Online Brand Protection
Your Organisational Brand Names
1. When you run Google searches on your organisational brand names what do you see on the first pages of results? Are you happy with what’s appearing? (remember, this is what other people are seeing every day when they research your branded products/ services online).
2. How many of the page 1 results for your brand are for online content that is not directly controlled by your organisation? Don’t let the views of others fill Google’s ‘results vacuum’ - publish rich brand related online content in places other than just your own website to achieve this.
3. Is somebody in your organisation monitoring mention of your brand names online? How quickly could you pick up on a spike of negative online brand sentiment and would you know how to respond?
4. Does your company have a presence on Wikipedia - have you looked lately? (you don’t need to be directly associated with an organisation to set up or edit an article about one). Do you know how to edit out false or misleading information?
5. Are people starting to post online reviews for your company? – probably. Are you soliciting online reviews for your organisation from happy customers? – hopefully.
Your Own Name
1. When you run a Google search on your own name what do you see on the first page of results? Go one step further – search on your own name plus the city you live in, or the industry you work within. Are you happy with what’s appearing? Is there anything appearing at all? (having no online presence makes it hard for people to find you – the modern equivalent of not having a business card handy when someone asks).
2. Run a search through ‘Google Images’ on your own name – does your picture appear? If yes, does it represent you as you would like to be framed? If not, get your own labelled images up onto the web before somebody else does.
3. Are you mentioned anywhere on Wikipedia? Would you know how to edit out false or misleading information about yourself? Did you even know you have the right to do this?
5. If somebody were to publish unflattering content about you anywhere online, would you know how to neutralise it (besides getting the legal dogs onto it which probably won’t work anyway)?
Want to Know More? Attend a NET:101 Internet Marketing & Social Media Workshop.
