When you stand for something, there are going to be people or groups that are against you. Every Hollywood celebrity has AT LEAST one person in this world who hates them. Unless you're Ghandi, there's a pretty safe bet that you won't get along with everyone. I think it's important for all of you to learn what to do when these "haters" come after you.

Yesterday, I had an incident where a group of people in a forum posted a total of 21 entries citing my name, picture, and a video. Their thoughts were all negative and very harsh. Aside from trying to rip apart my personal brand behind my back, they decided to post comments on my MODERATED blog 9 times in order to really dig into me. First, I'm going to show you what they said and then I'm going to go over what I did in response and what you can do if this should arise in your life.

Please note that I'm not upset or angry. I like to take punishment, so I can help protect all of you.

Some of the comments

• "He is inspiring. He can make any blog a success (except apparently his own)."
• "I'd hire him...as a dart board."
• "He does look cartoonish! He looks like one of those cartoon characters who wear glasses, and when they take them off, their eyes are really tiny and squinty. But he's pretty cute for a squirrel getting hit by a car. BRAND ME SCHAWBEL!"
• "Regardless of how smart his ideas are (for the record I won't read any of them), this guy is a major douchebag."
• "This fella is quite sincere about all this, unless of course this is a joke of Andy Kaufman like magnitude. It's a thought."
• "He's in Boston, so he could just be exceptionally annoying."

What I did

I did absolutely nothing about this situation (until I blogged about it today). This discussion board is locked down, so I couldn't register as a user. Also, the conversation wasn't based on fact; it was a bunch of immature opinions. To these people, it wasn't about analyzing my brand. Instead they wanted to tear into my brand and spare no expense. If I weighted in, the situation would have gotten worse. The best move was to back-off and let the situation settle. Ignoring works!

Dan why aren't you linking us to this forum post? Your Google results are so important. What Google says about you is how others will perceive you. I have 124,000 Google results for my name right now, so the chances of this forum gaining traction and placing in the top 10 is near impossible. If I were to link to it in this post, it might give the forum wings, and we certainly wouldn't want that!

Your options

1) Do nothing and ignore. When you can't post a comment or write an email to the haters, then just sit back and ignore it. If the site has low authority and credibility (such as the above forum), then Google will brush the incident under a carpet (it will always be there though).

2) Show them the facts. Any legit source, such as the NY Times or TechCrunch will revise their articles if they don't get their facts straight. It's part of good journalism and building a brand. Send the journalist an email citing the facts and ask them nicely to repost or revise the article.

3) Comment with your opinion. If the article allows comments (blogs, forums, traditional news sites), then feel free to comment. When you comment, you MUST reveal the real brand you and not make up a fictitious name. Trolls should stay under the drawbridge. They have no place "hanging out" on blogs.

4) Blog about it: After showing them the facts and commenting, they might still not budge. The next step, is to post about it in your own blog. Only do this if you have to. I blogged about this incident to show that bad publicity does happen and what to do about it.

My Twitter friends weigh-in

Follow me on Twitter :)

Corporations also reside in a technological era where it takes very little to start an information tsunami.  An unguarded comment, a digital salary file that gets distributed to all and sundry,  an email intended for one recipient but in error the reply-all-button is the consequence. These things happen on a daily basis - the issue is not that they happen but how they are handled. 

Reputation is ultimitely about character and character is about values.  Character is inspiring.  Be inspired.

And then we got rejected. ;)  

We emailed a local blogger/realtor to tell him about the site. He's not interested (yet!) 'cos he thinks it's all about marketing your services. But it's actually about managing your reputation online today and tomorrow... and it's about keeping pace with changing user expectations. People want more rigorous ways to check in to the backgrounds of those they hire. So, even if you've got potential clients knocking down your door today, that may not be the same in three years when users begin to EXPECT to be able to find you and your reviews online.

Realtors (like all service providers... especially those who charge a fair bit of dough) can thank these sites for starting the trend and turning it into a new user behavior:

• Yelp.com
• Buzzillions.com
• Zillow.com
• RateMyProfessors.com
• TripAdvisor.com
• Zagat.com
• JD Power & Associates
• ReviewFinder.com
• RateItAll.com

For local services like realtor services (that is, those services where you need someone who's in your neighborhood), users will expect to search on local sites. That's what makes What-Customers-Say.com exactly right: it's starting local, getting a foot in Edmonton real estate, and then spreading out as the market demands.

It may not happen overnight. In fact, we fully expect it will not. But we've got time. :) Gently encouraging the market to understand that they can EXPECT to get accurate, unbiased feedback about a realtor before hiring him/her will be the norm. Heck, it already is the norm ---- it's just that there hasn't been an easy way for that to happen. Until now.

Other points for realtors to note:

• We know the reviews are authentic (no "turfing the competition") because we ask for identifying information behind the scenes (we keep it on file - it doesn't get displayed), and we use that information to compare against the records of reviewed realtors. If you don't think a review is authentic (e.g., someone is trying to sabotage you), then you flag the review, and we work together to see if the review is authentic or not.
• If a realtor is found to be gaming the site (that is, making up fake reviews to sabotage someone), we at What-Customers-Say.com reserve the right to pull that realtor off the site, banning them. We will conduct thorough investigations before pulling a realtor down; but, because our site is meant to help with reputation management, we will be firm and strong on banning any realtor who is found to be compromising the integrity of the site and the integrity of the real estate profession (where nastiness should not be allowed - this isn't politics, after all).

Rate your realtor today or, if you're a realtor, set up your profile: www.what-customers-say.com

If corporate identity is about the present then reputation is about the future.  And how you are viewed in the future will be determined by how serious you are about sustainability across the triple bottom line (people, planet and profit).  Sustainablity in turn is about having the capacity to meet the requirements of this generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.  This may be easier to explain within the confines of the environmental greenhouse effect but how does this impact the sales person at the coal face?  For one thing making a sale 'at any cost' compromises their reputation and that reputation is one way of producing a sustainable revenue stream that helps them meet their targets in the future. I will explore some other ideas in this area in future posts but remember in the meanwhile that reputation is inspiring. Be inspired.

How fitting it is, then,  to hold the Democratic Convention here this year.  For me, Denver has always meant energy, possibility, renewal, a clean start.  And optimism. No wonder so many entrepreneurs start businesses here. 

When I arrived here from New York, I marveled at how clean everything was, how wide and open the environment felt and how friendly folks were.  And affordable to boot.  For me it was paradise.

But back then, the oil industry had gone bust, and the town was hurting.  Shops and restaurants were closing right and left.   I met a lot of people who'd never been to the east coast before, let alone New York; I couldn't go anywhere without bumping into men in western attire; and not having a single Macy's, Nordstrom, Saks, etc., I had a heck of a time finding a decent pair of shoes for work (I'm not talking Manolos, Choos or Louboutins - just something kind of stylish).

In short, Denver was a cow town.  And while I didn't mind that, I've been very happy with how the city has evolved - there's a lot more culture, shopping, entertainment, restuarants, nightlife, etc., here now than ever before.

So I have to laugh at how Denver is being painted by some of the high-profile media.  Gawker had a very funny piece about the less-than-stellar local sports bars co-opted by CNN and Fox News as their convention headquarters.  Gawker's follow-up piece to this story commenting on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" show remote from Sam's #3, a local diner-type place, was also pretty funny, and it included a "News You Can't Use" segment from the show of a visit to legendary local strip joint Shotgun Willie's. 

OK, so this is what the media have decided to showcase about our fair city.  And we sure don't help ourselves - our local TV reporters look so bush league (pardon the pun) next to the national ones; one of them continuously mispronounces "pundit" (she calls it "pundent"), which drives me crazy. I have a good sense of humor about it, though.  Denver isn't New York, but that's what I love about it. Every time I look outside my window (see below for the view), I feel hopeful.  Fingers crossed that everything will go well throughout the week.

How do you define mobile marketing?

Mobile marketing is marketing via the most measurable, personal and direct link to consumers ever created: The mobile phone. But that description is just the beginning.
In BRANDING UNBOUND, I put forth a concept I call mBranding – using the mobile medium to create differentiation, generate sales, and build customer loyalty as never before possible. It’s not just about delivering a commercial message through mobile phones. But it can also mean creating unique, branded experiences that engage consumers in amazing new ways – or that serve them anytime, everywhere.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of misconceptions about mobile marketing. The first is that this idea that was popular early on, and seems to be reemerging as the iPhone and Android geo-location capabilities are getting more coverage. It’s this idea that we’ll soon be walking down the street and get pinged with an offer for 50-cents off our next latte at the nearest Starbucks. Forget about. We will never put up with that kind of intrusion.

It sounds really cool when it’s Starbucks sending us a mobile coupon. But the moment you’re walking down the street and 20 different retailers ping you with offers, it’s going to get really old, really fast.

The other misconception that just wont’ go away is that mobile’s new channel for delivering ads – this idea that borrowing banner ads from the Internet, or video commercials from TV.

One word: Borrrring. As a marketer, I don’t view such a notion as very compelling. And as a consumer, it’s a snoozefest. A lot of companies are spending millions to prove me wrong – and they should, it’s worth the experimentation. But in my view, it’s completely missing the power of this new medium.

Instead, I content that mobile is far more powerful when viewed as a response or interaction mechanism – a mechanism by which consumers can respond to commercial messages they experience in other media – in print, television, radio, outdoor, online, direct mail and more, right at the point of impression.

Now, there is never again a reason for a consumer to try to remember an 800 number or a URL. Ads featuring short codes can link me directly to the offers or information I’m after, either through a text interaction, or by linking me to a mobile web site or for download. This will get even more interesting as camera phones enable us to simply point at a QR code and click any button to access these offers or information.

It’s the ultimate consumer response mechanism.

What advantages do companies and people have with mobile phones, as opposed to other communicate channels?

In terms of marketing, the mobile phone is the first truly interactive device that everyone has, everywhere they go. Back at the dawn of the dot-com era, the Internet hype machine pitched the World Wide Web as a marketers dream come true. But it never really lived up to those two tenets that have been so central to the Internet’s promise.

The first: Anywhere. The second: Anytime.

Mobile changes that equation by enabling consumers to access their content, their communications, their transactions and their applications whenever, wherever, however they want using the device they always have at hand.

As I just mentioned, that means mobile is a way for consumers to interact with, and engage with content and communications instantaneously. And brands like MTV, Yahoo, Nike, Warner Bros. and McDonald’s are embracing it to astonishing effect. In BRANDING UNBOUND the book and blog, I show readers how.

I've read reports citing that over 80% of Gen-Y has mobile phones. What is the best way for companies to market to this group?

It really depends on the brand. For many brands, going into mobile may or may not make sense, even if it’s a Gen-Y demographic. Certain big-box retailers are heavily into mobile this back-to-school season. It may make sense – advertisers have to go where their audiences is. I just wonder if being in mobile is going to make some of these brands seem any cooler than having a web site did.

I think we run this danger of everyone declaring “we’ve got to have a mobile strategy.” But mobile’s not a strategy. It’s a channel. It’s like saying “we need a television strategy.”

Success today comes down to knowing who your customers are and how they use or don’t use a channel and then innovating ways to connect with them wherever it makes sense, in whatever ways it makes sense. Mobile may or may not be part of the equation.

All of that said, for certain lifestyle brands in music, movies, television, and maybe fashion, it’s safe to say, given their consumer and their consumers use of mobile, that failure to keep up with the mobile revolution may mean risking total and absolute irrelevancy.

What are your thoughts about the iPhone, Blackberry and upcoming Google Android? What is the future of marketing over these types of phones? Should every company have an iPhone app?

The iPhone has obviously been the subject of an egregious amount of hype, and it is a transformative device when it comes to the way consumers use mobile. But in my view, the iPhone only shined the spotlight on a revolution that’s going to happen whether or not the iPhone was ever invented.

All of these devices, including Android, signify the evolution of mobile, and all will bring their unique capabilities to bear.

But do we really need Android’s vaunted geo-awareness and user targeting capabilities? For way-finding, sure. For advertising based on where you happen to be standing at any point in time, no.

Does every company need to have an iPhone app?

It depends on the brand. It’s like asking does every company need a widget or MySpace page or a virtual storefront in Second Life.

As an example, marketing executives at Unilever would never ask that question – at least not that way.

Whether you’re talking about Dove – which won the first ever Cannes Grand Prix-winning television, web and mobile initiatives for the “What is Beautiful” campaign – or Axe deodorant – which is known for racy viral videos and advergames – Unilever would never think first about tactics. They’d think about consumer insights. They would know exactly how their customers engage with digital media and would build out programs to reach them in powerful, brand-appropriate ways.

If your customer base is comprised of Mac-addicted iPhone users who download a certain number of apps per month, and you’ve got a fantastic idea for an app that you think they’ll love (or that they said they’d love through focus groups), an iPhone app it should be.

Not a lot of brands can say that today.

When it comes to reputation management, what effects will mobile phones have on people? For instance, I can Google you on my iPhone before I interview you for a position or I can snap a picture of you stealing candy from a baby, upload it to YouTube and send it to 1,000 people in 6 minutes. Should we be worried?

Certainly that’s an issue. Just ask Michael Richards. Had there not been audience members with mobile phones at the ready during his stand-up comedy act, he might not have faced such bad publicity.

As for everyday folks, I don’t see it as that much of an issue – at least as long as you aren’t stealing candy from a baby. If you’re interviewing someone, you’ve long been able to Google them, so simply being able to do it through another device means very little.

But for marketers, as things like the Android Scanner get hacked, reputation management takes on new meaning.

In BRANDING UNBOUND, I interview Howard Rheingold, author of “Smart Mobs.” He poses the question, when everyone can walk into a store and aim their phone at your product’s barcode and instantly access not just comparative pricing information, but user reviews, defective product lawsuits, political contributions and more, and suddenly reputation management takes on real-time, real-world urgency.

How has Warner Bros. used mobile marketing to dramatically boost the effectiveness of their print, broadcast, online, and in-store promotions?

That’s too broad a question for answering succinctly. I think you’re referring to a blurb about how a number of brands – including Warner – have done these things.

In BRANDING UNBOUND, I look at how in the run-up to a new release from Madonna, Warner used mobile as a call to action on Internet banners – enabling fans to send a message to a short code in able to receive a secret phone number to hear tracks before they ever aired or were available for download. Over a one-month period, fans sent 30,000 of the messages, and 62.1% dialed in toe hear the songs – generating fan enthusiasm that contributed to over 650,000 sales.

I look at how Duncan Donuts used short codes in print and broadcast advertising, and how the campaign boosted sales at participating locations by 20% - with 9% directly attributable to mobile.

I look at how Pepsi used in-store and bottle-cap advertising with mobile calls to action to actually be able to boost purchases and even be able to send specific offers to specific users based on observed purchase behavior.

I look at how History Channel used mobile to send 1000,000 text messages promoting an upcoming show to people who’d asked to receive such messages. Eighty-eight percent read the message, 18% watched the show, and 12% even forwarded the message to a friend.

It goes on and on. And it’s what BRANDING UNBOUND the book – and the blog are all about.

What are 3 of your top 10 secrets of mobile marketing?

Not in any particular order:

No pushing allowed: This goes back to my comments about extending Internet ad banners or TV ads to mobile phones. Mobile phones are very personal devices. It’s important for consumers to be the ones to initiate interactions (pull), not just receive commercial messages in the form of text messages or banner ads or video pre-rolls (push). From the consumer’s standpoint, it’s pretty simple: “Don’t call us. We’ll call you.”

Integration is the name of the game: Mobile works best as part of an integrated multimedia campaign that combines any combination of print, outdoor, and/or broadcast advertising. Brands shouldn’t just do mobile marketing just for the sake of mobile marketing. They should work with their agencies to understand the opportunities and determine if it makes sense as part of the overall marketing mix.

Location is (sometimes) where it’s at: I talked earlier about how location-aware mobile marketing isn’t very interesting. But place-based marketing via the mobile channel is another thing all together. In-stadium offerings at concerts and sporting events enable attendees to take part in polling and promotions while they participate in the game or show. And Nike’s electronic billboard in Times Square enabled passersby to design their own running shoes – including colors and designs – using their mobile phones, all displayed in real time on the billboard for everyone to see. Nike then sent each participate a text message connected to a website, where pictures of the customized shoes can be viewed and purchased. That’s what location- or place-based marketing should be.

If readers are interested, they can read an excerpt on my 10 rules that ran in ADWEEK, BRANDWEEK and MEDIAWEEK starting here: http://www.brandingunbound.com/oa-2.htm. For a fuller explanation, you’ll have to pick up the book.

What does Tom Peters have to say about the mobile marketing phenomenon?

Don’t take it from me. Read this excerpt at 800-CEO-Read.com.

I’ve interviewed Tom many times over the years – he’s always energetic and entertaining, and he’s been a huge influence on my thinking, particularly in the area of innovation. In this particular interview, one of my favorite comments rings true for all of us.

When I asked how he thought the emergence of mobile technologies can best be put to use, he responded with his usual, cantankerous gusto:

“The most important thing I can say is, 'I don’t know.' And anybody who says they do know is an idiot, and you may quote me on that.”

I think that’s probably the perfect thought to end on.

-----

Rick Mathieson is an award-winning writer, author, speaker and frequent media commentator on the converging worlds of marketing, media and technology. His insights on postmodern marketing have been featured in ADWEEK, Advertising Age, E-Business and on CBS Radio and NPR.

His book BRANDING UNBOUND was a #1 new "business fundamentals" release at Barnes & Noble.com; has ranked in Amazon.com’s top-selling books on advertising; and was rated “one of the best marketing books of the year” by Midwest Book Review. And it has been selected for inclusion at the business school libraries of UC Berkeley, Stanford, Georgetown and Harvard.

En virksomhed kan leve eller dø af sit omdømme. Det lyder som en forslidt frase, men det er ikke desto mindre sandt. Og da Simon Spies udtalte at al omtale er god omtale, kendte han ikke til internettet.
I en tid hvor internettet er blevet udbredt til næsten alle og enhver, er virksomhedernes omdømme virkelig kommet under pres. For ting, der er skrevet på internettet, forsvinder ikke igen. Og med opblomstringen af de sociale medier er det lettere end nogensinde at dele viden og informationer med alle interesserede. Man er kun en enkelt Google-søgning væk. Taler man med fagfolk i USA, som jeg har den fornøjelse at gøre blandt andet via sociale medier, er tendensen klar. Håndteringen af ens omdømme eller Reputation Management er det hotteste lige nu.

Reputation management
Afgørende er det, at vi ikke stirrer os blinde på en enkelt del af de sociale medier men derimod forsøger at danne os et overblik. For det er ikke længere nok ”bare” at se på blogs, som vi i Danmark har for vane i øjeblikket. Antallet af nye sociale medier vokser næsten hver dag. Sociale medier som Twitter, Plurk, Seesmic, Brightkite, Qik, Ning og FriendFeed er ved at vokse sig store og betydningsfulde. Og med eksplosionen af sociale medier følger en næsten uoverskuelig mængde deling af informationer om alt lige fra pasning af dværgkaniner til produkttests og klager over virksomheder og deres produkter.
I dag er det derfor ikke længere nødvendigt at stille sig tilfreds med virksomheders pressemeddelelser eller reklamer. Nu kan man tilgå de informationer man efterspørger – hurtigere, mere målrettet og mere troværdigt – via de sociale medier. Det hele starter typisk med en søgning via verdens største søgemaskine, Google. Derefter møder man et væld af informationer, som man kan vælge til og fra. Da Google-søgemaskinen er designet til at tilgodese internetsider, der er jævnligt opdateret og med links ud og ind, er der nærmest tale om et kærlighedsforhold mellem søgemaskinen og de sociale medier. Mange gange ender informationerne fra de sociale medier som link nummer to efter virksomhedens egen hjemmeside – nogen gange endda før. Og så er informationerne uden for virksomhedernes kontrol. Derfor handler det primært om, hvordan man arbejder med at sikre virksomhedens omdømme via overvågning af og reel kommunikation med de sociale medier. Men hvordan kan man overvåge internettet?
I dag findes der mange hjælpemidler. Man kan selvfølgelig bare bruge Google og så reagere. Men det er tidskrævende. Derfor kan det varmt anbefales at bruge automatiske overvågningsværktøjer som Overskrift.dk eller Twingly.com (overvåger henholdsvis danske og udenlandske blogs) eller simpelthen arbejde sammen med konsulentvirksomheder, der har reputation management som speciale.
Et er sikkert. Er din virksomhed først blevet fanget i en negativ omtale-spiral i et socialt medie, så er det umuligt at styre – med mindre man som virksomhed selv deltager. Og som med alt andet handler det om at lære spillereglerne – og det gør man kun ved at turde prøve.

The senior executive editor of the National Enquirer went on NPR's Talk of the Nation show last week, discussing his paper's breaking the John Edwards extramarital affair scandal back in October of last year, and why the mainstream media failed to pick up on it until recently.

Given America's general view of the National Enquirer as a low-brow gossip tabloid rag, one might expect Plamann to come off as a sleazy, defensive jerk (think Dan Ackroyd as Irwin Mainway in the Saturday Night Live "Consumer Probe" skits), but in fact, he was quite the opposite. He balanced his justifiable right to claim victory and defend his tabloid realm with a straightforward, yet unassuming telling of the background story behind the story. 

When asked by host Neal Conan if he felt vindicated for having several mainstream media outlets grudgingly acknowlege the Enquirer's scoop, he responded, "Yeah, a little bit." In explaining the resource-intensive process of getting and reporting the story, he said, "We got a little bit lucky...and we were also a little bit good."  

He matter-of-factly addressed the media's continued concern/ complaint that the paper pays its sources (emphasizing that payment is made only for information that proves to be truthful). 

He harbored no delusions of grandeur. Commenting on a New York Times editor's description of the Enquirer as having a "hold your nose quality," he took it with good humor, adding, "In hindsight, it made them look pretty bad that they didn't follow our coverage...Is the National Enquirer sensationalist? Certainly we are - we're a supermarket tabloid. But that doesn't mean we don't get the facts right in stories such as this."

And throughout his interview, he would continuously slip in his assertion that Edwards is indeed his mistress's "baby daddy" despite Edwards's on-the-record denial and the nervous repeated reminders by the other journalists in the discussion that the identity of the baby's father is not at this point factually confirmed. But he did it with such low-key, humorous finesse, I actually got a kick out of his little tweaks to the system - especially since we all know that it's likely he'll eventually be proven correct on this front as well. 

In his more business-focused New York Times piece on the Enquirer (which I found to be, on balance, balanced), David Carr cites a couple of the tabloid's high-profile misses.  Well, sure.  But Carr didn't mention the Times story about John McCain's relationship with lobbyist Vicki Iseman that earlier this year put the paper in questionable journalistic waters usually more suited to the tabloids .  The National Enquier ain't the New York Times.  It doesn't profess to be. But fair is fair, and Plamann has every right to be proud. Besides, as Carr himself wrote, "The world would be a little less interesting if it weren’t for the Enquirer’s prurient inspection, and a little less well-informed, as well."

Negative feedbacks is one of the most dreadful threat in Social Media Marketing. Social Media Networking Websites are prone to create negative content for your Products and Services because of the propensity to draw negative feedback.

Effective Strategies to curtail the Negative impacts from SMM is absolutely critical. Strategies are related to how you should respond to negative comments and how to avoid it in the first place or preventing it from getting out of hand in the future.

The first thing you need to realize is that when you enter a social media network, you are seeking out your target audience.

Improper Marketing Pitch and Marketing to networkers who are not interested in your Products and Services are the starting point for Negative wave in SMM. Think of yourself in the other persons shoe: Wouldn’t you be annoyed if you were holding a conversation and someone jumped in with some unrelated sales pitch right in the middle of your discussion? Many users of social media sites see marketing on these sites as doing exactly this.

Keything you have to keep in mind beofre starting an SMM campaign is make sure that you are getting the right information to the right targetted audiance so that you do not upset the users on the Social Networking site.

When you decide to enter this social media sphere, there is little doubt that you are going to generate negative feedback.

Even if you are following good marketing strategies, there is going to be someone who is not liking your offerings. Go ahead, accept it now, and think how best you can use it.

But make sure they do not destroy your reputation, but on the other, you don’t need to overreact. A negative comment can still provide impetus for meaningful conversation that can work in your favor. There is no use in responding vehemently against someone who simply says they disagree with you or don’t like your product.

While you do not want to invite negative comments, they can be useful and at least provide you with insight concerning an opposing position on whatever it is you support.

Do not be afraid to enter this sphere of marketing, just make sure that you are following a good plan of action and are not inundating uninterested people with worthless information. SMM will be a great tool which can build a brand at times it can become a dreadful weapon which can axe your brand. The result is based on the approach you make.

1. Use headlines that are lifestyle driven, provide the solution to the consumers needs. Target your property and then write the headline accordingly, don't use headlines such as "Will sell this Weekend" and then leave on the net to be found in 3 weeks time.

2. Use 15+ photos to provide a better experience for the buyer - Most on line buyers want more not less

3. Use video tours where possible and upload these to youtube or facebook and include these in your listing presentation

3. Provide up to date descriptions that provide the online searcher with complete information - Remember they are in research mode and if you provide complete information you will satisfy that need. Include Information on the suburb, lifestyle expectation, schooling, investment potential or rental growth etc,Consumers will read up to 75% of text on a listing so don't leave anything important out of your listing.

5. Include a call to action - You want them to call, email or contact you, don't leave this out!!! 

6. Remember, consumers will judge you on your professionalism, and sometimes their first experience of you is your on line presence - In fact realestate.com.au indicate that over 30% of their on line audience are also prospective vendors.    

7. Set up a Facebook profile and use this to market to prospective clients

8. Set up a blog and provide up to date information on your market as well as provide advice to the on line consumer 

9. Update your listing weekly and change your photos every 7 days 

10. Don't wind back your on line presence, increase it and use as many sources as you can to promote you and your client 

I'll spend some time on my next post on "On Line Reputation Management" This is something you really need to be aware of and how you can set up a best practice when it comes to on line marketing and protecting your brand on line.

If you'd like some additional reading on this please click on the following link: http://www.mytechopinion.com/2008/08/90-still-dont-get-it.html

For anyone who needs some help slicing through the jargon, consumer transparency is a pretty universal term for "being honest" in all sorts of ways. Most obviously, it means being straight with your customers, especially when things go wrong.

For example, if you're super-successful and suddenly find that you don't have enough widgets to send out to your customers, you get the CEO to be very public about the problem. He needs to exceed the customers' expectations in terms of refunds or other recompense.

The idea is simple: in today's very public world, with online forums, blogs, consumer groups etc., the general public has more power than ever before to influence a company's reputation. This should act as a natural brake on corporate irresponsibility, and therefore businesses are wise to keep their service up to an acceptable standard.

Oh, the naivety!

I do believe in people power, but only to a degree. There are certainly some cracking examples of corporate reputations being tarnished by sloppy service in the short term. A good UK example would be the scramble for TalkTalk's effectively free internet service. A victim of their own success, takeup was so high that service suffered. The Carphone Warehouse's Charles Dunstone was way too late with an apology, and not impressive when it came to resolving the problem. (The internet sector is full of these stories, especially as intermediaries can always blame stoic old BT).

But has this affected TalkTalk in the long run? Not really. The Great British Public knows its place- if a service is cheap price-wise, you can't be surprised if it's a bit wobbly at times. In the US, what we ruefully accept in the name of service wouldn't be given the time of day.

So I don't think many large companies really take this sort of thing seriously. They know that we're remarkably tolerant, and in any case, one thing the UK is very good at is crisis PR. We can always pick up the pieces later. For a great example, try to find BA's latest - and very clever- online ad, promoting the improvements at Heathrow Terminal Five. You see, you'd forgotten already, hadn't you?

However... where the transparency motto really does carry traction is for small companies who have the willpower and agility to build transparency right into the heart of their operations.

I don't believe for one moment that an underpaid customer service rep working for my utility company in a stucco-grey call centre has my best interests at heart. But I do believe that an expert in a small company is going to offer me genuine consumer transparency. And he(/she) isn't doing it because of his targets, or some diktat from the Corporate Social Responsibility Department. He's doing it because it's his job, a job he takes pride in. To me, consumer transparency is just a new name for decent service.

One thing I am still struggling with is The question of, how to determine which actions are favorable or unfavorable?

I play Ultimate Frisbee in a league where we have a Whuffie like system called spirit points. Spirit points are voted on by the opposing team after each game and are on a scale of 1 - 10. Any team that falls below a certain threshold can be removed from the league.  

Now when I first heard of spirit points I was dubious as I thought a team could get bumped simply if another team didn't like you and used the spirit points maliciously but what I have found is since the system is based on the aggregate anomalies tend to stick out so teams are quite fair in assigning proper spirit points because if they do not it is obvious something is amiss.

So an aggregation system provides a super set of checks and balances.

One idea I have had so far is to leverage the aggregation checks and balances system in  a distributed protocol (the Whuffie protocol?) which should at least show anomalies in the rating system. Of course I still need to figure out what to do with these anomalies and how to gather the ratings in the first place.  It may be as simple as the example from ultimate... Rate this experience on a scale of 1 - 5. Could time be involved?

I also need to think about the reward side of the equation more.

So more to think about still but I wanted to capture these thoughts.

Oh and for more on Whuffie Tara Hunt is releasing a book, here is the link to the description and it has a pre-order button if you are interested.

As I sit here, Paris's video has over five million hits and nearly 2000 comments. Many of the comments are positive, and many of those begin by saying something like, "I've never been a Paris Hilton fan, but..."  I couldn't agree more.  We have so many dire issues and problems in the world - why waste time and energy following Paris?  How sorry did YOU feel for her when she went to jail? 

But the video strikes just the right chord to give her a real PR boost - middlebrow clever (easily accessible, not mean or offensive); moderately funny; making excellent use of its subject's persona and trademark word ("hot!"); a healthy dose of self-mockery and a well-delivered energy policy spiel that I admit for a mere microsecond, had me believing her.

So bravo to Paris and her peeps for pulling this off so well. 

In the meantime, the original McCain campaign commercial that started it all continues to play ad nauseum (pun intended) here in Denver, and there seems to be consensus that it's helping his cause.  I think this ad makes McCain look like a desperate sour-graper.  Maybe I'm missing something, or perhaps like the commercial, I should just ask a rhetorical question: "Are the American people ready to stop falling for a negative political ad and seeing it for the manipulative crap that it is?"  I fear I know the answer.  Sadly, much more (and dirtier) mud will be slung before the votes are cast becuase it's common belief that taking the low road moves the needle.  Get out your waders, and I'll meet you at the polls.

Here's the issue with reputation management, while it's easy to choose someone you know to play with and make sure they are rewarded when it comes to strangers it's a little trickier. What I am thinking is there has to be a simple solution to manage reputation AND a reward system to ensure people are equitably compensated (whatever that means in the context of a game) even when playing with complete strangers who don't necessarily have a vested interest in ensuring the stranger is compensated.

A concept that has struck me as intriguing and has potential to be explored further in this regards is something Tara Hunt is working on called Whuffie. The term was originally coined by Cory Doctorow in his book Down in out in the Magic Kingdom. 

I can't describe it as well as this paragraph taken from Tara's post linked above so I will quote here:

Whuffie has replaced money, providing a motivation for people to do useful and creative things. A person’s Whuffie is a general measurement of his or her overall reputation, and Whuffie is lost and gained according to a person’s favorable or unfavorable actions. The question is, who determines which actions are favorable or unfavorable? In Down and Out, the answer is public opinion. Rudely pushing past someone on the sidewalk will definitely lose you points from them (and possibly bystanders who saw you), while composing a much-loved symphony will earn you Whuffie from everyone who enjoyed it.

Using this concept as a framework I am looking to encode a Whuffie like reputation system into the game engine so that it can be exposed to all the games/players in the network. I'd like a way to share these Whuffie "scores" as well since I am not creating a closed social network but rather leveraging peoples existing networks.

Comments are welcome of course and I will have more on this as I think it through...

But this isn't a trip down memory lane; it's setting the stage for the story of one of my former TCI colleagues, one of those aforementioned smart, well-meaning people. For years, Colleen Abdoulah had a high-ranking position in operations, and she was one of the most vocal advocates on behalf of our customers and our field employees. 

Colleen's no shrinking violet.  She's, feisty, animated and passionate. She laughs a lot and gives the biggest bear hugs in the business, but she won't go meek 'n mild when something isn't right.  In one meeting of virtually all of our top executives,  Colleen was making some point related to her belief that taking care of customers and being profitable need not be mutually exclusive. One of the top guys told her to "shut the @#$% up".   

Nobody's telling her to shut up these days. 

Today, Colleen is chairman and CEO of WideOpenWest (WOW!), a company offering cable TV, high-speed internet and phone services to customers in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan and Illinois. 

Colleen is putting her values and beliefs into practice in her leadership of this company - namely, working collaboratively as part of a talented and committed team; empowering employees to do what's right to take care of customers; and beaming a laserlike focus on succeeding with integrity.  WOW!'s mission is to live up to its name in the eyes of its employees and its customers.

Needless to say, Colleen and her team are kicking ass.  WOW! is growing its customer base and has been named #1 in customer satisfaction in its region by JD Power and Associates for three years running.

Last week at the Independent Cable Show, Colleen and two executives from the WOW! team accepted the "Indie Operator of the Year" award from CableFAX Magazine. Characteristically, Colleen shared the moment and credited all her employees with their collective success. As I listened to her speech, I thought how totally cool it is that after all these years, she's running her own cable company based on the same principles she's always personally lived by and lobbied for.  And the results speak for themselves.

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When it comes to building a strong corporate, product or personal brand, the internet has become the Holy Grail for connecting with customers, friends and co-workers. In this digital age, you must decide which face you want to show to the world. Every action you take can be heard, seen and damage your brand in an instant. You can treat the internet as a personal prison or a world of everlasting opportunities.

Companies, as well as people have actually lost control of their brand, as blogs, podcasts and social networks have given permission for the masses to start conversations about you, whether positive or negative. A quarter of internet users visit social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn (TNS, June 08’) and there will be 145 million people reading blogs by 2012 (eMarketer, May 08’).

The new state of the web calls for lightening fast messages, which was first popularized by the Twitter microblogging service. Despite the growth in messaging, you can keep track of your reputation on Twitter with TweetScan.com and you can set up Technorati and Google RSS feeds for your name or company name. This labor intensive method can be scaled with online reputation management providers.

To make matters worse and to raise your anxiety, livecasting and life streaming video websites are starting to become mainstream. Yes, even Hollywood producers like Steven Spielberg have broadcasted online. What started out as Justin.tv, which entitles anyone to broadcast their life, has given rise to other services, such as UStream, Seesmic, Qik, Utterz and Kyte.

Now from your mobile phone, you can take a picture or record a video and have it streamed right to a branded webpage seamlessly. These live feeds don’t enable you to freely edit or copy and paste. Any action you take now can be on the internet live or be recorded for distribution. AT&T now offers JuiceCaster, which allows you to accomplish this same feature for a small fee.

The mobile web will become the number one access point to the internet in the future. As people live life on the run and start to live a life of connectivity and engagement, cell phones will hold our reputation. For example, you could be sitting in an interview and have a recruiter hold their cell phone out to you with your Facebook picture or a blog entry that negatively portrays your brand.

You could be littering by a street corner and someone could be broadcasting that live on the internet. With the power of embedded video, that single clip can be moved and mashed up and appear on 1,000 different websites in a single day. By 2012, there will be 975 million mobile users (Computerworld, May 08’) and 30% of European social network users access them through a phone (Telecom Paper, June 08’). If you want to achieve success as an individual or a company, you need an online presence, but at the same time, you must nurture it and maintain it. This is the biggest challenge of the future and one that companies will devote significant budget to.

You cannot escape these conversations, only see them as an opportunity to face the truth, be honest and monitor your reputation constantly. The days of corporate marketing spin are coming to a close. Your name, picture and logo are all you have now. It’s time for you decide how to best represent yourself, so when people talk about you, they understand and can relay that message to others.

Stop what you’re doing this moment. Conduct a search on your name. What do you find? Is what you discover factual or inaccurate? Develop a strategy to monitor your reputation, communicate with the people who write about you and always be true to your personal or corporate values.

At the Bridal Spectacular, the variety of vendors also showcased the variety of professionalism of vendors. From Estee Lauder's complete aroma event, to a mom and pop engraving shop - there were professional presentations to makeshift displays. Most significant was the dress - those who were serious and wanted to be perceived as serious about what they did - looked like they were dressed and ready to attend a wedding. In suits, dresses, and elegant attire, they looked like they belonged at a wedding. Unfortunately, there was also the overly pierced flip flop wearing photographer who used words to try to convince you that she would be perfect for your wedding while her own personal display spoke something entirely different.

The videographer my parents were meeting with really out did themselves along with the audio providers. Professional displays along with suits and service they met, greeted and worked with those who came with their questions and their lists of "to do's" to succeed at having a wonderful wedding. I noticed "Annabelle's Invitations" who absolutely did something right - the owner was at the event, answering questions, meeting brides to be and their parents or fiance's. She actually had a storefront where her employees would happily show the entire line to any of the bridal show visitors but she herself, the owner, was at the event. Too often, I see business owners spend an impressive amount to participate in these events and then they send "their help". Often, it's someone who is just there, sitting behind the table and not well versed in the industry to be of help. The "booth sitter" knows loads about the particular business they're hocking but they don't know the industry. If you're going to spend such a tremendous amount of money and time to be at such an event -why wouldn't you put your best foot forward? Kudo's to Annabelle's!

Back the videographer, my parents were skeptical - their past experience has always been in working with people with a store front or office. So, meeting at the videographer's home was almost an instant strike against them but the professionalism in their dress, display and mannerism at the show was impressive and secured the appointment with my parents. Here's what sold them - they arrived at the videographer's home office and met in the front room that was set up as an actual studio - exuding all the professionalism that they saw at the show. Next, his entire team was there and they met, and were dressed professionally, and participated in the meeting. Then, they offered my parent's coffee and his assistant brought out a formal coffee service on a silver tray and all the elegance and etiquette to show my parents that this team would fit in at the beautiful exclusive country club venue that this reception would take place at.
Their coffee service was on fine china, elegant flatware and was served with impeccable etiquette and grace. It sealed the deal!

Home based business owners - do you do the things that express that you have the brand as a professional and an expert in your industry? Do you use your home based office as an asset or as a detriment to someone doing business with you? Home based is a part of your brand and that doesn't have to be something that you make excuses for. Look around where you meet your prospects, how you display yourself when you're out meeting and greeting people, how you exceed your industry standards.

Kudos to Memory Lane Video for a most impressive professional first impression provided by a home based business (or ANY BUSINESS for that matter)! Impression and reputation management savvy at its finest!

Chief Buzz Agent™ and Compelling Connections Coach Maria Elena Duron helps high performing entrepreneurs and executives learn how to manage their personal brand on-line and off-line, leverage their expertise and connections and generate “the talk that yields profits”. To claim your FREE gift, Crafting Your On-Brand Intro Toolkit, visit her site www.buzz2bucks.com . Ask Maria Elena branding & networking questions at www.askmariaelena.com

As a marketing professional in a pharmaceutical firm, do you need to be concerned about the web?

Of course you do.

Online reputation management is the future of reputation management, and a proactive approach is the best approach. We have the ability to generate positive information, buzz, and press about your company by having it published on many different news and social media web sites.

Introducing our proactive, customised reputation management service for pharmaceutical firms

As a communication agency exclusively focused on the healthcare market, Think Tank provides you with an excellent way to be aware of Internet and blog new content and user comments mentioning your therapeutic area or product.

Online Reputation Management Monitoring

We protect your brand or company image by monitoring the Internet for user-generated content. The following types of sites are where negative content is frequently found:

• Niche forums
• Social Media sites like Facebook, Digg, Myspace, and Stumbleupon
• Blogging portals like Blogspot and Wordpress.com
• News and consumer web sites
• Search engine results from any online media

When negative content is found, we notify you and make recommendations for the best way to have it removed or minimize its impact.

Reactive Reputation Management

Exactly as you would react to a negative press coverage on printed media or TV, you need to be prepared to counter negative contributions or comments on the web. Don't wait until an unhappy customer publishes their dissatisfaction on the web. Those comments will very rapidly be included in search engines' results, and it can take a very long time to get the content removed or replaced.

From a reactive standpoint, we advocate for our clients in many ways, depending on the situation.

• Social media responses
• Commenting on blogs or social media to dispel incorrect information
• Contacting web site owners
• Contacting social media users

Each situation is different and could require a different approach. However, we know the limitations that pharmaceutical firms have when talking to consumers or patients is required, and are ready to work with selected opinion leaders in each therapeutic area to have them correct wrong statements or comments when required.

What We Offer:

• A proactive approach to online reputation management, in your therapeutic area and tailored to your needs
• Reactive reputation management solutions
• Comprehensive bi-monthly reports detailing incidents, actions, and proactive measures
• Competive intelligence - we can monitor things being said on the web about your competitor as well.
• A modular service to match your needs:

• • monitoring a therapeutic area: 1 year subscription
  • monitoring a specific product or niche: 1 year subscription
  • monitoring and reactive service - tailored: 1 year subscription
  • promotion of your own blog or forum to larger social networks

Don't wait until your product reputation has been harmed to take action.

To find out more about how Think Tank can help you manage Internet issues, just contact us:

Nancy Bonacina, +39 02 8646 5015, nancy.bonacina@thinktank-italy.it

Download the brochures:

English

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Mike Langford, who also has his own cartoon character on Facebook (if he listened to my presentation, which he did, he set an alert for his name and will be reading this). He recaps the entire event on his blog. Catie Foertsch was generous enough to digitally record the entire event, so kudos to her.

Event video

Subscribe to my podcast series
View the entire 30 minute presentation on Viddler

PowerPoint slides

[slideshare id=510902&doc=next-level-executives-1215902023036075-9&w=425]

Quick reflection

The main message I was trying to convey to the audience was that you have to protect your personal eBrand right now. There is no waiting, no biting on your finger nails and no praying to G-D. Right now you need to secure your brand by taking the necessary steps in order to control your Google results by joining social networks, registering your domain and starting a blog. It was my attention to scare the audience at times, but also explain the opportunities in this web 2.0 landscape. I believe, now more than ever, anyone can have an impact.

I hope you enjoy the presentation and if you want me at your next event, send me a note.

One of the big issues arising from the disaster is concern over the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. In less than two years, 2.3 million will come to watch thousands of athletes with approximately 10,000 members of the media in tow. While the cause of Monday’s blackout is still unknown, one thing is certain: this can’t happen during the Olympics.

Which brings us to the importance of resiliency; it’s the “boucebackability” of an organization during and after a crisis. If something does happen, how fast can things get back to normal?

Michael Redmond suggests companies sign contracts with contingent vendors to secure alternate sources of services/supplies etc. in the case of an emergency.

At the World Conference on Disaster Management, she gave the example of a bank in the World Trade Center that had signed an agreement with a tugboat operator in the event the bridges were inaccessible. On 9/11 no phone calls needed to be made. The tugboats showed up to take employees off the island as per the contract. According to Redmond, the bank was the first business from the WTC up and running after the attacks.

From smoking lines to snorting lines...

Last Friday, a member of one of Canada’s most famous and wholesome bands (aren’t they all wholesome except for Ashley MacIsaac?) was arrested on a felony charge of possession in upstate New York.

Front man Steven Page had released Snack Time in May, a collection of children’s songs, with his band the Barenaked Ladies, but last week he was busted for cocaine. His managers claim he will be exonerated, but Page is quoted in the police report as admitting his bottle labelled “calcium” actually contained the verboten alkaloid.

The Ladies' website announces the cancellation of their appearance at Disney’s Music Block Party on Long Island in August with their manager writing they “don’t want to put Disney in an awkward position before issues involving Steven’s arrest are resolved.”

Tonight, Global National ran a how-to story on “scandal spin.” Allan Bonner recommended Page keep a low profile for a while, and when his legal woes clear up, the Ladies should put on some sort of charity event.

I would also add that an overt apology, expression of regret, and gesture of reform be conveyed.

Still, Canadians are a forgiving bunch. With time, hopefully not the hard kind, the lead singer can clean up his habits and image and the Barenaked Ladies can come back strong.

(top photo credit: Antony Pranata)