Whether you're looking to promote a new product or to counteract negative publicity, search may be the means to achieve your goal.
If you happen to be walking by a newsstand, you're likely to see the names and pictures of the same handful of celebrities (Brad, Britney, Jessica, Justin, Lindsay and Paris, to name a few of the obvious ones) splashed across the covers of any number of publications. The sheer weight of so many headlines and images cannot help but shape your opinion about these people. In fact, most of us only know celebrities from headlines, images and videos (authorized or otherwise).
In the age of Universal search, search engine results pages are the online equivalent of a newsstand, only one that mixes images, video and user-generated content in with the headlines. With social media playing the role of an editorial page, and search engines providing access to this collective opinion, brands face increased challenges in managing their reputation online. Not only must they stand out in an ever-widening sea of information, but they also must put their best foot forward. Here are some ways that search can benefit you:
Supplement PR efforts
The importance of search to PR is by now well-established, but it bears reiterating that brands in both proactive and reactive mode can utilize search to their advantage. First off, optimizing press releases is a basic best practice that any search-led digital agency should recommend. There are also third-party vendors like Newsforce that specialize in this area, offering low-cost, easy-to-use automated solutions. Second, brands can complement their press release optimization efforts by using the immediacy of paid search to enhance positive news, spread the word about a new product launch, an award or accolade received or to drive visits to a dedicated news section on their website. Managing your reputation is as much about building influence and authority as it is about advertising.
Counteract negative publicity
Similarly, brands can use pay-per-click ads to counter negative publicity. During last year's widespread recall of Chinese-made toys that posed lead-paint hazards, Mattel, one of the companies most affected by the recall, purchased paid search ads on its branded terms both to reassure the public that it was moving proactively to address the issue and to direct consumers to dedicated online resources for more information. Although Mattel's actions did not fix the problem, they did at least show that the company was acting responsibly in the face of a potentially damaging situation, which may have helped to prevent sentiment toward the company from taking an entirely negative turn. Competitors unaffected by something like a recall can take advantage of the situation by running paid search ads that highlight that fact, thereby differentiating themselves from those companies that are involved.
Maintain visibility and consumer trust
Managing a brand's online reputation is also about maintaining trust. Delivering on consumer expectations in search is central to this effort. This means your brand needs to appear in the natural or paid results (but ideally both) for terms consumers associate with it. This may sound like a basic industry best practice, but it's one many brands neglect. For example, for a popular, high-volume phrase like "mp3 player," you might expect to see results for the major brands like Apple, SanDisk and Creative. However, none of these rank on the first page for the term in either the natural or paid results, representing a lost opportunity for these brands (SanDisk and Creative appear on the second page in the natural results). Since consumers associate high search rankings with prominence, authority and popularity in a brand's field or industry segment, don't lose your customers' trust by failing to appear for your brand and industry terms.
Heighten the brand's image and profile
Finally, don't neglect the flashier features of the online newsstand. According to recent Hitwise data, image and videos constitute 30 percent of all Google page views. The bottom line: Search is no longer just about text -- far from it, in fact. Brands have a significant opportunity to showcase other messages and attributes by submitting multimedia content to the engines' image and video feeds. For example, many major brands invest heavily in charitable and volunteer efforts, but much of that work remains invisible, trapped inside corporate archives. It doesn't have to be. Use what you have to humanize your brand and bolster your reputation by endowing it with an additional dimension.
Ultimately, there's a lot of chatter about brands, and sometimes it can be difficult to get a word in edgewise. As I've noted in previous articles, marketers now can (and should) listen closely online to what's being said and learn from their customers, but they shouldn't remain on the sidelines. Brands can and should play an active role in the conversation, and search tactics can help them steer the discussion through the clutter.
Noah Elkin is vice president of corporate strategy for international search-led digital agency Steak.