anvil media: online reviews workshop by kent lewis for solarworld

Measurable Marketing That Moves You // © 2015 - All information in this document is copyright protected and the property of Anvil Media Inc.

No Bad Reviews: Online Reputation 101 Preserving, Protecting and Repairing Your Brand Online

#SWIS15

Kent Lewis President & Founder

@AnvilMedia @KentjLewis


Agenda

503.595.6050 // www.anvilmediainc.com // © 2014 - All information in this document is copyright protected and the property of Anvil Media, Inc. 2

I. Introduction

II. Auditing and Monitoring Your Brand

III. Developing an ORM Plan

IV. Social Media & ORM

V. Responding to Reviews

VI. Search Engine Optimization & ORM

VII.Public Relations & ORM

VIII.Examples & Recap


Your Brand Online

What defines a brand? Experience/interaction Perception/stories Marketing/relationship


Negative Reviews?


When Someone Googles Your Business, What Will They Find?


Google Page 1: Your New Business Card


What is Online Reputation Management?


Fast Facts

—81% of consumers research brands online, and on Google specifically, before making a purchase.

—80% of consumers are persuaded by online reviews about brands, services, products etc.

—On average, 71% of searches on Google result in a click on Page 1, whereas page 2 only gets about 5% of the clicks.


What Does This Mean?

—Customers are looking for you on Google, reading about you on Yelp and Facebook, and making decisions based on what they find.

—Customers do not look past the first page of Google.

—It is critical to own every listing for your branded search.

—Negative results are invisible on Page 2.


Auditing & Monitoring Your Online Brand


Auditing Your Brand

—Search every relevant keyword related to your brand or company.

—Any negative sentiment? Reviews, articles, photos etc.?

—Learn more about the sites that rank and why?


Identifying ORM Issues

Modifiers

Service: reviews, ratings, complaints Legal: litigation, lawsuit, sue Management: executives, individuals Negatives: suck, hate, lame

Situational: spill, union dispute, crash

YourCompanySucks.com Purchase & protect Bonus: host a moderated forum & engage


Monitoring Your Brand

—Use Google Alerts and social tools to monitor brand mentions.

—Respond to comments/articles promptly.

—Where are people talking about you the most? The least?


ORM Fundamentals

Plug the leak! Identify undesirable listings in search results Create & optimize competitive content Develop inbound links to boost rankings Leverage existing opportunities

Utilize keyword-friendly domain names Create profiles/content on trustworthy domains Promote “friendly” content in target search result


Developing an ORM Plan Factors

Scope of issue (potential liability) Timeline or sensitivity Available internal resources Budget (what does this problem cost if not resolved?) Personal vs. professional social presence Employee involvement

Resources Copywriter PR professional Social media monitor (customer service representative) Monitoring software/service


Effective ORM Strategies

Optimize branded corporate content on site

Home, About, Contact, Legal, etc.

Create & Optimize PR content (News Room) FAQs, attractions, events, etc.

Syndicate high value content Releases, articles, blog posts, etc.

Engage in conversations Discussion lists, forums, blog comments

Develop strategic inbound links Events, organizations, non-profits, industry websites

Integrate metrics & measurement URLs, tracking strings, unique 800#, promo codes


Three Prongs of Online Reputation

SOCIAL SEO

PR

ONLINE REPUTATION

MANAGEMENT


ORM: Social Media


Claim & Optimize Social Profiles


How To Respond To Negative Reviews


What Not To Do

—Deleting Negative Comments

—Ignoring or Responding Slowly

—Attacking or Responding Defensively

—Astroturfing


Avoid a Reputation Disaster


What To Do Instead

—Respond With Positivity and Understanding

—Use Negative Comments as Opportunity to Highlight Strengths

—Ask Loyal, Regular Customers to Write Review

—Remember the Customer is Always Right


Responding on Yelp

—Respond Publicly First

—Send a Private Message

—Do Not Solicit Reviews


ORM: Search Engine Optimization


Your New Business Card

—Brand Website

—Social Media

—Blogs

—Directory Listings


Social Media & SEO — All social channels should

have the same branding, same URLs etc. to maximize search visibility

— It is important to consistently share content in order to build social authority and improve ranking.

— Ideally, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and/or LinkedIn should rank just below brand site.

Social Profiles Posting Cadence

Daily

1-2 posts per day (retweets, responses, outreach, etc.)

Create and populate boards as content becomes available

1 photo a day, 1 video a week

1-2 times a month, increasing to 2-3 a month when content is

available


Social Media Editorial Calendar — An editorial calendar helps

plan and visualize the editorial strategy for the forthcoming months.

— By planning topics and content formats, you can easily scale and plan content creation efforts.

— Use a shared calendar or an Excel spreadsheet to map out ongoing content development efforts.


Google My Business

— Make sure the right info appears when people search for you on Google Search, Maps and Google+


Blogging — In addition to a blog hosted on your site

subdirectory, develop microblogs on other platforms.

— Share all blog posts on all social channels.

— Use social bookmarking services like StumbleUpon to expand reach.


Local Directories and Review Sites — Take ownership of all local directories

that rank prominently for your brand

— Local search and discovery services

— Yelp

— Foursquare

— TripAdvisor

— Other local directories

— Google, Bing, Yahoo

— YellowPages

— CitySearch

— BBB Etc.


NAP — Make sure all directories feature the

same Name, Address and Phone number, AKA your NAP

— Should match NAP on your website and social media

— Crucial to Local SEO and ensuring Google trusts your site to rank prominently.


ORM: Public Relations


Newsworthy? Press Release It. — Sponsored a local charity/event?

— Reached a notable milestone or formed a new partnership?

— If it’s newsworthy and interesting, an outlet will pick it up, potentially ranking highly in search for your brand.


Become a Go-To Source — Reach out to local reporters covering

beats related to your area of business.

— Get quoted in articles and earn backlinks back to your website.

— News sites are high-authority with tremendous ranking power.


Help a Reporter Out — Pitch reporters to be a source for

their article.

— National and local news publications.

— Sent to your email three times a day, based on vertical.


Advanced ORM Strategies

Address the issue directly (offline) Create & optimize multimedia assets Develop subdomain content Purchase branded & related issue terms Build free site/pages (Google Sites) Leverage pay-per-post blogs Create viral/linkbait content Leverage charitable donations/sponsorships Participate in indexable forums

*Special thanks to Rand Fishkin, Andy Beal, Chris Bennett and Jaan Kanellis


ORM Examples


Example: SolarCity

Corporate ORM Branded PPC Optimized site(s) Social profiles Directory listings


Industry Sites

Solar Oregon & Angie’s List Become a member Claim & manage profile Manage & market reviews


Review Site: Yelp

Yelp! Profile history available Flag (justify) reviews Encourage Elite reviews


Example: Managing Reviews

Above the Average: mitigate negative with positive Soliciting Positive Reviews

Identify happy customers & encourage them to review Provide links in email or on paper Back-end incentivize once they have reviewed


Example: Suggested Search

Suggested Search Search volumes Citations/mentions Links to relevant content


Example: Suggested Search

Suggested Search Influence ratings stars Create & optimize content Syndicate & build links


Examples: Local Search Results

Local SEO Need to be in top 3 Google+ reviews help Follow best practices


Monitor > Measure > Evolve

Measuring ORM Efforts Quantity of reviews Quality/sentiment Resulting traffic/leads


Key Takeaways

– Audit and monitor – Stay active on social media – Kill negative reviews with kindness – Earn media coverage for newsworthy events – Own the first page of your Google search results


ORM Resources (#SWIS15) – Ten Tips For Optimizing Your Online Persona – Five Steps to Generate Search Engine Visibility, Authority and

Quality Links via Public Relations – 7 Steps to Leverage Social Media to Increase Search Engine

Visibility – How to be a Rock Star on 8 Social Media Platforms – How to Become a Social Media Guru in 3 Easy Steps – Online Reputation Management: Seven Strategies to Build

Your Brand – YourCompany.Sucks: Brilliant Strategy or Brand Suicide?

http://www.business2community.com/social-media/10-tips-for-optimizing-your-online-persona-0976

http://www.sempdx.org/blog/branding/five-steps-to-generate-search-engine-visibility-authority-and-quality-links-via-public-relations-2/



https://www.sempdx.org/blog/social-media-marketing/steps-to-leverage-social-media-for-seo/

https://www.sempdx.org/blog/social-media-marketing/steps-to-leverage-social-media-for-seo/

http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/30534.asp



http://blogs.imediaconnection.com/blog/2011/07/23/3-step-social-media-guru/

http://blogs.imediaconnection.com/blog/2011/07/23/3-step-social-media-guru/

http://www.business2community.com/online-marketing/online-reputation-management-seven-strategies-to-build-your-brand-044958



https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/yourcompanysucks-brilliant-strategy-brand-suicide-kent-lewis





Kent Lewis President & Founder

@AnvilMedia @KentjLewis

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