Managing Reputation OnlineManaging Reputation Online
Presented by Katherine FletcherSenior Partner & Managing Director iStudioSenior Partner & Managing Director, iStudio
February 11, 2009
Agendag
• How Online Conversations Can Affect Your Organization
• Digital Media Demographics• Importance of Online Reputation• Managing an Online Crisis• Steps to a Successful Reputation Management p p g
Campaign
New Rules for Customer Service
• New technologies have further lowered the barriers to publishing• Your customers can post reviews to microblogging services in
seconds with no technical background• Memes can spring up around customer service complaints• Memes can spring up around customer service complaints• Are you listening?• 169 hotels from across the world are listening on Twitterg• 27 multiple property/chains have profiles on Twitter
• For a list of hotels and chains on Twitter:http://webtravelrob.blogspot.com/2009/02/hotels-using-twitter.html
The Importance of Social Mediap
• 58% of all Canadian Internet users visit blogs• Canada ranks #1 out of 8 countries in terms of blog penetration• 6 out of every 10 Canadians in their 30s have visited at least one
social networking site– 83% for 13-1783% for 13 17– 74% for 18-29– 45% of those in their 40s
33% f th i th i 50– 33% of those in their 50s– Overall, over half of all Canadians (53%) have visited social networking
sites
Business Professionals Online
• 65% of business people use social networking sites including MySpace, LinkedIn, Bebo, Yahoo360, and FacebookB i f i l di bl• Business professionals are reading blogs:– 80% of business professionals say they read blogs, 51% reading blogs at
least once weekly– 53% read blogs for business information, 57% for technology topics– 53% of business professionals say the content read in blogs impacts
work-related purchasing decisionsp g– 70% recommend/pass on content from blogs at least once a month
Leisure and Business Travelers: Most Important Destination Information Sources
Business BusinessLeisure Leisure Business 09
Business 08
Internet website40% 18%
Leisure 09
Leisure 08
Website of place you are staying/ 40% 20%
Previous travel experience
17% 16%
you are staying/ general internet
40% 20%
Internet booking Company referral/ preferred suppliers
15% 29%service (Expedia, Hotels.com)
15% 25%
Friends / ppInternet booking service
13% 30%
Friends/ relatives/
/Relatives/ Word of Mouth
11% 36%
Previous travel Friends/ relatives/ word of mouth
5% 17%
n= 539 503
Previous travel experience
10% 22%
n= 1,069 1,008
Leisure and Business: Use of internet
89%
87%90%Look at photos
87%
85%
85%
89%
86%
Get maps/directions
Look for "specials"
A iti i th 85%
73%
70%
85%
76%
Amenities in the room
Take a virtual tour
Consult ratings 70%
68%
52%
75%
70%
55%
Consult ratings
Read testimonials/ …
Read trip advisors31%
18%
55%
31%
22%
Read trip advisors
Consult blogs on …
Comparison shop… 22%Comparison shop …
Leisure and Business: Influence of sites on h t l t l t l tihotel, motel or resort selection
Scale 1-5, 1 no influence, 5 great deal of influence, what kind of influence do these have on your hotel, motel or resort selection?
72%Star ratings on internet
55%
75%
48%Read testimonials/comments by
booking services
12%
55%
11%Travel blogs
testimonials/comments by previous travelers
21%
12%
21%Other
g
21%
The Online LandscapeThe Online Landscape
• Online conversations affect brands Online conversations affect brands, reputation and customer relationships
O li b d b l t th h th – Online, brands belong to those who own the conversation
– Touches all corners of the organization: communications, sales, product, marketing, HR, executive team
Your Online Reputation MattersYour Online Reputation Matters…now more than ever• “Badvocates” have 300 per cent more impact on an
organization’s growth than advocates T t d ti i “b d t ” l d t t f • Two per cent reduction in “badvocates” leads to one per cent of growth– Seven per cent increase in advocates needed for one per cent of growthSeven per cent increase in advocates needed for one per cent of growth
• 50 per cent of all online “badvocacy” or brand bashing is due to frustration at a company not listeningp y g
• Who’s “badvocating” for you?
S D P l M d L d S h l f E i 2008Source: Dr. Paul Marsden, London School of Economics, 2008
The Benefits of Listeningg
• Constant awareness of popular opinion, growing sentiment, p p p , g g ,possible crises– Shapes communication strategies and plans
Can help craft policies for employee use of social media– Can help craft policies for employee use of social media• Familiarity with online influencers – as important as journalists
– Ability to build relationships before a “need” arises• Preparation for proactive outreach to blogs, communities and other
social mediaAbilit to harness the “brand ambassadors” and ad ocates– Ability to harness the “brand ambassadors” and advocates
Online Behaviour: Three Clusters
Source: An Analysis of Aggressive Online Behavior Targets Against Corporations, their Products, Services and Brands. Urs Gasser and John G.Palfrey, May 2007.
Online Aggression: Response Strategiesgg p g
• Prevention– Ongoing monitoring and awareness– Report and analysis to the right levels of the organization
Providing constructive and effective outlets for employee and customer – Providing constructive and effective outlets for employee and customer frustrations
• Early engagement with critics– Identify motives
• Create a response plan for different scenarios– Identify appropriate response channels– Identify appropriate response channels– Pre-approved messaging ready to distribute– Acknowledge the limits of what response can accomplish– Legal action only as a last resort
Online Aggression: Response Strategiesgg p g
• If you take the decision to engage:y g g– Expect a backlash– Expect to be “flamed”
Expect to see every word you write or say scrutinised to the Nth degree– Expect to see every word you write or say scrutinised to the Nth degree– Expect to see constructive dialogue evolve– Expect to see advocates emerge– Expect to continue the dialogue
What Would You Do?What Would You Do?
• A prominent business and pcommunications blogger has a complaint
1 Will your monitoring pick this up?1. Will your monitoring pick this up?2. How do you categorize this as a
threat to your reputation?3 Is the complaint legitimate?3. Is the complaint legitimate?4. Should you engage? And if so,
how?5. What do you do when the y
complaint is amplified and spreads?
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Steps to Successful Social Media OutreachSteps to Successful Social Media Outreach
1. Listen to your audience2. Identify your greatest advocates3. Engage your audienceg g y4. Expand the conversation
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Who’s Talking About Youg
• Find the Conversations– Where do they occur?– Who is participating?
What is the volume?– What is the volume?• Develop list of key words and phrases
– Consider business lines, brands, products, issues, competitors, common complaints, executive names
– Gather insight from key departments such as customer service and HR– Keep Google in mind – what terms would a consumer search for? What will eep Goog e d a e s ou d a co su e sea c o a
they find?
Listening to What’s Being Saidg g
• Ongoing tracking and monitoring begins– Options include both manual and automated tools
Identify who has online influence– Identify who has online influence• Monitoring process is determined by:
– Risk tolerance– How many key terms will we monitor?– Do we have “spammy” terms?– What frequency of reporting is needed?– What frequency of reporting is needed?– Is there additional analysis required?
Learning About What’s Being Saidg g
• Dig deeper into the content– What is the tone?– How are conversations connected?– How does offline activity influence online conversations? How does online
activity influence offline?• Assess influence of conversations
– Overall traffic – Connectedness (inbound links, commenting habits)– Content quality and frequency of updates– Saturation of blogging in a given topicgg g g p– “Offline” blogger credibility
• Learn how to best respond, and refine your approach before leading the conversationleading the conversation
Engaging in the Conversation
• A Social Media Spokesperson would:– Build a targeted list – Aggregate and monitor relevant feeds – Read what the targets write– Establish rapport Establish rapport
• Respond to Blogger queries • Comment on other Blogs
– Pitch with transparency and honesty Pitch with transparency and honesty • Offer access to an experts or official representatives • Offer compelling content – whitepapers, research, surveys, video, photos and
exclusive informationexclusive information
• They would avoid:– Pitching in the traditional sense
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– Posting a news release in a Blog’s comments thread – Over pitching the market
Expanding the Conversationp g
• Focus outreach on neutral and positive bloggers
• Avoid – blogs with extreme POVs– hostile bloggers hostile bloggers – those without influence
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Online Resources
• Compete com (compares site traffic influence reach)Compete.com (compares site traffic, influence, reach)• Digg.com (the pulse of what’s important online)• AdAge.com (relevant marketing stats)g ( g )• Mashable.com (latest news and tools for social media)• Comscore.com (marketing information)• Twitter.com (microblogging platform)• Netvibes.com (RSS aggregator)
G l ( l l t bl h)• Google.com (google alerts; blog search)• YouTube and Flickr (video and photo aggregations sites)
Hi t j t lik th li l d th Hint: just like the online landscape, these are always changing!
Case Study Conclusiony
• With the right outreach a With the right outreach, a “badvocate” was turned into an “advocate”
Questions?
K h i Fl hKatherine FletcherSVP, Senior Partner and Managing Director613-244-4747 (ext. 223)[email protected]