Chicken Little ain't got nothin' on today's top PR practitioners. If the frenzied chicken mistook a falling acorn for imminent Armageddon, then the metaphor translates to many
communications executives who - in the past - interpreted the rise of social media and digital PR as the end of their function as they knew it. But, for the most part, the latter
story has a happy ending: The field's foremost practitioners have stopped running circles around digital trends to instead embrace the power of the multifaceted communications
platform. But that's not to say there isn't residual "concern" over their diminished message control.
In PR News' ongoing coverage of digital PR trends, here we lift the curtain on how to harness the power of search engine optimization (SEO) to positively impact brand and
reputation - or to handle a crisis. Consider this example a primer for the discussion:
In 2004, the Environmental Protection Agency began an investigation of DuPont, the manufacturer of Teflon, under the allegation that chemicals in the product caused cancer.
Conversations germinated on blogs and message boards, and searches for "Teflon" and "cancer" skyrocketed. The company's next move in managing and mitigating the fallout would
determine the amount of damage done to its reputation.
As it turns out, the communications team took control by doing what Jim Nail, chief strategy and marketing officer of TNS Media Intelligence/Cymfony, cites as a best practice
in controlling SEO's impact on brand and reputation:
They bought the search term "Teflon + cancer."
"The first thing communications executives should do is consider buying the negative words that might be associated with their brand or product," Nail says. "Traditionally,
marketing and communications people wouldn't buy these words, but Teflon bought negative keywords so that when anyone searched, there was always a link to Teflon's site with
relevant research. It gave them a chance to tell their side of the story."
Therefore, whether they are in the midst of a crisis or not, PR executives should consider scouring the Web for negative search terms that might be associated with their brand
and purchase the ones that are capable of doing the most damage. Doing so will cause the corporate site to appear first in a search under "sponsored links." Executives should also
decide whether to link the purchased search terms with their site's main page, or with a microsite/specific page that addresses complaints or concerns.
"Very few companies are thinking that way. It runs counter to the way PR people think, because they're trying to get the positive side of the story out," Nail says. "But in the
search world, there is going to be negative discussion. You can't stop it, so you might as well join the conversation."
Joining the conversation, however, doesn't always have to be a defensive action. Optimizing your company's site and its various products and services for search is good
business in general. To get started, it's just a matter of knowing how search engines work and building your site accordingly. Here are a few things to consider:
- Key words: While a handful of people may come up with off-the-wall terms for searching your company, the majority will follow traditional patterns. Make sure these
common-sense terms are on the site's home page.
- Flash/images: "Search engines are looking mainly at text, so if you have a lot of images, flash video, etc, you need to make sure you're putting descriptions on the pages as
well so the engine has something to look at," Nail says. "Otherwise, the engine sees a blank page."
- Links: If your site has a blog or social networking page associated with it, be sure links are featured prominently, as they will increase the chances of the site appearing
closer to the top of an engine's search results.
- Press releases: All of the press releases on your site - whether they are in the newsroom or on the home page - should also be optimized for search. Consider optimizing
releases you wouldn't normally write. Running these on a less expensive wire service will flesh out your company's brand and offer more in-depth information without draining
resources.
There are many tips for harnessing the power of search engine results to enhance your company's reputation. At the New Communications Forum held in Las Vegas in March,
Converseon CEO Rob Key gave a presentation titled "Social Media and Search Engine Results: The Impact on Reputation." Here are just a few of the best practices he highlighted:
- Create a cross-discipline team that bridges the chasm between corporate communications, PR and online marketing;
- Understand how your company and brands are being searched. Include permutations like "complaints," "references," "reviews," etc.;
- Fully optimize the content across domains and link content utilizing "best practices." Make sure content is relevant and unique. Avoid duplicate content; and
- Leverage highly optimizable, third-party, social media environments.
He also suggested identifying the most popular search terms and their make-up, the most influential voices within the top search engine results and how search results change
over time. This allows for measurable results that can be delivered to C-suite executives, many of whom may be reluctant to embrace the social media explosion.
"If you can get a sense of traffic or importance - if you can demonstrate the viralness of what's happening on the Web and the networking effect - that helps build a case for
the C-suite," says Scott K. Wilder, group manager for Intuit's QuickBooks.com and QuickBooksGroup.
And then there are companies like SEO-PR that specialize in this Google-driven craze. The agency sums up a five-step program that will demystify the search engine optimization
process (source: http://www.seo-pr.com/search-engine-optimization-and-website-
promotion-services.html):
- Identify a target audience and develop a stratification strategy;
- Conduct keyword research and find the keyword sweet spot;
- Focus on search engines that generate the most referral traffic;
- Optimize PR content, post it and build reciprocal links; and
- Track optimization's effects and measure promotion's results.
In a nutshell, corporate reputations can be made or broken by the results returned by online searches. It is in communications executives' purview to ensure that all results -
or at least as many as possible - pertaining to their company's reputation are positive, neutral or at least accurate. The rest is in the hands of the consumer.
"An executive has multiple channels to listen to a customer. The executive must look at all listening posts for common themes, then determine which should be followed-up on,"
Wilder says. "It is challenging, because if you have millions of different customers, you have millions of things to learn about what they want. You can't look at what people are
saying in a vacuum."
CONTACT:
Jim Nail, [email protected]; Scott K. Wilder, [email protected]; Rob Key, [email protected]
SEO By The Numbers
92% of journalists use search engines to research stories.
108 million Americans have used search engines to help them find information.
The average user conducts some 34 searches a month.
Of those online, 88% locate Web sites using search engines.
95% use search engines to research purchases.
10% of searches are proper names.
44% of U.S. Internet users are "content creators."
Source: Rob Key, New Communications Forum, "Social Media and Search Engine Results: The Impact on Reputation."