Innacurate Posts and Brand You
Interesting interview of Stephanie Fireman by Paul Dunay at Marketing Prof’s Daily Fix today on practicing Brand Self Defense. Part of the interview discusses the damage done by comments posted by bloggers who not only do not know the facts, but do not know the circumstances or facts and the impact those posts have. Stephanie mentioned comments made by bloggers who did not know her that posted incorrect or potentially damaging information that shot up the Google chats.
Unfortunately that happens to people every day. Part of the quandary is the classic PR question – do I respond and validate – or let it slide? In an online environment everyone has the ability to share their thoughts publicly. With the long tail exacerbating the impact through links and referrals to the comments one has to comment/correct or actually join that conversation, unless you want to continue to see the story showing up in search results as “fact”. The worst part is that even if the blogger pulls down the post or redacts, RSS feeds ensure that the comments continue to live and they take on a life of their own – the genie is out of the bottle.
With no required code of reporting ethics or integrity requirements or any formal editorial oversight, one hopes that the wiki effect would ensue, but we are not in a co-collaboration vehicle when it comes to posting. Nor do you often see others join the conversation to correct inaccuracies directed at an individual. And sensationalism and controversial comments are one way of driving traffic – so it will continue to happen.
It remains for the individual to fix the damage done by irresponsible and ill informed “reporting” if it can be called that. We own our personal brand and need to protect it the same way that a company protects its brand. So monitoring is important.
I agree whole hearted with Stephanie that the situation needs to be addressed in the forum where it was brought up. However, other vehicles should be utilized as well such as blogs, podcasts, comments on other blogs etc..
The impact of irresponsible and incorrect posts can be significant and long lasting – and the time required to fix it can be equally daunting.
Comments
Thanks for picking up the podcast, Gary. I love Stephanie’s terms for managing your own online brand… “practicing brand self-defense.” As you say, we own our “brand” and need to protect it the same way that a company protects its brand.
@ Ann – Great podcast and thanks for the inspiration.
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