By now I’ll have to assume that you’ve heard about iPhone 4′s reception issues. If you haven’t, check out the videos on YouTube. Or just Google it:

The new iPhone’s sales have been very impressive, but the release has not been drama free. First, the pre-order systems on AT&T’s and Apple’s websites, well, broke. And there have been the now infamous Steve Jobs emails floating around:

“Just avoid holding it in that way.”

Although the iPhone 4 caused probably the most widespread coverage of hands affecting signal strength in mobile devices, this issue isn’t new. There are YouTube videos posted more than a year ago showing the exact same problem that the iPhone 4 has: signal strength dropping due to hand position.

The reason that this story is interesting from an online reputation management perspective is that Apple has, so far, written a blog post that said exactly what it needed to. I’ve included an excerpt below (emphasis mine):

To start with, gripping almost any mobile phone in certain ways will reduce its reception by 1 or more bars. This is true of iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, as well as many Droid, Nokia and RIM phones. But some users have reported that iPhone 4 can drop 4 or 5 bars when tightly held in a way which covers the black strip in the lower left corner of the metal band. This is a far bigger drop than normal, and as a result some have accused the iPhone 4 of having a faulty antenna design.

Often with ORM, the best thing to do is to is (as John pointed out in a previous post) nothing at all. In this case, Apple needed to respond, and they did so well. In the highlighted sentence, they were able to credibly blast their competitors’ products because they admitted fault within their own.

This is the part that most companies appear to overlook the importance of. A simple admission of a problem or mistake almost can make negative stories disappear more quickly than hoping it goes away by itself. Also, if you don’t give the audience a story, they’ll make up their own.

The Background

John Langley co-owns Red & Black Cafe in Portland, Oregon. The cafe is worker owned and collectively managed, serving vegan fare. Many of the Red & Black Cafe’s patrons are political-type activists (animal-rights and environmental). There is tension between these activists and the police force, which is known throughout the Portland community. On May 18 a Portland police officer purchased a cup of joe from the cafe and was then asked to leave by Langley. The officer left immediately and that was that. Well, not really. The story was written up in the local paper, so if interested you can read more. I’m much more interested in the reputation nightmare this created for these local coffee shop owners, and what they’re doing about it.

The Problem

The story was picked up by national outlets like Fox News and CNN, which obviously increased the visibility for the situation and the cafe. Suddenly a small cafe in Portland, OR is now the focal point and being talked about across the web. Review sites like Yelp started blowing up. Red & Black Cafe’s Yelp profile now consists of a number of new reviews, mostly from people reacting to the situation. Here is a great interview with Yelp’s Community Manager on the recent Yelp activity, and how Yelp handles reviews where users didn’t actually experience the cafe, but are just posting opinions. A Facebook page called Boycott the Red and Black Cafe, Portland OR was created, and now contains over 21,000 likes. Do a Twitter Search for “black and red cafe” (or “black & red cafe“) and you get a number of results as well. The cafe is seemingly in a PR nightmare. For a small business to face this much scrutiny and negativity, it can potentially ruin a business.

The Action

What are the co-owners doing about the problem? So far there has been no online action taken by the Red & Black Cafe owners, as far as I can see. Their site’s  homepage is a blog, which has been updated since the events, but they haven’t written anything about the incident. 5 of the top 10 search results for their brand name are articles about the incident (they are below the fold, which is a partial positive). I can’t find a Red & Black Facebook page or Twitter profile. They aren’t running PPC ads for their brand name. It appears they are doing absolutely nothing.

Even though the cafe owners are doing nothing, in my opinion, they’re doing exactly what they should be. There are certain types of reputation issues where I would be assertive and feel the need to combat the issue head on with all of the tactics I just listed (Facebook page, Twitter account, PPC ads, etc), however, when it’s an issue that is as emotionally charged as this one, it may be best to stay out of it; go on about your business and let it pass. Yes, your reputation will take a hit, no doubt about that, but if you continue to add fuel to the fire this is an issue that could drag on for months and months.  I would hope that the co-owners of this establishment are diligently monitoring all of this media and not completely turning a blind eye to it, but not acting in a situation like this appears to be best. Since the event took place in mid-May, the cafe has actually seen an increase in business. Whoever said any press is good press was certainly right in this situation.

The Takeaway

When your reputation is being questioned or attacked, it’s obviously up to you (or the business owners) how it’s handled. Many folks would be quick to respond to the hundreds of comments or reviews the cafe has received, however, sometimes that kind of reaction can be more harmful than helpful. Replying in the heat of the moment has a tendency to backfire and only cause bigger problems. My suggestion is to take a step back, discuss with your colleagues or close friends, sleep on it and then make a decision. If you plan to retort, I’d recommend compiling a plan of attack on how to combat the negativity, don’t just jump in feet first. In certain situations I would follow Alison Krauss’ advice, “you say it best when you say nothing at all”.

PPC

Mashable brought to my attention that BP is now buying PPC keywords such as “Oil Spill” to try and combat all the negative press they’re getting. Obviously, you wouldn’t want your main site to rank organically for a keyword so negatively associated with your brand, but PPC traffic can help to make your site visible with your own messaging – as below this PPC ad are heartbreaking image and news results.

The ad brings visitors to BP’s dedicated blog page with up to date information on the spill and their PR efforts – videos, social media profiles and contact information. I actually think this is a great example of a company putting themselves out there, showing that they’re ready to take some heat for their mistakes. Then again, BP really doesn’t have any other choice.

Company-Owned Social Media

Before the oil spill occurred, BP had strong profiles on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. While I’m not overly familiar with how they were configured in the past, it looks like BP does not allow Facebook fans/likers (whatever) to post on their wall, which was a very smart decision – there are plenty of non-official social media accounts for the angry public to bash BP. Right now BP needs to focus on keeping the public updated and let the fires burn in the media and off company properties in my opinion. I’m sure BP knows people are mad at them.

Their Facebook, Twitter and YouTube profiles are all updated very regularly and provide information about how BP is helping, keeping the public up to date on how containment efforts are going and providing “customer service” information on how to make claims if your livelihood has been affected by the spill. BP’s YouTube channel is now one of the top subscribed to channels on YouTube – remember folks, we’re talking about an oil company on YouTube – they’re competing with Fail Blog videos and Shane Dawson TV!

Ignoring whats not important

In the social media world, one of the most frequently talked about Twitter accounts recently is BPGlobalPR. This is a fake account posting snarky, egotistical comments often including the hashtag #bpcares. The account paints BP as a company that is resting on its laurels, with no real plan or desire to stop the oil spill.

Is this account damaging to BP’s reputation and brand? Yup. Is it the worst thing they have to deal with? No.

I think BP’s decision to let this account run its course has been smart. If BP spent too much effort trying to get the account shut down, people would have further criticized the company for not focusing on cleaning up the oil that is being dumped into the Gulf of Mexico.  Hopefully someday, this disaster will be under control and the Twitter account will fade away.

Ultimately, BP has a huge crisis on their hands and considering the magnitude of their problems, they’ve leveraged the internet in a pretty effective manner. The company has provided easy to find information that is updated regularly through a variety of channels. There isn’t a whole lot the internet can really do to help BP now, but at least they understand that the need to be forthcoming with information will earn them a little credibility from my online perspective.

While it’s easy to be skeptical of the power of displays of trust on a website, TRUSTe’s $22 million of backing should be a clue that these badges have real power. However, it’s even easier to test. When the time comes, use your analytics platform of choice to run simple A/B tests on Form pages with and without the TRUSTe badge (or your other displays of trust). Let us know how your tests perform!

According to the report, more people are concerned about the online reputation now than ever before.  “57% of adult internet users now use search engines to find information about themselves online, up from 47% in 2006″ (pewinternet.org).  Have you “Googled” yourself? Not only did they find that more people are controlling their online reputation, but young adults are more likely to manage their reputation by customizing what they share with the universe and who they share it with.

Now initially this is the opposite of what I would have guessed, but after thinking about it some more, I doubt my mom would even know how to update her privacy settings in Facebook.

How are young adults managing their online reputation on Facebook?  They are limiting the amount of personal information included in their profile, changing privacy settings, deleting unwanted comments people post on their wall and de-tagging photos.  Majority of power Facebook users do these things on a regular basis, but that doesn’t necessarily protect their online reputation.  Get more information on how to protect your personal brand and do more than just update your Facebook privacy settings to manage your online reputation.

So, how do you help protect yourself from a reputation management issue? What’s the best way to avoid online negativity? Well, there is no possible way to completely avoid negative comments/reviews. The most important thing is to focus your efforts on the creation of a solid product/service, as this will help alleviate any potential negativity. Negative reviews, however, can actually help your business. See this post from Matt McGee over at Small Business SEM on “5 Ways Negative Reviews Are Good For Business“.

After you’ve created that great product/service, and have a user-friendly website, which you’ve optimized, it’s time to start increasing your credibility with the gatekeepers (i.e. search engines > Google). For local businesses, ranking in the 7 pack is the holy grail. The visibility you receive is tremendous due to how much real estate the local search results receive in the SERPs.

There are a large number of factors that go into optimizing your Google Place Page (previously called Google Local Business Listings) for increased local rankings. David Mihm, one of the Local Search authorities, has compiled a list of top local search ranking factors. Review this closely and be thorough, every little bit helps as you’re fighting for one of seven spots. Competition is fierce.

Besides having a great product/service and achieving top local ranking results, the best method for creating trust and building a solid reputation is to have folks talk about you and your product/service. There are a number of ways to do this, which I’ll mention those I feel are of top importance. First, this graph shows consumer trust in certain forms of advertising. Very interesting that the most trusted forms of advertising are peer-focused.

Based on that graph, my first suggestion is, duh, obtain customer reviews!! Reviews help others gain knowledge of your product/service, as well as alert them to any concerns about features, service, etc.

Here are some other ways to help manage your reputation:

• Optimize your site – make sure you rank for your major keywords.
• PPC Advertising – create an additional online presence in the paid results.
• Twitter – a hugely valuable tool in understanding conversations about your store or your products. Join those conversations and start providing additional value. Don’t forget to ask for reviews
• Facebook – use this tool to provide additional value to your fans. This can be done through contests, photos, promotions, etc. The more you can engage the social media audience, the more likely you’ll be to have a positive reputation.
• Create press releases – get the word out about any new product releases. Press releases can also help gain additional organic rankings for short period of time (Google tends to show the latest new releases in Universal Search)
• Create a blog – search engines love blogs. If you have the resources to keep up a blog, and write meaningful, insightful posts, this is a strategy that can completely change your world. Build a following via a blog, you’ll most definitely receive increased reviews which can then lead to more revenue

To recap, the most important thing for small businesses is to ensure their reputation is intact. Your reputation, largely, depends on how well you can obtain visibility in the search engines. The more people that visit your website or Google Place Page, the bigger the opportunity that you’ll achieve increased foot traffic, which then leads to more reviews….bringing us full circle to your reputation.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic. Are there any small biz owners, or agencies that work with small businesses, that want to share their story? Please write a comment and share your experience with the rest of us.

This particular virus has infected thousands of WordPress blogs on shared hosting accounts from every hosting company. WordPress still isn’t exactly sure how it was caused.

So that leaves us here, with a blog about Reputation Management that got hijacked by a virus and potentially infected readers’ computers with a virus. Believe me, the irony is not lost on us. We’d like to let our readers know that while we’ve fixed the problem, we’re still investigating its source to ensure that it doesn’t happen to our blog (or any of the others that were hacked) again.

For branded PPC ads, first and foremost it is important your brand message comes across loud and clear.  What makes your brand better than all the others?  You should be asking this question for all advertising messaging and anything with your brand name, even down to the Sitelinks in your PPC ads.

After doing some research on the types of Sitelinks top brands are using, it is obvious advertisers are still unsure how to best represent their brand in Sitelinks.  Below are three examples of how advertisers are utilizing Sitelinks.

The North Face – the Sitelinks here are simple and clear, but don’t provide any additional information about the brand.

Ann Taylor – similar to The North Face, Ann Taylor’s Sitelinks are simple, however they are more focused on merchandising.  These Sitelinks allow visitors to find additional information regarding new arrivals, online exclusives and more.

JCPenny – these are a little more interesting.  JCPenny is utilizing the max 35 characters per Sitelink with promotion and brand messaging.  On first glance, this can look cluttered and overwhelming – but for visitors searching for “JCPenny” related queries, the information in the Sitelinks are probably helpful and relevant to them.

There is no direct answer as to what type of messaging brands should include in their Sitelinks.  But, if there is space to include more of a brand message differentiating your product from competitors, why not take advantage of it?

For example, The North Face’s brand messaging on their Women’s Clothing landing page is “Run Fast Run Light”.  The North Face can incorporate this messaging into their SiteLinks, by saying something like, “Womens Clothing-Run Fast, Run Light” instead of just “Women’s Clothing”.

It’s all about testing.  Test and see what type of messages are getting more clicks.  Compare short and sweet category titles to branded messages to promotional messages.

What have you found?  What works best for your brand?

For reference, here’s an example of where the categories show in Google’s LBL.

So, how should local companies choose what categories to include in their listing?  Have you used Blumenthals.com’s Google LBL Categories Preview Beta? If not, you should!  This is a great tool, simply type in your keyword and it will help you choose a category that matches your keyword.

But what if there isn’t a category that matches your target keywords?  Did you know that you can actually create your own categories!?!  For example, if you know visitors search for a certain keyword to find your business but it doesn’t exactly match the categories Google has – you can create your own.

Test this strategy out and see if you get more traffic from Google Maps with custom created categories.  But remember you do have to have at least one category (out of five) that matches Google’s LBL Categories.

1. Keyword Research – make sure you are targeting the correct keywords
2. Create Content – create content based on your target keywords
3. Ensure Title Tags are Unique and Keyword Rich
4. Include Target Keyword on Webpages – make sure your target keywords are actually on the page
5. Ensure Search Engine Friendly Site Structure and Navigation – don’t create your entire site in flash…!
6. Effective Ongoing Linking Strategies
7. Optimize Top Webpages – send the most time on your top pages
8. Local Search – claim, optimize and mange you local business listings
9. Universal Search – optimize your audio, images and video
10. Learn How to Do it Yourself – get special training. If you’re in the Portland area look into SEMpdx