- Twitter to lose its reputation as a free speech platform?
- IIPM worried about Google Suggest, why is it so?
- Reputation Management Tip for 2012: Brands need to tap into social media search!
- Facebook Timeline and Reputation Management
- Apple Siri gender bias or glitch?
- Google+ vs Facebook – its not over yet!
- The Ethics of Self Promotion Through Charitable Causes (A Case Study)
- Google scraps sidewiki – will you miss it?
- Facebook, the trust factor
- BlackBerry Blackout- RIM’s Reputation Takes another Hit
Archive for January 2010
Buying Kindle after a review
January 29, 2010 | 
Author 
Kindle with ye olde books
Despite all the Hoopla over Apple’s iPad, I still want to buy a Kindle because I love reading. It doesn’t have to be a Kindle, there are loads of competitors emerging, but Kindle is both the market leader and gets the most coverage. So off to Amazon and a look through the literature and the hard choice – Kindle 1 or Kindle DX (aka Kindle 2). Of course Kindle 2 is way more expensive than Kindle 1, but it is bigger and preumably better. This being Amazon, it all comes down to the user reviews.
So what’s my decision? Kindle 1! Why? because the most commented and reviewed review gives Kindle 2 only one star. Normally one star reviews are rants and often irrelevant to product quality bit this is lucidly argued and systematic in its criticism of the device and also Amazon’s upgrade systems. 20,000 people have read it and 19000 have found it useful which implies that 19,000 have been put off upgrading their Kindle. The reviewer finishes by stating that he has returned the Kindle 2 to Amazon and will wait for the next upgrade.
Amazon do not seemed to have responded to the complaints in any way which seems extraordinary for Amazon for two reasons. Amazon is founded on excellent, well thought out customer service and this is a new product category where the difference between success and failure is measured sometimes in Nanos. There is a tsunami of ereaders hitting the shelves (shopping carts) this year and with all this choice, small matter a lot.
Amazon need to be careful that one well aimed review does not upset the reputation of Kindle DX and allow competitors like Apple, Barnes & Noble’s Nook and the new Que Reader from Plastic Logic from killing their product’s reputation.
Now if I am right that all these people have decided not to upgrade from Kindle 1 then possibly Amazon may have forgone $900,000 in revenue from people who were planning to buy Kindle 2. That is one painful review!
UK2 Net Job well done
Quite often the net like newspapers is full of negative stories with doom and gloom, as this is what sells papers and in a weird way makes people feel better because they can say, well my life might be tough but at least its not as bad as the folks in the news.
One of my New Years resolution was not only to loose a few pounds but also to talk about positive experiences, like when I receive great customer service. UK2.Net fall into the category yesterday for pushing the extra mile with their customer service. Ryan called from the UK2 server team yesterday saying he wanted to double check that we were not using our old servers before he turned them off. I thought this was great not only because Ryan was incredibly friendly and helpful but because in today’s online world it’s so easy just to make everything automated and exclude staff from ever talking with their customers.
Google is learning this the hard way with the launch of their new phone G1 phone and how you need a customer service (the name kind of gives it away) team readily available if you have consumer customers.
In our travel businesses we have seen a direct correlation of improved success when we phone our customers and the sales we make.
So a big 5 star UK2.net keep up the good work!!!
Posted in Company Reputation, Examples, Reputation Management | 
Tags: g1, google phone, uk2, uk2.net | 
2 Comments »
Jay Leno – Oprah appearance to bounce back!
Leno, reeling from the backlash in popularity after The Tonight Show fiasco has done the one thing PR Gurus all over the world order you to do if you are in a reputation soup – Go on the Oprah Show and tell your side of the sordid tale.
Leno has lots to be worried – his Jay Leno Show is officially ending on Feb 9th due to bad ratings and he is slated to get back into the Tonight Show at 11 pm.
On the other hand, Conan O’ Brien bid adieu in style and even thanked the NBC for the chance of hosting every funny guy’s dream – The Tonight Show!
This was nothing short of tragedy as far as the Leno and Coco are concerned a network goofing up on its scheduling after realising the ratings dropped had done the unthinkable – got two funny guys to probably go bitter. While the wisecracks continue everywhere and the numerous jokes with Leno at the receiving end being portrayed a bully, continues unabated.
O’Brien has not just gained a colossal amount of money to walk away but has also managed to come out of this with a better image and popularity. People tend to take sides with the bullied and now everyone knows who Coco is all over the world.
Leno on the other hand had everything to lose – he was there, his show made millions, people enjoyed him, he was known all over the world and had even agreed to move aside for a successor. Now that the Oprah show appearance is done, let’s wait and watch what he’s going to do to build his reputation back.
In celebrity reputation management terms Leno is going through his worst time added to this he has to go back to the Tonight Show and rebuild all that he was. Good humour though is always handy and let’s hope Leno has enough of that remaining!
As for NBC – the business side of things ain’t everything guys, you need to protect the image of your stars!
Posted in Bad Press, Celebrity Reputation, Examples, Reputation News | Tags: Conan O'Brien, Image, Jay Leno, Oprah, Reputation Management, Show, Tonight Show | 2 Comments »
The Brand and the reputation management how they are connected
Who is talking about you
Companies spend years building a name for themselves or developing a brand or product without really understanding online PR. The brand is your product, reputation management is what and how you deliver your product. A great example of this happened to me lately, I used to drive a Honda and used the local Honda dealer in Perth Scotland. The garage’s customer service was fantastic and they always pushed the extra mile to help, however with our family expanding we had to get a bigger car so decided on a Discovery 3 Land Rover. So we bought from Stratstone, I have to say because we were spending a lot more on the new car and it’s in the luxury end, I expected the customer service to be fantastic like business class over economy in Emirates. Oh how I have been so wrong…
It was not until I was talking to someone else who also had a Land Rover that we started to discuss Stratstone in Perth and how we both avoided using the company. I can’t really fault the car, the Discovery 3 is an incredible drive, everything Jeremy Clarkson said about it is right, however I wont be buying another one if I have to deal with Stratstone, their staff are so miserable when you go into the showroom its unreal. The staff are so unhelpful, where other garages will ask do you need a lift home, these guys never offer it. You feel that they won’t bend over backward and will charge for everything. The next Land Drover dealership is about 1 hours drive away, so for this reason I will not be buying a new Land Drover.
It goes to show how a manufacturer can have the best product in the world but if the people representing and selling your product don’t have the best customer service it can effect your product badly. This can be very dangerous and effect the reputation of the product, look at how Tiger Woods effected the golfing world and how some people stopped buying certain brands because of the association with him.
Monitoring reputation management is a great way to gain feedback from customers and act quickly to any issues or problems that maybe arising. Sometimes if a negative issue is handled correctly it can turn to your favour and show that you are listening to customers and responding accordingly.
We have seen a direct correlation to how fast a company responds to a negative comment and the outcome from a negative thread becoming positive. More often than not companies will react when a negative discussion has gained momentum and started to work its way up the search results by which time the damage is done and very difficult to win the battle.
So don’t wait till it’s to late, get on top of your reputation management, listen and learn it could save and make you a fortune.
Renaming can it help a business reputation
Renaming a company and or brand has both positives and negatives associated with them. The name can make such a massive difference on the net and doing research is critical. Take the stag and hen industry, a bunch of friends are going away for a weekend, sounds harmless? It probably is, but then if that group is a stag weekend or a hen night then this bunch of friends are tagged as a bunch of unruly hooligans. Choosing a distinct name like Gobananas allows the website to be marketed not only to stag and hen groups but also other group activities unlike stagweekends.com which says what it is. Gobananas is also a very generic word so in terms of reputation management it is difficult for negative comments to make their way up the search results because of the competition of the word.
Choosing a generic name is therefore critical if you want to protect your reputation online, but also at the same time can make it more difficult for your website to rank highly for its own name. If you choose for example GQ Marketing instead of Poland Marketing then there is less competition on the search term GQ and you run the risk of negative results ranking highly for your company name.
We have in the past advised a few companies to change their trading name if there is a lot of negative results about them on the net. Sometimes it’s just cheaper and quicker to change a name rather than fight it head on online. But take heed, if their is a lot of negative things being said about your company, you must first address these issues before it happens again. We would also set up a safety net by defending your reputation before negative articles have a chance to make their way up the search results again.
Posted in Examples, Online PR, Reputation Management, Reputation Online | Tags: Gobananas, GQ Marketing, Hen Nights, Stag Do, Stag Weekends | 3 Comments »
DMOZ why does it still get so much weight
It amazes me that Google still gives DMOZ so much weight, it’s free and incredibly difficult to get a website listed on it. Of course DMOZ editor’s responses more often than not is the reason you are not listed is because it did not meet the criteria.
If DMOZ is overrun then the simple solution is to start charging for listings like many other directories.
I’m no rocket scientist, but the questions they ask are not exactly tough. In the good old days, sure you could get sites listed on DMOZ, but either they are over whelmed, badly managed or ran by people who only have self interest.
Here are the questions DMOZ ask to get listed:
- Site URL:
- Title of Site:
- Site Description:
I have tried to add loads of different sites over the years and like many other site owners have given up even trying. I am not interested in listing in DMOZ as a site as it does not generate much traffic. The problem is just how much weight Google gives to this directory, for this reason its the only good reason to get listed.
When I add a site I will look for where my competitor is and then request inclusion there because I know its the correct location, but still…. after 5 years still many of these sites are not included.
So Google should either offer to buy DMOZ and do a better job or drop it from its algorithm, because in my opinion if you don’t know a editor who will accept payment to get your sites listed then you’re not getting in.
Google does not need a directory because it’s search capability is so amazing why bother trying to run a primitive directory like DMOZ. It’s like comparing an Iphone today to an old red telephone box!!!
SEO Advice where should one go for it?
Although we are focused on Reputation Management, much of what we do includes SEO. So I thought I would list some of the sites I use to keep up to date with what’s going on in the industry.
SEOMOZ – This is a fantastic resource if you are serious about search engine optimisation. They very much back up what they say with tests they’ve ran and are developing some great tools.
SEOCHAT – This is one of the first forums I started using 6 years ago, to be honest its good for people starting out but for advanced SEO I find the forums a bit 1 trick pony.
SEOBOOK – Again another fantastic resource in the SEO industry
My favourite SEO Tools I use:
Advanced Link and Rank Manager – By Caphyon – This software is great for watching links and seeing where the competition has links from and new ones they add. Great back link evolution graph to watch how your links and competition grow over time.
WEBCEO – I use this tools for watching website ranking as I find it presents the the best looking report especially for clients.
SEOQUAKE – This is a fantastic tool for quick snapshots of a website SEO
GOOGLE ALERT – This is a great tool for finding out about what people maybe saying about you also good for finding opportunities for link building from related pages.
I’m sure there are loads of other great resources out there but these are some of the ones I use a lot for just SEO.
Reputation Trends
One of the problem with many review sites across the Internet is that the reviews are presented in a timeless zone. Although reviews are dated, it is easy to forget that a critical review is actually two years old rather than last month. As a result changes in quality are difficult to assess without careful analysis of the different reviews and their dates.
One way to solve this would be to introduce reputation trend graphs which show how quality ratings are varying over time. Sure it was bad two years, but all the recent reviews demonstrate that this place/service is much better now. Since most review site collect metrics over time it would be easy to represent them in graphical form. Great for consumers and great for the businesses themselves.
Posted in Company Reputation, Reviews & Quality | Tags: Online Reputation Management, Trending Reputations, TripAdvisor | No Comments »
Barack Obama-Reputation slide may not be so bad…
A year ago people all over the world rode the wave of hope when a man who seemed to want peace, who quoted Gandhi and Mandela was elected the 44th US President. Obama told the world “Yes we can” and a lot of us felt moved to expect something new.
Months later he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and the President had to accept the award a few days after her ordered 30000 troops to Afghanistan. The irony was not lost on the world and now one year down the line a Republican has won the Massachusetts election!
Obama’s Popularity ratings are down, people are disillusioned and somewhere along the line, the audacity of hope – hope of promises being kept has been fading away. Oratory skills aside, Obama suffered most from being anointed the saviour. A Huffington Post article had this to say
According to an analysis by the non-partisan web site Politifact.com, Obama fulfilled only 91 of his 502 campaign promises. They rate 14 promises as “broken” and another 87 as “stalled.”
Guantanamo Bay closing down has been deferred time and again; unemployment’s on the rise and the Republicans have won in a Democratic strong-hold. Be it health care, fighting terror or global warming nothing seemed to have really met the mark anywhere.
From a reputation management point of view – the President could rise up to the occasion now that he is finally out of the ‘messiah persona’ and use this reputation slide to his advantage and work on rebuilding popularity by working on the internal issues and promises.
A year from now, where do you think Obama’s Presidency ratings will be, any thoughts?
Posted in Celebrity Reputation, politicians, Reputation Management, Reputation News | Tags: Barack Obama, one year, Politician, popularity slide, President, Republican win | 5 Comments »
Obama – Pure Genius!
Two days ago, Obama was reeling from the loss of Teddy Kennedy’s Senate seat to a Republican in what has been a staunch Democrat seat since before time; one speech and he is back on track. His proposals on bank reform will be universally popular simply because, just everybody hates Wall Street. Commentators were suggesting that these proposals are no done deal as they have to pass Congress, but it is hard to see any members of that august institution standing up for the banks. Let’s not forget the epithet attached to Goldman Sachs: a vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity.
Two days ago, Obama suggested that he had been too focused on policy and not enough on connecting with voters. Wrong, he was too focused on the wrong policies. Voters have been aching for some substantive reform of financial institutions since they first bailed them out and then watched aghast as they declared massive profits and equally huge bonuses. Talk about making yourself a target! Bank reputation managers have done a woeful job of presenting Wall Street institutions as contrite and capable of self control. As the Economist remarked a few months ago it is not pretty seeing a whole sector committing political suicide.
For Obama, mired in Healthcare reform which has become increasingly partisan and confusing, resolving financial services reform is both long hanging fruit and popular with the electorate. Here is something that everybody agrees needs to be done. It could be argued that the administration’s failure to act on financial services was the problem all along. Voters felt that banks had not felt the pain like the rest of country and it even looked as though Obama and his “wonk” regime wasn’t going to do anything about it. Timothy Geithner hardly came across as compelling.
The challenge for Obama is whether he can really push this through. His mandate was change and yet that change has become bogged down in increasingly partisan squabbles. Can he build cross-party support for his plans. Using Paul Volcker was a clever touch: he clearly knows his finance, he has been a stern critic of policy and Wall Street and yet he is no liberal softy. Here is the man who solves the inflation problem in the 1980s.
Obama has chosen his battleground well: now he just needs victory.