Showing posts with label online reputation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label online reputation. Show all posts
Monday, 24 February 2014
The perils of a mishapen digital footprint
If you had easy access to several leaflets about a company and they all had different phone numbers or different addresses what would be your opinion of that company? Chances are you'd feel unsure which number to call or which address to visit. At which point, it may well feel "safer" to use another company altogether...
In this increasingly online age that feeling of consistency and currency - and therefore trustworthiness - is still vital. Your brand isn't just about the visuals, although I'll agree that's an important part of the whole.You can post the most fabulous content, but if it's lost in a sea of historical online noise it will lose it's impact.
I've been working with companies recently that have either ignored the state of their online presence, or simply haven't had time to audit where they appear on the web.
One business was quite shocked to realise that they were still on many of the free directories from their start-up days. Not only had their base of operation changed 3 times, but their phone numbers had too. The contradictory information that was appearing in their search engine results was confusing people that wanted to use their services. They're currently trawling through the entries, tracking down log-in details (not as easy as it sounds!) and generally tidying up their digital footprint.
Then there's the business that has accumulated web addresses over a period of about 10 years. Not all the web addresses have content, some don't have redirects to the latest website and others have redirects that are not advantageous to SEO. It's also very confusing and off-putting to someone looking for them online. Needless to say, they're now on the case.
Then there's social media to add to the mix as well. Several popular platforms perform well in search engine results and may still be picked up even if you've not looked at them yourself for years. It's still a part of your digital footprint. Unused and unloved social media feeds don't make a business look good. This is especially true when it's Generation Y doing the viewing.
So, when did you last read your own bio on Twitter or update your profile on LinkedIn? Is there a blog sitting unloved in a corner of the internet that hasn't been updated for months? You get the idea.
Go and do a search for your business online. Take a look at the results as a whole, not just the one place your preferred website appears. Think about what that list of results says about you to potential clients. Then, start shaping your digital footprint into something that adds real value.
Thursday, 25 October 2012
Care about your content!
Imagine this as a scenario:
You're thinking about how you market your company. You have a decision to make. Should you:
Take a little time and handpick the messages and content you send out?
Issue content that hasn't been vetted and is not certain to be relevant or good quality?
Most people would choose the first option.
Why then do many businesses rely on total automation for their social media marketing? Their feeds spit out regular updates only loosely associated with their business. It's bland, soulless - and ultimately ineffective. It's also quick, easy and cheap!
Companies brag that their feeds are fully automated and require "no contact time". To my mind it gives the impression that here is a business that doesn't want to take time to talk to or listen to its customers. They're saying that, as someone who spends money with us, you're not worth the effort it would take us to communicate with you.
I'm not totally against automation. Strategically scheduled updates can be very helpful - as long as the content is appropriate and well thought out.
Another question for you.
Would you use the same content for a local advertising paper as you would for a national newspaper? Would you then use exactly the same content in a glossy magazine, or in a parish newsletter?
Again, most people would want to at least modify the content so that it had a chance of appealing to each audience.
Why then would you duplicate the exact same update across multiple social media platforms? (Sometimes, it'll work, but not always by any means!)
The old axiom that "content is King" has never held truer than it does on social media.
A little effort pays huge dividends. Care about your content!
You're thinking about how you market your company. You have a decision to make. Should you:
Take a little time and handpick the messages and content you send out?
Issue content that hasn't been vetted and is not certain to be relevant or good quality?
Most people would choose the first option.
Why then do many businesses rely on total automation for their social media marketing? Their feeds spit out regular updates only loosely associated with their business. It's bland, soulless - and ultimately ineffective. It's also quick, easy and cheap!
Companies brag that their feeds are fully automated and require "no contact time". To my mind it gives the impression that here is a business that doesn't want to take time to talk to or listen to its customers. They're saying that, as someone who spends money with us, you're not worth the effort it would take us to communicate with you.
I'm not totally against automation. Strategically scheduled updates can be very helpful - as long as the content is appropriate and well thought out.
Another question for you.
Would you use the same content for a local advertising paper as you would for a national newspaper? Would you then use exactly the same content in a glossy magazine, or in a parish newsletter?
Again, most people would want to at least modify the content so that it had a chance of appealing to each audience.
Why then would you duplicate the exact same update across multiple social media platforms? (Sometimes, it'll work, but not always by any means!)
The old axiom that "content is King" has never held truer than it does on social media.
A little effort pays huge dividends. Care about your content!
Tuesday, 9 March 2010
Spontaneous reputation combustion
It's been said in many Social Media blogs - including this one - that even the most solidly built and carefully crafted virtual presence can be demolished by an ill advised blog or tweet.
I witnessed one such spontaneous combustion a few days ago. One of my followers (don't bother looking they're not there now!) uses Twitter, predominantly, for social interaction. Like a lot of people they have links to their business on their profile and mention it occasionally in their feed.
On the day in question this person engaged in a rather contentious, but short, exchange with another Twitter user. This is not, in itself, likely to cause mass umbrage. Twitter is a great place to engage in constructive debate - if you remember two things:
1. Your tweets are not exclusive to the person you are in debate with (unless you use the Direct Message function)
2. Other people can - and will - join in
By the time the individual had been retweeted, and had topical hashtags added to their comments, they were in way over their heads. They had been caught up in a Twitter tidal wave.
Their followers started to drop away. People they had been talking to for months blocked them. There was talk of not using their business as a supplier from local tweeps. Days later, they are still getting tweets from disgruntled people.
So, how many tweets does it take to damage your business? In this case 6.
Be careful out there...
I witnessed one such spontaneous combustion a few days ago. One of my followers (don't bother looking they're not there now!) uses Twitter, predominantly, for social interaction. Like a lot of people they have links to their business on their profile and mention it occasionally in their feed.
On the day in question this person engaged in a rather contentious, but short, exchange with another Twitter user. This is not, in itself, likely to cause mass umbrage. Twitter is a great place to engage in constructive debate - if you remember two things:
1. Your tweets are not exclusive to the person you are in debate with (unless you use the Direct Message function)
2. Other people can - and will - join in
By the time the individual had been retweeted, and had topical hashtags added to their comments, they were in way over their heads. They had been caught up in a Twitter tidal wave.
Their followers started to drop away. People they had been talking to for months blocked them. There was talk of not using their business as a supplier from local tweeps. Days later, they are still getting tweets from disgruntled people.
So, how many tweets does it take to damage your business? In this case 6.
Be careful out there...
Monday, 25 January 2010
What does your email address say about you?
Quite a lot apparently!
The feedback from the people I do business with, contacts on Twitter and from my friends was surprisingly consistent.
A "freebie" address such as Hotmail, GMail or Yahoo is considered ok for start ups and sole traders - but only as a means of contact. People are generally very reluctant to part with cash if no other dialogue occurs. Not to mention that most online payment services won't accept subscriptions from a "floating" account. The reaction is somewhat ameliorated if they know the person, but there is still the perception that they need to get a "proper" email address.
Almost equal wariness was accorded to businesses only using their ISP providers email. Again the understanding was there that this was ok within strictly defined limits. However, people were more inclined to "trust" these addresses more than the floaters.
Another consistent reaction was mild annoyance when companies have a website, but use a different domain name for their email addresses. The most common response I received when I asked for a reason was that it was "lazy".
However, the strongest negative reaction I got, across the board, was not to what appears on the right hand side of the address - it was the "name" that could really rile people!
Top 5 most despised:
Info
Mail
Enquiries
Sales
Post
You have been warned...
The feedback from the people I do business with, contacts on Twitter and from my friends was surprisingly consistent.
A "freebie" address such as Hotmail, GMail or Yahoo is considered ok for start ups and sole traders - but only as a means of contact. People are generally very reluctant to part with cash if no other dialogue occurs. Not to mention that most online payment services won't accept subscriptions from a "floating" account. The reaction is somewhat ameliorated if they know the person, but there is still the perception that they need to get a "proper" email address.
Almost equal wariness was accorded to businesses only using their ISP providers email. Again the understanding was there that this was ok within strictly defined limits. However, people were more inclined to "trust" these addresses more than the floaters.
Another consistent reaction was mild annoyance when companies have a website, but use a different domain name for their email addresses. The most common response I received when I asked for a reason was that it was "lazy".
However, the strongest negative reaction I got, across the board, was not to what appears on the right hand side of the address - it was the "name" that could really rile people!
Top 5 most despised:
Info
Enquiries
Sales
Post
You have been warned...
