1. Monitoring.
Maybe this is not the best place to start out but it could save you a lot.
There are a huge number of reputation management companies out there and there are a huge number that do little more than monitor your brand for you without offering any real solutions. They will use some of the great tools out there like Trackur, Radian, Buzzlogic, BrandsEye, Buzzmetrics etc. but they may only tell you that there is an issue.
If you want to know what is going on then there are much simpler and easier ways of building tools that will do pretty much the same thing, yes they take time to build and are an evolving project for most companies but they can save you a lot of money, if you don't want to build it yourself, have someone build the tool for you and then hand over ownership straight to you without having to incur a monthly fee (unless you want them to monitor and update it for you).
And yes, I can build you a monitoring tool, email me!
2. Squash the Problem Before it damages you!
The PR time bomb is out there and it's so easy to manage it's unreal, your average 8 year old can set up a blog so why do so many corporate entities not do it? If you know there is potentially a problem on the horizon then tackle it straight on. That way your monitoring shouldn't go haywire!
3. Authoritative Blogger Reviews.
Every market has it's bloggers, no matter how niche your industry there are authorities out there that could make or break your online rep. Reach out to the authors and get them to write about you (do make sure they include a link!) You can go down the route of paid blogging, personally I find it a little shady as it diminishes the value of that person's opinion. Hopefully if you get a leading blogger to write about you then they will generate comments on their site and hopefully stimulate other bloggers to also look at and potentially write about your brand.
4. Domain Names.
OK, I'm teaching you to suck eggs but why are there still people not getting this?? If you are a prominent person or brand, chances are many people will skip search engines altogether and type in a domain name. Make sure you own yourname.com or yourbrand.com. Google loves exact name domain names, so it’s not really hard to rank a .net, .org, or even a .info these days.
In the field of reputation management it's also looking at potentially damaging web names, www.yourbrandsucks.com maybe worth having if you thing people may want to attack you. Bear it in mind.
4. Make Sure Your House Is In Order.
Making 100% sure your site is as finely tuned as you can get it and it's ranking as best as possible for it's own identity is important for so many reasons aside form reputation management, don't neglect the basics.
Basic On-Page SEO is pretty easy. Most content management systems will create crawlable site architecture for search engines to follow and interpret. If you are using outdated CMS that creates a lot of duplicate content or uncrawlable URL’s, the content relevance and authority is being severely diluted. Canonical URLs are still an issue (the www. and non www. URLs), search engines still look at them as separate sites.
I could go on and on but I don't really need to, if you are reading this and don't know where your on page issues are already then go back and have another look, or I'll let you know some great agencies who could sort that for you.
5. PPC and your brand.
Some marketers will tell you not to bother spending on your brand name, well, I have to disagree. Firstly it's cheap, quality scoring will ensure you're going to get the best deal on your company or product names. It's a great insurance piece, if you slip in the rankings for whatever reason you can at least be assured that the paid search option will keep you in your customer's eye line. If you don't bid, someone else will, got a US competitor, well, it's legal for them to bid on your name!
6. Subdomains/Subfolders
You really want to ensure your blog is taking advantage of the authority that your core site offers. There is a bit of argument over which is best, personally I have seen both work , search engines do look at subdomains as unique domains and can diminish the authority of the originating site but it's a bit of a judgement call.
As a general rule, don't duplicate the content you are putting on there and make sure you have somewhere for your blog, forum etc. to go that can actually be viewed and there is a valid separation of content.
7. Copyright, TM and Legal issues online
Wow, it's a bit of a minefield, there are companies out there that specialise on online media so do speak with them but as a general rule if you are not defending yourself then the relatively low barriers to entry mean in creating negative brand equity can and will make you a target. Just as an initial guide you can always look at going to google with a DMCA request if it's clear infringement for domain name issues then look up the ICANN Domain Dispute Resolution Policy
Thursday, 23 July 2009
Friday, 17 July 2009
#SMIR 2009 Social Media in Recruitment 2009
It's been a little while since I posted on here as I have been ridiculously busy chasing new work as much as possible and building my own personal pitch, more on that in another post..
I just wanted a say a couple of words on Mike Taylor at Web Based Recruitment's Social Media in Recruitment conference yesterday. It was really great to see a new event put together in a pretty tough market that turned out to be such a success, I believe Mike had 149 in attendance and a great turnout from the corporate recruiter and recruitment agency side of the industry. They are the guys that NEED to be at events like this because a vast number of them simply don't get what is going on in the recruitment space and are not prepared for the changes that are happening in the industry. Right now they are inundated with candidates and are, in many cases, not prepared for the changing recruitment market once the economy is back on an even keel.
The worry is always that people go to these events and then make a half hearted stab at social media and decide they can't be bothered to keep it up or they don't see immediate results so they abandon it. The trick really is not to do everything at once or if you really MUST do tha then get someone in who knows how to build and implement it.
I'm going to try and get copies of the presentations and, if Mike and the presenters are OK with it I'll host those I can on here and make some specific comments.
I just wanted a say a couple of words on Mike Taylor at Web Based Recruitment's Social Media in Recruitment conference yesterday. It was really great to see a new event put together in a pretty tough market that turned out to be such a success, I believe Mike had 149 in attendance and a great turnout from the corporate recruiter and recruitment agency side of the industry. They are the guys that NEED to be at events like this because a vast number of them simply don't get what is going on in the recruitment space and are not prepared for the changes that are happening in the industry. Right now they are inundated with candidates and are, in many cases, not prepared for the changing recruitment market once the economy is back on an even keel.
The worry is always that people go to these events and then make a half hearted stab at social media and decide they can't be bothered to keep it up or they don't see immediate results so they abandon it. The trick really is not to do everything at once or if you really MUST do tha then get someone in who knows how to build and implement it.
I'm going to try and get copies of the presentations and, if Mike and the presenters are OK with it I'll host those I can on here and make some specific comments.
Wednesday, 24 June 2009
The TED commandments or better thinking for conferences and work
For those not aware TED is an awesome project originally set up to bring the worlds of Technology, Entertainment and Design together, TED run conferences internationally with some of the most amazing speakers, their latest conference is coming up on 21st - 24th July in Oxford, I'm hoping to go this year as it's a great opportunity to hear some very forward thinking. For more info have a look at www.ted.com.
Anyway, I was looking through the TED site this AM and did a cursory search on TED keywords and noticed the ever brilliant Anthony Mayfiled had posted up the TED commandments, since he nicked them from someone else I don't mind re stealing them for my own blog. Not only are these great cnference speaking maxims but they are also great ideals to strive for daily. Anyone working on projects for their clients should really bear them in mind!
1. Thou Shalt Dream a Great Dream, or Show Forth a Wondrous New Thing, Or Share Something Thou Hast Never Shared Before
2. Thou Shalt Not Simply Trot Out thy Usual Shtick
3. Thou Shalt Reveal thy Curiosity and Thy Passion
4. Thou Shalt Tell a Story
5. Thou Shalt Freely Comment on the Utterances of Other Speakers for the Sake of Blessed Connection and Exquisite Controversy
6. Thou Shalt Not Flaunt thine Ego. Be Thou Vulnerable. Speak of thy Failure as well as thy Success.
7. Thou Shalt Not Sell from the Stage: Neither thy Company, thy Goods, thy Writings, nor thy Desparate need for Funding; Lest Thou be Cast Aside into Outer Darkness.
8. Thou Shalt Remember all the while: Laughter is Good.
9. Thou Shalt Not Read thy Speech.
10. Thou Shalt Not Steal the Time of Them that Follow
Anyway, I was looking through the TED site this AM and did a cursory search on TED keywords and noticed the ever brilliant Anthony Mayfiled had posted up the TED commandments, since he nicked them from someone else I don't mind re stealing them for my own blog. Not only are these great cnference speaking maxims but they are also great ideals to strive for daily. Anyone working on projects for their clients should really bear them in mind!
1. Thou Shalt Dream a Great Dream, or Show Forth a Wondrous New Thing, Or Share Something Thou Hast Never Shared Before
2. Thou Shalt Not Simply Trot Out thy Usual Shtick
3. Thou Shalt Reveal thy Curiosity and Thy Passion
4. Thou Shalt Tell a Story
5. Thou Shalt Freely Comment on the Utterances of Other Speakers for the Sake of Blessed Connection and Exquisite Controversy
6. Thou Shalt Not Flaunt thine Ego. Be Thou Vulnerable. Speak of thy Failure as well as thy Success.
7. Thou Shalt Not Sell from the Stage: Neither thy Company, thy Goods, thy Writings, nor thy Desparate need for Funding; Lest Thou be Cast Aside into Outer Darkness.
8. Thou Shalt Remember all the while: Laughter is Good.
9. Thou Shalt Not Read thy Speech.
10. Thou Shalt Not Steal the Time of Them that Follow
Tuesday, 23 June 2009
Job hunting in a tight market.
Interesting, if a little testing, times are all around us right now. As anyone in the digital recruiting space knows there are a vast number of candidates going for every job out there and competition is fierce. For the most part, I have avoided this so far though.
I guess I have been in something of a privilaged position in that I know a huge number of people in the industry and there has been a lot of interest in working with me since things with Onrec came to an end. To date I must have met with 13 different individuals and businesses to discuss the potential of working with them and what I can bring to the table, O.K, as of now I'm not working but I don't see that as a massive issue, I've got to spend some time evaluating the offers and opportunities out there and work out what it is exactly that I want to be doing right now.
Having said this there is another side to the whole thing. I have a very good friend who worked on product side advertising who is having an utter nightmare, though he was good at his job, so were the other 6 people at his company who also got given the "heave ho" earlier this year. His job hunt has been an horrendous experience, since losing his job back in Jan he has been to more interviews than you can shake a stick at and has had countless companies ask him for a sales strategy presentation which they have just kept and offered little feedback from. This does appear to be a little bit of a trend right now. i have heard from several people that this seems to be the tactic used by a number of companies to get some new ideas and benefit from candidate experience and their desparation to get a job.
Now I'm not pointing fingers and this is nothing I have seen personally but I have spoken with a number of people who have been made redundant recently who have said the same thing. clients ask for a sales strategy, marketing plans, management structure planning etc at interview stage, the candidate sees little if anything back from the client and the company implements the idea and promotes internally. I seem to remember Jo Courtney saying that she had a similar experience when asked to put together a social media strat for an employer.
Now is this a true reflection or does it say more about the frustrations of candidates not being able to walk into jobs like they used to? Personally I'm not sure but I really do feel the frustration of those who are jobseeking right now.
Personally I believe the world is offering some great opportunities to those who are willing to take a bit of a risk and either work for themselves or get in on the ground floor with some of the more exciting and innovative startups out there.
Bottom line, for employers: don't waste people's time, for candidates: don't lose hope and try and see where companies are looking for something new from candidates and for those with new ventures, take advantage of the vast amount of experience that is available now that you may not have been able to even speak with in the past!
I guess I have been in something of a privilaged position in that I know a huge number of people in the industry and there has been a lot of interest in working with me since things with Onrec came to an end. To date I must have met with 13 different individuals and businesses to discuss the potential of working with them and what I can bring to the table, O.K, as of now I'm not working but I don't see that as a massive issue, I've got to spend some time evaluating the offers and opportunities out there and work out what it is exactly that I want to be doing right now.
Having said this there is another side to the whole thing. I have a very good friend who worked on product side advertising who is having an utter nightmare, though he was good at his job, so were the other 6 people at his company who also got given the "heave ho" earlier this year. His job hunt has been an horrendous experience, since losing his job back in Jan he has been to more interviews than you can shake a stick at and has had countless companies ask him for a sales strategy presentation which they have just kept and offered little feedback from. This does appear to be a little bit of a trend right now. i have heard from several people that this seems to be the tactic used by a number of companies to get some new ideas and benefit from candidate experience and their desparation to get a job.
Now I'm not pointing fingers and this is nothing I have seen personally but I have spoken with a number of people who have been made redundant recently who have said the same thing. clients ask for a sales strategy, marketing plans, management structure planning etc at interview stage, the candidate sees little if anything back from the client and the company implements the idea and promotes internally. I seem to remember Jo Courtney saying that she had a similar experience when asked to put together a social media strat for an employer.
Now is this a true reflection or does it say more about the frustrations of candidates not being able to walk into jobs like they used to? Personally I'm not sure but I really do feel the frustration of those who are jobseeking right now.
Personally I believe the world is offering some great opportunities to those who are willing to take a bit of a risk and either work for themselves or get in on the ground floor with some of the more exciting and innovative startups out there.
Bottom line, for employers: don't waste people's time, for candidates: don't lose hope and try and see where companies are looking for something new from candidates and for those with new ventures, take advantage of the vast amount of experience that is available now that you may not have been able to even speak with in the past!
Thursday, 11 June 2009
Sussexmatt on the redundancy go round
OK, OK, I said I was back and blogging but things change pretty fast around here, if you don't stop and look around once in a while you might miss something (to paraphrase Ferris Beuller). Stopping and taking a look around is precisely what I've been doing quite simply because I've been made redundant!
Yes, after nearly 3 years of working at Onrec the party is over, the general decline in print and online media spend for B2B marketing is at the core of it, certainly no hard feelings, had a great time and met some wonderful people through the job.
Since finding out last week I decided that I should follow my own advice and blitz social media and boy, was it ever advice worth following! Within 6 hours of posting on Twitter that I was being made redundant I had 9 requests to meet up from various parts of the industry, large and small companies, new launches and established businesses, really my feet have barely touched the ground and next week is looking even more hectic, kicking off at Jamie's MyLongLunch event next Tuesday, anyone going along who wants a chat, feel free to say hi and corner me (after the event obviously). Though not for too long, I'm meeting 2 companies that afternoon for some really interesting conversations about what I could bring to their organisations. Wednesday is now looking crazy so I may well be doing Thursday too! I thought I'd dodged the London bullet for at least a few days!
Anyway, I've launched a new site in the time I've been off, a little raw right now but when I get some time to play around with it I'm sure it'll look a damn sight better: http://sussexmatt.weebly.com/
I'll be back with more to blog later today!
Yes, after nearly 3 years of working at Onrec the party is over, the general decline in print and online media spend for B2B marketing is at the core of it, certainly no hard feelings, had a great time and met some wonderful people through the job.
Since finding out last week I decided that I should follow my own advice and blitz social media and boy, was it ever advice worth following! Within 6 hours of posting on Twitter that I was being made redundant I had 9 requests to meet up from various parts of the industry, large and small companies, new launches and established businesses, really my feet have barely touched the ground and next week is looking even more hectic, kicking off at Jamie's MyLongLunch event next Tuesday, anyone going along who wants a chat, feel free to say hi and corner me (after the event obviously). Though not for too long, I'm meeting 2 companies that afternoon for some really interesting conversations about what I could bring to their organisations. Wednesday is now looking crazy so I may well be doing Thursday too! I thought I'd dodged the London bullet for at least a few days!
Anyway, I've launched a new site in the time I've been off, a little raw right now but when I get some time to play around with it I'm sure it'll look a damn sight better: http://sussexmatt.weebly.com/
I'll be back with more to blog later today!
Tuesday, 2 June 2009
I'm back
Right I really have been far too distracted with my ridiculous article on the idea of a database of intent for recruitment, it's got way out of hand and I'm actually going to hand it to someone else to try and thin the whole thing out. The net result, I'm back to blogging with a view to potentially releasing the article as a white paper later in the year.
Right now I'm at the Onrec Conferecne and Expo, currently listenting to Kevin from Linkedin, some really great info from him about the idea behind employee / personal brand. It's not new news to those of us who spend too much time banging on about online recrtuiment and what we understand about personal brand reach but really worthwhile hearing it again.
I'll do a full blog post about the event later today / tomorrow.
Right now I'm at the Onrec Conferecne and Expo, currently listenting to Kevin from Linkedin, some really great info from him about the idea behind employee / personal brand. It's not new news to those of us who spend too much time banging on about online recrtuiment and what we understand about personal brand reach but really worthwhile hearing it again.
I'll do a full blog post about the event later today / tomorrow.
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