Fionn Downhill – Digital Shenanigans

Today I had a call with an old friend in the UK.  She is off to the Cheltenham Gold Cup festival next week.   It brought back many happy memories of Spring in the UK and many memories (if a little fuzzy at times) of days spent at the Chelthenham, Ascot and Wimbledon events.  I miss spring more than any other season.  We get hot and hotter in Arizona although this year we did have an abundance of rain.   There is something beautiful about the end of winter and the promise that Spring brings.  But I digress back to Cheltenham.  This beautiful regency town in the Cotswolds less than 100 miles from London is England at its very best.  You can find out more about this town at the Cheltenham tourism website.  I hope to get back to the UK this year and hopefully in the summer.  Rain and all its still one of my favovite trips.

A company has a product. Employees sell that product. Companies, big companies such as Starbucks and Dominoes Pizza, have been called upon to defend themselves and to save the reputation of their brand, their services and their products, and their own moral fiber, because once something happens, it happens forever. This is becoming more of the case norm, as widespread media is not contained to the newspapers nor the nightly news anymore, but it is in the hands of the public. A public who may go online and post reviews, articles, and blogs, which reach millions through their computers each and everyday.

 When a company deals with the public, one aspect that they may face is that all of the people may not be pleased all of the time. And also what stands true, is that mistakes may be made. This is what happened with the Toyota car company. Currently, a large number of Toyotas are being recalled and reevaluated for safety issues. The Toyota company conducted the massive recall of their vehicles, when it was discovered that the gas pedal sticks, causing great concern not only to the owners of the vehicles, but the company itself. U.S. Transportation Secretary, Ray LaHood, stated last week, that the company was pressured by the U.S. Government to recall those vehicles, and now the Toyota company has stepped up to take full and complete responsibility for the safety of their customers. Which they should do of course.

The Toyota company would have done well to look after their own online reputation management, monitoring today’s platforms for modern media dissemination of information. To do this a company should keep track of the happenings on such popular social sites such as Facebook or Twitter. Even a company without the popularity that Toyota has, will benefit from the diligence taken to ensure that their brands and products are not receiving this negative mass press. Online reputation management involves protecting one’s brand and protecting one’s own reputation. When companies find that they have neither the time nor the skill to do just that, is it time to hire specialists in the field of online reputation management. The services that are offered will not only protect one’s company today, but far into the future as well.

I see an article on AdAge  called What to do when your sponsorhsip goes bad.  There is all sort’s of advice on how to protect your brand and avoid mistakes.  There is even advice on an exit strategy.  Well here’s a newflash when you are dealing with human beings there is always a risk, always a risk that they might turn out to be human.  Tiger Woods is fighting an addiction and he has had the guts and courage to stand up in front of the world and admit it.  For anybody who has dealt with addiction either themselves or a watched a loved one they will know how hard that was.  They will know how hard it is to admit it to anybody let alone to the world.  Sexual addiction is no different to any other addiction is is a disease which is categorized by a mental obsession and the phenomena of craving, just like cocaine, alchohol, food, shopping etc.  It is progressive and fatal.  Does anybody in their right mind think Tiger Woods would have done what he did and wreck his life and his families if he had control over it.  I just wish the media would respect what he and his family are going through and leave him alone. My hope is that he finds a path to a healthy recovery and re- build his shattered life with his beautiful family then return to thrill the world with his brillant golfing again .

Last year I had the pleasure of conducting a Webinar for the New Life Event weekend of training run by Shawna Fennell.  The feedback I got from Small Business and attendees was incredible and they were so greatful to have the opportunity to have access to such high quality training.  Shawna does an amazing job putting this event on twice a year and manges to present a speaker line up which matches any of the big shows which costs thousands of dollars to attend.  Why do I do it? To give back to an industry that has been very good to me.  I hear from small business regularly how hard it it to manage their online marketing.  Hiring an agency is often out of the question for many of these companies and individuals.  Online marketing is critical to any business today and this free (yes free) event is an excellent place to go for training  that goes way past the basics.

It is a mystery, as to why the American public forgives some things and not other things, when it comes to celebrities. For anyone who takes the time to “Youtube”, the band Queen is not only searched many times a day, but when one watches those videos, they see that audiences are huge. Freddy Mercury led what some may term, a controversial lifestyle, in a time and an age when so many people may have considered him to be just too controversial.  I simply loved the band and I loved Freddy Mercury.   As a musician and a showman he was the best.  He became one of the most respected performers of all time.  My all time favorite although I loved all Queens music was Bohemiam Rhapsody and I remember as a starry eyed teenager I learned all the words and imagined that one day I would meet Freddy and he would know who I was!  Living in a remote town in the West of Ireland the only reputation I knew about was his reputation as  master showman and talented musician. Now, anything controversial is put online, and those same celebrities the masses would have admired, are put to the stakes so to speak.  

The lives of celebrities are picked apart and spread across the Internet, as if they are not human, and as if they never inspired, us, or me or you. This happened recently with Leif Garrett. The former teen idol and singer from the 1970’s and 80’s now wakes up to news stories, and stories that are blogged about and gossiped about online. This is when online reputation management is required. Actually, if one is anticipating a career in the public eye, online reputation management is something to consider from the get go.

Good online reputation management ompanies monitor negative press, now in the form of personal blogs and even social sites such as MySpace and FaceBook. They look for cases of misuse, of cases wherein a brand name, be that of a product or a person such as a celebrity, a political figure, or the president of a company, is being targeted with bad press, and they resolve those issues quickly and comprehensively. They work to ensure that the negative press will not come up in searches online, and when their services are used as preemptive measure, they ensure that the negative never reaches the top of a search on one’s name or one’s company. In this day and age, anyone planning to deal with the public in anyway, will do oneself a great service to look into the field, and to hire a reputable and experienced reputation management team.

I know they are updating the interface but for three days now I cannot send a message can somebody help. Am I just not “new facebook page” literate!!

Maximize Search Marketing Opportunities with Bestselling Author Bill Hunt Wednesday, February 24th, 2009
5:30-7:30pm
SkySong
1475 N. Scottsdale Road, Convergence Room #129, Scottsdale, AZ 85257

REGISTER TODAY – SEMPO Arizona

Leveraging over 15 years of global search experience, Bill will review the current state of search marketing and his view of the future. Bill will talk about the things advertisers and agencies should be doing today to leverage the eventual upturn in the global economy to increase their business and client opportunities. He’ll also take a closer look at the synergies with other forms of marketing and how to maximize the real opportunities of search marketing to gain a larger share of mind of senior executives to drive global expansion and increased revenues.

About Bill Hunt (@billhunt)

Bill Hunt, author of the bestselling book “Search Engine Marketing, Inc.” has been a pioneer in Search Marketing and is considered the top thought leader on Enterprise and Global Search Engine Marketing. He is an internationally recognized Search Marketing expert who has spoken at conferences in over 30 countries. Press, industry analysts and corporate leaders frequently seek Bill’s advice to effectively leverage Enterprise and Global Search Marketing. Bill is the President of Back Azimuth Consulting, which focuses on helping companies understand the Voice of their Customer by aggregating multiple digital signals into actionable insights, product innovation and messaging strategies 

I found this great video on BBC. It is an interview with Warren Buffett where he talks about the influence his Dale Carnegie course had on his life which he completed when he was 20 years old. The tried and tested principals of Dale Carnegie are evident in Warren Buffett’s style and business ethics. I admire both men tremendously and when I grow up I want to be just like Warren Buffett (well a female version)

Steve Jobs today unveiled the iPad.  Starting at $499 in 60 days you too can have your own iPad.  So what’s so special about it.  According to Jobs its ”a truly magical and revolutionary product,”  To be fair to Apple most of their products are revolutionary and magical and Steve will just go back to his desk now and let the raging fans sell his new product for him.  The Apple brand has the most incredible customer loyalty and this is due in no small part to their ability to delivery truly remarkable products.  I am looking forward to trying the iPad but only after I get the hang of my adroid which I have had for a year now.

Webguild reports a comment from Bill Gates on Google’s China ultimatum.  You can read more here.

I think this bit is really funny:

“Now, if Google ever chooses to pull out of the United States, then I’d give them credit.”