- Appco Group Services
- Reputation management for Hotels – ‘Home away from Home’
- Reputation Management Online Through Right Response!
- Kingfisher Airlines gullibility banking on SBI
- Pfizer pill recall – botched up reputation in wrong pack
- 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?
Examples
Google Query Suggestions – Google Suggests Scam
January 14, 2010 | 
Author Recently we have been contacted by companies being hit hard by Google Query Suggestions. If you are not sure what these are, when you start typing words into Google, it will come back with suggestions as you type. See example below:
So sounds harmless enough? I am sure it was intended to be, if you check out Google’s Query Suggestion page
Why it’s helpful
- Rest your fingers.
Need to do a big search on a tiny keyboard? Suggestions come in real-time, so typing [ great w ] and clicking ‘great wall of china’ is faster and easier than typing it out. - Catch a mistake.
Did you mean: Melbourne Australia? Start searching for [ melborn ], say, and Google Suggest will offer more common spellings for what you might be trying to find. - Skip a page; save some time.
If Google detects that a specific site is relevant to the search you’re typing, we’ll provide a link straight to it, so you don’t have to wait for the search results page. If a link is to a site in our adversiter network, it’ll appear in a colored box labeled ‘Sponsored Link.’ - Repeat a favourite search.
If you’re signed in to your Google Account and have Web History enabled, we may show some suggestions based on searches you’ve done in the past. You can tell a suggestion is from your history if it has a Remove link next to it.
Splitting the atom, scientists at first looked at this as a way to generate power efficiently, of course it didn’t take long for some people to look at how they can use it for weapons of mass destruction. Guess what? Some people are now looking at query suggestions as a weapon of mass destruction to a company’s reputation.
So how can this very innocent feature that google introduced become a company killer? The search query is set off when when people start searching for specific keyword terms, so for example people searching for Olympics will start adding specific years. Google picks up on this and starts to offer it as suggestions.
If you have a large number of customers and some of them have had a bad experience, then they may start looking for a way to complain and start searching terms like “Your Company Name + Complaints”, enough people start doing it and it can soon become a Google suggested query. Even worse is someone could add a few negative comments about your company in a forum and before you know it not only is Google now making negative suggestions but also the negative forums are now showing up for your company name or brand quite often above your own site. Look what happened to Tiger Woods in a very short time.
So it won’t take long for unscrupulous competitors to catching on to this and start seeding such search quires. Once it takes hold it will be very difficult and costly to fix in both time and effort.
Another issues that can cause you problems is your business model, if you ask for money upfront people are incredibly suspicious. We have had several companies approach us about this exact problem, a potential customer will type search terms like “Company Name + Scam” or “Company Name + Hoax” again it does not take many of the same searches to trigger Google’s suggested query and now you have a massive online reputation problem. Follow this up with a few negative comments in a forum or a site like scam.com and it could cost you your business.
Make sure you are on top of you customer complaints procedure before issues get out of hand. If you product is not up to scratch don’t be surprised if it does not take long for Google to pick up on this. We have managed to help companies reputation online by introducing certain procedures to reduce and water down the impact once negative suggested queries started to effect their business.
Taking a proactive approach will help defend your company name, brands and reputation online, make sure you listen to customers and remember to show that you have. A journalist cannot follow a story if you have shown you heard the problems and are addressing them. If you bury your head in the sand then it will be a very costly exercise.
Posted in Examples, Reputation Management, Reputation Online | 
Tags: company name, complaints, Google, hoax, query suggestions, scam, suggested search, Tiger Woods | 
3 Comments »
Scotia Bank Jamaica Bill Clark
It was must have been a total shock for a man well-known in Jamaican banking circles for great fiduciary care and strict management style, to discover that he had a FaceBook account which he had absolutely no knowledge of.
Already in a real battle-royal with the Bank of Nova Scotia headquartered in Canada regarding the finer points of his retirement package, William “Bill” Clarke former managing director in Jamaica probably never believed that after more than 30 years of sterling service he would be caught up in legal struggles.
So far, he has scored real big discovering a fake Facebook page allegedly created by members of the bank’s Information Technology department in Jamaica. Complete with false statements made to seem coming from the proverbial mouth of the former BNS executive, Clarke made contact with the popular social network’s management and by US court order found out the masterminds responsible for the criminal offence.
Now that is what I would call a real trump card from Mr. Clarke in showing that staff members must remain ethical, honest, and respectful of management (even former) to protect two reputations: that the bank’s and their own personal accountability.
Sherina Garcia (Creative Infusion Network)
Posted in Examples, Reputation News | Tags: BILL CLARKE, bogus profiles, facebook, JAMAICA, SCOTIA BANK, Social Network Sites | 1 Comment »
Reputation Management Law & Right To Forget Law?
If you’re professional a doctor or a lawyer you’re probably wary of sites like RateMDs.com or LawyerRatingz.com, a bad review or comment there could make all the difference in your professional life. Reputation is all that matters to a doctor or lawyer their whole life, education and training all ride on this one factor through out their active years.
Good feedback from clients/patients on rating sites can double your value as a professional, you could be thinking of new offices and clinics with referrals from such sites. Much like hotel reviews on TripAdvisor can make or break your hotel’s reputation. So what can you do if you have been maliciously slandered by someone out for a personal vendetta? Is there a way out?
When we read reviews online we tend to believe the person with a label similar to our own. For example: a review poster’s bio may be simply read – “50 year old man with arthritis” or “a mother of two toddlers” and the reader immediately connects with them. What follows in the review can make or break the reputation of the doctor being rated.
If all reputation management tricks fail to remove negative comments and reviews – law is the only way ahead. We could soon be having Reputation Management Law, wherein you could get the real identity of the poster revealed. You could actually find out if the malicious poster was actually your client or patient!!!
If you’re thinking ..”no way is this happening”, let me tell you that this has happened already – Lawiscool.com has reported exactly this …
The case of Dr. Mohamed Foda of Leduc, Alberta, who forced RateMDs to provide information about a negative poster through the California Northern District Court in Foda et al v. RateMDs, Inc.
Administrator of RateMDs, John Swapceinski, says that the site gets letters from lawyers once a month. Not surprisingly, they do not comply with the requests. The site does serve an important public function for consumers of healthcare. But Swapceinski also said that Dr. Foda’s suit is the first time a lawyer has actually followed through and sued the site, and he indicated he would cooperate with a subpoena to release the information if one was provided.”
Here at Reputation Management For.com we welcome any such legislation and this could very well lead to a whole new branch in corporate reputation management. We are all for justice and this is reputation management at its most effective.
A grey area here could be the right to privacy and the big news today is that France is pondering on a Right To Forget Law to protect people from their own Tweets and Facebook posts!
These are very interesting times indeed for reputation management. Watch this space for updates on any legislation coming the reputation management way!
Pears Soap retains its originality thanks to Facebook campaign
Social networking sites are wielding more power than ever now, people are having a say in nothing less than corporate decision making. A Facebook campaign has forced the makers of Pears transparent soap to scrap plans to change the 221-year-old formula. Never have people had so much power over businesses, brands and even celebrities.
In an attempt to re-invent the brand, the manufacturers decided to add a host of new ingredients which got the public up-in-arms on Facebook. Campaign ensued with people saying that they hated the new smell after finding that only the new soaps were available in the stores. Once the old soap vanished people missed the old herbal smell of Pears and gave a big thumbs down for the new.
This is a classic example of quick review or feedback and a change in corporate decision. People are conditioned to certain smells and flavours and sometimes a change is just not appreciated. The soap-makers should have introduced new soaps along with the classic ones that consumers have always appreciated. Anyway Pears have bowed to the wishes of the masses and gone into quick brand protection mode – reputation management overdrive even!
Are you still on the fence about social networking sites? Time to join and make the best of its power is what we say here at Reputation Management For.com.
Van Morrison Hacked – ‘reclusive celebrity’ a thing of the past?
Van Morrison is furiously telling the world that his page was hacked and the claims, that he is a father at 64, is completely false. In this day and age a celebrity wanting to hold dear his/her privacy will find things quite difficult.
The Van Morrison website on Tuesday claimed he had become a dad to George Ivan Morrison III at the age of 64. Producer Gigi was named the mother and that the baby boy was the spitting image of his famous father.
“Totally false, its a hoax” say the new reports from Van, who lives with his wife who is the mother of his two children, today. To have hackers break into your website twice in two months and put out false news about you with the right amount of shock value is just what it takes to get even the most reclusive people come out and defend their reputation.
This story asks these questions – “Can you be a famous recluse these days?” Can a celebrity for reasons known only to them pull a Greta Garbo on the public these days? Can someone simply hack into your site and make shocking claims and force you back into the limelight? Granted Van Morrison was not a recluse, but the prospects of getting a JD Salinger out of his house and into the open is going to be the mother of all scoops, right?
Celebrities are lucky people, but unfortunately very vulnerable to attacks from hackers to paparazzi and from malicious web sites to extortion attempts from people looking to make quick money. People in their employment or trust can any day threaten to reveal their secrets to a tabloid. It’s always the proverbial sword over the head situation.
Celebrity reputation management is serious and round-the-clock work. Online reputation management for celebrities is double the trouble. Unlike the new breed of celebritieswho thrive on shock value and planned wardrobe malfunction just to be in the spotlight, celebrities who have cult status can find the world is a voyeuristic place these days.
A reclusive celebrity may just be a thing of the past, stuff of legends even!
J&J’s Tylenol recall scores an ‘A’ in crisis management
Johnson & Johnson is doing what a company should be doing during a crisis. The top brass have decided to voluntarily recall the Tylenol Arthritis Pain Caplets due to complaints of mouldy smell that can cause nausea and sickness.
The Food and Drug Administration is a strict watchdog when it comes to complaints. The website has “Report a problem” tabs where anyone can make a complaint. If anyone’s on the watch it’s the FDA and so a company like J&J wouldn’t want these complaints to snowball into a reputation management nightmare.
The prudent thing to be done is to make a recall of the suspected lots, claim that “these are minor problems”, assure people “there is no cause for worry” and finally fix the problem. J&J has done just that.
We recommend this follow-up action: Keep up the positive content on the brand and ensure company reputation does not take a beating. Put out news everywhere that recalls are being made and that the problem is being fixed. Even follow up with news of freshly tested new batches of meds in the days to follow.
This is damage limitation at its best and crisis management that actually works!
Boy George banned – bad rep ain’t that easy to clean
Boy oh boy! Boy George will have to return the 200,000 pounds he got as fee to enter Celebrity Big Brother. A court has ruled against the disgraced star’s participation in the show. Boy George was sentenced for 15 months for imprisoning a Norwegian in shackles and assaulting him and is still under probation.
Though the singer managed to get an early release, his attempt at getting back into celebrity life was quashed with this court order. Talk about being in the doldrums of reputation… Boy George sure needs to be back in the spotlight, however, to actually be in a TV show where people watch you like a lab rat, could have backfired and we will never know how it would have panned. I guess the courts did not want to condone the ‘celebrity’ tag being given to someone who is still on probation and wearing a tag.
Boy George needs serious celebrity reputation management and that’s a nobrainer; he needs to be making an example of his life against cocaine addiction and erratic behavior. Connect to real people on Twitter and Facebook and slowly build his reputation back. Reality shows may not be such a great idea and MC Hammer, Heidi Fleiss and the rest who are in CBB should wonder why they have been selected for the show.
For Boy George the ban may have been the right thing to have happened, but time to work on some great online reputation re-building is the way ahead for him to keep his celebrity tag.
Bad press, damage limitation, PR, crisis management, brand protection
Bad press, damage limitation, PR, crisis management, brand protection, call it what you like, the minute you put online in front of any of these phrases changes the requirements of a company who can help. So who do you need to help mange your reputation on the net?
When you find you have negative content appearing in the search engines where do you go? Sure negative comments can be a positive thing if you have had a serious issue and have shown to have dealt with it after listening to your customers. More often than not however it can be an ex employer, competition or customer who has taken a particular disliking for the company and very difficult to show you have dealt with the complaint.
Reputation Management is about showing your company in the correct light and create understanding. It is unlike advertising, whose main goal and focus is to generate sales and awareness. Like PR, reputation management should be a planned exercise, with the goal of making the public, customers and suppliers see that the company understands the needs and wants of all parties involved. You can’t do this if there is only negative content showing on the first page of the search engines.
How you go about producing this positive content must be done honestly and in a manageable structure, otherwise you could take the wrong path. See this example from the NY Times
Lifestyle Lift, a cosmetic surgery company, has reached a settlement with the State of New York over its attempts to fake positive consumer reviews on the Web, the New York attorney general’s office said Tuesday. The company had ordered employees to pretend they were satisfied customers and write glowing reviews of its face-lift procedure on Web sites, according to the attorney general’s statement. Lifestyle Lift also created its own sites of face-lift reviews to appear as independent sources.
One e-mail message, discovered by the attorney general’s office, told employees to “devote the day to doing more postings on the Web as a satisfied client.”
So it’s important that you get the right advice, having an online reputation management strategy can save you a lot of time, effort and money. Leaving it till its a big issue can sometimes hurt you and damage your reputation beyond repair.
Global Environment Issue’s Reputation and the Climategate!
That the earth is going through alarming changes is obvious, and as we grapple with dire consequences comes the Climategate as it is now being called. Leaked e-mails from CRU(Climate Research Unit) in East Anglia prove that top researches resorted to tricks to splice together different sets of research to hide the decrease in the 20th century’s temperature.
The lines are drawn, global warming skeptics on one side and researchers on the other side. The rest of us, exasperated knowing from a practical point of view that something is wrong and wondering what the hell is happening. The scientists meanwhile keep their research facts closely-guarded and take their time to make analysis while the leaked e-mails ire the skeptics yet again.
The global environment issue has been losing its reputation as THE most important global issue of our times. Alarming? Yes, and here we are again on the brink of another controversy while glaciers recede, lakes disappear, Greenland starts farming and industries on thawed lands and animals go extinct. Let’s not forget the Himalayas and the water problem it will bring to millions of people in the Indian sub-continent.
Hackers got into the e-mails of serious scientists, now who got a hacker to do this and will it be a blessing in disguise, will the world’s citizens get to know how bad or good things are? Environmentalists need to re-instate their good reputation and dish out some hard facts and analysis on the double!
Planes, Trains and Automobiles
What’s else can motivate you to stay at home this Christmas? With the fall of Flyglobespan, BA managing to stop a strike, Eurostar trains not working and the roads, well quite frankly a nightmare. Why bother having all this stress and just enjoy what I hope is a White Christmas back in the UK.
It was crazy how Eurostar dealt with the crises of people being stuck on the train for 7 hours. The first thing that sprung into my mind is what would happened if that was a fire? Would you be stuck on the train in the middle of the tunnel for 7 hours with smoke building up. I hope not.
What I don’t understand is why so many companies get it wrong when it comes to keeping its customers up to date. I hear time and time again that people are left standing in stations, airpots, etc and don’t have a clue what’s going on. This can be just about the most damaging thing for a companies reputation, management should have responded to their customers immediately, even just to say, sorry we’re on it just not sure what the problem is. If a negative situation happens, sometimes this can turn a potential nightmare into a dream situation if its dealt with correctly.
This is just another blow to tourism in general, with the recession, new flight taxes, companies failing and strikes imminent, you can understand why staycations have become so popular. Unfortunately for Eurostar 1000′s of people are going to remember how they ruined their Christmas. What should Eurostar do now to fix their reputation and win back customers?