Tag Archives: online reputation management

Blogs build relationships…

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Click here for a great article on blogging!

Do we really need a blog?  The question is simple, but the answer it complex.  If you have a strategic approach to your online reputation, or your ORM, then you should realise the complexity of the answer.

One of the hurdles that many online communicators is trying to get tangible results from their efforts to reflect in the profits.  Old-school management styles expect this, but they are on the decline.  Any business savvy person will know that we operate on a level of the triple bottom line:  people, environment and profit.  Leaders and managers alike have acknowledged that without healthy people and a healthy environment, there will not be sustainable profit.

We have said it before, and we’ll keep saying it.  To succeed, you have to put relationships first.  That’s why the answer to ‘Do we really need a blog?” is complex.  It’s complex because it’s about people, and people are no picnic.

Here is a fantastic list of 25 reasons why you need a blog – and they have NOTHING to do with finances…, well, not directly! (read original article)

  1. Create a database of answers — Blog about customer questions. Use links to those posts to save time and answer future questions.
  2. Reward employees — Shine a spotlight on brilliant employees by featuring their ideas and accomplishments on your blog.
  3. Marketing integration — Turn content from your blog into sales and marketing materials.
  4. SEO — Having an active, relevant blog can have a powerful impact on search engine ranking.
  5. Point of differentiation — If your competitors don’t blog, is this an opportunity to stand out in your niche? Continue reading →

Great ORM is not about the platforms; it’s about the people

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Is the focus of your online social media campaign Facebook or Twitter? Our approach to online reputation management (ORM) and search engine optimization (SEO) always begins with the relationships within the organisation.  It’s not services or products that keep business alive, it’s relationships.

Social media is first and foremost about people.

In a recent blog, Mike Saunders makes an excellent observation that so often goes awry when devising communication strategies.

“Social media is about the people, well at least it should be.  Approaching social media strategy with a “platform mentality” is like focusing our attention on the which {sic} bike we need to ride when we should be concentrating on our fitness levels to win the race.

Fitness in social media is the ability to understand our consumers.  Social media allows us to engage, communicate, question and observe our customers.  This should give us a wealth of information to better understand our customers and better meet their needs.  Regardless of the platform, their communication over these platforms should give us insight into their lives, their vales and their needs.”

What Saunders says is not actually a new concept; it’s the age-old concept of defining your target audience before you package your message.  The foremost task in approaching a communication campaign has always been to define your audience and then to choose the best medium possible to reach them.  The options have not changed; they have just expanded.

I was in a strategy meeting last week with the CEO, CFO and IT-guru of a major international group and they have come to the point where they have decided that they need to be present on the social media platforms that are popular in South Africa – Facebook and Twitter.  This is great – they are right, they do need this.  However, with a staff of over 60 000, they wanted to know how their people, the ones without computers or smartphones, would interact with the online social media.

We discussed notice-boards and in-house newsletters, which they already have in place.  I then posed the question; “Who are you trying to reach with the social media available to you?”.  It was this question that allowed them to better understand where we would be headed with the social media campaign and the type of messages that we would use them to communicate.

Developing an online social media strategy is not an IT exercise, it’s not a marketing ploy, and it’s not an advertising campaign.  It’s stock standard Public Relations Management.

Do you need social media?

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In organic SEO (search engine optimisation) and ORM (online reputation management), social media become the vehicles for your messages and your online sustainability and credibility.


We work mostly with small businesses or independent service providers who believe enough in themselves to take on the larger organisations that are able to offer better price, but aren’t always able to get in touch with their customers on a personal level: the personal touch.  The one thing that is always present: passion.

That’s the beauty of the businesses that keep the economy thriving, they’re big enough to make a difference and small enough to remain passionate and focused on what they’re doing with the same natural drive that spurred them to take action in the first place.

“The power of public relations lies in good communication that is aimed at building sustainable relationships.”

The hurdle that they most often face is that of a small voice, but a big heart.  Here’s where online reputation management comes to their aid.  If you’re in a smaller organisation or work for a non-profit, where there is no large budget for major marketing and communication campaigns, you need to know that you can harness the power of social media and blogging to establish, enhance and explode your communication potential!

Twitter, Facebook, blogs and the like, are not about how many people follow but WHO follos.  Some of the people that we’ve worked with have always said “We’re not big enough to have a twitter stream” or  “We won’t have enough fans on Facebook”, and our response is “The sooner you start, the better.”

The power of public relations lies in good communication that is aimed at building sustainable relationships.  Communication always works best when it starts with the smaller things and establishes a base of trust and credibility.  This is why we use blogs, Facebook and twitter in our strategies.  These online communication tools provide us with the foundation for saying what needs to be said and then telling others that we’ve said it.

Social media is not about advertising slogans or marketing catch-phrases.  It’s about being real, relevant and playing your role in your community. So, if you’re still asking “Do we need social media?”, then let me answer for you: “Yes.”

Here are some solid principles, that we recently came across, to approaching and managing your social media strategy.
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