Facing a Reputation Crisis? Follow the Conversation!

Facing a Reputation Crisis? Follow the Conversation!

When you’re monitoring your company’s online reputation, it’s often easy to figure out what keywords to monitor–brand, CEO, products, slogans, etc. (If you need ideas, we created a list for you).

However, that list is going to change, if you find yourself under-fire by the media. When a crisis hits your company, you’ll discover new keywords and phrases that quickly become talking points. Need some examples? Any of these ring a bell?

“oil spill”
“small people”
“dell hell”
“motrin moms”
“sticking gas pedal”

They’re all hot topics that were not associated with their respective companies, until after a crisis hit. Now, the media, your customers–even your competitors–can talk about “sticking gas pedals” and we’d all know that it’s Toyota being discussed. Right? Well, unless Toyota adds “sticking gas pedals” or “stuck accelerator” to the list of keywords it’s monitoring, it may miss a damaging conversation about its brand. Sure, you could argue that “Toyota” is likely to mentioned as well–so the company would likely spot it anyway–but why take that risk?

When a new topic or phrase starts being applied to your brand, you’d be wise to separate these keywords from your normal monitoring. With Trackur’s Premium or Ultimate plans, this is quite easy. Simply create a new Profile for “Crisis Conversations” and start monitoring the keywords that are of high impact on your reputation. Direct all alerts to your crisis communication team, share specific articles with your CEO or chief spokesperson. By doing this, you’re specifically seperating out the articles that are of critical importance to your brand at this time. You’re making sure that the new Wall Street Journal article about your “sticking gas pedals” is not lost in the general “Toyota” conversations.

When the crisis passes, you can then delete these keywords and get back to being proactive…at least until the next crisis comes along. 😉

Want to learn more about Trackur’s Premium & Ultimate plans? Request more information or a demo today!

ByAndy Beal

Andy Beal is The Original Online Reputation Expert™. A bestselling author of two critically-acclaimed reputation management books, a keynote speaker at dozens of events, and brand consultant experience with thousands of individuals and companies.