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Cup of Joe: Online Reputation Management is Easier

Written on June 5, 2010 by admin

Filed Under: book, marketing

That’s right it’s easier.

Easier than what?

Well it’s not as easy as writing silly poems. But it’s probably easier than capping underwater oil spills. And, apparently it’s easier than umpiring a baseball game. But one thing it is most definitely easier than it is: off-line reputation management.

Yup that’s right there’s a difference between online reputation management and reputation management done off the Internet. While many of the same tactics and underlying strategies are used, the situation is oftentimes approached and handled in a completely different format.

So how is online reputation management easier than it’s off-line counterpart? It’s easier because of two reasons. Everything on the Internet is written down, and the Internet gives everyone a platform to speak.

When bad news travels on the Internet it is automatically recorded for history to judge. This makes online reputation management significantly easier than off-line management because it enables the people responsible to track and trace a source of information. Using social media monitoring tools, analytics software, and sometimes even Google’s cache, we can pinpoint the beginning and resulting lineage of any rumor or bad information. This type of power is unprecedented off-line.

In campaign politics one of the oldest and quite possibly dirtiest tricks in the book is what is known as a whisper campaign. A whisper campaign is when an opponent’s campaign will spread negative information or rumors among the voting constituency. Oftentimes, whisper campaigns begin with anonymous sources calling radio talk shows and writing updates to local media outlets. Some campaigns have even gone so far to distribute fake flyers and pamphlets on the windshields of churchgoers and grocery shoppers in order to disseminate false information. This type of reputation crisis is extremely hard to combat because it’s nearly impossible to respond to the party responsible for spreading the rumor.

Oftentimes a candidate’s best response to the above crisis is to use traditional media outlets to go on the defensive and dispute any false information. However, any attempt at doing so oftentimes looks pathetic at best because the candidate is is unable to speak directly to the accuser. With online reputation management we can use tools in social media and beyond to create a powerful platform that enables us to respond directly to the accusing party. We can link to, quote, and even respond in real time, to accusations.

So you might be wondering why it’s important to understand the difference between online and off-line reputation management. It’s important because they both strive to do the same thing in different mediums. Understanding the difference exposes the truly unique behavior of communication in the 21st century. Oftentimes, the constant archiving of conversations and data is looked at in a negative sense in regards to online reputation management. However, when you compare it to off-line management it’s apparent that such archiving serves as a valuable tool to respond to rumors and negative information. So the next time you find yourself angry over a discouraging blog post or hateful tweets, remember that it could be a lot worse. This information could be traveling off-line–being completely untraceable!

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Cup of Joe: Online Reputation Management is Easier

EU Chimes In On Facebook and Privacy

Written on May 14, 2010 by admin

Filed Under: book, marketing

Now the party must really be going full steam. If there is something to complain and whine about in the world at all the EU is usually the lead dog. Although they are merely just dog piling on Facebook at this point it now feels like there is no one left to put up a fuss about Facebook, privacy and even the people behind the ‘Book.

The Telegraph tells us

The Data Protection Working Party, which advises the Commission on data and privacy issues, wrote a letter to Facebook, saying recent changes that made previously private information publicly viewable by default were “unacceptable”.

In the letter, the group said that profile information, and data about the connections between users, should have a default setting in which this information was only shared with “self-selected” contacts.

Nice name for a “party” by the way. What’s their logo? A sickle, hammer and a router? So now the data police in the EU are using the “u” word to strike at Facebook. No doubt there are some dimly lit and smoky backroom meetings that are taking place to fully understand Facebook’s role in Greece’s economic meltdown. After all, if there is a problem in the world, Facebook must be the root cause .

At this point there really is nothing else to say about this fiasco is there? Michael Arrington is trying to call off the dogs regarding their attacks on the industry’s favorite person to pummel, Mark Zuckerberg. Accounts are being closed. Maybe Facebook could go to some journalistic governing body and get a press bail out?

Facebook apparently has responded but anything they say now makes them look tired and getting weaker.

Facebook, which has 400 million users around the world, responded to the European Union’s concerns, saying that it provided extensive tools for users to protect their profiles and choose what information they shared with friends.

“We already enable users to exclude themselves from being indexed by search engines, and recently introduced granular data permissions for applications,” said Facebook in a statement. “We are happy to continue working with the Data Protection Working Party.”

Translation: We’ve heard it all. What else can we say? We are not as evil as you think and we have done virtually everything we can to give our users the means to protect their privacy.

Of course, they didn’t mention the confusion they have created and the reality that most aren’t talking about which is that the vast majority of Facebook users aren’t reading Marketing Pilgrim, TechCrunch and the kinds of press that is currently having a field day with this train wreck.

Until everyone is officially notified with a permanent box at the top of every Facebook page stating that you should adjust your privacy settings by clicking here there will be complaints. Heck, even that won’t be enough to shut everyone up but it could go a long way toward it.

So, good luck Facebook and have a nice private weekend!

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EU Chimes In On Facebook and Privacy

Comment Management Tools You Should Know

Written on April 13, 2010 by admin

Filed Under: book, marketing, seo

What is Comment Management?  Virtually all blog software offers commenting functionality, so why would you need a 3rd party comment management service?  Many of the comments and “reactions” to content posted on a blog never make it to the blog itself – the source of the conversation.

Comment Management tools provide all the expected features and also pull in mentions & citations of the post as well. That way when someone reads a post on your blog, they can see comments made directly on the post as well as mentions made of of the post on other sites like Twitter.

Should you add a comment manager tool to your blog? It depends how much of your social engagement is happening off your blog and also whether you feel it will add to the user experience to see a collected list of on and off site interactions. For many blogs, citing comment and reaction counts is simply a matter of social proofing and popularity. For others, it’s an attempt to harvest all the conversation about a post at the source.

To help you decide, here are the three main comment management tools to consider:

ECHO from JS-Kit offers a wide array of features. It can be embedded on a blog or static web site and pull in comments from Twitter, Digg, comments from other blogs, FriendFeed and several others. Commenters can choose to promote their comments simultaneously to Twitter, Facebook or Google Friends. Sites like Technorati and Guy Kawasaki use ECHO.  We tried JS-Kit but didn’t like not being able to show comments on top of the off site citations under each post.  JS-Kit ECHO Live is $12/year and ECHO Live white label is $48/year. There is also a PRO version with many other controls and features with costs according to page views ranging from $195 to $1995 per year.

Disqus, as you may have noticed, is the commenting system we are currently using on Online Marketing Blog. Disqus lets readers choose their identity, via: Facebook Connect, OpenID, or Twitter Sign-in, when they leave a comment. Comments can be threaded and the moderation dashboard is easy to use. Off site references to your content on Twitter, FriendFeed, Digg, and YouTube are pulled in as “Reactions”. You can sort comments as we do, on top, then show the reactions below. Readers can choose to cross post their comment to other social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.   You can edit comment content but not the names of commenters, which is frustrating because some spammers write really useful comment content but spam them hell out of their names and links. The base version of Disqus is free. Disqus VIP offers much hand holding support and analytics. Cost is not disclosed on the site so it must be very expensive.

IntenseDebate was acquired by Automattic, the company behind WordPress and therefore, can be easily added to WordPress blogs as well as TypePad, Tumblr or Blogger blogs. There’s comment threading, notification by email, commenter profiles and points, moderation, cross posting to Twitter and several other features.  IntenseDebate is free.

Which comment management tool is right for you? It depends on your use. If you have a static web site and you’d like to add comment features, then ECHO might be a fit. If you want something that offers all the basics and works natively with WordPress then maybe IntenseDebate is your pick. If you want more features and also don’t want to pay anything, then it’s possible Disqus is the choice for you.

The great thing about these tools is that they are easy to install and test out.

Here are other reviews you might find useful on these comment management systems.

• Blog Comment System Shootout: Disqus vs. Intense Debate vs. JS-Kit Echo – 40 Tech
• 3rd Party Comment System Roundup – Dave Mosher’s Blog

Although I pinged Facebook and Twitter connections for examples of other 3rd party comment management tools that pull in off-site citations, I didn’t hear about any. I didn’t find much on Google either. There are other comment management services, tools and plug-ins, just not any (that I’ve found) that automatically pull in 3rd party mentions of your content.

If you know of other comment management systems that pull in comments from other social media sites, please share in the comments. Do you use any of the the tools mentioned above? What has your experience been? What features would you like to see added?

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Where In the World is SEOmoz - April-May 2010

Written on March 29, 2010 by admin

Filed Under: Advertising, book, marketing, seo

Posted by jennita

Whew! The Spring conference season is in full swing, and the mozzers are coming soon to a city near you. You’ll find us anywhere from Charlotte, NC to Munich to Singapore in the next couple months. The coolest part is that we’re attending and speaking at some conferences for the very first time. It feels good to get out and stretch a bit! Plus, the developer in us will be attending conferences like Chirp and CCGrid 2010 which will both enhance our geek factor!

As always, if you’re attending any of these events, please say hello! We may never get to know you if you don’t wave, nudge, or kick us. Ok, you really shouldn’t kick Joanna, she’d probably pull a ninja move on you. Included in the list below are both SEOmoz employees as well as associates. Come… take a peek and join us!

SMX Toronto - April 8-9

You definitely don’t want to miss SMX Toronto! Not only will Gillian be moderating several panels, but she is also organizing a Search Spam Party (of PubCon notoriety). RSVP now!

April 8	1:50pm - 2:40pm	Link Building Strategies and Ranking Tactics
Tags: analytics ,architecture ,marketing ,markets ,media ,party ,search ,singapore ,toronto 1 Comment Yahoo Moving in on Twitter Written on December 10, 2009 by admin Filed Under: marketing Yahoo (moves toward the little blue bird, the center of attention at the party): Well, hello there, baby. You sure are popular here. Twitter (BIG SMILE): Yep! And I have #friends @overthere and @overthere and— Yahoo (slips an arm around the bird): How would you like to come back to my place for a little . . . integration? Twitter: Whoa, buddy—this is why I carry an API at all times! Back in July, Twitter was popping up everywhere: first a deal with Bing, then a deal with Google. Not to be left out, Yahoo made a real-time foray with OneRiot, but apparently they still had their eyes on the life of the party: Twitter. Last month, Yahoo News integrated Twitter into its results for breaking news via a tabbed shortcut: Apparently this went well, because now more of these Tweet results will be directly integrated into the SERPs—and they just might be doing this right: However, Yahoo won’t be adding Twitter to all its results. According to the Yahoo Search blog, So how does this work? We continuously keep track of queries searched on Yahoo!, and when there is a spike in interest in a topic, our search algorithm selects relevant tweets to show on the search results page, either as a part of the Yahoo! News shortcut or in a Twitter section, like in the examples above. The age of the tweets will vary – some will be a minute old, while others may be hours old. Our goal is to feature interesting Twitter content that is relevant to your query and complements the other results you find on the search page. And if they do that, that might be just the way to integrate Twitter into SERPs: filtered for relevance, used only for topics generating a lot of discussion, and sequestered in a section of the SERP. What do you think? Is this too little, too late for Yahoo? Or is this more than you want to see of Twitter in your SERPs? Here is the original post: Yahoo Moving in on Twitter Tags: a-deal-with ,a-minute-old ,and-complements ,around-the-bird ,into-the-serps ,marketing ,party ,search ,serps ,social ,tabbed-shortcut ,twitter ,yahoo-twitter No Comments Google: Social Media is a Party, SEO is Bullsh*t, Advertising is Good For You Written on November 17, 2009 by admin Filed Under: Advertising, book, marketing, seo I noticed someone using Google suggest in another story today (honestly forgot where) and thought I’d see what Google “thinks” about social media. Then I tried SEO. Not surprising. Funniest of all, considering Google’s business model, was advertising. Pretty telling when you think about it. Of course this isn’t what Google “really thinks” about social media, it’s Google’s response to search queries and effort to predict what we’re really searching for.  Google Suggest works by drawing from searches by other Google users, sites in Google’s search index, and ads in the Google advertising network. If you’re logged in, Google will use your search history to make suggestions. But, that’s not as interesting as viewing these screen shots as what “Google thinks”, so let’s continue. Whoah, let’s turn off the SEO hate, OK Google? In case you’re not a hater and curious about search engine optimization, find the truth about SEO here and why ongoing SEO is important here. After typing in “advertising is” on Google, I had to laugh because of such positive sentiment.  How many millions of dollars, no billions of dollars, go into advertising that is untracked, unaccountable?  Google’s bread and butter is advertising so there’s more than just a bit of irony going on here. However, the kind of advertising that Google sells IS trackable and VERY accountable.  No wonder Google Suggest says “advertising is good for you”. What does Google Suggest think of your industry? Tags: Advertising ,facebook ,google ,google-suggest ,honestly-forgot ,online marketing ,party ,search-queries ,seo ,turn-off-the No Comments Warning! That Political Ad on Google Could Cost You a $250 Fine! Written on October 20, 2009 by admin Filed Under: marketing There’s a problem brewing that involves Google and election mud-slinging. Ooh, I just heard a collective “I knew it” from political conspiracy theorists around the country, but it’s not quite what you think. The problem involves the mandated disclaimer often needed for any kind of political ad. You know the kind: “This ad was paid for by the party to elect Michael Scott mayor of Scranton.” The issue under discussion is, how do you fit such a long disclaimer on a Google AdWords ad? In his recent campaign for mayor of St. Petersburg, Fla., Scott Wagman bought such an ad and was fined for lack of disclaimer. He was hardly the first to employ the tactic, which didn’t stop a rival campaign from complaining the ad did not have a “paid for by” disclaimer. The Florida Elections Commission ordered Wagman to remove it and pay a $250 fine, even though the required disclaimer was longer than the 68 characters allowed in the text of the ad, which wasn’t “paid for” until someone clicked on it. Now political eggheads and pencil pushers around the country are trying to figure out if Google ads need such a disclaimer, or do they fall within the realm of buttons and bumper-stickers–which require no such wording. I’d say they have about 2 years left to figure this out. Search spending showed improved usage numbers during the 2008 presidential election, and I suspect that trend will continue as we get closer to the 2012. My solution? Simply ensure the landing page has the disclaimer. After all, the ad hasn’t technically been “paid for” by anyone, until you click the ad and visit the landing page. But that might just be too simple of a solution for politicians. See the original post: Warning! That Political Ad on Google Could Cost You a $250 Fine! Tags: country ,disclaimer ,google ,google-product ,improved-usage ,legal ,michael-scott ,mobile-phone ,numbers-during ,party ,phone ,potential ,remove-it-and ,required ,site No Comments Will Google Give Microhoo a Free Pass? Written on October 13, 2009 by admin Filed Under: book, marketing A free pass on what you ask? Well, a free pass on the partnership of Microbing and Yahoo as it morphs into Microbingahoo to provide search from bing that will be sold by Yahoo that will make the online world a better place because of competition. You remember that one, right? Funny how we forget about the big news of the summer when there is no speculation or guessing whether it would or wouldn’t happen and if it did what it would look like. Well, we wouldn’t want this to go 18-24 months without a little Google induced drama now, would we? Enter Google’s presence in Washington, DC. Of course, they align their firepower in the political arena for just such occasions. It’s only fair since Microsoft (and Yahoo too?) have their folks in the capitol to ‘fight for their right to partner’ (insert lyrics into Beastie Boys song “You Gotta Fight for Your Right to Party” – we may have an underground hit). AdAge tells us of the behind the scenes activity The Mountain View, Calif.-based giant hasn’t taken an official position on the proposed deal, but it is quietly disseminating a view to regulators, politicians, analysts and journalists: that the need for scale is not a valid case for approving Microsoft’s search deal with Yahoo. This, of course, is the core argument in favor of the deal: that Microsoft and Yahoo cannot compete effectively against Google in search on their own and that their deal would make the search market itself more competitive. This kind of action is no surprise. In fact, I have been wondering when the fireworks would begin. While it appears as if there will be little to truly get in the way of regulatory approval of this partnership you would have to expect this gamesmanship from Google. If for nothing else, to get some publicity and make a public case before they will appear to be magnanimous enough to let the partnership happen. Why would they let it happen without much of a fight other than for show? I suspect it would be supreme confidence that they will crush the new Micro – whatever no matter what form or name it takes. Google is busy with other issues, as well, like its book settlement so this is just part of their day to day activities in DC. Depending on the source, their level of engagement varies. Another executive close to the process described Google as “actively” lobbying against the deal, but Google said it is just responding to a Justice Department requests for its opinion. There are many angles to this an honestly the AdAge Article does a real nice job of laying out the issues around scale and pricing power that are at the core of the arguments both for and against the partnership. So we at Marketing Pilgrim say “Let the he said, she said begin!” After it’s all said and done what will this look like and will any of these efforts serve to do anything other than keep brands in the news? Not likely. What will really be interesting is if any of this effort from Microsoft and Yahoo will truly put a dent in ‘The Goog’ at all. Go here to read the rest: Will Google Give Microhoo a Free Pass? Tags: a-fight-other ,book ,deal ,marketing ,mountain ,news ,online ,partnership ,party ,right ,search ,summer No Comments How to Network at an SEOmoz Seminar After-Party Written on September 8, 2009 by admin Filed Under: Object, book, seo Posted by audiore This post was originally in YOUmoz, and was promoted to the main blog because it provides great value and interest to our community. The author’s views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of SEOmoz, Inc. Audiore is an in-house internet marketer for Bill4Time - a time billing company. Ok, fellow SEOmozzers, this is my very first YouMoz post and I’m pretty nervous about it. It’s just like songwriting where you compose something from your personal perspective and cringe a bit as you put it out there for everyone to see. (And if any of you are even thinking about checking to see if I know what I’m talking about, let’s make it easy for you.) Now, this post is coming from someone who is not much of a socialite butterfly. I admit, I procrastinated 30 minutes before I gathered enough courage to get in the door. Tags: business ,events ,friends ,movies ,networking ,opinion ,party ,people ,person ,personal ,presentations ,seo ,shoes ,street ,wedding No Comments Last Ticket to SEOktoberfest on Ebay Written on July 29, 2009 by admin Filed Under: book, chat, marketing, seo, stuntdubl Since I am incredibly lazy - here are the details from the auction for the last SEOktoberfest golden ticket copy and pasted. I do agree with Greg’s assessment of why Rebecca should attend, and will add that I’m expecting it to be a lot like Bavarian Festival in Frankenmuth, Michigan, except 10,000% larger and more rowdy…which may remind Rebecca of home if she was from Frankenmuth (but she’s not), though she IS from Michigan, and I will need some representation from another Michigander to remind me where to get booze when there are no “party stores” around. That is all for the mindless blathering on this post - just go to the damn auction so you can join us. I’m sure the event will be epic. The original ticket price is 5.000 euros, and the 15 tickets were sold out after only 20 minutes! 15 International Online-Marketing Experts, 15 Attendees, and 10 former Playmates - one conference - one big Party! Here´s what´s happening at SEOktoberfest: Tuesday, 22nd of September: 10 a.m - 4 p.m. - SEOktoberfest Conference 4 p.m. - 10 p.m. - Oktoberfest at famous Käfer Wiesn-Schnänke open end - After Party at P1 Club Wednesday, 23rd of September: 11 a.m. - 8 p.m. - We got a whole luxurious Spa completly rented out for everybody. 6 massage therapists etc. will get you fit again! 8 p.m. - open end - Friends & Family Dinner at Munich´s No.1 Wine-Restaurant Die blaue Donau Thursday, 24th of September 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. - SEOktoberfest Conference 4. p.m. - 10 p.m. - Oktoberfest at Schützen-Festhalle open end - After Party at a secret location What´s included in the price? Everything! Every Attendee gets a whole Oktoberfest Outfit - Shoes, Lederhosen, Shirt etc., and everything you eat and / or drink, as well as all the transfers etc. - everything´s included! Who are the Online Marketing Experts? * Todd Malicoat * Chris Winfield * Bob Rains * Johannes Beus * Brent Csutoras * Sickness * RSnake * Greg Boser * Barbara Boser * Todd Friesen * Marcus Tandler * Quadszilla * Frank Watson The proceeds from this charity auction go to the AMAZONICA Foundation! Related Posts Social Media Panel at EcomExpo with Kris Jones, Neil Patel, and Jeremy Schoemaker Kris, Jeremy, Neil, and I will be chatting about social media stuff this week, and doing a live Q an… Paypal Levying Fines for TOS Violations Looks like Paypal is gettin’ ready to lay the financial smack down. No more drugs, porn or gambling… The Rumors Ring Louder - Google Adwords Affiliate Policy Some pretty good sources on this one. Shak and eWhisper both have their ears real close to the wall… Fool.com: Google IPO? No Thanks [The Motley Fool Take] 12 Easy Quality Indicators to Combine to Prove Trust The rest is here: Last Ticket to SEOktoberfest on Ebay Tags: auction ,general ,michigander ,party ,paypal-levying ,post ,seo ,shoes ,social ,social media No Comments Categories Advertising blackhat book chat marketing Object searchengineguide seo stuntdubl Uncategorized Archives July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 Site Sponsors Popular Posts Attribution: What It Is And Why It’s Important YouTube Video Page Goes Live for All Get a Great Workout for Both Mind & Body: Here’s How Hitwise: Facebook (Sort Of) More Visited Than Google On Christmas Surprise: Google’s Home Page Promoting Nexus One Welcome to Two New Sponsors PPC Academy: New Column From Search Engine Land Tags Advertising article book business community data facebook full general google google: mobile headline information internet link-below- marketing media microsoft microsoft: bing most Object online online marketing original original-post people post research search search-engine searchengineguide seo service site social social media spzmu street the-headline time top news twitter video words yahoo Search Site Search Pages About Copyright © 2008 Google Adsense.