It’s about…

It’s About Managing Your Online Digital Assets Brand

- Website page copy- Pricing- Graphics- Trademarked logos- Trademarked corporate name(s)

- Ford Division Sales & Marketing- IT Sales & Service- Owner Loyalty- Brand Management - Franchising- Business Management

- Global eBusiness Manager- 35 Countries- Developed W.W. Online Shopping Cart- Internet marketing/SEO/SEM- Patent filed by Sun on SEO invention

- V.P. Sales & Marketing- Website Architecture- Online/Offline Marketing- Lead Stream/Sales Pipeline

“Auto manufacturers spend a lot of time getting the sound of the car door slamming just right.

A satisfying “thunk” is indicative of the whole user experience.”

Your website content is the “thunk.”

Brand Dilution – improper use of logos, trademarks, content, etc.

Diversion of Traffic – paid advertisements using your brand to divert traffic to another site.

SEO Placement – use of brand names in html, hidden text and visible text - purchase of trademark as keyword on search engines PPC

Online Classified Ads – Bogus Craigslist ads that looks like yours but it’s designed to generate clicks into their Google Ad Sense website to generate revenue for them…not you.

What Happens Online With Your Brand

UDR’s Right of First Refusal

UDR, Inc has a “right of first refusal” clause that anILS must seek UDR’s approval to distribute UDR’s content to non-owned ILS websites that would competeagainst UDR’s website content.

UDR doesn’t want to have 3rd party websites cannibalizeour apartment traffic and leads and then at the end of theyear, UDR ends up paying higher ad rates for the privilegeof being cannibalized.

Layman’s Overview

UDR’s Right of First Refusal

Limited License. Owner hereby grants Locator a non-exclusive, limited license to receive, possess, use and disseminate the apartment advertisement and other information of Owner provided by Owner in advertising requests, and for the limited purposes of and inaccordance with this Agreement. Owner retains all right, title, and interest in and to its information, which includes, without limitation, Owner’s intellectual property, trade and service marks, copyrighted materials, photographic materials, property information, Prospect and Lead information, and all other business information and property (collectively “Owner Information”).

Except for advertising on its websites as described hereunder, Locator will not provide, transmit, or disclose any Owner Information, including without limitation Owner’s property, Prospect, and Lead information, to any third party for any purpose whatsoever without Owner’s prior written permission. Locator will take all commercially reasonable actionsnecessary to prevent the theft of Owner’s Information from Locator’s operations, and will cooperate with Owner to prevent and remedy any misappropriation or misuse of Owner’s Information in connection with Locator’s advertising.

The Legalize

Simple phone/email communication

Cease and desist letter – to “stop” doing it

Digital Millennium Copyright Act - shut down website/webpages - fines up to $150,000 for each infraction

Enforcement Actions

Digital Millennium Copyright ActThe Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) Generally, you are infringingcopyright if you download or store copyrighted materials on your computer without the permission of the copyright owner, unless fair use or another exemption under copyright law applies. Source: www.dmca.harvard.edu

Statutory DamagesThe copyright owner may elect, at any time before final judgment is rendered, to recover, instead of actual damages and profits, an awardof statutory damages for all infringements…in a sum of not less than $750or more than $30,000 as the court considers just. In a case where the copyright owner sustains the burden of proving, and the court finds, that infringement was committed willfully, the court in its discretion may increase the award of statutory damages to a sum of not morethan $150,000. Source: Copyright.gov

Why Should You Monitor?

You spend hundreds of thousand of dollars to develop your site content

You spend 5 to 6 figures to advertise your site

You hire people to maintain and manage your site

Your community photography becomes dated

Your prices becomes old

Your community content becomes old

Then somebody/entity steals your content to make money

- wrong prices

- old or wrong photos

- outdated written content

Is this the online image you want?

Then why let other websites steal your content, your image and your brand identity?

You get the headaches andthey get the money

– Hurting your online brand with their actions

- Diverting your brand click to someone else’s

- Good Article on this Subject “Should Ad Networks Pay Publishers For Stolen Content?” source: www.techcrunch.com

http://tinyurl.com/c3k7ru

3rd Party Websites – affiliates/AdSense

Examples

HTML Brand Hijacking - Divert Search Engine Clicks

Corporate Name Trademark Infringement to Divert Clicks

https://services.google.com/inquiry/aw_tmcomplaint

Craigslist Ad to 3rd Party Website for AdSense Clicks

Diluting Your Content, Losing Clicks and Losing Prospects

How to Monitor What Is Going On

Google Alerts

Google.com/alerts

Google.com

Copyscape.com

Tynt.com

Attributor.com

Attributor.com

3rd Party Site – Wrong Prices

3rd Party Site UDR.com

Q&A

A Parting Thought About Social Media

“Social media is like teen sex.Everyone wants to do it.Nobody knows how.When it’s finally done, there issurprise it’s not better.”

Avinash Kaushik – Analytics Evangelist, Google