Last week we talked about McDonald’s coming under fire during a hashtag promotion gone wrong.  The #McDStories hashtag fiasco wasn’t the first time a well-meaning promotion was hijacked and turned into humiliation, and it certainly won’t be the last.  Shortly after #McDStories went awry, Blackberry parent company RIM experienced the same embarrassment when their #BeBold promotion became a joke in the Twitterverse.

How do seemingly great ideas turn into disasters?  Although it can happen quickly, companies should not be afraid to host promotions on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.  A bit of due diligence and planning can go a long way.  Here are a few tips for preventing (and recovering from unforeseen) bashtag disasters:

First and foremost, consider your audience.  It never ceases to amaze me how some of the most brilliant marketing teams continue to come up with promotions that make them the laughingstock of the social space.  If you’re a fast food company, don’t try to tell people how wholesome your product is.  People don’t like having their intelligence insulted, so stick to common sense.  If you’re working to change your image, tell people why, don’t open yourself up to ridicule with an easily twisted meme.

Once you’ve come up with a great idea, brainstorm some ideas about how the idea could be misconstrued or twisted.  If you can’t think of any, find a few teenagers or kids and ask them to pick it apart.  The most juvenile retorts are likely the ones that will come to mind for a large part of your audience.  Don’t overlook them.

Utilize social media for research.  What is the perception of your brand?  How can you play off of that to get people talking about your company in a positive light?  Don’t be afraid to poke a little fun at yourself, it will make you seem more human to your audience and therefore, more likable.  Be sure to make industry-appropriate commentary, however.  Joking about geekiness with your tech-based audience is fun, calling the same group antisocial dorks is not.

If you make a mistake, take the opportunity to turn it into a win.  If people are using your promotion as a chance to complain, listen to what they have to say and respond.  Let them know that you hear them, and that you’re willing to make changes to provide better service to your customers.  Laugh at yourself a little, and turn the situation around.

Have a backup plan.  If you have a situation that goes south, be ready to handle it quickly. If you must, pull the promotion to minimize damage.  If you do pull a promotion, be ready to explain why, or you may have more talk about the mysterious disappearance of your campaign than you did about the original problem.  When dealing with a real live audience, you never know where things will go.  Being prepared to be candid with your customers and having a sense of humor will often get you much farther than tight-lipped silence.  Remember, the goal is to connect with your audience.  Listen to what they have to say, you may learn something about yourself and your business in the process

What is your favorite hashtag?

Very few people seem interested in proactive reputation management. The big bucks are often reserved for cleaning up a mess. However, being proactive is not only cheaper, but can result in preempting any negative issues that might get raised. Setting the scene is a crucial tactic that more businesses should follow.

And, if a little town in North Carolina can do it, so can you!

The email below was sent to me 48 hours before the start of ukulele legend Jake Shimabukuro’s concert in Clayton, NC. I’m a huge fan–don’t get me started–but I have never been to Clayton before and, to be honest, considered the trip a minor inconvenience in order to see one of my favorite artists. After receiving this email, I now know what to expect when I arrive, where to park, where to eat, and even how to get Jake’s autograph!

We look forward to seeing you this Saturday, Jan. 28, at The Clayton Center for the Jake Shimabukuro concert. We wanted to make you aware of a few things so that you have the best experience possible at The Clayton Center.

The show has sold out, so we are expecting a full house. Showtime is at 8:00 p.m. The Clayton Center will open at
7:00 pm, and seating in the auditorium will begin at 7:30 pm. Concessions, including beer, wine, mixed drinks, soft drinks and coffee, will be available throughout the evening. Cash and credit cards are accepted at all of our bars except the coffee bar (cash only) and beverages are allowed in the auditorium.

Parking at The Clayton Center is always free. There are two parking lots — one is located behind the building (Horne Street entrance) and one is on the corner of East Second and Fayetteville streets. Once parking in these lots is full, you may park on the street as long as you park legally. Please avoid any “No Parking” areas marked by signs or “yellow” zones.

Prior to the show, we encourage you to enjoy dinner at one of the following independently operated downtown Clayton restaurants — Clayton Steakhouse; Mulberry on Main; Lucky Chicken Peruvian Restaurant and Festejos Mexican Restaurant. But be sure to save room for dessert – we serve homemade whoopie pies fresh from Clayton Bakery and Cafe at our coffee bar.

You may also want to stick around post-show for an opportunity to meet Jake and have him sign a CD or other merchandise!

If you have any questions about this performance or about The Clayton Center, please feel free to call the Box Office at 919-553-1737, Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-noon and 1-5 p.m.

Peace, Love and Ukulele!

The Clayton Center Staff

Again, this is an excellent example of proactive reputation management, from a small theater, in Clayton, in North Carolina. Does your hotel send out a similar email to guests before they arrive? Does your restaurant email reservation holders with the night’s specials? Does your auto repair shop send out reminders of oil changes?

Take a look at your business and ask yourself, what questions might a new customer have before they [fill in the blank]. Preempt their questions or concerns and you’ll create a positive environment from the get-go!

San Francisco 49ers’ wide receiver Kyle Williams made two mistakes that very likely cost his team a spot in this year’s upcoming Super Bowl.  If the public humiliation of his blunders and the disappointed teammates weren’t enough, outraged fans took to social media to express their feelings about his errors.

Williams took a barrage of abuse from these so called fans on Twitter, where posts ranged from mere expressions of  disappointment all the way to hateful outrage and threats on the player’s life.  Fans suggested he burn in hell and take his own life.  The worst of the worst came from Twitter user @javpasquel (who’s account is seemingly no longer active. Imagine that.)

The Tweet quickly went viral, with other users adding their own commentary.  Fortunately, much of the commentary was directed back at Pasquel.  In typical reputation nightmare fashion, Pasquel swears that his account was hacked, and that he would never say anything like that.

Last week, marketing minds at fast food giant McDonald’s set out on a Twitter adventure that went horribly wrong.  After publishing several Tweets about their great ingredients and wonderful employees with the hashtag #McDStories, the promotion took a sharp left turn after followers started sharing their own ideas about the mega corporation’s offerings.

Tweets included mentions of horrifying health conditions and needing to be intoxicated to ingest the fast food.  Not quite what the company was hoping for when trying to share their guarantee of high quality ingredients and fresh produce.  The plug was pulled on the campaign a mere two hours after being launched.  A statement from the company’s social media director stated “With all social media campaigns, we include contingency plans should the conversation not go as planned. The ability to change midstream helped this small blip from becoming something larger.”

Kudos to you, McDonald’s for giving this your best effort, and for quickly realizing the error in your promotion.  My question to you – did no one on your enormous marketing team have any idea that this one might go south?  I can’t think of a single instance where someone would attach a heart warming anecdote tied to a fast food restaurant.  Seems to me that a promotion like this one would be inviting funny stories, often involving illness or intoxication.

This is a very large-scale example of why monitoring your reputation online is key – especially during special conversations via social media, please make sure you know what is being said out there so that you can take control of situations like this one quickly.  Have we mentioned that Trackur now offers hashtag monitoring?  If you plan to host conversations via social media, please make sure you know what is being said out there so that you can take control of situations like this one quickly!

Did you know that when you tweet, people can generally read each of your 140 characters?

Not sure if the, now former, Leicester City player Michael Ball realized that or not, but his attack on homosexual British actor Antony Cotton just cost him a £6,000 fine, and apparently his job.

Ball messaged the Coronation Street actor Antony Cotton, who is openly gay and plays the factory worker Sean Tully in the long-running soap opera. Cotton was at the time appearing in I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here! “That ******* queer,” Ball wrote. “Get back to your sewing machine in Corrie you moaning *******.” The message has since been deleted.

Being somewhat “high profile” Ball’s Twitter feed likely didn’t need much in the way of expert monitoring, but your business is likely not as lucky. Are you keeping an eye on your employee’s tweets? Of course, you don’t want to sit and watch every single tweet they vomit up each day, but you should be aware of any tweet that mentions your brand, right? You should know if they talk badly about your clients, their fellow employees, or your own products.

Trackur’s social media monitoring includes Twitter (and Facebook, and Google+) so you don’t have to stand over the shoulder of each and every employee. If they’re talking about your company–good or bad–you’ll know about it.

(hat tip Simon Heseltine)

Everyone has seen the recent flurry of activity and the messages encouraging the public to stop SOPA.  Not everyone understands what all of the fuss is about.  In a nutshell, SOPA is an anti-piracy bill that is currently, and until recently, very quietly working its way through Congress.  SOPA would effectively give content creators the ability to pull their content from another site to which they have a copyright claim.  Unfortunately, the pulling of the content includes the ability for the content owner to demand that the offending site be stripped of advertising, the ability to accept payment, and can even be removed from the search engines and blocked by Internet service providers.

Still, how does this affect you?  Currently, the Internet is much like the Wild West.  There is a lot of territory without a lot of law.  SOPA is a very extreme response to the lawlessness of the Internet as we know it today.  At first glance, it may seem like a good thing to know that you could take action against someone who steals your content.  Not so much the case with this bill.

Take this site, for example.  We’ve mentioned popular music, film, and television shows in some of our posts to help get our point across.  We’ve used images from the aforementioned sources, although clearly we have not “stolen” intellectual property from them.  If anything, we’ve helped promote those pop culture references.  If, for some insane, unfathomable reason someone associated with one of these sources decided they didn’t much care for us, they could file suit.  These media giants have far more funding than this humble website, and would have no problem shutting us down, stripping us of our content, even getting us removed from the search engines.

Sites like Wikipedia would surely have multiple violations, and search giant Google would even be at risk for providing people with mentions to the sources that they’ve asked for when querying a search.  Essentially, we’d become afraid to talk about many of the things that made the Internet so great in the first place.  Because of this, people will stop talking about businesses online for fear of prosecution.  Imagine, no reputation disasters to deal with!  Unfortunately, the only reason you would no longer need to monitor your reputation online is because you essentially would not exist online.

Your employees are a direct representation of your brand.  Whether their portrayal of your company is accurate or not, it is one that is being projected out into the world.  If you own a locally focused business, this is especially important, as the image your community has of your business is largely created by the people that work there.  Being kind to your employees does not make you a pushover or open you up to letting them walk all over you.  It creates a mutual respect that encourages your employees to do their best work while portraying a positive image of your company.  Here are a few dos and don’ts for creating a positive work environment that will be reflected out into the community.

• Take the time to hire employees that share the same vision and goals for your company as you have.  This may take longer and cost you a bit more, but it will be invaluable in the long run.  Employees that agree with your mission will not only share that vision with your customers, but will also convey a positive attitude that can’t help but be contagious.
• Keep an eye on management.  Whether you agree with their methods or not, the behavior of your managers will reflect upon your company.  An abusive or negative supervisor will not stay a secret for long.  Even if you’re blind to their behavior, the news will get out to your community in no time.  Work to hire and maintain a good working relationship between your employees and your customers will benefit.
• Some companies are taking advantage of the current state of the economy and taking advantage of their workers.  Don’t be one of those companies.
• Yelling, threatening, and passive aggressive behavior are inappropriate and should not be tolerated.  Ever.
• Take some time to say thank you to your employees (and your customers).  It is a small gesture that can go a really long way.  People want to know that they are appreciated, even if you don’t have the budget to offer bonuses or raises.
• One bad apple can ruin the whole bunch.  Often, an overall feeling of negativity or hostility in an office environment is caused by one disgruntled member of the staff projecting their negative feelings onto the rest of the group.  It is even worse if this “bully” has the ear of management and uses their powers for evil.  Keep an eye on the dynamic in your office.  Do you have one person that is often complaining about others?  It may be time to take a look and see if they may be the problem.  I’ve seen office environments where this one bad apple causes a lot of great employees to lose their jobs, and management can’t figure out why the problems continue.  This is a problem that eventually will affect the reputation of a business.
• Who is answering your phone?  A customer’s first contact with your company is one of the most important.  Make sure that the person that answers your emails/phone calls/front door is one that is kind and polite.  Being greeted by a gruff, impersonal receptionist is a great way to send a new customer running for the door.

What do you do to ensure that your employees are representing your business in the best way possible?  We’ve found that scare tactics and abuse are not the best ways to whip a business into shape, so why do employers keep doing it?  We’d love to hear any great customer service stories you may have, or any horror stories –maybe some examples will help whip some employers into shape.  (If not, they’ll be great entertainment!  )

*If you all add a few, I promise to put in a few of my own! I’ve had some…  interesting.. jobs in the past!

I have a rule when it comes to customer service. I don’t privately talk about a customer in a manner I wouldn’t feel comfortable them seeing or hearing. That means no “Mr Needy” or “Mrs PITA” references–not even in a private CRM note.

Not only is it disrespectful, but that internal note could easily present itself to the customer. Case in point, Exhibit A:

Yeah, not good. Take the stance to not belittle your customers, ever! Not even those vague Tweets you think are just a harmless way of letting off steam. Even if the customer is not following you, potential customers may avoid your business lest you bad mouth them too!

So, to recap. Papa John’s? You need better ingredients, better pizza, and better manners! Corporately you may be in shock at this behavior, but the customer doesn’t interact with “corporate” they interact with the local store. Time for staff re-training methinks!

Thanks to Minhee Cho for tweeting and Ed for sharing.

UPDATE: Kudos to @PapaJohns for a swift and sincere response:

From everyone at Trackur, we wish all of our wonderful customers a very merry Christmas!

We hope you and your family have a very blessed Christmas and New Year.

We all know the value of location in real estate.  The better of a neighborhood you live in, the more your home is worth.  Better neighborhoods have better reputations, and boost your comfort level when it comes to the safety of your family and belongings.

As more and more of our lives become immersed in social communities online, the importance of your virtual neighborhoods becomes more and more apparent.  Where you “live” while you’re online (and who you spend your time with) can show a lot about your values, personality, and much more when someone is looking into your personal or professional life.  Potential employers, educational institutions, even blind dates are doing their research before allowing you into their neighborhoods.  Will you pass the test?

We’ve all got the inappropriate Facebook friend who posts embarrassing photos, spews political rants, or has horrible spelling and grammar.  Then there’s the not so safe for work Twitter account that you follow for entertainment value.  And that former coworker or boss who you friended out of guilt on LinkedIn?  They can all have an effect on how you’re viewed by peers, strangers, and even current friends.  Fortunately, if these “friends” are few and far between, most potential dates/employers/friends will be willing to overlook them.  However, if you take a hard look at your timeline and notice a lot of posts that you wouldn’t be comfortable sharing with coworkers or a classroom, you may want to consider relocating to a better neighborhood.

As unfair as it may seem, that crazy uncle of yours that you love dearly can have an effect on how others look at you.  Just like you might not want Cousin Eddie’s RV parked in front of your house at Christmas, you also may not want him taking up valuable real estate on your wall.

Have you ever gotten in trouble for missing a birthday?

Fortunately, I’ve never forgotten my wife’s birthday, but I did forget to share with you all Trackur’s 4th birthday! Shame on me!

Seriously, the expression “time flies when you are having fun” has new meaning to me, thanks to Trackur–especially in 2011 which has seen our strongest year yet! We’re almost at 41,000 registered users and our growth looks set to exceed 100% for the fourth consecutive year!

Reading David Lee’s post “What We Look For” had me reminiscing about what caused me to launch Trackur 4 years ago and embark on this incredible start-up journey. Lee writes…

Our preference is for founders solving a problem for themselves…Another advantage of a founder building a product or service to solve her own pain point is that she doesn’t have to do market research or focus groups—she is the target market.

Which is exactly how Trackur started. Let me tell you the story, in case you’ve never heard it.

After finishing my book Radically Transparent: Monitoring & Managing Reputations Online, I looked over the chapter on monitoring tools and felt so much frustration and dissatisfaction. You see, you had Google Alerts (free) then you mostly had the big boys of monitoring–all charging thousands of dollars per month. There was no stepping stone. In fact, looking at my own needs, I realized there was no affordable option that allowed me to graduate from Google Alerts, manage multiple reputations in one place, and, most importantly, fit my stingy budget.

So, I decided to build that option.

The vision included a dashboard that drew inspiration from Google Reader and Gmail, but tailored to the monitoring market. I wanted to be able to quickly edit and update searches, see reports on discussions about my brand, and do so without any flashy eye-candy to distract me from my task. That was our goal, and I think even the first iteration of Trackur achieved that.

Once I had that concept, I figured that this might be a tool that others would find of use too! So, the next step was to build a brand for it. I wanted something short, memorable and easy to spell. Well, two out of three ain’t bad! I tried dozens of domain names, but just about everything was taken. I settled on the name Trackur for two reasons. One, it could be said phonetically the same as “tracker” and, if Flickr could be a success even with a completely missing vowel, Trackur could be too!

As an aside, Trackur ended up being a little less phonetic than I had envisioned. Even to this day, some folks believe our company name is “TrackUR” as in “Track You Are.” That’ll teach me to make the “u” and the “r” a different color!

With the concept and brand in place, I set about to build it. Being more of a marketer than a programmer, I worked with a small but talented team to build the first version and launched just a couple of months later–in February of 2008.

It was a modest success that first year. I was still consulting a lot on reputation management, so Trackur mostly stayed as a side project. A good friend asked me at the time, “What is your financial goal for Trackur?” I replied that if I could sell enough accounts to make back my small financial investment, I would be happy. Boy, have we done that, and then some!

In 2009 Trackur started to take off and, by the end of that year, I decided to start winding down my consulting and focus on Trackur. I’m starting to get long-winded here, so to cut a long story short, we decided against selling the company in 2010, completed a major overhaul the early part of this year, and are tremendously excited about Trackur’s growth in 2012.

So, there’s the back story. Trackur’s now in its fifth year–our birthday was November 12th–and so I want to take the time to wish all of the Trackur team, customers, and friends a belated happy birthday!

PS. Watch for new announcements after Christmas as we’re not done with the upgrades and hope to announce some cool new stuff in the New Year!

A unique New York dentist is facing legal action for forcing her patients to sign away their right to complain about her very expensive services online.  Stacy Makhnevich, also known as “the Classical Singer Dentist of New York” is being drilled with a class-action lawsuit by a former patient.  After he publicly accused the crooning doc that she overcharged for her services, the dentist slapped a suit on Makhnevich, demanding $100 for every day that his negative comment was left on Yelp and DoctorBase.com.

There are so many things wrong here, I don’t even know where to begin.  Let’s make a list, shall we?

• First, your dentist is an OPERA SINGER.  Do you find anything odd about this?  No?  Okay, then move to point 2.
• Your dentist asks you to sign a document taking away your right to post a negative review about them online.  I have a great dentist.  He has never asked me to do this.  You know why?  Because he is good at what he does.  Anyone who is good at what they do should not be so afraid of what their patients may say about them that they threaten legal action against Internet reviews before any treatment has even taken place.
• You are charged nearly five thousand dollars for a procedure that should have cost $200.  It is a filling, not a trip to Grand Cayman.
• Your dentist calls herself “the Classical Singer Dentist of New York”.  I just don’t get this.  Can’t she just be a dentist?

Lee states that his posts are well within copyright law, and is asking a judge to make the agreement with Makhnevich null and void, and prohibit her from forcing anyone else to sign it.

According to Public Citizen, one of the watchdog groups that is part of Lee’s legal team, North Carolina company Medical Justice is to blame.  Medical Justice’s business model includes selling form contracts to medical offices to “protect physicians from Internet defamation.”

Who do you think is going to win this one?  Would you sign a contract waiving your right to complain about medical care?

So, how early did you get up today?

Slept in? Yeah, I don’t blame ya!

There’s still a chance for you to make out like a Black Friday bandit, thanks to your friends at Trackur. For today only, sign up for any paid Trackur plan and we’ll refund 75% off your first month. Simply forward a copy of your PayPal receipt to help AT trackur.com and we’ll take care of the rest.

Oh, and don’t forget, you have just five more days to take advantage of our fantastic annual plan promotion. Pick up an annual Plus plan and get a free iPad 2! Grab an annual Premium or Ultimate plan and get the iPad 2 AND an iPod Touch, Nano, Shuffle and Apple TV!!!!

All these amazing Black Friday offers from the comfort of your computer chair.

We want to take time out to thank everyone that has signed up to use Trackur.

Thanks to you all, we have just surpassed 40,000 users–making Trackur arguably the largest social media monitoring vendor in the world!

2011 has been a great year for Trackur. We’ve added new features, charting, and generally improved speed and response times of the Trackur dashboard. We’re not done….not by a long shot. Expect more great news, features, and improvements over the coming months.

If you’re a fan of Trackur, please leave a comment so we know who you are. And, just in case we don’t get to thank you individually, know that you have the sincere thanks of the entire Trackur team.

Thank you!

If you’re considering monitoring your reputation in social media, don’t even think about it until you’ve covered these six important foundation steps, given by Trackur CEO Andy Beal at the recent Pubcon Las Vegas conference.

Of course, we’d love for you to use Trackur for your social media monitoring, but no matter what tool you use, make sure you heed our advice.

Always respond to comments and reviews when possible.

Be nice!

Create a community.

Don’t dawdle – address issues that may affect your reputation immediately.

Employees are an extension of your brand.  Make sure you have a great team.

Find out the facts before responding to a complaint or attack.

Goals.  Have them.  When you meet them, make more.

Help your customers out, even if it isn’t always convenient for you. They won’t forget it.

Increase trust, gain loyalty.

Join the conversation.

Know what is being said about you.

Lose the attitude.

Make the most of every interaction, whether it directly benefits your business or not.

Note your biggest supporters, and your biggest complainers.  Keep an eye on both.

Offer solutions when customers report problems.

Preparedness is key.  Have a disaster recovery plan in place, and use it when needed.

Quick response shows customers you are listening and that you care.

Reach out when someone talks about your brand, positive or negative.

Share praise.  With potential and current customers, and also with your team.

Thank you –say it.  Please too!

Understand that you can’t make everyone happy all the time.

View complaints as an opportunity to turn a situation around.

Words should be chosen carefully.

eXemplify greatness.

Years and years.  The Internet has a very long memory.

Zip it.  Know when to!

As you know, Trackur focuses on Social Media Monitoring.  People often ask us why we put more importance on the social sites than we do on the review sites.  There are several reasons.  First, many review sites don’t take kindly to monitoring.  The second reason, however, is a bit less obvious.

Less obvious, perhaps, but much more important when trying to minimize damage to your brand.  Say you’re angry about something.  Really upset.  A representative for a company was rude to you, someone charged your credit card twice and caused an overdraft on your account, or a product you purchased is not performing as expected.  What do you do in the heat of the moment?  Do you take a minute to blow off some steam on Facebook or Twitter, or do you go straight to a review site and post a well thought out review?

If  you answered Facebook or Twitter, you’re not alone.  In times of stress or frustration, most users take to the social sites first and posts short bursts or rants about their experience.  After they’ve gotten some responses from their audience and released that initial anger, they’re often “over it” and don’t proceed to the review sites to share their experience.  If they do post a review, chances are they’ve already mentioned their negative experience on at least one other social site first.

What does this mean to you as a business?  If you can catch the complaint while it is merely a blip on the social media radar – and fix the problem – you can not only prevent a more permanent (and noticeable) piece of review history, but you may also be able to salvage the relationship before the customer has moved on.

Please know that we are not discounting the importance of the review sites.  In a perfect world, you’d know everything that is being said about your company as it is being said.  We’re simply stressing that the earlier you can address a potential issue, the less likely it is to become a lasting problem.

Christmas is fast approaching and to help you give the perfect gift this year, Trackur is offering free Apple iPads and iPods with all annual Plus, Premium, and Ultimate plans.

While we’ve had a long running iPad 2 promotion, for the month of November you can get a free Apple iPad 2 with just the annual Plus plan. That’s right, for $1056 you get one year of amazing social media monitoring and insights AND a free 16GB iPad 2 worth $500!

The iPad is brand new, and you get to choose black or white. It’s not engraved, so you can give it to a loved one as a Christmas present and they’ll think you rock!

But, it gets better! If you prepay for our Premium or Ultimate plans, you’ll get not just an iPad 2 but an iPod Shuffle, iPod Nano, iPod Touch, and an Apple TV! Keep them all for yourself or give them as holiday gifts. Either way, someone better call the sheriff  ’cos this offer is a steal!

Interested? Just fill out the form below and we’ll send you the full terms/conditions and get you set up!

Hurry, this offer must end November 30th! This offer has now closed.

Yikes, it looks like Trackur has been hacked…

…by a rather mischievous vampire named Count Trackula.

In addition to changing the Trackur logo, he’s also taken over the Trackur Twitter account!

And if that’s not enough, he’s trying to put us out of business by offering our Plus plan for just $31 for anyone that signs up today. Simply sign-up for our Plus plan and you’ll pay just $31 for your first month (send an email to help AT trackur.com after sign-up, to get the price adjustment).

I know it’s Halloween, but I hope Trackula doesn’t stick around too long. Still, it could be worse, it could be zombies!

Are you concerned about being ready to take on a Zombie Apocalypse?  One hardware store has you covered!  Westlake Ace Hardware in Lenexa, Kansas shows no prejudices, offering supplies for both the living and the living dead.  Need zombie defense items?  No problem, they’ve got you covered!  Already moved to the land of the undead?  That’s okay too!  There’s a whole section on bodily repairs and delaying the decay, complete with handy FAQ section!

Now, we know you’re wondering…  “How on earth did this store know that people and zombies alike were in need of such supplies during the spooktacular Halloween season?”

We can’t be certain, but we know it would’ve been very easy to see who was looking for such items with a handy little reputation monitoring tool to help them out!  Trackur is awesome for seeing who is talking about your product.  You never know, there may be a demographic out there that you never considered that is a perfect fit for your industry!  Not sure?  Ask Westlake Ace Hardware, we’re sure they’re being swarmed with new business these days

Are you prepared for the Zombie Apocalypse?  Check out this handy guide to ensure that your home is ready to take on anything (or anyone) that may come your way this especially spooky weekend!

While Trackur may not be technically the very first social media monitoring tool to add Google+ monitoring, we are the first to make it available at such a low price!

Yeppers, starting today, all paid plans will now have Google+ monitoring available to users. With our plans starting at just $18, we are by far one of the most affordable ways to monitor Google+.

You’ll find Google+ listed in your “Selected Sources” in your Advanced Search Options. You should find that we have activated it for all existing saved searches, so there is nothing you need to do. Should you not wish to include Google+ (which, we doubt) then simply unselect it, re-run your search, then re-save it.

We’re always looking to add valuable sources to Trackur and we think Google+ is going to be a great one. Not so great lately, has been Digg. Our users tell us they’re getting much more out of the recent addition of Reddit, so as of today, we’ve pulled Digg as a source.

If you’re not yet on one of our paid plans, today is a great day to upgrade! You’ll get the addition of Google+, Facebook, and Forums monitoring–none of which are currently available on the free plan. And, if you upgrade this week, we’ll give you a 50% rebate on your first month’s payment–for any plan. Simply contact us to let us know you’d like to take advantage of this offer (ends Friday).

Here at Trackur, we’re constantly reminding companies that their employees are an extension of their brand. Their actions reflect on the company’s reputation.

So, it was to my horror to see this tweet from @travisoliver and accompanying photo:

Google’s Street View program is already unpopular in many places around the world, so you’d think Google would have trained its drivers to be extra courteous and considerate, right?

Let this be a warning that you should be monitoring your employees actions across all channels. You never know when one of them will give your reputation “the bird.”

Hat-tip @gatewood5000

I’m about to share a secret with you that most link building pros don’t want you to know. It’s about a link building tactic that they’d rather keep to themselves in order to maintain a competitive edge. Sure, they’ll tell you about the standard link building tools they use, they’re just less likely to tell you about this awesome tactic for finding fresh, influential links.

What is this tactic? Using social media monitoring tools to find backlinks.

We know of a number of SEOs that use Trackur for link building and while they’ve not spilled the beans on how they use Trackur, I happen to know a thing or two about SEO, so here’s how they’re using social media monitoring to get better links than you.

Checking for Existing Links

• They’re keeping track of existing mentions of their company
• They review the anchor text used in those blog posts and articles and then politely ask the author to switch to better targeted anchor text.
• If the link is pointing to the wrong page, or they need the link pointed to a more relevant page, they’re asking for it to be switched.
• If the destination URL can’t be changed, or worse, broken, they’re 301 redirecting the link.

Monitoring for Potential Link Partners

• Link building pros are keeping track of who’s talking about their company and products but not actually featuring them.
• They’re following up with emails to the author, thanking them for the shout-out and suggesting further topics for discussion.
• They’re keeping an eye out for articles that mention their company but don’t link to it. They then simply ask if there’s anyway they can get a link.
• Smart SEOs are watching for affiliate links. If a blogger is already a part of their affiliate program, they sweeten the commission so as to encourage further discussion.

Discovering New Keywords

Remember those days that seemed so simple?  They set the foundation for everything you ever needed to know about successful customer service, reputation management, and business relationships.  Forget all of that PhD level education and get back to basics, they’re the foundation for every successful business interaction you’ll ever have.

Learn to share.  Sharing is important.  Information, news, ideas, and stories are flying around online at warp speed.  If you want your information to get out there, share it with others.  Share others’ information as well – this will create a sense of goodwill, and make them more likely to share what you put out there in the future.

Say “I’m Sorry” when you hurt someone.  This seems pretty obvious, but time and time again I see people overlooking the importance of a heartfelt apology.  No one is perfect; everyone has a gaffe every now and then.  Be sure to own yours.

Clean up your messes.  The quickest way to find yourself with a huge mess online is to ignore a problem.  If you make a mistake, take care of it before it becomes a huge disaster.

Play fair.  Playing fair does not mean being a bore who takes no risks.  Risk taking is a critical element in the success of most businesses.  In this instance, we’re talking about being ethically fair.  Conduct business in a way that you’d be proud to have your friends and family see you.  If you’re concerned about what your mother would think, you may want to revisit what you’re doing.

Say “Please” and “Thank you”.   Another element of everyday business that should take just seconds yet is constantly ignored.  A simple acknowledgement goes a long way in all of our relationships; why not take the time to make someone feel like their effort is time well spent.

Explore.  Keep yourself from getting stuck in a professional rut by keeping an eye on what is going on around you.  There is a big world out there, have fun getting to know it!

Take time out to rest.  Nap time isn’t just for small children; everyone needs a rest from time to time!    When you’re well rested, your ideas are fresher and your energy is contagious.  Take care of yourself, your clients and colleagues will thank you for it.

Be kind.  Why is this one so difficult?  It takes just as much energy to smile and say something nice as it does to whip out a snarky comment.  Be nice to others whenever possible.  Remember, what goes around comes around.

It’s okay if you don’t always color between the lines.  Steve Jobs didn’t get to where he was by doing what everyone else was doing.  If you want to color your grass purple and make your school bus blue, go for it!  It is okay to be different, if you have a great idea that seems unorthodox pitch it and see what happens.  You rarely hear someone say that they regret giving something a try.

Play.  This one is very important!  Have fun!  If you’re not having fun, what’s the point?

Researchers from Northeastern University and Harvard University recently made an interesting find while studying trends on Twitter.  After studying the moods of over 300 million Tweets, the mood of our nation as a whole changes throughout the day.  Research found Twitter users to be happiest in the morning and at the end of the day, with the afternoon during the work day being the unhappiest time of day.  No surprise there, right?

More interesting were the geographical differences.  Twitter users on the West Coast tended to be ‘happier’ than their East Coast counterparts throughout the day.  Knowing Trackur’s skepticism for automated sentiment analysis (yes, even from the folks at Harvard), what do you think about these findings?  Are people on the West Coast really happier, or do they just use different conversational patterns in their online communication?

Take a look at the research below, and let us know what you think:

(a larger version of the image can be found here)

PubCon Vegas (Nov 8-10) is the one internet marketing conference you don’t won’t to miss. More than 200 expert trainers will teach over 110 training sessions on everything from SEO, to PPC, to affiliate marketing, and, oh yeah, social media monitoring.

Our very own Andy Beal will be there and he wants you to join him…on his dime! Yep, simply sign up for Trackur’s awesome white-labeled Ultimate plan and we’ll pay for your Gold Pass to PubCon Vegas.

Ready? Here’s how it works.

First, sign up for four months of our Ultimate plan at a rate of $1,508. No obligation to renew.

Second, get a free Gold Pass to PubCon Vegas–valued at up to $1499!

Third, let Andy Beal buy you a drink in Vegas and sit down with you to talk about the latest trends in reputation management & monitoring.

To recap. You get our fully white-labeled social media monitoring dashboard AND a free Gold Pass to PubCon for around fifteen hundred bucks! Plus, you get to sit down with reputation expert Andy Beal.

What’s not to love about this deal? The offer expires October 31st, 2011 and space is limited, so if you are interested, please contact us today to secure your spot!

Tell Me More!

P.S.
You just did the math, didn’t you? $1508 minus $1499 leaves $9, right? For that extra $9 you get to spend time talking with Andy Beal about the topic of your choice AND he’ll buy you a drink!

Promotional Terms and Conditions: This offer does not include transportation, food or lodging for PubCon Las Vegas 2011. A PubCon Las Vegas 2011 Gold Pass will be issued upon receipt of your payment for 4 months of our Ultimate plan. Payments must be made by check and are non-refundable. One PubCon Las Vegas 2011 Gold Pass will be issued per account. This offer is open to new and existing Trackur customers. Offer cannot be combined with any other promotional offers and our normal money-back guarantee does not apply.

Recent research shows a correlation between daily deals and negative online reviews.  Researchers from Harvard and Boston University conducted a study of over 16,000 daily deals in 20 US cities from Groupon, one of the more popular daily deal sites.  In addition to monitoring the sales of these deals, they kept track of the number of Facebook likes that each deal generated.

Throughout the same timeframe, they tracked the reputations of the 2,332 merchants via 56,000 Yelp reviews to determine changes in reputation.

In addition to determining the profitability of these deals, researchers found a significant increase in online reviews associated with them.  More controversially, they found that these ratings showed a marked decline in the average scores of the reviewers mentioning purchasing the company’s product through a daily deal.

Reviews specifically mentioning the words “coupon” or “Groupon” were examined in even more detail.  According to researchers “Reviews mentioning either keyword are associated with star ratings that are 10% lower on average than reviews that do not, while the very small fraction of reviews mentioning both keywords are more than 20% lower on average”.

What does this mean for merchants thinking of selling a deal with Groupon?  The data shows that sales increase with these deals.  It seems that what the retailers do with these sales is where the trouble lies.  I’d venture a guess that most complaints involve the retailer not being prepared to handle the volume associated with the sale of their deal.  Being equipped to deal with increased sales, mentions online, customer service requests, and website traffic are key in creating a great user experience.  These deals can be a great way to increase exposure and boost business, or they can make a company fall flat if not properly prepared.

I’ve purchased a few of these deals myself, and for the companies that have set up their deals well, I’ve become a loyal (full price) repeat customer.  I’ve also had a purchase go wrong with the company going out of business before I had a chance to use my voucher.  I’m happy to report that Groupon did refund my money before I even knew of the closure.

Trackur is already has one of the freshest and most up-to-date data sets, but we’ve just ensured that your social media monitoring is fresher than an Old Spice commercial!

For all of our paid plans, we’ve added the ability for you to instantly check for any new results that haven’t yet been added to your dashboard. While Trackur’s results are often just a few minutes old–and certainly no more than an hour or two old–we appreciate that when our users are digging deep into the data, they want to make sure that data is a fresh as possible.

So, you can now click this link (found at the bottom of your saved search list):

If your dashboard has not already been updated in the last 30 minutes, we’ll do a rescan of all your saved searches right there and then. Of course, depending on how many saved searches you have, this refresh can take from a few seconds to a few minutes, but we’ll let you know when the refresh has finished.

We hope you enjoy this little bit of freshness from your friends at Trackur!

Quick, I need a good reason for doubling the capacity of our Plus plan.

Oh, it’s Friday! That will do!

To celebrate “Friday” I’ve just given the go ahead to increase the number of saved searches on our Plus plan from 25 to 50–doubling the tremendous value we offer for just $88 a month!

Trackur’s Plus plan is the lowest price plan that also includes our Insights charts and analysis, so it truly is our “Best Value!”

Sign-up or upgrade today.

Andy

P.S. Yes, existing Plus plan users get the doubled capacity too!

For the past 4 years, we’ve stood by our claim that Trackur is one of the easiest, and intuitive, social media monitoring tools you’ll ever use.

Still, that doesn’t mean that you’ll actually have the staff on hand to manage your online reputation monitoring. With that in mind, we are launching a pilot program that provides fully managed social media monitoring services.

By combining Trackur’s industry-leading social media monitoring dashboard with our expertly trained staff, companies of any size can outsource their monitoring.

We’re offering two new managed services:

• Our Fast Track Setup service is perfect for those that just need help setting up their new Trackur dashboard.
• Our Managed Monitoring & Reporting service provides one of our highly trained reputation monitoring experts to manage your Trackur account for you, and provide you with all the reports and alerts you need.

Both services are attractively priced so you can take the decision to free up your valuable time and leave it to us.

Space is limited for both services, so if you’re interested, please contact us today!

Continuing to make huge strides in their local offerings, Google has acquired review pioneer Zagat.  Unlike many of Google’s acquisitions, 32 year old Zagat is widely divergent from the young, hip startups we usually see associated with the search giant.    

Zagat, started as a print guide to dining, has recently started competing more in the Internet and mobile app spaces.  The company’s impeccable reputation combined with Google’s audience is sure to create a winning combination.  Founders Nina and Tim Zagat share on their website that “Google delivers the most relevant and high-quality information, and it’s the perfect home for our content.”

As a self-proclaimed foodie, I’m very excited to see this partnering.  I am hopeful that Zagat ratings on Google Maps will add a nice element to the user experience, offering concise and accurate descriptions along with location data.  The cynic in me is concerned about gamed and paid for ratings, and a decline in Zagat’s stellar reputation.  My guess is that things will land somewhere in the middle.

Where does this procurement leave Yelp?  It is no secret that Google attempted to purchase Yelp in 2009, think Yelp is rethinking that one yet?  Yelp is currently a pretty big player in the local review space, viewed as young and hip.  Zagat tends to be viewed as older, but more sophisticated.  It looks to me like reputation beats hip on this one.

Sometimes my wife has a bad day.

Someone cuts her off. She receives a snarky email. Her computer gets a virus. Her haircut goes wrong. At times like these, she has taught me the most important lesson when it comes to being on the receiving end of someone complaining:

“Hear me now, listen to me later.”

It took me years to understand what she was talking about. Effectively, she’s telling me that she wants me to just let her vent and for me to agree with her. This is not the time for explaining things or, worse, trying to fix things. After she’s done, then–and only then–is she ready for me to listen, digest, and help resolve the issues.

It’s a lesson we could all use in our social media monitoring.

In effect, your customers, employees, vendors, investors, complain for two reasons. First, they want you to “hear” their complaint. Often, they turn to Twitter, Facebook, or their blogs, because you didn’t provide any means for them to state their case to you. They crank up their volume because they are desperate to know that you are willing to hear what they have to say. At this point, they don’t want a fix. They want an apology. Verbal, written, and maybe even with a discount or refund.

After that, they want you to “listen” to their complaint. Not just hear it, they want to see evidence that their complaint has really sunk in. This is the time for you to fix that bug, address that customer service issue, or address that rude employee. It’s here that you take action and rectify the situation that gave rise to the complaint in the first place. It’s time for action!

So, the next time you see a customer complaint, remember to both hear and listen to them.

P.S. To all new husbands out there, reading this, you’re welcome!

How would you like to be one of the first people to get your hands on the much rumored iPad 3?

Yeah, the one not yet announced, let alone released.

But, we all know that it’s just a matter of weeks before Apple announces the iPad 3, so we want Trackur users to be one of the first to get their grubby clean mits on it. So, as of today, you can enter our new contest to win the iPad 3.

How does it work? Well, as soon as Apple releases the iPad 3, we’ll start counting down the clock to close the contest. 10 days after the release, we’ll close this contest and pick a winner.

With luck, you’ll be one of the first people to own the Apple iPad 3, all courtesy of your friends at Trackur. Cool huh?

Head on over to our contest page for further details and to enter.

P.S. Yes, this contest is open to those that have entered our previous iPad contests. Good luck!

In the age of online communities and personal engagement with brands, pushy sales techniques are going the way of the dinosaur.  Here are five of the fastest ways you can leave a budding relationship with a customer dead in the water:

• Send Unsolicited Email – Nothing turns fans off more quickly than email (or DM’s) they didn’t ask for.  In fact, many people now immediately unsubscribe/unfollow/unlike you before even giving you a chance if they feel bombarded by annoying correspondence.  Don’t think your message is spammy or annoying?  It is.  No really.  It is.
• Abandon Your Community – Many businesses spend a whole lot of time and money getting as many followers as they can.  Then?  Nothing.  No response to comments, questions, or complaints.  Online communities do not manage themselves; take a little time to engage with your fans.  We cannot stress this enough.  Be a part of the conversation taking place around your brand.
• Ignore The Little Guy – Long gone are the days of the Mega Corporation having a huge presence and the small customer having no voice.  Take care of your customers, or they’ll trash your reputation.  Rarely does sympathy lean towards the big company, even if the customer is in the wrong.  Be sure you take some time to hear them out and do what you can to make things right.  Spending a few hours calming one angry customer, even if their anger is misplaced, will save you a lot of time and money down the road.
• Be Negative – You know that friend you’ve got on Facebook, or that person you follow on Twitter who seems to never have anything positive to say?  Don’t be that guy.
• Have a Huge Ego – Thinking that you are more important than anyone else online is a huge mistake.  You never know when you’re going to run into someone that could change how you do business. Do not ever assume that your company or your standing within said company puts you above anyone else.  Don’t let your ego get in the way of apologizing when you’re in the wrong, either.  Customers like to see the human side of a business.  If you’re constantly acting as though you are untouchable, no one will want to do business with you.

There are many other ways, some much more obvious, that you can damage an online relationship.  These are a few of the most common mistakes that we see people making every day.  People who are otherwise brilliant, but are damaging relationships because they don’t take the time to listen to their customers, have a positive attitude, or step off of their pedestals long enough to create a relationship with their audience.

In a recent statement released by a German “data protection” official, Facebook’s “like” button is to be removed, from German users’ accounts.  The statement claims that the “like” button violates privacy laws in the country.  Known for seemingly ridiculous laws regarding Internet privacy, this newest revelation takes the cake for outlandish public policy.

Thilo Weichert, claims that Facebook illegally profiles users’ web habits by tracking the expression of appreciation through the utilization of the “like” button.  Really?  Anyone who looks at a post can see who “expresses their appreciation” of the post.  Does the big bad machine that is Facebook really need to utilize that button to secretly track what people might like?

Weichert states “Facebook can trace every click on a website, how long I’m on it, what I’m interested in,” he goes on to say that all of the information the site collects is then sent over to Facebook, even if the person on the site is not a Facebook member.

Apparently, Weichert is not aware of how prevalent basic website tracking is these days.  I can see these things on this very blog, and I am far from the multi-billion dollar genius that is Mark Zuckerberg.

Facebook, as expected, is calling these claims absurd.  They state that their “like” button has been implemented in accordance with European data protection regulations.  And more importantly, as with any other site, users choose to view content on Facebook, and many like being able to utilize the “like” button.  The logic for wanting to take away an optional luxury from people who enjoy having it is a bit baffling…

At Trackur, we’re always listening to feedback from our customers.

Some of our best new features are sometimes suggested by our users–and sometimes they’re simple and brilliant.

The latest comes from Li Evans of LiBeck Integrated Marketing and it involves marking an item as spam. Now, I know what you are asking. Why would you want to mark a result as spam, when you can just click the red “x” and exclude it from showing again. Well, that’s the question I asked. Apparently, if you are providing reports to clients, you might just want to show your client discussions that aren’t really discussions, they’re plain spam. After all, they might otherwise think they’re generating a lot of discussion, when really they’re just generating a lot of noise–or spam.

So, with that we just introduced the sentiment icon for spam. You’ll find it right next to the icons for positive, neutral and negative. How do you come up with an icon for spam, when your icons are just 16×16 pixels wide. Actually, we’re quite proud of our solution:

Click to Enlarge

Yeah, that’s right, we now have a Skull & Crossbones in Trackur. How many social media monitoring tools do you know that are that cool? Oh, and the “sentiment” will show in your CSV download as “spam” – perfect for client reports!

Anyway, please keep the new feature ideas coming. We’re always keeping an eye on your feedback.

Cheers!

Retailer Abercrombie & Fitch is on top of their ORM efforts.  So on top of them, in fact, that they’ve offered Jersey Shore cast member Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino and his “Jersey Shore” cast members financial compensation to stop wearing their clothes on the popular MTV show.  MTV calls it a “clever PR stunt” saying they’d “love to work with them on other ways they can leverage Jersey Shore to reach the largest youth audience on television,” in a public statement issued by the network. 

Even if you don’t watch the hit show, you can hardly escape the cast of the Jersey Shore, a group of wild, obnoxious twenty-something’s famous for, well, acting like wild, obnoxious twenty-something’s.  With cast members frequenting pop culture publications across a variety of media sources, the cast has appeared everywhere from People Magazine to an episode of South Park.

If these kids are so famous, why is Abercrombie offering them financial compensation to avoid association?  Abercrombie says that the linking of their brand to “The Situation” and his castmates goes against the company’s “aspirational nature” of its brand and may be “distressing” to current supporters of the company.  Apparently “t-shirt time” and racy, semi-nude advertising campaigns don’t mesh?

What do you think, reputation protection, or PR stunt?

It never ceases to amaze me how many people ask for help with their online reputation, but then are unwilling to change how they do business.  Asking, or demanding, that their reputation be cleaned up.  That those bad reviews out there be “taken care of”.  Never even trying to defend that they’re unjust or untrue, just requesting that they disappear.

Here’s a tip for those of you who think you can mistreat your customers, and then have their complaints erased to prevent the loss of future business: It will catch up with you.

Every business has a moment where they are faced with an unhappy customer.  The true test comes when the business decides how to act upon the complaint.  A good, reputable business will acknowledge their mistake, and do what it takes to make things right with the customer.  A bad business will allow the customer to leave angry, let them rant a while, and then spend a fortune getting the complaints to go away.

A wise expert on reputation management once told me that it costs much less to make an unhappy customer happy, even if they are in the wrong, than it does to defend your actions to the whole Internet.

While it may seem like less work now to let someone walk away angry now than to appease them, it will cost you a lot more in the long run.  Cleaning up bad reviews, turning around peoples’ perceptions of your business, and gaining the trust of new customers is exponentially more costly than making things right with one customer so that they don’t walk away angry.  Don’t let your pride get in the way of your brand’s reputation.

We just wrapped another successful Apple iPad 2 contest and we’re ready to start a new one for the Fall.

For the past year or so, we’ve been giving away iPads to the lucky winners. While we think iPads are still the hottest prize we can offer, we wanted to double check.

So, we’re going to run a quick contest to see what we should give away next. We want to know what else we should we consider giving away as a prize. What would make you enter a contest?

If we pick your idea–assuming it’s not an iPad–for the next contest, we’ll send you a $25 Amazon gift card. Not bad for 20 seconds of your time, right?

Please leave your suggestion in a comment below. Thanks!

Congratulations to Keith Paul (@kemipa)!

Paul wins the Summer contest and we’ll get his brand new iPad 2 in his hands ASAP!

Thanks to everyone that entered our contest. Please stay tuned for the next amazing Trackur prize giveaway–which we’ll announce soon.

In the meantime, there’s still one way to get a free iPad 2 from us.

Maintaining your online reputation requires the ability to be introspective.  Without seeing your own faults, we are unable to correct or improve upon them.  Below is an outline of some of the worst sins in the realm of online reputation management.  Take a look at the list, and then at yourself.  Make fixes.  Repeat.

Wrath – Also known as rage or anger, wrath can help you ruin your reputation in the blink of an eye.  Wrath presents with violence and self-destructiveness, and is the leading cause of many of the seemingly never-ending feuds that you see online – especially in social media.  If something sets you off, take a moment before responding.  Often, after the heat of a moment passes, your initial passionate reaction will seem silly, even to you.

Greed – The downfall of even some of the most brilliant minds, those motivated by greed are never satisfied.  Take care when monitoring your reputation to ensure that you are giving credit where credit is due, and not trying to take all of the glory for yourself.  No one wants to work with a fame hog, or someone that can never be satisfied

Sloth – Perhaps the most tragic sin involves wasting one’s talent.  Do not allow complacency to stand in the way of excellence.  Taking an active role in managing your reputation is one of the best ways to show people the real you.

Pride – We aren’t talking about taking pride in your work here, we’re talking about hubris.  Often considered the original sin, an excessive love of self that blinds one to be able to acknowledge the good work of others, pride can be detrimental in managing your reputation online.  The ability to see yourself as you are, and act with humility will allow you to take your reputation to the next level.  By admitting that you’re not perfect, and sharing with others when someone else does a good job, you show your online communities that you’re not only looking out for your own success, but also for the greater good of the community.

Lust – Much like greed, lust for power or image is self-destructive and off-putting.  Balancing your drive with self-control will allow you to keep your reputation on an even keel.  A positive self-image is key in effective online reputation management, but be careful to not let it appear as though all you care about is image and power.

Envy – A very close relative of pride, envy prevents one from appreciating the good that others receive.  Whether it be professional accolades, a big client, or a great new business venture; don’t let envy get in the way of your ability to see the good in others.

Gluttony – There is such a thing as too much of a good thing.  Don’t let your passion for what you do take over every aspect of your life.  Make sure that your personality shines through.  Overindulgence can be distasteful to others.  Working to achieve balance will allow you to see clearly, further improving your standing online.

Now here’s something that’s caught my eye..and disturbed it.

Wired.com has pieced together evidence that suggests a reputation “attack” site is in cahoots with a reputation “repair” site. I almost didn’t finish the story–after all, it seemed like just another “guy gets a bad Google reputation, hires an ORM firm” piece.

Then I saw this:

Florida.arrests.org is the brainchild of a computer-savvy Florida ex-con named Rob Wiggen…

and…

“Philip Cabibi Mugshot,” read the title. The description was “Mug shot for Philip Cabibi booked into the Pinellas County jail.”

then…

Cabibi paid RemoveSlander $399 by credit card, and within a day, the site had come through. His mug shot was gone from florida.arrests.org, and his Google results were clean.

here’s the kicker…

Wiggen said he has provided RemoveSlander an URL for an automated takedown script on his site.  A PayPal payment of just $9.95 will automatically purge a mug shot from the site. For an expedited removal from Google’s index, which Wiggen’s code performs through Google’s Webmaster tools interface, the fee is $19.90. Wiggen said other removal sites also make use of that same URL, but he declined to name them.

So, if I am reading this right, Florida.arrests.org get’s $20 each time an ORM firm uses its script–750 have been removed thus far. RemoveSlander nets about $380, and they both move on to the next “customer”–all without much effort.

Wow! What’s next, the same guy owning both the attack site and the removal site?

Is there a lesson here? Sure, don’t do the crime if you can’t do the Google facetime. Oh, and always contact the attack site first and see if they have a “program” that ensures your information is removed. Cut out the middleman!

Our thanks to Visibility Magazine for featuring Trackur in the summer edition. If you don’t receive the magazine, you can read the article online or see the scan below.

America’s sweetheart and Pretty Woman Julia Roberts may not be as pretty as you think.  A recent ad campaign featuring Roberts and supermodel Christy Turlington has been banned in the UK after complaints of excessive airbrushing by Liberal Democrat MP Jo Swinson.

Sample image, before and after editing for press.

Swinson has been a very vocal proponent of banning any media reflecting “overly perfected and unrealistic images” of women, claiming that this unrealistic advertising is “not representative of the results the product could achieve”.

L’Oréal has admitted that the models’ images in the ads had been altered and admitted to digitally retouching the photos in order to “lighten the skin, clean up makeup, reduce dark shadows and shading around the eyes, smooth the lips and darken the eyebrows”.

So what did they leave the same?  Apparently they felt that leaving some signs of aging, including crow’s feet, accurately showed results achievable by using their product.  While L’Oreal did provide information on modifications they made to the images, they were not willing to release pre-production photos of the models, citing contractual reasons.  This only furthered Swinson’s disgust for the issue, fueling her to state that “Pictures of flawless skin and super-slim bodies are all around, but they don’t reflect reality.  Excessive airbrushing and digital manipulation techniques have become the norm, but both Christy Turlington and Julia Roberts are naturally beautiful women who don’t need retouching to look great. This ban sends a powerful message to advertisers – let’s get back to reality.”

Have we gone too far with our expectations for visual perfection in the media?

My husband is a Network Engineer, and his day to day work brings him into contact with a variety of interesting individuals.  Every once in a while, he comes home with a story that leaves me speechless – something that is not an easy feat.  An email encounter between one of his clients and an overly pushy sales person this past week was too good not to share. 

The first email blatantly blasts Carbonite, a competitor of this data backup company that shall remain nameless:

“Dear XXX,

Here are just a fraction of the Carbonite reviews that are available on Google.  Unfortunately they give our industry a bad name.  If you already paid them for the year, I would chalk that up as a learning experience.

Since XXX is the owner and has the most to risk if the data gets lost, could you please forward these to him too.   You data is your most valuable asset and it needs to be protected properly.”

The person sending the email didn’t even bother with a personal closing greeting, he just attached an obnoxious, banner-width signature to the bottom – complete with his own head shot.  I kid you not.  In addition to asking the email recipient to share the email with his boss, Obnoxious Sales Guy took the liberty to CC him, just in case.

What is wrong with this type of sales tactic?  Aside from the fact that it is tacky, it does nothing to show the merits of this company’s product.  Simply attacking a competitor doesn’t show a potential customer any reason to choose you; it just gives them some possible reasons for not choosing someone else.

When Obnoxious Sales Guy didn’t get a response within a timely manner, he sent this follow up:

“Hey XXX,

I just wanted to touch base with you to see what you thought of the Carbonite reviews I sent you and if it makes you feel safe and secure.    No one in their right mind would, but I wanted to check just in case.

Actually, the one who should be the most concerned is XXX since he is the owner.  If the above email address is not his correct one, could you please forward him these?

Thanks.”

Hey kids, here’s a great idea!  When you don’t get a response from a potential customer, insult their intelligence!  And then verify that you had the right contact info when you tried to go over their head!

Here’s my question: Has anyone in their right mind purchased a data backup solution from this guy?  After a brief search on Obnoxious Sales Guy’s company name, I found that not only is he a sales person, but he is also the CEO.  In addition, there are more bad reviews out there about him than there are about Carbonite.  Methinks someone needs to revamp their sales strategy.  By sending Carbonite’s bad reviews, not only is he failing to show people what his company can do, but he’s giving them the idea to search for reviews.  I don’t think they’ll like what they find.

Have you ever followed someone on Twitter that had great information, but they just could not keep you interested?  Providing valuable information isn’t enough anymore.  There is an infinite amount of competition for your customers’ attention out there, you not only need to give them great information, but you need to keep them engaged.  How do you do it?  We have some great tips to get you on the road to an interesting, informative, and engaging social media campaign.

• Assign the work to someone who enjoys it.  Your CEO may not be the best person for the job, find someone in your organization that is a good communicator.  Your audience will thank you.
• Know your goals, but be flexible.  You may start your Twitter account to try to generate buzz about your product, but find that it works as a great customer support tool.  Don’t try to force it; being adaptable is key in today’s ever-changing world of social media.
• Engage and contribute.  Social media is not meant to be yet another avenue for push marketing.  Reach out to your audience and get to know them.  Create a bond with your customers and other brands, become part of some great conversations.
• Utilize tools.  Tools like Trackur, Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, and a variety of smartphone apps will help you manage your various accounts by targeting keywords, product names, and domains.  These tools are often inexpensive and are invaluable.
• Lighten up a bit.  The days of the secretive, tight-lipped corporate executive are over.  People want to see personality in a company, and expect transparency from employees.  Let who you are shine through in your posts, and you’ll find that making connections becomes much more organic.
• Have fun with it.  It really is perfectly acceptable to have a bit of fun online.  Be careful to not be offensive, but let your customers see that you’re not afraid to be a bit silly at times.  People will enjoy seeing that you are having a good time, and want to be part of the fun.

What are you doing to keep people engaged?  Do you have a no-fail strategy for engaging your followers to keep them coming back for more?

We’ve been listening to feedback about the white labeling we offer our Ultimate users and we’re happy to announce some improvements.

First up, we’ve added two highly requested new color-schemes to Trackur.  We’ve added a generic, kinda classy looking, “Gray” scheme:

Click to Enlarge

We also took the feedback that our “red” color scheme was a little “pinkish” so we’ve added a more manly “True Red” scheme:

Click to Enlarge

Next up, we’ve made it more convenient for you to designate Trackur’s email alerts to come from your own email address. As well as designating an email address under each client Profile, you can now set a default across all Profiles. You’ll find the option under your Branding tab.

Lastly, you can now mark a Profile as “Read Only”. This prevents a Profile user from adding or deleting saved searches, or generally just messing up the hard work you put into setting up their dashboard. They can look, but not touch! You’ll find this new option in your Profile management, under your Profiles tab.

Thanks for the feedback. We’ll keep working hard to make Trackur the Ultimate social media monitoring dashboard!

Trackur would like to wish everyone a very happy holiday weekend!

Be safe, have fun, and remember; with great freedom comes great responsibility – keep those reputations clean while you celebrate our great nation

What are your Fourth of July favorites?  I love spending time outdoors with friends and family, cooking on the grill, and of course, the fireworks!

Is Google + just another attempt by the search giant to collect your data?  Some say the company’s most recent social networking effort is just another attempt to jump into the social networking arena.  Others are concerned about Google + being a giant data collection effort.  What do you think?  My guess is that the answer lies somewhere between the two theories.

This is not the first attempt to jump into the social networking ring by Google.  Hopefully Google + will be more successful than Buzz and Wave, which both were met with criticism and even a lawsuit based primarily on privacy concerns.  One more social media flop will not be good for the company’s social reputation.  Some predict that Google is working so hard to break into the social market due to the increasingly strong relationship between Facebook and search rival Microsoft.  It is hard to deny the resemblance between Google + and Facebook, with its feeds and friend groupings.

What does it take to join the new social network?  A Google profile, of course.  Here’s where the privacy concerns come into play.  Google is requiring at the very least, a name and a photo to set up an account.  Everyone has heard the rumors about Google fine-tuning their facial recognition, and opinions on the technology run the spectrum from totally creepy to super cool.

So what do you think?  Is Google looking to broaden their ever-expanding empire through a new avenue, or via creepy data collection?  My best guess is that one of the theories is the main goal, and the other is an added benefit –the key is in figuring out which is which

Just in case your boss asks what the ROI might be on one of Trackur’s paid plans, feel free to share this with them.

Not bad for an $18 a month investment, huh?

Now that we’ve added Trackur Insights to our Plus plans and above, you may want to take a look at how you organize searches within your dashboard.

This applies to users on our Premium and Ultimate plans, as you can set up Profiles to segment your saved searches.

Whereas before, you may have kept lots of unrelated saved searches in your main Profile, a little refinement will help you get the most out of Trackur Insights. Let’s look at an example.

Let’s say my saved search list for my main account looked like this:

• tiger woods
• trackur
• radically transparent
• iphone
• sprint
• dell
• mac
• bp
• andy beal

While that gets the job done, what if Apple was a client and I wanted to be alerted to any dramatic changes in conversations about its products? The key changes may get lost among the saved searches for dell, sprint, etc.

To focus my attention, I created a new profile for Apple and moved all related saved searches to it. Now my saved search list looks like this:

And Trackur Insights provides a more focused view of what’s going on with social media conversations around Apple’s brand:

So, the moral of this story is, think smart about the searches you have saved in each Profile. Consider moving them in order to help Trackur Insights help you.

In response to our Ten Worst Jobs post, we figured we’d follow up on a more positive note.  While highly physical construction jobs topped the worst jobs list, positions in health and technology dominate the list of favorable professions.  As with the worst jobs list, desirability was determined using a combination of factors including pay, work environment, hiring outlook, and stress.

• Dental Hygienist – Although assisting dentists in their day to day operations can be a lot of work, the pay and low-stress job environment are good.
  

  Career Barbie needs to update her costume trunk for 2011

• Audiologist – Helping people diagnose and treat hearing problems in a favorable work environment puts this position on the list.  Low physical demands and good pay are added bonuses.
• Historian – Recording historical data and providing analysis in a comfortable setting help this research based career make the list.
• Biologist – High pay and low physical demands in a research-based setting create a great position.  Though highly specialized, biologists provide very important information regarding plants and their relationships to their environments.
• Meteorologist – Great pay, a fun work environment, and a decent hiring outlook.  What more could you ask for?  Meteorologists study characteristics of the earth’s atmosphere in order to make predictions about future changes in weather and climate.
• Computer Systems Analyst – Another position with great pay and a comfortable work environment.  Are you seeing a pattern here?  Systems Analysts plan and implement computer systems, and the position doesn’t appear to be going anywhere soon.  Hiring outlook is good.
• Statistician – For those who love numbers, the analyzing and interpreting of numerical results from studies and surveys for great money is a dream job.  Factor in low physical demands and a calm work environment, and number crunching has never looked better!
• Actuary – Another numbers based job, actuaries interpret statistics in order to make predictions.  They look at the probabilities of everything from accidents and sicknesses to loss of property from theft and natural disasters.  These are the guys that affect how much your insurance is going to cost, and they get paid well to figure it out.
• Mathematician – Yet another job centered on numbers!  Mathematicians can be utilized to solve a variety of problems in a business setting in addition to teaching mathematical theories and formulas.  Great wages and a positive work environment come as no surprise, these guys solve problems for a living.
• Software Engineer – Main responsibilities include researching, designing, and managing software systems for a variety of purposes.  Great pay, flexible hours, and seemingly endless employment opportunities put this position at the top of Forbes’ list.

What do you think?  Did your chosen profession make the list?  Are you thinking of making a change?

According to researchers at the University of Missouri, organizations need to keep an eye on online comments during a crisis.  We agree.  The study states

“With the increasing pervasiveness of social media and online communication in the operation of most organizations and corporations, little is known about the potential effects of public expressions of anger displayed throughout various online sources.”

I’m not sure I agree so much with this statement.  I think anyone who has been in the game for a while knows that whether accurate or not, online conversations play a huge role in a company’s reputation.  Angry customers speak loudly and their voices carry with the help of social networks.

Bo Kyung Kim, the doctoral student in charge of the study, measured participants’ perceptions of four automobile companies both before and after reading a news story about a crisis followed by a variety of negative Twitter and message board posts and Facebook comments responding to each individual crisis situation.  The comments and posts came from both the general public and the perceived victims of the scenarios.  While platform didn’t have any bearing on sentiment, the comments had a very large effect.

“Victims have higher credible perceptions for readers so I would definitely suggest that organizations should pay closer attention to content created by perceived victims of the crisis than content created by an anonymous source,” Kim said. “We found that negative messages created by victims significantly increased the negative reputation of an organization, and were more likely to result in boycotts against the organization than when it was sourced to unaffected individuals.”

Again, no surprise here, but this is a good reminder for corporations to pay attention to what is being said about them online, especially on the social channels.  Long gone are the days of the little guy not having a voice.  Corporations, time to rethink the way you handle crisis!

OK, this is big news for us.

Big!

Huge!

Ginormous!

Today, we announce the launch of Trackur Insights–analytics and insights that will allow users to quickly see the most important activity in their social media monitoring dashboard. After 3.5 years of providing simple, affordable, and accurate social media monitoring, we believe we’ve found the right formula for adding charts and graphs that will actually help you–as opposed to useless eye-candy that just costs you more.

There’s a lot being launched, so let’s start with the main Trackur Insights executive summary.

Executive Insights

New Results – this one is pretty self-explanatory. We’ll show you how many total new results you have across all the saved searches in that profile.

Results Velocity - it’s one thing to know how many new results you have, but how does that compare to the day before? Results Velocity shows you the percentage increase, or decrease, in new results compared to the previous 24 hours.

Results Sources - just where are all those new mentions coming from? This nifty pie-chart shows you your share of voice across the different channels we are monitoring.

Most Active Searches – easily see which of your saved searches has the most new results. Then see how many new results each has and the breakdown of the top 3 sources.

Most Velocity Change - which of your saved searches has changed the most? Here we show you the saved searches with the most percentage change in the past 24 hours. This shows both increases and decreases, so you can see what’s hot and what’s not.

Discovered Keywords – what keywords has Trackur discovered are the most common among your existing saved searches? This nifty tag-cloud is great for discovering new keywords/brands that you should be monitoring. Click on any of the keywords and Trackur will immediately run a new search for you.

Trending Charts - We’re already showing you the top 5 most active searches, but with this line chart, you can quickly see the results trend for the past 7 days.

Sweet huh? We’re not done yet! Let’s take a look at the new insights for each individual search.

Single Search Insights

New Results & Velocity - how many new results does your saved search have? Quickly see not only how many new discussions there have been in the past 24 hours, but we’ll indicate whether that velocity is up or down by showing you the corresponding velocity arrow.

Results Sources – this handy pie-chart will quickly show you which source is generating the most discussions for your saved search.

Trending Chart - what’s the overall trend for new results over the past 7 days? This chart will quickly show you that key data.

There’s a reason we’re labeling this launch as Trackur Three Dot OMG. While our competitors have been quick to justify their higher price tags because of their analytics, they’re now quaking in their boots. You see, with this launch, we’re announcing no new price increases. Yes, you heard us! Pricing is not increasing with this launch. Trackur Insights will be available on our Plus, Premium, and Ultimate plans at no extra charge. Why no charts for the Basic plan? Trackur Insights works best for those users that have multiple saved searches and need help seeing what’s moving and shaking. Our Basic plan allows just 5 saved searches, so the charts would look somewhat empty at times. Never fear, our Plus plan includes Trackur Insights and is just $88 a month!

We hope you’re as excited about this launch as we are. We’ve listened to your feedback and think we’ve delivered the kind of analytics you need to get the most out of your Trackur plan. However, we’re not done with Trackur Insights. Tell us what new charts, features, or tools you would like to see added to Trackur Insights. You can leave your suggestions here.

Thanks, and stay classy Trackur fans!

2K Games is no longer entrusting the Redner Group with their Twitter account after some unprofessional ranting about poor reviews went public.  The Redner Group was promoting the poorly received new Duke Nukem Forever video game, and was not happy with what was being said about the game.

The most  inflammatory Tweet has since been deleted, but said “Too many went too far with their reviews…we are reviewing who gets games next time and who doesn’t based on today’s venom.”  While blacklisting reviewers from future products after unsavory reviews are published is common, it is rarely verbalized.

In an official statement made by 2K games stating that they do not endorse “the comments made by Jim Redner and we can confirm that The Redner Group no longer represents our products. We have always maintained a mutually-respectful working relationship with the press and do not condone his actions in any way.”

The gaming industry relies heavily on reviews, and while reviewers are aware of the chance that a bad review could prevent them from getting first dibs on the next round of new games, often their loyalty lies where they should –with their readers.  Threatening the people that essentially sell your product for you is never a good business strategy, and in this case, will probably cause more damage for the Nukem franchise than the initial reviews.

Looking for work?  You may want to take a look at the list below.  According to Forbes, these are the positions with the gloomiest outlook for 2011.  Next up we’ll talk about the ten best.  Job desirability is measured based on five criteria: pay, outlook, work environment, stress and physical demand.

The jobs listed below offer a combination of abysmal pay, high risk of physical injury, stressful conditions, or other undesirable working conditions.

Without further ado, The Ten Worst Jobs in the US are:

• Roustabout – Main job duties include routine maintenance and labor on oil rigs and pipelines.  The pay is low and the risk for injury is high.
• Iron Worker – These guys raise steel structures to create buildings and bridges.  It is another highly physical job with relatively low pay.
• Lumberjack – Job duties include felling, cutting, and transporting lumber to be utilized for various purposes.  This job is not only extremely dangerous physically, it also ranks high for stress.
• Roofer – Whether they’re installing new roofs, repairing existing roofs, or replacing old ones, this job is not for the faint of heart.  Dangerous work environments and high physical demands combine to make roofing a physically stressful and demanding career choice.
• Taxi Driver – Responsible for transporting travelers to and from various destinations, taxi drivers must know their area well and be prepared for a variety of situations.  Taxi drivers experience hazardous road conditions, inclement weather, and difficult clientele on a daily basis.
• Emergency Medical Technician – EMTs tend to emergent medical situations that run the spectrum from car accidents to gunshot wounds.  This job is fast-paced, high stress, and physically demanding.
• Welder – Welders repair and bond metal surfaces.  Dangerous tools, high temperatures, and ever changing surfaces make this physically demanding career dangerous.
• Painter – We were a bit surprised to see this on the list, but painters have extremely high physical demands in addition to potentially dangerous working conditions.  Scaffolding, dangerous chemicals, and perilous reaches put this position on the list.
• Meter Reader – Long days, physical demands, and not a lot of room for advancement make meter reading one of the worst jobs in America.  Add in a not so great hiring outlook and disgruntled neighborhood pets, and you can see why this job is not a favorite.
• Construction Worker – This generic term covers anyone assisting in construction trade work.  Often physically demanding and dangerous, these workers do a lot for little in return.

High physical demands, stress, and low pay combine to create the list above.  Your job doesn’t seem so bad now, does it?  ;)  Do you agree with this list?  Is there anything that didn’t make the list that should have?

This wiener?  Adorable.

This one?  Not so much.

What on earth was Representative Anthony Weiner thinking when he decided to share inappropriate photos of himself on Twitter?  First the congressman lied about the photos, saying his account had been hacked.  He has since come clean and admitted to sending the photos of himself.  Honestly, does he not realize that nothing is private online?  Maybe he (and quite a few of his colleagues) should check out some of those Public Service Announcements geared towards high school students…

What do you think, can his reputation be saved?  Should a senator be held responsible professionally for something he did in his personal time?  Do public officials have personal time?

Although he is an interesting member of the animal kingdom, Mr. Ostrich is not a great guide when it comes to reputation damage control.  In fact, looking to an ostrich’s tactics for dealing with trouble is much akin to checking in at a frat party for tips on etiquette.  It might be entertaining, but it’s probably not a great idea.

Most companies are more than happy to engage in social media conversations when things are going well, or when they’ve got a new pitch, but what happens when things head south?  Most companies duck their heads and wait for the media frenzy to pass.  Traditional public responses such as heavily scripted press releases and media statements no longer cut it in today’s fast-paced, social media centric world.  News, both bad and good, spreads like wildfire with the assistance of sites like Twitter and Facebook.  If a company isn’t prepared when accusations and questions start piling up, they can quickly be buried in bad publicity.

Recently, corporate giant Sony and trendy retailer Urban Outfitters learned this lesson the hard way.  Two very different companies with two very different issues both handled their troubles in the worst way possible – with total silence.  Urban Outfitters sent out one sad little Tweet saying they were looking into the issue and would report back, followed two days later by an official statement saying that they are unwilling to “be undermined by these false allegations.”  Probably not the best way to win over your audience; no one likes to be insulted or called a liar.

What should they have done?  Unfortunately, not being prepared for a reputation crisis beforehand put both of these companies in a tough spot.  Mid-crisis is not a good time to work on your damage control strategy.  We’ll skip the lecture, if you’re reading this; you’ve likely heard it before   It all boils down to one very important, but often overlooked idea: Communication.  No one likes to feel like they’re being shut out or ignored.  If these companies had simply become a part of the conversations that were taking place about them, they probably could have avoided a large portion of the negative publicity.  Yes, they still would have had to answer for what they’d done, but their now former fans would have seen the humans behind the corporation.  People are much more forgiving when they feel that they’re dealing with people instead of corporate drones.

Did you know that although the ostrich is a bird, it cannot fly?  Just another reason to look elsewhere for business tactics –after all who wants their business stuck on the ground?

In addition to our new Apple iPad 2 contest, did you know that you can get your hands on a free iPad just by signing up for an annual Trackur plan?

Simply sign up and prepay for an annual Ultimate plan and we’ll send you a FREE Apple iPad 2.

Yep, you get the easiest and most affordable social media monitoring tool on the planet AND a free iPad 2 to access it with!

But, we’re not done! You may not need the unlimited client profiles or the complete white-labeling provided by our Ultimate plan. Never fear! Sign up and prepay for an annual Premium plan and we’ll ship you a FREE iPod Touch!

Not impressed by flashy gadgets? Don’t need the Premium or Ultimate plans? Hmmm. What to do, what to do?

I tell you what. Sign up and prepay for ANY annual plan and you can get 12 months for the price of 10. Any plan! Of course, for Premium or Ultimate plans you can’t have both–we have mouths to feed–so pick either the device or the discount.

We’re going to run this promotion for a limited time only, so if you’re interested in getting in on this amazing offer, send an email to help@trackur.com today!

Not-so-small print: Offer open to US users only. iPad 2 is the 16GB  Wi-Fi version; iPod Touch is the 8GB version. Existing customers can switch to annual plans and take advantage of this offer too. Void where prohibited. We reserve the right to not offer the promotion to anyone–but if you’re too legit to quit, you’ll be fine. No refunds for prepaid annual plans. Offer ends when we say it ends

Can there be any group of individuals with a greater reputation than those that died for this great country?

Thank you to all of our troops and to all of the families that lost a loved one in battle so that we may be free.

Many companies work to further their reach by hosting events.  Whether you choose to host a conference, training, webinar, or other event, how do you maximize attendance?  Most event attendees are much more willing to show up if someone else is paying their way.  The easier it is for them to convince their higher ups that your event is the event they should be attending, the more likely they are to ask to attend.  I recently was talking to my husband about his travel lineup for the rest of the year, and he mentioned one of the events he chose to attend made it very easy for him by providing a letter for him to send to his boss, explaining all of the reasons why their event is the best use of his money.

Why is a prewritten note like this one a good idea? Several reasons:

• Increased brand awareness.  The decision maker holding the money now not only knows about your event, but they’re associating your brand with expertise.  When it comes time to discuss buying, they’ll recognize your name.
• Eloquence.  Chances are, a carefully crafted marketing message is worded a bit more prettily than a quick “can I expense this?” email from an employee.
• Convenience.  A staffer is more likely to ask permission to go to an event when they’ve got the justification spelled out for them.  If they have to take the time to put all of the reasons they should be spending money to miss work for your event, they may decide to not bother.
• You know your business best.  Who knows the reasons that your business is great better than you do?  Tell them what they can expect to get out of your event, and how it will benefit their brand.

There are countless reasons for making it more convenient for someone to be able to give you their money.  People are busy, the easier you can make it for them to rationalize attending your event, the more quickly they’ll sign up.

Harris Interactive recently reported on their findings from the 12th Annual Harris Interactive U.S. Reputation Quotient Survey, showing that in general, companies are looked upon as more favorable than just one year ago.  Who are the favorites?  We polled you on Twitter, and not surprisingly, your answers very accurately reflected the tech sector results in the Harris Interactive poll.  What was a bit more surprising; however, were the more seemingly household brands that made the list.

Scores were calculated using six key factors: products and services, financial performance, workplace environment, vision and leadership, emotional appeal, and social responsibility.  Companies with the highest scores, such as Google, ranked highly for not only their technical savvy, but also their contribution to social issues and reputation for being an amazing place to work.  Companies that scored high in emotional appeal include Kraft and Johnson & Johnson, two companies with long histories in everyday American life.

We’re sure you can guess who got number 1 on this list, but some of the others may surprise you:

10. General Mills

9. The Walt Disney Company

8. Amazon.com

7. Kraft Foods

6. Intel

5. Apple

4. Berkshire Hathaway

3. 3M

2. Johnson & Johnson

1. Google

It’s a pretty impressive list.  Is there anyone that didn’t make the cut that should have, or anyone on the list that shouldn’t be?

(In case you’re wondering about #4, use #1 and do a quick search.  Chances are, you’ve got a lot of their products in your home, office, and possibly even in your vehicle.)

Once again, we’re giving away a free Apple iPad 2 to one lucky person that signs up for either a free or paid Trackur plan and tweets the following message:

I’m using @Trackur’s free social media monitoring dashboard and entering to win an Apple iPad 2! You can too: http://trackur.com/monitoring

To make it easier, you can just click this button: 

But, we’re giving you the option to easily upgrade the prize to the 3G version of the iPad 2.

BONUS: Simply “Like” our Facebook fan page as well and, if chosen as the winner, we’ll upgrade your iPad to the 3G version.

The contest is open to everyone over 18 and if you have entered before, you are now eligible to enter again! Full details and rules here.

Good luck!

It wasn’t all that long ago that I was a college student.  (No, really!  It wasn’t!)  After talking with some recent grads, my time on campus feels like it was eons ago.  When I was a student, choosing a professor for a class was a game of roulette.  Would this one grade based on attendance?  Does that one write impassable exams?  Will the other one be a better match with my personality?  Unless you were lucky enough to know someone who’d experienced a particular professor’s teaching style, it was anyone’s guess.

Today’s tech-savvy students have a much better method for selecting classes.  Enter Rate My Professors –a rating site that allows students to choose a class based on factors such as how easy or helpful a professor is, whether they require attendance, and how interesting their lectures are.  Comments from past students give insight on personality and teaching style, allowing students to better match a class to their interests and learning style.  Yes, I’m sure there are some ratings that are embellished or tarnished based on the grade a student received, but overall, I hear this site is extremely helpful and accurate in picking an instructor for a class.  The site also gives the professors a voice, allowing them to fire back responses to reviews.

A quick search on a few of my favorite (and not so favorite) instructors revealed that most of my opinions were on point with what current students are saying.  Based on my highly scientific research, I’d say that this site is doing a good job of setting expectations for students.

Kids these days have it so good, I tell ya…

Popular cloud data storage company Dropbox is in a bit of trouble over some questions about the security policy given to customers with regards to their accounts.  It has recently come to light that Dropbox provides their technical staff with tools that allow them to access private information.  Until recently, their security policy conveniently left that little tidbit out. In addition to some very angry end users, Dropbox can now add a complaint filed with the FTC to their list of troubles.

University of Indiana PhD and security researcher Christopher Soghoian’s claims about the file storage system’s shortcomings brought forth a variety of responses from Dropbox, starting with a very confident

“All files stored on Dropbox servers are encrypted (AES256) and are inaccessible without your account password.”

When Soghioan persisted, Dropbox changed their statement on the product’s data security to a more generic

“All files stored on Dropbox servers are encrypted (AES 256).”

The difference between these two statements?  Huge.  Dropbox boasts super-efficient file storage by analyzing each document before it is uploaded, allowing their system to simply overwrite changes or additions to a document, instead of creating duplicate versions of the same document on their servers.  In theory, this is great.  However, this efficient upload method carries across from user to user.  If a Dropbox user attempts to upload a document that another user already has in the system, Dropbox won’t upload the new file; it will simply update the existing version and add it to the new user’s account.

The architecture behind this storage method means that Dropbox employees can see any file uploaded to the system.  In addition, they have access to the nonencrypted versions of all of the files.

Questioning from users brought about some changes to the help section on Dropbox’s website.

On April 13, the statement

“Dropbox employees aren’t able to access user files, and when troubleshooting an account, they only have access to file metadata (filenames, file sizes, etc. not the file contents).”

Was changed to read

“Dropbox employees are prohibited from viewing the content of files you store in your Dropbox account, and are only permitted to view file metadata (e.g., file names and locations). Like most online services, we have a small number of employees who must be able to access user data for the reasons stated in our privacy policy (e.g., when legally required to do so). But that’s the rare exception, not the rule. We have strict policy and technical access controls that prohibit employee access except in these rare circumstances. In addition, we employ a number of physical and electronic security measures to protect user information from unauthorized access.”

The complaint asks that Dropbox further clarify the text on their website in order to prevent misleading users.  It is also requesting that the FTC require Dropbox contacts all its users to alert them that Dropbox can see their data in the clear, offer refunds to “Pro” users and prohibit the company from making deceptive claims about security practices in the future.

Our take?  Dropbox isn’t doing anything that other file storage companies aren’t doing.  If they’d been up front about their security practices up front (and maybe in the middle), this wouldn’t be news.  Yet another vote from us for transparency.

Even in tough economic times, many workers are constantly on the lookout for greener pastures.  As companies are forced to lay off large portions of their workforces, or even close their doors, more and more employees are reporting that their loyalty to their jobs has decreased.  Long gone are the days of retiring after 30 years of dedicated service, having a pension and a gold watch waiting as a reward.  Some studies report that as many as 84% of employees are regularly on the lookout for a better deal.  We’ll keep the “treat your employees right” lecturing to a minimum –we all know how much it costs to lose a treasured member of the team.  Here are a few quick, easy ways to see if your key employees are looking to move on.

• Check the job sites.  Sounds simple, but most tech-savvy job seekers will post their resumes on sites such as Elance, Odesk, and LinkedIn.  A quick search for your industry or the employee’s name will show you who’s hiring, who’s looking, and maybe even the resumes of members of your staff.
• Social media.  Take a look at your employees’ blogs, Facebook profiles, Twitter feeds, and again, their LinkedIn pages.  See what their general sentiment about their current job is, and note if they seem to be inquiring about employment opportunities.  Also keep an eye on what their friends post to their pages or posts.  Your employee may be discreet, but chances are a friend or relative will mention something without thinking that you may be watching.
• Search for their info.  Google Alerts and Trackur are both great options for keeping an eye on what’s being said about an employee online.  Setting up a few saved searches with key details about your most important employees is a great way to keep an eye on things without spending too much time searching.
• Availability and schedule changes.  You’ll have to step away from your computer for this one.  Is your employee suddenly going to the “dentist” a lot?  Spending more time updating their appearance, stepping out often for private phone calls, or repeatedly taking unexpected time off are all signs that someone may be looking to move on.
• Increased Internet usage. Studies show that most workers spend several hours a day online.  If usage suddenly spikes or your employee scrambles to minimize windows whenever you approach their desk, you may want to take a look at the sites they’ve been visiting.

Although losing employees can be costly and time consuming, keep in mind that if you can’t make someone happy, it may be best for both parties if you part ways.  If you suspect that your top employees may be looking to move on, take a moment to decide if you are ready to lose them.  If not, be prepared to spend some time looking at why they want to move on, and what you can do to keep them.

Searching for a job in this economy can be a daunting, if not seemingly hopeless, undertaking.  Increase the odds and prevent any embarrassing gaffes by ensuring that your reputation online is pristine before you go looking for a new position.  As hiring managers and recruiters get more and more savvy and jobs continue to be scarce, you want to ensure that you’re putting your best face (and voice) forward.  If you’re reading this, you’re already off to a great start!  With just a few minutes a day (and a little bit of common sense) you can ensure that your reputation online reflects not only who you are, but that you are the perfect person for the job.

• Google search.  First things first, run a Google search for your name.  If you have a common name, consider including your career field or location into your search to narrow results a bit.  Scan the first five to ten pages to ensure no embarrassing skeletons pop out.  Assuming you don’t find anything alarming, move on to the dreaded image search.  If you can get through this without finding anything cringe-worthy, you’re well on your way to being confident that you have a sparkling clean reputation!  Bonus points if you find any positive mentions of your name related to your chosen field.  (Find something less than desirable?  Don’t fret; we’ll talk next week about how to repair the damage.)
• Secure your social profiles.  A private Facebook profile goes a long way in preventing someone from finding potentially damaging photos or status updates, but don’t think that it will ensure your privacy.  Scroll through your Facebook and Twitter profiles, and make sure that there are no updates, photos, or links that might raise an eyebrow or two.  Avoid political or religious ranting, keep evidence of last weekend’s shenanigans to a minimum, and make sure your grammar and language use are clean.
• Choose your friends wisely.  Fair representation or not, many employers will associate you with the company you keep.  While everyone has a crazy friend or two, it may be best to keep them at a distance online.  There have been cases in the media lately of people losing jobs or falling under scrutiny due to guilt by association.  If someone does happen to post something questionable on your wall, simply remove the offending post, and privately let your friend or family member know why it was removed.  When choosing people to follow on Twitter, keep in mind that your Twitter stream will be used to gauge your character and personality.  While it may not be an accurate portrayal of your moral compass, it will be a reflection.
• Set up a Trackur account.  It’s free, and will compile a list of mentions of your name from all over the web.  Why wouldn’t you set it up?  If you’ve been in your field for a long time or are in a high-profile position, you may want to set up a basic account and perform several searches.  Search your name, any aliases or nicknames you may have, current and past employers, and any other phrases that may lead someone to information about you.  Knowing what is being said about you online is vital to your professional success in today’s market.
• Be nice.  It sounds pretty simple, but it is amazing how many people forget that their online persona directly affects their personal and professional reputation.  Rude, aggressive behavior is not only off-putting, but many companies see it as a potential liability.  Keep your rants to a minimum, be friendly, and make a point to reach out to help others –it will not go unnoticed.  You never know when an interaction on Twitter will come back around, why not ensure that it is a help and not a hindrance?

You’ve heard it before, but remember that if it is online, it isn’t a secret.  Technology continues to become more entwined with everyday life, and isn’t likely to slow anytime soon.  Keep in mind that your professional and personal lives are no longer separate entities, and share information accordingly.  It is perfectly acceptable to let your personality shine through in your activities online, just be aware of who may be watching.  As we’ve said before, if you wouldn’t say it in front of your mother or current employer, it is probably best to keep it off of the web.

If you’re in charge of choosing new employees for your organization, you already know the importance of a good reputation.  The integration of our daily lives with our online lives continues to grow, showing no signs of slowing.  In addition to this, the reputation of an organization online depends largely upon the reputation of the members that make up that organization.  Because of this, who you hire can have a huge effect on the reputation of your business as a whole, making it imperative that you choose your team wisely.  Here are a few quick ways to keep tabs on potential hires without spending too much time (or money) in the process:

• Google them. The easiest way to get the 30,000-foot overview is to take a look at what pops up when you do a Google search for the person in question’s name.  Take a look at general sentiment, what kinds of sites they appear on, and how often their name seems to be associated with controversial content.  If you have time, check out their current and past employers as well and make note of any commonalities.  Note: If you are researching someone with a more common name, this may not be the most reliable source of information.
• Check their Twitter stream. If your potential hire has a Twitter account, you can find out a lot about them by simply scanning through their Twitter updates.  Check grammar and spelling, language use, who they keep company with, and how they talk about their current job.  Twitter can is a potential gold mine of information, both personal and professional.  Be wary of anyone spewing anything that causes you to raise an eyebrow.  Remember, if it grabs your attention, it will also grab the attention of your customers and your competition.
• Facebook search. Like Twitter, Facebook is an amazing source of information.  Many people post photos, videos, and character revealing status updates without a second thought.  Take a stroll through someone’s Facebook page, and you’ll likely get a fairly realistic representation of that person.  As with Twitter, keep an eye on grammar, mannerisms, and what kinds of information they share on their page.  Use your reactions to the information you find as a gauge to determine the level of appropriateness of their posts. Note: If you really want to dig deep, browse through their friends.  Yes, we all have those cringe-worthy friends that we’d never do business with but we can’t help but love, but they should not make up one’s entire list of friends.  On the other hand, if someone’s list reads more like a resume than a friend list, this may also be cause for questioning.  Look for a good, realistic mix of friends, family, and professionals.
• Trackur. Oh come on now, you didn’t think we’d leave out the best tool for the job just because we have our name on it, did you?    Instead of taking the time to search Google, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, why not just pop their name and current company into Trackur and let us do the work for you?  Get updates of potential candidates’ mentions directly in your inbox; remove unwanted results with a simple click, and save the most important information to your dashboard.  Trackur is a great resource for hiring managers who are interested in the integrity of potential candidates.

• Their own website. If your candidate has a blog or website, hopefully they have some sense about what they put on it.  Browse through the site and see what they have to say, hopefully it meshes well with your business profile.  Take into account your corporate code of conduct for Internet activity.  Is this site something you’d be okay with an existing employee having?  Would you be comfortable with a client stumbling across the site?

As you can see above, the collective theme here is common sense.  Your applicant should balance their life online much like you’d hope they balance their life offline.  This can vary depending on your corporate culture, so use your judgment on if what you find is acceptable or not.  If something doesn’t sit right with you, be sure to address it before moving forward –the reputation of your company depends on it.

Congratulations to Walker Hamilton (@wlkh)!!!

Walker wins the spring contest and we’ll get his brand new iPad 2 in his hands ASAP!

Thanks to everyone that entered our contest. Please stay tuned for the next amazing Trackur prize giveaway–which we’ll announce soon.

In the meantime, there’s still one way to get a free iPad 2 from us.

In our effort to bring the best social media monitoring tools to those on a budget, we’re today announcing the addition of Twitter tools to the Trackur dashboard.

When you view a tweet within Trackur, you will now have the handy option of replying, retweeting, or making it a favorite within your Twitter account. Here’s how it looks:

How cool is that?

What are some of the benefits of these new Twitter tools? Here are a few examples of how convenient these can be:

• You see someone saying great things about your company – go ahead and retweet them without leaving the Trackur dashboard!
• A customer is complaining about your products – reply to them immediately to prevent any escalation.
• One of your clients has a great idea for your business – mark it as a favorite on Twitter so you can respond to it, when implemented.

Those are just a few examples–the possibilities are endless and now you don’t have to pull-up Twitter.com, Hootsuite or any other Twitter tool to respond to an item found by Trackur!

As a side note, we’ve also changed the terminology we use for “Favorites” inside of Trackur. To avoid confusion with an item marked as a favorite on Twitter, and one in Trackur, we have changed our label to “Bookmark.” We’ve been wanting to do this for a while–simply because not all items you save inside of Trackur are positive, so calling them your “Favorite” sometimes seemed plain weird!

The new Twitter tools are available to all users–whether on the Free of paid plans–so happy tweeting!

In the age of instant information, the old adage “any publicity is good publicity” may no longer ring true.  Not sure?  Just ask Charlie Sheen, Mel Gibson, and perhaps more recently, Sony PlayStation and Donald Trump.  We really hope that the publicists for the aforementioned had some serious reputation crisis plans in place before their clients jumped into the uh-oh spotlight.

Sony is in some major hot water with their once fiercely loyal customers right now.  Will they be able to make things right?  They’re going to have to work very hard to regain their users’ trust after a security breach that big followed by nearly a week of silence.  Sony, did you miss our advice about cover-ups often being far more damaging than the embarrassment one is attempting to cover up?  We’ve got a book you should check out…

And as for The Donald?  Well, if he even still has a publicist, we hope they’ve got some serious reputation damage control experience.  Team Donald, you may want to check out Trackur.  At least then you’ll know where to look to start putting out fires.

Can these reputations be salvaged?  It depends on how carefully these guys play their cards.  It won’t be easy, but we have it on pretty good authority that celebrities and big brands can come back from just about anything.  Unfortunately, even the best reputation management can’t fix secretive silence or the outward crazy created by an overblown ego.  Sony and Mr. Trump may want to check in with Toyota and Britney Spears for some support on this one.

Many of our savvy readers are well aware of the potential damage to your reputation lurking around every corner on the Internet, but did you know that your behavior online can also potentially be used to put your in jail?

Most recently, Houston police brought in four individuals accused of robbing a bank and were able to file charges based on several status updates posted to their Facebook profiles.  Posts included ”GET $$$(,” and “IM RICH,” in addition to some other grammatically incorrect disasters.  Not only did they *allegedly* rob a bank, but they’ve also dazzled the world with their near incoherent babbling.  Nice work, guys.  You will now be forever known as “that guy who ‘wipes his teeth with hundreds’”.

The bank robbery in Houston is not the first to be aided by social media.  The Huffington Post recently posted 19 other Facebook blunders that ended in arrest.  Some of the most head-shaking include a photo of a baby with his mouth on a bong, a photo essay of a couple capturing, grilling, and eating a rare iguana, and a hitman who was busted thanks to his penchant for Facebook chat.  It appears that stupidity and notoriety compliment each other quite nicely.

Why worry about your online reputation when you could just not have one at all?  While most Internet users are clamoring for their fifteen minutes of web notoriety, a group of about 90 people in Spain are tackling search giant Google in a “Right to Be Forgotten” case.  They want their information completely wiped from the search engine’s index.

The plaintiffs have very little in common; aside from the fact that they do not want to be forever immortalized in Google’s history books.  As expected, many of them have embarrassing information that they’d like removed.  More surprising, however, is the number of seemingly hackneyed mentions –some of which are decades old, that people are up in arms about.

Spain’s Data Protection Agency is heading up the suit, ordering that Google remove any links in their index to the individuals.  Each individual participating in the suit has at one time unsuccessfully attempted to get Google remove their information.  The main reason for the suit?  Individuals simply do not like that information that was once difficult to scrounge up is now simple to find online.  As expected, Google is challenging the order.

Requests to remove embarrassing or potentially damaging information from their index is nothing new to Google, who rarely concedes, preferring to maintain the integrity of their results over individual reputation management predicaments.  Mandate for removal from a government agency stating individual rights, however, is a first for the search giant.

This will be an interesting case to watch, as it has the potential to change the landscape of search and its long memory.  Will Spain be successful?  I doubt it, but the case will likely raise some interesting questions.  (And probably an increased demand for effective online reputation management training!)

It is no big surprise that we’re big supporters of transparency here at Trackur  All shameless plugging aside, it is pretty obvious that both companies and individuals often get more heat for their efforts to cover up their wrongdoing than they do for the actual misdeed itself.  So what happens when you get into hot water?  Do you have a plan for executing damage control?  How about preventing it in the first place?  Often, simple prevention is much less costly than clean up –both in dollars and reputation.  We’ve outlined a few of our favorite tips for helping prevent the need to break out that ‘reputation crisis control’ plan below.

• Monitor what is being said about your company online and let people know you’re listening.  Keep an eye on general sentiment, respond to commentary, and make note of your most vocal supporters.  Having reinforcements to turn to if your brand should fall under attack is invaluable.

• If someone has a problem, fix it.  Sounds pretty simple, but often companies let small frustrations go unresolved.  Small frustrations can turn into big problems for a brand.  If that small frustration happens to be vented on a Twitter account with several hundred followers, who each have several hundred followers…  Well, you can see where this could get out of hand quickly.  It is much easier to eat a little crow and do what it takes to turn this frustration into a great experience.  You’ll have a fan for life.

• Don’t take the bait.  If someone is goading your brand online, attempt to resolve their problem and move on.  Fighting back will only make you look foolish.  Everyone loves a little drama, but not many people like to associate their wallet with drama or volatility.

• Set realistic expectations and follow through.  This seems glaringly obvious, but time and time again companies will try to oversell their product, leaving customers dissatisfied.  Simply being honest with your customers will get you much further than overpromising on something that can’t be delivered.

• Although people want transparency, keep it professional.  No one wants the gritty details of your guys’ weekend in Las Vegas or a rant on your most recent political pet project.  Keep conversations fairly clean unless you want your business to be associated with the topic.

• Own your mistakes.  The public is much more forgiving if you fess up and let people know what you’re doing to fix the problem.  As mentioned above, attempting to cover up a mistake creates the sense of sensationalism that gets people talking.  If you take control of the situation from the get go, it removes the dramatic aspect of the issue.  People are very quick to forget a problem when there’s no drama accompanying it.

It seems pretty simple, but if you read the news you know that many companies often panic and try to hide mistakes instead of simply fixing things and moving on.  Extending the same courtesy to your customers as you’d expect a brand to extend to you is the simplest way to diffuse a difficult situation.  What are you doing to keep your company’s reputation positive and drama free?

In today’s Internet-centric world, there is no end to the barrage of information hurled at us on a daily basis.  This is likely to continue to increase as time goes on and technology continues to evolve.  As someone who attended high school before the days of Facebook, Twitter, and texting, I am often grateful that some of my past transgressions were not immortalized in embarrassing detail on the Internet.  We all see the images and hear the stories of humiliation, bullying, and potentially damaging information being published online while kids and teens are still too naive to realize that what they do now can follow them for a very long time –what can we do to help these kids learn to play and interact in the Internet world without jeopardizing their futures?

A Kaplan study recently revealed that 80% of colleges and universities check applicants Facebook profiles before considering them for recruitment or admission.  I highly doubt that the average 16 year old is considering this when posting about their most recent love woe or what happened at the party they attended last Saturday.  The Internet has a long memory; how far into their adult life will a transgression follow someone?  Teens are known for periodic lapses in judgment.  My guess is that as “real life” becomes more intertwined with “Internet life” people will become more tolerant of online blunders made in one’s youth.  Right now, however, the shock value is still great.

You can help your teen prevent their now from negatively affecting their future by offering some quick advice.  First, be sure that Facebook profiles are marked ‘private’ and any photos that your teen is tagged in are appropriate for public viewing.  If they are fighting you on this one, a quick Google Image search of embarrassing photos should help them see the light.  Teens have a tendency to be a bit more impulsive in what they post on Facebook and Twitter.  I often recommend people follow a pretty simple rule for posting to social sites: If you wouldn’t say it in front of your mother, child, or boss, you probably shouldn’t say it on the web.  It will come back to haunt you.  If you’re concerned about your child’s online activity, consider setting up a free Trackur account with their name as the search subject.  Show them how quickly their words can spread.

Have you made any embarrassing blunders online?  How did you save face?

Competing for media attention at the same time as the Fail, but with a much better spin, was a deadly little cobra in the Bronx.  When the story of the snake loose at the Bronx Zoo broke, it sounded much like a movie plot: “Poisonous Snake on the Loose in Major Metropolitan Area!”  Unfortunately, a movie it was not.  Whoever was in charge of damage control for this situation deserves a raise –or a job, if rumors about the famous Twitter account’s anonymous creator are true.  Instead of creating pandemonium the cobra became a media sensation.  With a cleverly utilized Twitter profile the cobra now known as Mia became an instant celebrity.

As someone who spends a lot of time focused on reputation management (and happens to be beyond terrified of snakes) I could not understand how the nation was not at all up in arms about this dangerous predator on the loose, but actually embracing the caricature that had been created.  All phobias aside, I was following the story just as closely as everyone else.  We were all hooked.

Ophidiophobics everywhere breathed a sigh of relief when the snake was found within the confines of the zoo’s reptile house and returned safely to her enclosure.  Mia’s celebrity, however, has not waned.  She currently has over 240,000 followers on Twitter, and was named as the result of an online contest.  Mia, short for “Missing in Action” won over thousands of other submissions.  The venomous vixen has become the inspiration countless promotions, and my guess is she’ll have a gig with the city’s tourism board in no time.

Kudos to you, Bronx Zoo and your mystery Tweeter, for turning a PR nightmare into a Reputation Management Win!

Who is going to take more heat for the recent mid-flight fuselage tear –Boeing or Southwest?  The maker of the 737 jet recently said that they did not expect to see the stress fractures that caused this incident until “much, much later,” claiming to be surprised that their safety projections were so inaccurate.

Southwest is currently under scrutiny for how rigorously they test the limits of their planes due to a very high number of takeoff-landing cycles.

The plane in question had over thirty thousand flight cycles.  Boeing hadn’t planned on the planes needing inspection for such issues until after approximately sixty thousand.  Both numbers seem fairly high for a wait to inspect a giant metal tube that transports people through the air at high speeds, no?  The FAA has since grounded hundreds of planes for inspection, most of which belong to Southwest Airlines.

Some claim that Boeing is to blame for this oversight, others are pointing to faulty inspection practices by Southwest Airlines.  What do you think, whose reputation will be most affected by this incident?  Faulty manufacturing or lax inspection practices?

After the amazing success of our free Apple iPad 2 promotion for annual Ultimate plans, we’ve decided to keep the offer going for a while.

To recap, sign up for a prepaid annual Ultimate plan and you will get a free iPad 2!

Use it to view your Trackur dashboard. Give it away as an employee incentive. Or don’t tell the boss, and just keep it for yourself.*

All annual plans come with some kind of special discount or free gift, so even if you need just our Basic plan, you’ll come out a winner!

Get your hands on a free Apple iPad 2!

* Subject to your guilty conscience.

Managing your brand online doesn’t have to take hours a day or cost tons of money.  For many businesses, effective online reputation management can be achieved by following a few simple guidelines.  Here are our top tips for effectively managing your brand’s reputation:

• Do: Consider your audience. Know who you’re marketing to, and use the appropriate voice to speak with them.  Consider the tone, verbiage, subject matter, and content you are sharing with your audience in order to get the maximum benefit from online channels.
• Don’t: Market to the wrong people. Make sure you know who you’re engaging with before you solidify your strategy for managing your brand online.  Keep in mind that you may be  communicating with a different group of customers on Facebook than on your blog.

• Do: Listen. Relying on push marketing can be a fatal mistake online, especially within the realm of Social Media.  Make sure you’re taking the time to hear what your customers have to say.  Know what they like about your brand, what changes they’d like to see, and ideas or suggestions they have for improvement.  Sometimes the best business ideas come from unlikely places!
• Don’t: Ignore. People are talking about your business because they care about you.  Show them that you are listening by taking the time to respond to what they have to say.  Even if you can’t change something, just knowing that you are listening is often a large part in turning a critic into a raving fan.

• Do: Engage. Utilize online mediums to your advantage by engaging with your customers, peers, and even your competition.  Get feedback, suggestions, and let others help spread the word about your brand.  People are much more likely to trust the opinions of their peers about your business over what they hear via advertising or directly from you.  Let your customers and fans become your evangelists!
• Don’t:  Push. Marketing messages are pushed at people everywhere they go; they are seen on television, print media, online, even on billboards at the side of the road.  Don’t be more noise that gets tuned out.  Be part of the conversation!

• Do: Take it offline. In the event you have an angry customer, publically let them know that you want to do what it takes to resolve their issue, and give them the name and contact information of a decision maker within your company to contact.  However, don’t hash things out in a public forum.  This will help prevent the airing of dirty laundry that often happens when brands try to settle disputes online.
• Don’t: Argue. No matter whom is right or wrong in a conflict, customers often come away from a public conflict with the sympathy of their peers while the big brand is vilified.  Do whatever it takes to avoid back and forth arguing in a public forum in order to remain professional.

• Do: Say thank you. The life of your business depends on its customers, so let them know that they are appreciated!  Commenting on the positive feedback out there is just as important as addressing the negative –don’t let your fans be ignored, or they will stop talking about you.
• Don’t: Take valuable brand evangelists for granted. Brand evangelists are your unpaid sales and marketing team.  They take the time to tell anyone who will listen that they love you.  Make sure you take the time to tell them that you appreciate their enthusiasm, and they’ll continue to spread the word.

The bottom line always goes back to the Golden Rule -treat people as you would like to be treated.  Imagine the impact if you made a comment online about someone you do business with and they took the time to acknowledge your feedback and do something about your comment or suggestion!  When brands listen to their customers and acknowledge their feedback, those clients stay loyal, happy, and of course, vocal.

I have to admit, it is very flattering to be approached by venture capital firms on a regular basis. From what I read, it’s hard to get a meeting with a VC, let alone have them contact you out of the blue.

Despite all of the tempting reasons to take outside funding, Trackur remains self-funded and that’s the way we plan to stay. In fact, seeing our competitors raise millions of dollars in venture capital, always leaves me scratching my head.

What in the world do they do with this money?

Trackur has been profitable from day one and our monthly prices start at just $18!!!

We have over 32,000 registered users. That makes us the largest social media monitoring firm in the world.

I really don’t know what I would spend $1M on, let alone $50M! My only guess is that our peers use their funds to hire dozens of people, move into fancy offices, and run expensive marketing campaigns. All of which has to be recouped somehow, which is why you end up spending thousands of dollars on their product, when we can charge 60 cents a day!

But Andy, they have so many cool features. So many pretty charts! Oh yeah, then wait a month or two. Wait til we roll out our new executive dashboards with the exact same features for just $18!

We’ll continue to offer the easiest, most affordable, and most accurate social media monitoring tools on the web. Before you drop a few thousand dollars on a service that is priced to pay back the investors, why not give us a shot first?

You have until end of business on March 31st to sign-up for an annual Trackur Ultimate plan and receive a brand new Apple iPad 2 for your trouble.

We’ve already seen great demand for this promotion, but we’d love to get a few more of you on the best social media monitoring platform on the web–and put a free Apple iPad 2 in your hands at the same time!

We’re not just giving away iPads, we also have iPod Touch incentives and every plan can take advantage of 12 months for the price of 10!

Check out our original announcement for further details.

If you thought I was excited about our recent infrastructure announcement, just wait til you see what we’re announcing today!

Taking a break from our software announcements, I’m extremely excited to announce a new–and very important–addition to the Trackur team.

Please welcome Erin Jones as our new Director of Community Relations.

Erin is coming onboard to ensure that our awesome Trackur customers are given the royal treatment whether they tweet, blog, or send us a question. Up until this point, I’ve been handling that role, but it’s now time to bring on a social media superstar to take over.

When you look at Erin Jones’ background, you’ll see just why I am excited that we are able to add her to the Trackur team.

• 5 years experience in online marketing, with website promotion work including copywriting, social media, SEO, pay-per-click campaign management and project management.
• Her previous role was as Social Media Manager, and before that, Project Manager. Not only does she get the “social” part, but also knows how to manage situations through to a successful outcome for customers!
• Oh, and did I mention that she has extensive experience in quality control and tech support. Yes, she’ll not only ensure Trackur improves each day, but she knows how to help you when you need it the most!

Is there anything she can’t do? Well, there’s a rumor she can’t predict the future, but I’m not convinced based on her ability to predict customer needs!

I’ve known Erin for a number of years–she was one of the first attendees of my online reputation management workshops–and she’s also been a happy Trackur customer! She’s walked the walk, talked the talk, and clicked the click!

She also shares my interest in travel and photography, but her love of handbags is something I’m not quite empathizing.

Please welcome Erin to the Trackur team. We’re going to get her up to speed in the next few days, then you’ll be seeing a lot of Erin around Trackur’s communities.

Want to connect with Trackur and Erin?

We’re on Twitter

We’re on Facebook

We’re blogging

We’re waiting for your questions

We’re excited to announce that the first of our 2011 improvements to Trackur has now gone live.

Over the past two months, we have been working to migrate from our old, clunky database over to a faster, more powerful set-up.

What does that mean for you, our awesome users?

• A faster, more responsive Trackur dashboard

- you’ll see immediate improvements and in the next couple of weeks, we’ll speed up the loading of your dashboard further, so that results load in just 2 seconds!

• More accurate results – the new system will be far more accurate in the results we match to your keywords. We’ve always had some of the best accuracy in the industry, but now we’ll have “Google-like” accuracy.
• Less spam and duplicates – don’t panic if you see fewer results in your dashboard going forward, this is because we’ve not only improved accuracy, but removed duplicate results and improved spam filtering.
• More new features coming soon – with great power comes great responsibility..so says Spiderman’s uncle. With this new speed and performance, we can focus on adding great new features over the coming months–including an executive dashboard with pretty charts and graphs.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

The one thing that I truly love about Trackur’s interface is that we deliberately chose not to use FLASH or any kind of fancy computer language. The benefits to our 31,000+ users is that you can pull up your Trackur dashboard on just about any device.

Including the new Apple iPad 2!

We’re already running a great contest to win Apple’s latest iPad, but now we’re making it even easier for Trackur users to get their hands on an Apple iPad 2!

Simply sign up and prepay for an annual Ultimate plan and we’ll send you a FREE Apple iPad 2.

Yep, you get the easiest and most affordable social media monitoring tool on the planet AND a free iPad 2 to access it with!
But, we’re not done! You may not need the unlimited client profiles or the complete white-labeling provided by our Ultimate plan. Never fear! Sign up and prepay for an annual Premium plan and we’ll ship you a FREE iPod Touch!

Not impressed by flashy gadgets? Don’t need the Premium or Ultimate plans? Hmmm. What to do, what to do?

I tell you what. Sign up and prepay for ANY annual plan and you can get 12 months for the price of 10. Any plan! Of course, for Premium or Ultimate plans you can’t have both–we have mouths to feed–so pick either the device or the discount.

We’re going to run this promotion only for the month of March, so if you’re interested in getting in on this amazing offer, send an email to help@trackur.com today!

Not-so-small print: Offer open to US users only. iPad 2 is the 16GB  Wi-Fi version; iPod Touch is the 8GB version. Existing customers can switch to annual plans and take advantage of this offer too. Void where prohibited. We reserve the right to not offer the promotion to anyone–but if you’re too legit to quit, you’ll be fine. No refunds for prepaid annual plans. Offer ends March 31st, 2011.

How would you like to achieve a 4 or 5 star review on Amazon?

Not just a single review–or even just a handful of 5-star reviews–but 1,911 perfect scores out of a total review count of 2,439!

As I often tell audiences in my presentations, customers don’t just flock to the web to leave positive reviews. If they’re pissed, sure they’ll find a way to leave a negative review, but if they are delighted with your product or service, they need a little prodding.

Here’s a great example from Eat Smart:

Let’s break down why this is the perfect way to achieve 5-star review status on Amazon, Trip Advisor, or just about any review site.

1. Momentum – Eat Smart didn’t want to just hope you’d leave a review, they actually asked!

2. Direction – The company knows that Amazon is the key to its success, therefore it directs you where to leave a review.

3. Concern – Not happy with its products? The flyer informs you that Eat Smart wants you to be 100% satisfied and provides a dedicated email address and telephone number should that not be the case.

4. Instruction – They give the consumer explicit instructions on how to leave a review for the product just purchased.

5. Gratitude – The company thanks you for your business and reminds you that if you have any problems, they are there to help.

Just about perfection, right? Notice that everything guides the consumer towards a 5-star review, without actually having to ask for one. After all, if you are unhappy, you’ll contact the company direct. If you are thrilled, then you’re likely going to want to leave a positive review.

How are you encouraging positive reviews of your company?

Want to know the number one rule for preventing an online reputation crisis? Give your customer the opportunity to complain and receive a response BEFORE they ever get to a blog, Twitter, or Facebook.

This is especially important for hotels, restaurants or any local business with a physical presence. I just came back from giving reputation management advice to Cars.com’s dealer members and was delighted to see this card in my room at the Westin San Francisco.

Perfect!

* your percentage may vary.

Your first reaction to this may be to snicker silently in your cubicle or office. Then you’ll realize that what happened to this young man, can happen to you or your business!

Do you know what images and videos are being created about your reputation? Trackur includes video and image monitoring!

30,052

That’s the number of registered Trackur users as of 5 minutes ago. We’ve been growing so fast, we hit the 30k mark much earlier than I anticipated. To put our growth in perspective, we had around 14,000 registered users this time last year.

No one’s collated user numbers of social media monitoring tools, but as far as registered users goes, we’re pretty sure that Trackur is now the largest social media monitoring tool in the world!

Thank you to all that have signed up for a Trackur account. 2011 is going to be an awesome year for you and us. February will see some significant improvements to speed and infrastructure, which will then allow us to add some pretty slick new features in the Spring.

Please keep the feedback and suggestions coming!

Andy Beal

Though it’s not officially released, we’re banking on Apple announcing the iPad 2 in the next few weeks–the next generation of its popular tablet computer.

In preparation, we’ve launched a new 60-second Apple iPad 2 contest, with the top prize being, you guessed it, and iPad 2!

It’s super easy to enter. You just need a Trackur account (free or paid) and then send out the following tweet:

I’m using @Trackur’s free social media monitoring tools and entering to win an Apple iPad 2! You can too: http://trackur.com/monitoring

To make it easier, you can just click this button: 

We’ll then pick one winner at random–just like we’ve done in the past two contests.

So, what are you waiting for? Get the best social media monitoring tool in the business AND a chance to win an Apple iPad 2!

Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ health has been the subject of much speculation and rumor over the past few years.

That speculation has arguably caused hesitation in investors and a lack–or delay–in official response from Apple has hurt the company.

Well, it appears that the company that likes to control its message–and timing of the delivery of said message–is realizing one of the golden rules of online reputation management: bad news will always come out, so you may as well take ownership of it. Case in point, Apple has just announced that Steve Jobs will be taking a medical leave of absence:

Apple CEO Steve Jobs today sent the following email to all Apple employees:

Team,

At my request, the board of directors has granted me a medical leave of absence so I can focus on my health. I will continue as CEO and be involved in major strategic decisions for the company.

I have asked Tim Cook to be responsible for all of Apple’s day to day operations. I have great confidence that Tim and the rest of the executive management team will do a terrific job executing the exciting plans we have in place for 2011.

I love Apple so much and hope to be back as soon as I can. In the meantime, my family and I would deeply appreciate respect for our privacy.

Steve

An email to employees, or an email to the media and journalists?

Issuing the above as a press release is somewhat clunky. Sure, it tells the whole world what’s going on–before rumors start surfacing–but a press release? It’s times like this when you realize just how ignorant–by choice–Apple is of social media. A blog post would have been a lot less formal in this situation.

Still, the lesson here? Bad news will leak out–even internal, confidential emails–so you may as well control when and how it’s leaked.

We have a list of roughly a gazillion* features we are considering adding to Trackur’s social media monitoring dashboard.

As we’re a small, lean, mean well-oiled machine we can’t simply churn out new features on a daily basis, so with that in mind, we’re starting to collect your feedback.

We want to know what new features you’d like to see added to Trackur.

We want to know in particular which new features are a priority to you, so we’re using UserVoice to help us prioritize those features that are the most important. In a nutshell, you get 10 points to allocate to new feature requests–so you too have to prioritize what’s important.

You can head directly to the feedback page or you can look for the new “Feedback” tab in your dashboard. (Note: Ultimate customers don’t worry, this tab will not be shown to your users, only the master account).

So, if you’ve ever had a Trackur wish-list, now’s the time to share it with us!

Thanks for your input!

* ok, that may be a slight exaggeration

Head to http://trust.salesforce.com/trust/status/ and you’ll see something that would make most software companies cringe–an amazing amount of transparency from the world’s largest SaaS company: Salesforce.com

It wasn’t always that way, though.

In his excellent book, Behind the Cloud, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff explains how the company used to operate with a head-in-the-sand mentality.

“I had to admit that part of me felt that if we didn’t confirm the problems, they didn’t exist. I had mistakenly assumed that reporters wouldn’t write about the issues if they didn’t have our comment. That was an antiquated assumption, however.”

This was Benioff’s approach to a massive outage in 2005. Pre-Facebook. Pre-Twitter. And at a time, when blogs were only just starting to gain mainstream traction.

The company quickly realized that if you don’t talk about your problems, they don’t simply vanish.

“We realized that silence had been a terrible strategy. And it wasn’t just the decision not to talk that had been an egregious error, it was that we had not talked immediately.”

Like most companies taking that first step towards being Radically Transparent, Benioff was “hesitant” but realized that by being transparent, he could build trust–and remove the “gotcha” weapon from Salesforce’s competitors.

Fast forward to 2011 and let’s check in on Benioff’s approach to transparency now…

“Transparency and trust became a strong part of our branding and identity.”

How’s your transparency?

Everyone wants their voice heard on the internet. That’s the very reason most of us prefer to voice our opinions on Twitter, Facebook, forums, or own blogs.

We want to be heard by the companies we do business with. Right?

Well, as a business owner you can now show your clients, customers, and business partners that you not only care about their feedback, but you are actively listening for it–and acting on it!

Introducing the Trackur Actively Listening seals for our users:

Add this button to your web site:

<a href="http://www.trackur.com/actively-listening"><img src="http://www.trackur.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/actively-listening.gif" width="143" height="80"></a>

Add this button to your web site:

<a href="http://www.trackur.com/actively-listening"><img src="http://www.trackur.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/actively-listening-small.gif" width="100" height="43"></a>

By displaying one of the Actively Listening seals on your web site, you are telling future and existing customers that you truly care about their feedback. You’ll instantly build trust. Immediately demonstrate that if they have any kind of question, comment or criticism, you’ll take notice–no matter where they post it on the web.

Grab your free Trackur account today and then proudly tell the web that you are listening!

I’ve personally gotten to the point of accepting that RipOff Report will never be removed from Google’s index–such peace comes from accepting what you can’t control.

However, my teeth are still grinding over a recent ruling that basically says RipOff Report is not required to remove defamatory content from its web site. Techdirt reports…

Last week, in an appeal on that original case, the appeals court basically ruled the same way: Ripoff Report has no requirement to remove the content judged to be defamatory, because it is not a party to the lawsuit, and thanks to Section 230 it cannot be a party to that lawsuit.

Not the news that many suffering at the hands of defamation on RoR wanted to hear.

Still, there are a couple small rays of light.

First, while not removing the defamatory content, RipOff Repot did update the page indicating that the content had been ruled defamatory.

Second, the courts still disagree over whether RoR does or does not have to remove defamatory content–with a Florida state court granting a restraining order forcing RoR to remove a different defamatory post. That’s a small victory and is only a temporary restraining order.

Mike Masnick is certainly more learned in defamation laws than me, but I tend not to agree that the only remedy for online defamation should be monetary damages and not the removal of said defamation. If it’s not removed, it continues to damage the reputation of the person attacked. I’m sure Masnick would agree that if someone stood in Times Square every day and called you a murderer and a cheat, you’d want the guy removed, not fined so he can continue each day.

Ever heard that expression, “a victim of your own success?”

Well, that expression applies to the Free plan we launched last year. There’s no question that our Free plan has been a huge success–leading us to almost 30,000 registered users! When we added Facebook monitoring in August, we decided to make that feature available to all users–including those on the Free plan.

That brings us to the “victim of success” part I mentioned. You see, we did an audit over the holiday and, well, there’s no easy way to say this….Facebook results are a huge chunk of our resources. Like, HUGE!

So, as of today, we have decided to remove Facebook monitoring from the Free plan. New searches will no longer be able to select Facebook as a source. However, all existing saved searches will continue to receive Facebook results until January 31st–we didn’t want to just let you go cold turkey!

Like I said, I hate having to restrict the Free plan, but if we didn’t make this switch then Trackur would start slowing down for all of our paid users–which is not fair on them.

Of course, if Facebook is not important to you, then you can skip this entire post. If you do need Facebook monitoring, then you can get it–and more saved searches–by clicking the “Upgrade!” link in your dashboard. Paid plans start at a crazy-low $18 a month!

Thanks to everyone for your support of Trackur and stay tuned for new upgrades coming soon!

To our customers, business partners, and our many supporters, we’d like to be among the first to wish you a very happy new year!

We’re excited about the plans we have for Trackur in 2011 and hope you all have an awesome year!

Ever since we launched Trackur 2.0 in August, there has been one feature that has just stuck out like a sore thumb. Actually, it was a lack of a feature.

You see, when you do a massive launch, some things have to be postponed to a later date–just so you can launch on time. Well, our influence metrics for Twitter users was one such feature. We simply decided to put it off. We’d finish it maybe the week or two after launch.

Well, four months later we’ve finally rolled it out.

As you can see, we have all the info you need to make a quick decision if this person is someone that is exerting an influence on your brand. The dashboard includes:

• InfluenceRank score out of 100. As with our InfluenceRank for web sites, the higher the number, the more influence they have! For this score we’ve partnered with Klout. Click on the Klout logo and you’ll be taken to their site for even more insights on the Twitter profile.
• Avatar and profile information. Who are they? What do they look like?
• How many followers? How many are they following? How vocal are they?
• Klout is also providing us details of the topics they are most influential. So, if you are tracking the keyword “iPhone” and you see they are influential in “Mobile” you’d probably want to sit up and take notice.
• Lastly, we have the comments box. This is where you can keep private notes of any contact or notes about the user.

How do you find the new Twitter influence metrics? Easy…

In addition to the new Twitter metrics, we’ve made some speed and accuracy improvements to all of your saved searches. It’s all part of our goal to provide a social media monitoring dashboard that is cheaper, faster, and more accurate than any other!

Look to the New Year for more new features. In the meantime, we wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a fantastic New Year!

Andy

We had an amazing number of people enter our most recent Apple iPad contest and the winner Elmer Boutin was kind enough to send us a photo of him holding his fantastic prize.

Thanks Elmer, we hope you enjoy the iPad–and your free Trackur plan!

Stay tuned for a new contest in the New Year!

There’s no doubt that Dell has a lot of social media monitoring to conduct each day. The company has had a roller-coaster ride with its online reputation–something documented heavily in my book Radically Transparent.

So, as a multi-billion dollar company it’s no wonder Dell has the budget (and space) to set up what it is calling a “Social Media Listening Command Center.” That’s a dramatically long name and the room is equally dramatic–just take a look!

There are ten monitors in that room! Ten! And that’s just those that we can count in the photo. There are at least three employees tracking all of the conversations!

Yikes! I mean, who has the resources to build such a thing? Do you? I know I don’t–which is why I decided to build Trackur.

You see, after finishing Radically Transparent, I realized that the average company had two choices, when it came to social media monitoring. The free, but very limited Google Alerts, or pay through the nose for a tool that required 10 monitors and multiple employees–as well as very large budget!

So, what resources do you need to run Trackur for your social media monitoring? Here, I’ll show you mine:

Yep, you can run Trackur’s “social media listening command center” from an iPad. For just $18 a month. With just one person. No eye strain, no rooms without windows. Just the simplicity and accuracy of Trackur.

Maybe I should give the guys at Dell a call. Let them know there’s an alternative–that includes seeing daylight!

Not got your free Trackur account yet? Sign-up here!

Back in October, the legendary Dr. Ralph Wilson sat down with Simon Heseltine the Principal Marketing Manager for the News and Information Division of AOL, Inc, and discussed reputation management.

Simon shares some solid advice and even shares an embarrassing case-study about a UK company that put its foot squarely in its mouth!

Thanks Simon for the Trackur endorsement!

This year’s PubCon conference in Las Vegas was the best yet.

The sessions were great, the networking awesome, and the event was the biggest in its history!

Better yet? The buzz for Trackur was incredible! I was honestly humbled by the number of times I heard Trackur recommended by PubCon speakers. In particular, the panel “Online Brand Management Strategies” gave out heaps of love.

Of the four panelists, Tony Wright, Sean Jackson, and Krista Neher gave Trackur a glowing endorsement, leading me to cheekily tweet the following:

Just a few minutes later, the fourth panelist, Kenny Hyder, tweeted back:

That’s a full house!

There were lots of shoutouts for Trackur–for which I am most grateful–and many great sessions on the topic of reputation management. Here are some of the great blog post recaps that you may find of interest:

• Reputation Management: Monitoring Your Brand Online
• LIVE FROM PUBCON VEGAS: GOOGLE REPUTATION MANAGEMENT
• LIVE FROM PUBCON VEGAS: REPUTATION MANAGEMENT: MONITORING YOUR BRAND ONLINE
• Day 1: Online Reputation Management Session – PubCon 2010
• Tools for Competitive Intelligence Session – PubCon 2010

As part of our goal to make Trackur the most comprehensive web monitoring tool available, we’re excited to announce that we have added forums and message boards tracking.

All paid plans will now have the option to monitor mention of their brands/keywords inside hundreds of thousands of message boards, forums, and other threaded conversations.

All new searches will have “Forums” selected by default. If you wish to add forums to existing saved searches, you will need to select that source under “Selected Sources” and re-run and re-save your search to your Trackur dashboard. When we find a match, you’ll see an orange “F” icon next to the article.

We hope you’ll find this option a valuable addition to Trackur’s comprehensive social media monitoring.

Andy

Just a quick note to let you know that we hope to offer a Trackur API before the end of the year.

Since our launch, a Trackur API has been the most requested feature and so we plan to have it rolled out over the next couple of months.

If you would like to be among the first to know when it is ready, please leave your email address here: Trackur API.

Thanks!

With online reputation management, repairing a damaged Google reputation is often the hardest task to achieve. Just as a scandal sells newspapers, so too it generates lots of backlinks to your attacker’s web page.

Success is typically measured by your ability to push the negative Google result off of the first page–fewer people click-through to page two, when conducting reputation research. However, there are a few tricks you can try to completely remove your attacker from Google’s index.

1. Did they violate their registrar’s policies?

TechDirt points to an interesting outcome which involved an attack on Ryanair by the site IHateRyanair.co.uk. While airing your grievances is not something that will normally violate a registrars policies, placing affiliate ads and earning money from said grievances is a violation–at least for the registrar Nominet. IHateRyanair.co.uk earned £322, which was enough for Nominet to order the domain name be turned over to Ryanair.

Lesson: Find out where your attacker’s web site is registered and hosted. Does it violate any of their terms and conditions?

2. Are they violating your copyright?

Copyright laws and “fair use” are minefields best navigated by lawyers. However, most attackers have limited knowledge of copyright laws, and even more limited funds to hire an attorney to help them figure them out. Filing a notice under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and sending it to Google, could be enough to get that negative page removed from Google’s index.

From my understanding, Google will remove the page, unless the notice is contested by the person that published the content. If they do that, it gets a lot more complicated. However, it doesn’t cost anything to file a DMCA notice, so it’s worth a shot. Just don’t abuse it. If there’s not actually any copyright infringement, then you’re opening up a can of worms.

Lesson: Google will acquiesce to an uncontested DMCA takedown notice.

3. Is the site spamming Google?

Take a close look at Google’s spam guidelines, then hire an SEO to take a close look at your attacker’s website? Are they using invisible text? Cloaking? Duplicating their content across multiple websites? Each of those are a good reason for Google to kick them out of their search index.

Lesson: You want Google to have the best index right? So, help them clean it up by reporting any spammers!

4. Did they violate Google’s AdSense policies?

Perhaps a more effective strategy is to look for violations of Google’s AdSense rules. Does the attacker have half a dozen different AdSense units on each page? That’s a violation. Are they displaying text to encourage visitors to click on an ad? Another violation. Heck, even a simple pop-up is a violation of Google AdSense’s policies!

Violation does not result in the removal of the site from Google’s index, but it does remove them from AdSense. That could be the only way the attacker makes any kind of revenue. If they lose that, it could be a big deal! I’m not saying you should blackmail your attacker into removing their attack on your company, but you may want to point out that they are violating AdSense’s policies.

Lesson: A site that loses its revenue source, loses its motivation.

5. Obtain a summary judgement/court order.

If you can’t get your attacker to take down their post, maybe you can get it kicked out of Google’s index. If you can obtain a summary judgement from a court, you might be able to get the judge to order the removal of the page from Google’s index. Google’s too busy organizing the world’s information to argue against the thousands of similar orders sent its way each month.

There’s a lot more to this, than I can speak to here. Consult an attorney and see if there’s any kind of defamation or trademark infringement you can build a solid case on.

Lesson: Out of Google’s “site,” out of mind!

There you have it! Some out of the box tactics for combating a negative listing in Google’s index. I should probably state that I am not an attorney and this post is not meant to be legal advice. It is merely for your entertainment. Always consult an attorney before undertaking any legal strategy….blah, blah, blah!

Econsultancy and bigmouthmedia’s Social Media and Online PR Report 2010 offers up a staggering amount of information, including some interesting stats for those of us interested in online reputation monitoring and management.

What jumped out at me?

How about the apparent decline in the use of online reputation monitoring!

Huh? With a staggering 95% of those surveyed saying they’re involved with social media, how can there be a decline in the use of social media monitoring? Could that decline be the reason that companies are spending 4% more of their time handling reputation attacks? Cause and effect? You stop listening and so the reputation attacks increase?

Perhaps there’s another explanation. Take a look at a similar chart focusing this time on the response from agencies–not companies. Here we see a different picture. One that suggests that an increased investment in monitoring, leads to less time dealing with reputation issues.

Lastly, let’s take a look at the health of the social media monitoring industry. For sure, the good news is that there’s been a small increase in the number of companies willing to pay for online reputation monitoring. Yay!

That still leaves 38% of companies that rely on free tools and a whopping 46% that are not monitoring at all! Yikes!

Fortunately, Trackur offers both free and paid tools. For the 84% of companies that have yet to get started–or have zero budget–welcome to Trackur! We’ll work hard to delight you and make social media monitoring so easy, so integral to your business, that when the time is right to invest in a paid tool, you’ll find our rates very reasonable!

Why not get started today?

Sir Richard Branson is my hero!

We also happen to have a few things in common:

The Brit dropped out of school, bootstrapped his company, and is not afraid to take on the big players in an industry.

Check! Check! And Check!

It appears we also have something else in common: the understanding that conversations on the web are changing the way we think about brands.

Speaking at the ExactTarget Conference, Branson stated:

“Today it’s harder to keep on top of these conversations. Conversations about our brand are happening everywhere, and with the internet as the great equalizer, it doesn’t matter if you know the brand intimately, or if you’ve had just one bad experience, it will be heard.”

Virgin is arguably one of the most loved brands on the internet. Even if you don’t fly Virgin–or buy any one of their other products–chances are, you think Virgin is a cool company. That doesn’t stop Virgin from realizing that even a single tweet can harm its online reputation:

A Virgin America passenger, using onboard wifi, tweeted that he wasn’t happy that his meal hadn’t been delivered. The ground team picked up on it, contacted the aircraft, and found him his misplaced meal.

Don’t be a social media monitoring Virgin. For just $18 a month, you too can monitor what’s being said about you online.

It could happen to any of us.

You’re accused of a heinous crime. Accused of hiring someone to kill another person.

It makes the headlines. Everywhere.

It shows up immediately in Google. It will be in Google for the rest of your life.

Except, none of it is true.

That’s what happened to Randolph Forde, a school teacher that was accused–and subsequently acquitted–of offering money to one student to kill another. Despite Forde’s denial, and a grand jury not finding enough evidence to indict him–let alone convict him–Forde’s Google reputation is a mess:

It’s possible that CNN’s follow-up on Forde’s story, might make it into the top 10 results when you Google his name, but it’s unlikely. Just as a scandal sells newspapers, it also attracts links–which often ensures the negative article outranks the newer, positive one.

I told CNN:

“It’s impossible to entirely scrub your name or misdeeds from the digital landscape. When negative content about you begins to dominate Google, the trick becomes how to balance it with enough positive content to push the bad stuff down the list,” Beal said, the founder of Trackur.com, which monitors clients’ online reputations.

So, what hope is there for Forde? He admits in the CNN article that he doesn’t have the financial resources to hire someone to clean-up his Google reputation. And so, he continues to struggle to find a new job. One look at his Google reputation pretty much closes the door on any opportunity.

Is that fair?

Your professional career ruined because Google favors these negative results. Is it time for Google to take some kind of action in situations like this? Maybe a review committee? Maybe the option to “opt out” of results?

I don’t know the answer–and certainly any kind of manual manipulation by Google is fraught with issues, but not unprecedented.

All I know is that this problem is growing. Google may not be able to sit on the sidelines for much longer.

What do you think Google should do?

It’s Apple iPad contest time again!

That’s right, Trackur is once again giving away a free Apple iPad to one lucky winner!

Entering the contest is as easy as…well, as easy as setting up a Trackur account–and nothing is easier than that!

If you like the idea of getting your hands on the coolest electronics hardware around, then head over to the contest entry page. It will literally take you less than 60-seconds to enter!

Good luck!

Here at Trackur, we want all 26,000+ users to get the most out of their social media monitoring efforts.

Of course, that includes Trackur’s social media monitoring dashboard, but the best monitoring tool in the world is not going to help you, unless you have a put in place a solid foundation.

Over at the popular TopRank Marketing blog, we provided six vital steps that every company should put in place, before starting to monitor social media.

Tip #5 is one that is especially important:

5. Don’t Silo the Information Collected

OK, so you’re monitoring in-house with either free or paid monitoring tools, or you’ve outsourced the entire task. Next, you need to decide where this collected information is routed. Who in your company is alerted when a customer complains on Facebook that his laptop battery just exploded? Whose responsibility is it to ensure that your cars’ gas pedals doesn’t stick in the 2011 models?

I’m seeing more companies tackle this “chain of command” question by appointing a social media quarterback–aka a Community Manager. Call them what you want, but their job function is to collect and collate the data that comes in from your social media monitoring efforts and ensure critical information is passed on to the most appropriate person, or department in your company. They’re the social media silo buster! They ensure there are no bottlenecks or silos of data.

Did that whet your appetite for more? Head over and read Six Critical Steps to Take Before Starting Your Social Media Monitoring Initiative

We already know that we have a lot of Trackur fans in Australia and New Zealand, but it still brought a smile to our faces to see Trackur so positively endorsed by The Age – arguably Australia’s most respected daily publication.

Trackur - www.trackur.com

This is a free online tool which reveals the conversations that are happening in social media such as blogs, Twitter and Facebook. You may think that no one’s talking about but you would be surprised at the kind of conversations that go on about yourself or your brand, without you knowing about it.

I recently tracked the name of my business and my own name through www.trackur.com. It was fascinating to find people talking about my business by commenting on blogs that I didn’t even know existed. It’s like eavesdropping on a conversation about yourself.

G’day to all our mates from Oz!

Does your company have a Chief Listening Officer?

I would guess, not.

What exactly is a Chief Listening Officer, anyway? While, it’s not exactly a new concept, it’s a role that more and more companies are creating, including Dell:

“Our chief listener is critical to making sure the right people in the organization are aware of what the conversations on the web are saying about us, so that relevant people in the business can connect with customers,” said Richard Binhammer, communications executive at Dell.

Kodak is another company embracing the role of CLO.

So what exactly does a Chief Listening Office do? Simply, they make sure their company is doing 3 things:

1. Actively listening to the conversations online. Not just being “aware” of mentions, but taking time to understand what’s being said.

2. They’re making sure that “intelligence” is being shared with the most appropriate teams. For example, if users complain that a camera would be better if it used regular AA batteries–instead of proprietary lithium batteries–that would be valuable feedback for the R&D team.

3. They close the loop. Listening and reacting are all well and good, but you need to let your customers know what action has been–or will be–taken. Let them know that your company’s not just paying lip-service. That it actually cares.

But, don’t freak out that your company doesn’t have a Chief Listening Officer. Heck, you may not be large enough to have a Chief Financial Officer, let alone a CLO. Instead, look at creating the responsibilities of a CLO. Call it what you want. “Community Manager” perhaps. Wear the hat yourself or give it to your PR person. What matters is that you follow the three steps outlined above.

Social media monitoring is the hottest trend right now in online marketing and PR. Everyone seems to be talking about online reputation monitoring, even Inc. Magazine.

Trackur is given the thumbs-up in the September print issue, but even if you’re not a subscriber, you can read about Trackur–and how we help our clients–in the online edition.

Companies with several brands may require more sophisticated tools. “Eighty percent of companies do fine with Google Alerts,” says Andy Beal, founder of Trackur, an online monitoring software company. “But once you have 30 different keywords to monitor, you’ll outgrow it very quickly.”

Those features have allowed companies to maintain greater control of their brands. For instance, Case Design/Remodeling, a home remodeling franchiser based in Bethesda, Maryland, uses Trackur to search for discussions pertaining to each of its 22 franchises. If Joaquin Erazo, the company’s senior vice president of marketing, finds a complaint about a particular franchise, he will alert a representative at that location to contact that customer. “You can be created or destroyed by the click of a mouse,” says Erazo.

Have you set up your Trackur Free account yet?

If you thought we were excited about our last big update, wait til you see how dizzy were are about the launch of Trackur 2.0.

(Side note: We think calling things “2.0″ is actually lame. We started using it internally as a joke, but hey, it does capture the essence of the massive improvements we’ve made to Trackur)

So what are we announcing today?

Let’s start with the one feature you’ve all been asking for: Facebook monitoring!

Yes, Trackur now monitors all public status updates from Facebook–and in realtime too! While testing it internally, we found new items showing up just 35 seconds after they were posted to Facebook. That is fast!

The other big improvement we’ve made is to our analytics. You can now view Influence Rank scores for all web pages, right in the main dashboard. You no longer have to click through to see how influential a web site is on your reputation, Trackur shows you directly within the results!

Also, we’ve improved our Influence Rank measuring so that it now works with Twitter results! Yep, you can now get accurate rankings of the people tweeting your brand–all thanks to our new partnership with Klout.

OK, deep breath. There’s more!

We’re brought in more info about each web page and blog discovered. Traffic trends, contact info, and information about any news site discussing your brand.

Oh, and let’s not forget that we’ve revamped the entire user-interface. It’s faster, prettier, and just plain fun to work with!

There’s so much more but that’s the bulk of the improvements we’ve made to Trackur. Perhaps the one you won’t see, but will enjoy the most, is that Trackur is using HTML5 and CSS3 and a whole bunch of other cutting-edge technologies that make it faster and more stable.

Now, one small caveat. With a launch as HUGE as this one. You may find a bug or two. We’ve tried to find them all, but we have such a small team and there’s 25K+ of you! So, if you find one, please let us know on our new Help & Support site.

As always, thank you for using Trackur!

Andy

P.S. Yes, pricing will stay the same! Consider it Christmas in July August!

Imagine that you are going to a baseball game with your girlfriend (or wife or significant other or whatever you do) and you pull a boneheaded maneuver like this kid does in the video below. Watch it and you’ll see what I mean.

In the past, this is just something that, at worst, got on TV and was forgotten about by everyone except for the girlfriend (or ex-girlfriend?) and the people who were sitting around these two at the game when it happened.

Guess what folks? This is not the past. This is the hyper-information age and everything matters. Why? Well, rather than this being just an unfortunate display of a guy who is essentially a wuss he is being written about here and over at Mashable and there is already a Facebook page for him. In other words, this guy started before the game as just another goofy kid wearing a really bad hat and having the cool facial whatever you call it but now he is known as “Bo the Bailer” thanks to the social media world.

Do you think this will go away for him? I don’t. Why? Because now he is labeled and his friends can unmercifully torment him with this image (especially in front of his girlfriend). Why would they do this? Because they are his ‘friends’ and because it got a lot of attention that things like this just never used to get. If you want to know how these things can impact a person’s life look up Steve Bartman and the impact of his ill-fated sports moment caught on tape. Darn near ruined his life.

Here’s the lesson. Everything you do matters especially since everything today has the chance to be the viral video of tomorrow. The trouble is most people don’t get that until it’s too late. Paying attention has NEVER been more important than it is in today’s world. Unfortunately we are ill-equipped to pay attention to the level required by the constant monitoring of all actions at all times. We are just human after all.

So “Bo the Bailer” will have his 15 minutes of shame fame and then he thinks it will go away. It won’t though because the digital memory is long and unforgiving and this is the kind of thing that can come back to bite you at the worst times.

Over-reaction? Maybe. My question to you is, if you were to hire this person for a job and saw this video of how he reacted then covered up in a time of pressure would you wonder how he would perform for your company?

Think about it.

There’s some great advice in a recent MSN article for local business owners. If you need advice on managing and improving your reviews at sites such as Yelp or Trip Advisor, it’s a must read.

Trackur gets a whole-hearted endorsement too!

Monitor your accounts. To track reviews, Lisa Barone, co-founder and chief branding officer at Internet marketing company Outspoken Media, suggests using services like Trackur Premium or Trackur Ultimate to add the review site’s RSS feed to your dashboard. You should also set up search engine alerts, though this won’t catch everything. Barone believes monitoring reviews is so important that entrepreneurs should regularly “check the major review sites to be sure nothing negative has popped up.”

What are you waiting for?

I heard something very interesting on the radio today.

A local BP gas station owner had put together an ad which described the good work he did in his community. It also tried to shine some kind of positive light on the ‘parent company’ for his SMB (small and medium business) which is the now notorious British Petroleum. It seems like the area that I live in may be some kind of hotbed for BP ‘franchises’ which makes for an interesting quandary from a reputation perspective.

According to the radio ad I heard, this business owner has served his community and provided jobs to local residents. These are both good things which, in any other situation, would never be questioned. Now, one wonders whether we would have ever heard from this station owner had it not been for the BP fiasco. As a result, there will be those who are skeptical of the sincerity of the message even though my guess is that it was a genuine attempt to distance himself and his business from the BP mess (which he is completely helpless in) without sounding desperate.

Whether he is able to come through this storm with his business intact will be something for the next few months and years to hash out. The trouble is that with messages on Twitter and other places saying, “I can’t believe that people are still getting their gas at a BP station!” he may not be able to overcome it.

Here is the danger of this kind of closely-knit and intertwined reputation web that is being weaved online. We are likely to have wrong assumptions made regularly about just who is or is not responsible for company screw-ups.

I have experience with people who are gas station owners. I know more about them than the average person. As a result, I know that this poor guy who is trying to paint the correct picture of his business is working on thin margins and has profits squeezed by competitive factors all day long. Oh, and more importantly, he had NOTHING to do with the BP well issue in the Gulf.

Unfortunately, though, it could cost him his business because we have grown so quick to blame everyone rather than truly know the facts. The facts in this case will likely point to a small business guy who is a lot like you and me. He’s just trying to make a living but then is associated with something by default, which creates a ‘guilt by association’ scenario and the backlash associated with it.

Just like we didn’t have any first hand responsibility for the Gulf tragedy, neither did any independent franchise owners. They don’t deserve the wrath of the consumer. However, the ignorance of most people and their willingness to act on their ignorance is what we face now in this hyper-sensitive reputation cauldron of the Internet. It could actually be a good time to consider stepping back and taking a deep breath before we go around pointing our digital finger at everyone without knowing the facts.

All of this is to point to the idea there has never been a more critical time for companies both large and small to be listening to what is going on with online reputations. No matter the size of the business, there are factors happening online that can make or break a business whether it is deserved or not. If you are not aware of these things then you are to blame if they ultimately bite you.

Contact us today to learn how Trackur provides an easy to use, affordable, efficient and flexible way to monitor all of the online buzz happening around your business and industry. Who knows, the business you save could be your own.

For the past few posts I have been talking about various topics raised in a good article from the New York Times. Today will be my last look at the many different discussion points this article raises with regard to online and social media monitoring, the impact of these elements on individuals and companies and how society is changing because of the online world.

Here’s a quick question. Do you think that it is true that the younger an Internet user is the more likely he / she will be open online? If you said yes you are probably like most who make that assumption. Here is some info that might surprise you.

…two recent studies challenge the conventional wisdom that young people have no qualms about having their entire lives shared and preserved online forever. A University of California, Berkeley, study released in April found that large majorities of people between 18 and 22 said there should be laws that require Web sites to delete all stored information about individuals (88 percent) and that give people the right to know all the information Web sites know about them (62 percent) — percentages that mirrored the privacy views of older adults. A recent Pew study found that 18-to-29-year-olds are actually more concerned about their online profiles than older people are, vigilantly deleting unwanted posts, removing their names from tagged photos and censoring themselves as they share personal information, because they are coming to understand the dangers of oversharing.

To me this is good news because at least there appears to be some restraint in the age group where many feel that they don’t really care about what they put online.

So why this concern? Well, the ‘powers that be’ in the social media world like Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg claim that the societal move is toward greater sharing and more transparency. How could he see things so differently than the study quoted above? That’s easy. He NEEDS as much transparency as possible to make money off of Facebook users. The more open they are the more targeted they are for advertisers. Facebook thrives on that.

Here’s the trouble with this openness and transparency flag that everyone with a monetary stake in this game is waving. They are not the ones that get hurt by this move to being more ‘open’. Alessandro Acquisti, a scholar at Carnegie Mellon University, studies the behavioral economics of privacy and is looking into what he calls ‘decay time’. That is how long it takes for information positive and negative information to have impact on a person. Here are some of his findings

His research group’s preliminary results suggest that if rumors spread about something good you did 10 years ago, like winning a prize, they will be discounted; but if rumors spread about something bad that you did 10 years ago, like driving drunk, that information has staying power. Research in behavioral psychology confirms that people pay more attention to bad rather than good information, and Acquisti says he fears that “20 years from now, if all of us have a skeleton on Facebook, people may not discount it because it was an error in our youth.”

The bottom line here is that you really need to keep your nose clean online. If you don’t, then the impact down the line could be troubling at best and devastating at worst. Imagine losing that job opportunity for an indiscretion committed over 10 years ago (other than being in jail or something just as serious).

The article goes into some possible ways to keep people from screwing themselves in their online life like the idea of data expiration dates, mechanisms to help create a time buffer between the creation of bad content and hitting the ‘share it now!’ button even the idea of reputation bankruptcy. All interesting but also none are in place right now which is when people are making their great mistakes

There is a lot to consider because of the ‘new world order’ of data dissemination and storage. This is not the same world that I grew up in and if I decide to let the Internet put a ‘rating’ on my reputation (like credit bureaus do for credit ratings) I am rolling the reputation dice. I can’t afford to do that, can you?

Learn more about how Trackur helps you get your online reputation in order. It could be the best move you made online in a long time.

There has been considerable concern about online privacy for all of this year and that concern is not going away. The Wall Street Journal has run a series of articles pointing out the literally lack of privacy for visitors to virtually any site. It has also positioned those taking information from visitors as spies. A little harsh? Maybe but we have entered an age where this kind of assessment will be common.

To go the to the next level though, the New York Times has pointed out in their article on the online space and reputations that

Moreover, the narrow focus on privacy as a form of control misses what really worries people on the Internet today. What people seem to want is not simply control over their privacy settings; they want control over their online reputations. But the idea that any of us can control our reputations is, of course, an unrealistic fantasy. The truth is we can’t possibly control what others say or know or think about us in a world of Facebook and Google, nor can we realistically demand that others give us the deference and respect to which we think we’re entitled. On the Internet, it turns out, we’re not entitled to demand any particular respect at all, and if others don’t have the empathy necessary to forgive our missteps, or the attention spans necessary to judge us in context, there’s nothing we can do about it.

To a degree this is true but on other levels it is a bit over the top. There are things you can do to at least manage your online reputation. Having complete control is practically impossible but being able to control how your reputation is presented, especially in the search engines is achievable. How you ask?

1. Listen – You can’t do anything about anything that you simply are clueless about. If you find yourself a month or a year from now discovering something that has been on your ‘digital record’ for an extended period of time don’t cry foul. What’s foul is the fact that by not listening to the online buzz about whatever it is you want to protect (brand, person etc) YOU allowed something to sit in the engines and rot your online reputation. Nobody’s fault but yours at that point.
2. SEO – Once something appears in the SERP’s (search engine results pages) that is negative you need to give the engines something to feed on that they can put ahead of the undesired results in the rankings. Develop other properties like a Flickr account, YouTube channel, blog etc to generate interest from the engines. At this point, these properties can be seen as better options for ranking of results than the negative ones that you are less than happy with.
3. Create content – In the end it’s a war of attrition. If there is one or two negative results around certain keywords that are important to your online reputation you need to create content to fill the properties mentioned above. Don’t do this in a half-assed manner either. Have a plan and generate considerable content that will appease the search engines and help move the undesired results out of the SERP’s.
4. Behave – If you have done nothing wrong and you are just the victim of someone who is bitter, vindictive or just an outright liar, those things will eventually take care of themselves. All we can do is conduct ourselves in business and life in a way that would make any negative online ‘concern’ look so out of place that the person or entity that is creating the disturbance will be viewed as some kind of online miscreant which, in many cases, they are.

Here at Trackur we help you shorten the time between when something happens to the time that you are aware of it. The sooner you get on top of an ORM concern the better your chances are of managing the situation to your advantage.

Contact us today for more information about how trackur will help you get some semblance of control over something that spin out of control very quickly: your online reputation.

The United States is an interesting place.

While we promote the acquisition of money, prestige, power and all things material we are also a forgiving bunch. We like the underdog and we are very willing to give people and organizations a second chance even when all logic wouldn’t merit it. It’s a very cool thing that Americans keep alive but the Internet may be helping that ideal to fade into the past.

In my last post, I discussed how our inability to forget because of the Internet could lead to less of an ability to forgive. Thus, it stands to follow that our culture of ‘second chances’ could be grinding to a halt as well.

The New York Times article I am drawing inspiration from, takes this idea to the next level and, while I can see the logic, I hate the direction we are headed.

The fact that the Internet never seems to forget is threatening, at an almost existential level, our ability to control our identities; to preserve the option of reinventing ourselves and starting anew; to overcome our checkered pasts.

Now, many would ask that if you have a ‘checkered past’ then why would you deserve a second chance? Well, the basic premise of  second chances is that a person or organization has learned and, as a result, changed because of past wrongdoings. We don’t like to hand out second chances to people who are exhibiting a ‘checkered present’ that continues their ‘checkered past’. We may be forgiving but we’re not stupid.

But with the way everything is kept in the digital record these days the checkered past doesn’t get the chance to fade away like it used to and could actually keep people from showing just how much they have changed. The Times article explores this a little more.

In a recent book, “Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age,” the cyberscholar Viktor Mayer-Schönberger cites Stacy Snyder’s case as a reminder of the importance of “societal forgetting.” By “erasing external memories,” he says in the book, “our society accepts that human beings evolve over time, that we have the capacity to learn from past experiences and adjust our behavior.” In traditional societies, where missteps are observed but not necessarily recorded, the limits of human memory ensure that people’s sins are eventually forgotten. By contrast, Mayer-Schönberger notes, a society in which everything is recorded “will forever tether us to all our past actions, making it impossible, in practice, to escape them.” He concludes that “without some form of forgetting, forgiving becomes a difficult undertaking.”

OK, are you scared yet? The point here is that we need to be on top of our past just as much as out present. Why? Because we will need to exhibit that we have truly changed because that memory of our past misgivings will not be allowed to fade.

I agree this seems a little daunting but I think it could be a very good thing. For the good people who have made genuine mistakes in the past they will be able to exhibit their changed life. That is evidence of being worthy of a true ‘second chance’.

Those, however, who have relied on people’s short memories to give them a chance to “re-invent” themselves without actually changing (in other words, being the same wolf in a different sheep’s clothing) will be easier to spot and will be less likely to pull the same scam twice.

So this is scary isn’t it? I say only if you are still making the same mistakes and no one really wants to do that now, do they?

If you would like to learn more about how you can keep track of your online presence without breaking the bank, contact us today and we’ll be glad to assist you understand the ever changing world of online reputation and social media monitoring.

In today’s world of hyper information overload it’s just as easy to forget more than you take in. We take in data at such a rapid clip that it is humanly impossible to retain it all. What is doesn’t mean, however, is that our memories are shortened. Sure that sounds like a paradox of sorts but it’s the plain truth that while there is no way to keep track of everything we take in, we don’t have to because everything is part of the modern day digital record.

The result? A lot of things that would have been forgiven and forgotten with time in the past are now recorded for anyone to dredge up at any time and for whatever reason they need.

This should create significant caution on the part of anyone because the things that used to fade from memory and had little impact going into the future are now as fresh as the day they are brought back to life in a search query.

The New York Times recently did an article in this modern day phenomenon that I will be referencing over the next few posts here at the Trackur blog. Today will be used to “set the stage” by just triggering some thinking about our increased ability to ‘remember’ everything and what the implications could be.

Just think of a few things about yourself that you believe have become just dim memories to you and a select few. Maybe, it’s the drunken escapades of college. It could be that controversial stance you took on an issue that created a rift with your friends and family. Maybe it was the association with someone that turned out to be less than ‘up-standing’ or that boyfriend / girlfriend that was actually, well, crazy.

These situations are endless and we all have them. What is happening now though is that we are sharing them in real time in a digital forum that never forgets. As a result, it is even harder for other people to forget and, maybe more importantly, forgive.

So for today, think about where you have done something that you wish could fade into the distant past with fuzzy memories at best. Now, imagine that those things may be online somewhere and are not fuzzy but are, in fact, as clear as the day they happened.

Are you watching what you are putting online and, more importantly, are you tracking what is being said about you and your business online? People don’t forget like they used to because they don’t have to. Less forgetting means less forgiving which could mean more trouble.

If you would like to learn more about how Trackur helps individuals and businesses keep track of these potential online pitfalls, contact us for more information.

Don’t forget because everyone else won’t either.

There’s a growing trend among debt collection agencies and financial firms: monitoring the social media activities of those that owe money.

Reports first surfaced back in May–see my interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette–and now the chatter is growing, thanks to a new article from the Houston Chronicle.

[Consultant Marc] Davenport recalled a businessman who failed to pay a $17,500 debt. The man claimed his business was in the tank and he was filing for bankruptcy. But pictures he posted on Facebook said otherwise. He showed off his new Corvette and a picture of himself on a boat fishing off Florida’s coast, images that didn’t add up to him being broke, Davenport said.

“He was boasting and bragging about it to all his friends,” Davenport said. “When we told him the information we had, I thought he would drop dead of a heart attack.”

The man ended up paying his debt in full.

Right now, the only thing stopping debt collection agencies from fully monitoring your personal reputation is the question of privacy. They’re not sure whether current laws prohibit snooping on customers or not. But, you have to assume that, if you’ve posted something publicly, it’s fair game for anyone to use it for their needs.

Potential employers. Venture capital firms. Banks. Credit Cards. The list is endless.

So, what should you do? Well, monitor your online reputation the way you monitor your credit score. A low credit score could mean the difference between getting that loan, or not. Likewise, a bad reputation could have similar consequences.

With Trackur’s free social media monitoring tools, you owe it to yourself to be the first person alerted to anything that might hurt your financial situation.

What a big day for us!

Sometime overnight, the total number of people using Trackur’s social media monitoring tools ticked over the 25,000 mark!

That’s a great testament to the speed and affordability of Trackur’s brand monitoring, but there’s also a hat-tip to the many raving fans we have! Without your eagerness to tell others about Trackur, we wouldn’t have reached this goal so fast!

Thank you!

So what’s next? Well, we’re not resting on our laurels. You can’t remain one of the world’s largest social media monitoring tools without continual evolution, right? Stay tuned over the coming weeks, we’ve got some cool new features to announce.

Internet marketing is difficult to do well. Regardless of the size of your company it’s never as easy as the ‘experts’ claim it is.

In this particularly tough economy this reality is even more evident amongst the SMB’s (small and medium business) of the marketplace which make up about 95% of the businesses in the US.

The Internet marketing experts shout “Do this it’s easy!” “Do that or else you are not in the game!” It’s frustrating to hear these proclamations and not have the time, money or capabilities to take full advantage of the ‘opportunity’.

One area that no business can afford to not pay attention to is monitoring the online talk about the business. Customer experience is no longer an old-fashioned ‘word of mouth’ threat or opportunity.Now a bad review can spread digitally like wildfire and the trouble is that you may not even know it before it’s too late.

So SMB’s of the world be sure to at least be monitoring your business name, your own name and any names of importance to the business. If something is online that could be hurting your business you need to know before it inflicts too much damage.

Also, make sure you are monitoring review sites. Andy Beal did a great post on how to use Trackur for just that purpose. It’s worth the read.

While the SMB can survive (albeit not easily) if it is not truly involved in Internet marketing for its business, it cannot afford to just let the online space go unchecked. People are talking, their friends are listening and they are making decisions about what businesses they trust and what one’s they don’t.

The old adage is that a happy customer will tell one person about their experience but an unhappy one will tell seven. Don’t let that conversation go on without your involvement. You may just learn something new that can be useful today to build profits for tomorrow.

Please contact us if you would like more information regarding Trackur and its ability to help the SMB handle the digital age.

Know the competition better than you know yourself. This is something that is droned on about in business classes and business meetings a lot. However, there is precious little done about it in actual practice. With the advent of true online monitoring there are no more excuses.

Here are the top 10 things you need to be monitoring about your competition (oh and if there are any similarities between this list and the “12 Critical Keywords You Should Be Monitoring in Social Media” it is completely intentional and virtually unavoidable).

1. Competitor’s Company Name

People talk about your competition like they talk about anyone else. You need to know where the competition is cleaning your clock or they have stubbed their toe. Don’t just track your arch nemesis either because there may be up and comers to be alerted to as well.

2. Competitor’s Brands

Be sure to look for brand specific mentions because a slip up in performance in one area could be signaling a greater problem at the competition’s business.

3. Competitor’s Executives

If you should be watching your own leadership then it stands to reason that the competitor’s execs are susceptible to the same concerns. Do you think that HTC, RIM, Samsung etc etc don’t want to know if an Apple exec has screwed up?

4. Competitor’s ‘Voices’

Oftentimes a ‘celebrity’ of sorts will arise from a company in the social media space. Think about Frank Eliason with Comcast. Well, now that he has left the company what will happen to that customer service effort? It could plant the seed of doubt that causes a sale for you and a no sale for the competition.

5. Competitive Weaknesses

If there is an Achilles Heel for the competition make sure you are aware when it gets worse or gets better. This kind of business intelligence could mean the difference in competitive selling situations.

6. Competitive Strengths

Even the competition does some things well. Keep an eye on if there are continuing to improve or if they have stumbled recently.

7. Competitive Hiring Activities

If you see that the competition is hiring in engineering or product development that’s a cue for change. The earlier you have insight into where the competition may be going, the more effective your response can be.

8. Competition’s Disgruntled Employees

Every business has them. You hate them on your side but you love them on the other side because they can be the best leaks of important data around.

9. Competition’s Partners

If there is a supply chain disruption to your competition that could mean the chance to win business for your side. Whether it’s material delays, partner financial issues or just plain bad business you need to know.

10. Industry Chatter

While knowing what the competition’s customers are saying about their experience is incredibly valuable it can be just as important to see how the competition is viewed in the industry itself. Every industry has its good guys and bad guys. How is you competition viewed by its peers? It can be very telling.

Are you listening?

If you would like more information about how Trackur can help monitor the competitive landscape contact us today. We’ll be glad to assist.

As I type this, there are 1,281 potential new customers for Trackur’s social media monitoring tools.

Huh?

1,281?

OK, so there are millions of potential new customers for Trackur, but 1,281 is the number of schools that currently make-up the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). And right now, 1,279 of them are closely watching the fall-out happening over at UNC and USC. Those are the two schools currently under investigation over allegations/rumors that football players may have violated NCCA regulations.

So, why should NCAA schools care about social media monitoring? Well, because each school has literally hundreds of athletes that could–at any time–say or do something that could, at best, bring the scrutiny of the NCAA and, at worst, bring the schools reputation into question.

NCAA sanctions equal lost revenue. Bad publicity also equals lost revenue.

As Rand Gentlin, a consultant who helps colleges with rules compliance puts it:

…schools like UNC have so much reputation and revenue riding on their athletic department that they should have more people monitoring their players much more closely –even their Facebook and Twitter accounts.

Division 1 schools in particular can bring in tens of millions of dollars in revenue via their basketball and football programs. A couple hundred bucks a month–to monitor the actions of their star athletes–is a pretty small investment.

So, how do you pronounce Trackur?

There’s a funny line I once heard, which I will appropriate for my answer:

I don’t care how you say it, as long as you say it often!

It’s actually pronounced “tracker” as in someone that tracks something. Unfortunately, just like Flickr, we were unable to secure the correct spelling–some boating company owns the brand–so we went with the next phonetically correct domain name.

When coming up with the logo, we decided to make the “ur” a different color–again, paying homage to Flickr. However, this has led to some confusion, with some folks thinking our social media monitoring tool is pronounced “track…U…R.”

Now that we have this blog, I thought I’d set the record straight. That said, if you’re a trackUR person, we love you just the same.

Trackur CEO Andy Beal will be making two appearances online today…[cough]…[cough]…

Whoops, sorry about that. I was in my “corporate speak” mode there for a second. Anyway, I am doing two big events today and it’s your chance to get my advice on reputation management & monitoring for free!

First, all day today–but only for today–you can catch my interview with Brian Carter. Simple head to http://www.socialmarketinginterviews.com/ and sign-up for the free access. In the interview, we discuss:

1. What’s the dirty little secret of reputation management that most rep mgmt software founders won’t tell you?
2. How do you audit your online reputation?
3. What are some good reputation management goals?
4. What’s the best way to prevent reputation crises?
5. What company did everything wrong and turned it around and did everything right? What kind of company can’t be helped by reputation management?
6. When you have a reputation crisis, what do you need to fix first?
7. What’s the biggest internal roadblock to fixing reputation problems?
8. What new role are companies hiring for that prevents reputation crises?
9. How do you choose the best social monitoring platform for your company?
10. How do you do reputation management and brand protection with search engine optimization?
11. How should you talk about your company when doing reputation management SEO?
12. What’s the biggest trend right now in reputation management and how can your company gain an advantage from it?

Want more?

Later today–at 5pm ET to be exact–I’m doing a live BlogTalkRadio interview with Kim Beasley. We’ll discuss online reputation management, social media monitoring, Trackur–oh, and you can call in with your questions too!

It’s time for corporate America to wake up and smell the coffee. In the same way that the B to B space has been slow to pick up on search marketing and social media there seems to be a lag by the larger portion of the business world to engage in online listening for their business.

We’ve made it pretty easy for you here at Trackur. Sure the product is easy and even Andy Beal himself has outlined the top 12 keywords that you should be tracking. This is the complete ‘starter set’ for any business looking to truly keep track of what is happening in the online space so there are few, if any surprises.

So what keeps businesses away? It’s the usual suspects when it comes to the online world.

• Fear – Fear of actually knowing what is being said out there about your brand, your people and anything else about your company. This ‘head in the sand’ approach comes with risks that don’t need to be explained here. Just remember what part of your anatomy is really easy to kick when you have your head in the sand.

• Resources – Resources are always a critical consideration when undertaking anything in business. Resources include money, people, time and more. If done the right way, having an online listening ‘program’ will not take much of any of these resources. Just ask us and we’ll help.

• Knowledge – For some reason there is an impression that there is a secret sauce to online listening. It’s not like SEO or social media where the learning curve can be steep. No, in fact, all it takes to get going with an online listening program is some business acumen and a desire to get better. It’s not that complicated.

• Courage – Some people may wonder why in the world would you need to invest in this kind of business activity. As a result, there are naysayers for this practice as there are for anything that is ‘new’. Well, if anyone in an organization thinks that good business intelligence is ‘new’ they should be looking for work elsewhere. Many people have helped their careers by starting this kind of program, having something happen that was prevented because of their effort and getting recognition farther up the food chain than they ever did before.

All of the above ‘issues’ can be overcome quite easily. Are you interested in learning more about how this can happen? Contact us today.

In our world of “I can’t make a move unless I can prove ROI” we may have actually prevented more good business from being done than stopped bad business from taking place. It’s just a theory I have and there is no empirical evidence to support the claim. I just make observations based on reality and to me that looks like it’s a solid assumption.

So why would we do such a thing? Well, we like to make decisions based on safety rather than best judgments. Because of our current economic malaise we tend to turn to three other letters to guide out business decision-making. Those letters are FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt). It’s real easy to make decisions based on these standards because there is always room to say no. No is the easy way out.

FUD can be the great equalizer of ROI. Because of the fear that something as ‘new’ as an ORM solution wouldn’t be directly traceable to business events that make money (or prevent the unnecessary wasting of money) people shy away. They settle for inferior ORM ‘solutions’ that are free and their results reflect their level of investment. As a result, they can even be soured to real online monitoring that is robust enough to truly impact the bottom line.

Nowhere is this problem more troubling than in the SME (small and medium enterprise) space. This kind of company has between 100-1000 employees and revenues can range from $25 million to $500 million. Based on those numbers one would think that an investment to protect your business from the pitfalls of the online world would be prudent. Honestly, what is $4,500 for a year when it could make thousands or save thousands as well?

I spoke with someone today who gets it. In fact, I am probably going to talk to this person again just to learn more about how he got to the point where he helped an SME fully embrace all things Internet, including ORM, and is succeeding. It’s not some high-flyer e-commerce play that is all about buzz and branding and whiz-bang social media acts. Nope, far from it. This company is a B to B play that is highly technical and is far from sexy. They get it though, and they are seeing bottom line impact because of this online crusader who believes enough to fight through everyone’s FUD. He is showing ROI instead and winning the hearts and minds of those that can do something else: they can promote him.

So what are you doing to move the needle with your online activities? Are you doing just enough to get by because of fear, uncertainty and doubt? Why not step out and test a real ORM platform (OK …. like Trackur!). We’ll give you 10 days to test drive it and back it with a full money back guarantee. You see, we don’t suffer from FUD because we know that ORM drives ROI. Why else would we be in the business?

Don’t let FUD get in the way of some good old fashioned ORM ROI! Contact us today!

When Trackur users started asking for plans that monitored their specific niche, we looked at how we could offer plans that were “one-size-fits-all.” After all, the variations are virtually limitless–restaurants, hotels, local businesses, doctors, etc.

We found the perfect solution by tackling this from a different perspective. We allowed our Premium and Ultimate users to customize Trackur for their own niche. In this walk-through, I’m going to show you how easily you can set-up Trackur to monitor reviews of your restaurant–in this case, the fantastic Winston’s Grille in Raleigh, NC.

So, we already know that Trackur will monitor mainstream media (newspapers etc), social media (blogs), Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and much more, out of the box. But, let’s really put Trackur to work by customizing it to include popular restaurant review web sites.

First, let’s add reviews from CitySearch and UrbanSpoon. While neither offers an RSS feed specifically for Winston’s Grille, that’s OK, because both offer RSS feeds for all reviews in Raleigh. We’ll add these feeds, and later use Trackur to narrow-down to show only reviews for Winston’s Grille.

We’ll grab the RSS feeds:

http://raleigh.citysearch.com/rss/reviews.xml

http://www.urbanspoon.com/w/feed/comments/25/Research-Triangle/rss.xml

We’re going to add these RSS feeds to Trackur so that it acts just like any RSS reader you may currently use–only with more features!  Under “Account Settings” you’ll see the option for “Custom Feeds.”  Click that, and you’ll end up here:

Paste the first RSS feed URL into the empty box. Click “Verify.” Once Trackur confirms the feed is valid, you can then click “Add Feed.”  Trackur will now start adding any new items to your personal database of results.

Next, we’ll do the same with TripAdvisor,  and Insider Pages.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Feeds-d446317-treviews.xml

http://www.insiderpages.com/b/3717497157/index.xml

As you’ll see, all three of these services offer an RSS feed that is specific to Winston’s Grille reviews.

We add those feeds the same way we did before, and we end up with our final list:

OK, now let’s head back to the Trackur dashboard and set up our search. For the main keyword, we’ll enter “Winston”s Grille” – as it is two words, we’ll check the box that tells Trackur to look for both words together as an “exact match”

By default, Trackur will now include its normal results, plus your added RSS feeds. If you wish to only view your custom feeds, you can simply change the “Advanced Search” option as follows:

Let’s say we want to see only new reviews that mention something negative about the restaurant. We can add words that would trigger our concerns, such as:

Now, Trackur will only show results that mention Winston’s Grille, and one of the words we added as a filter. This can be useful if you get a lot of customer reviews, but only want to be alerted to those that are negative. Our advice is to leave the filters blank so you can see both the positive and negative reviews.

And, it’s as easy as that!

It’ll take Trackur about 45-60 minutes to start indexing your custom RSS feeds–and keep in mind that it will only update as it finds new reviews that match your keywords.

I hope this brief tutorial is useful. As you can see our custom feeds option lets you fine tune Trackur to target any niche that is relevant to you.

If you’d like a free demo of our Trackur Ultimate Plan, please fill out this form.

Thanks for using Trackur!

Apple’s reputation could be in a lot of trouble.

A LOT of trouble.

No, I’m not talking about the antenna issue, the screen issue, or even the issue with the proximity sensor. While each of those are big problems, Apple could have avoided a reputation crisis by simply offering to fix or replace phones that were suffering from any of these issues.

Even a total recall of all iPhone 4s would not be as much trouble as the crisis that is looming on the horizon for Apple. What could possibly be bigger than these hardware issues?

Simple. Did Apple knowingly lie to its customers?

You see, Consumer Reports–an unbiased, neutral observer–just stated that it can’t recommend the iPhone 4 due to the antenna issue. More than that, it is questioning the validity of Apple’s explanation:

Our findings call into question the recent claim by Apple that the iPhone 4′s signal-strength issues were largely an optical illusion caused by faulty software that “mistakenly displays 2 more bars than it should for a given signal strength.”

Wow! Did Apple lie?

Its official announcement categorically stated that the issue was due to a software glitch. What if it turns out that this is a massive cover-up by Apple? What if it has to admit that there is in fact a hardware issue. It could try and claim that its initial testing missed the defect, but it would be hard for the company to convince anyone after stating:

We have gone back to our labs and retested everything, and the results are the same— the iPhone 4’s wireless performance is the best we have ever shipped.

If Apple now has to admit that there is a hardware issue, it won’t be the cost of the recall that will weigh heavily on the company’s bottom line, it will be the cost of losing the trust and respect of its most loyal customers.

Before you comment, know this: I currently own an iPhone 4, iPad, Macbook Pro, Macbook, Mac Mini, iPod Touch, iPod Shuffle. So, no, I am not just another Apple hater.

While we all tend to focus on corporate reputation monitoring, personal reputation monitoring is equally important. Even if you’re not a politician, attorney, doctor–or some other person with a professional reputation to uphold–a damaging video, image or blog post could ruin your career.

With our Trackur Free or Trackur Basic plans you effectively have reputation monitoring insurance. Just as you might monitor your credit report with an automated credit check, so you should monitor your personal reputation with Trackur.

It’s fast, it’s free, and unlike kitty above, you have more to lose, by not monitoring!

Congratulations to davisesq212

She wins our Apple iPad giveaway!

Thanks to everyone that entered the contest. We’re going to think up the next big Trackur contest. If you have any ideas, we’d love to hear from you in the comments below.

In the meantime, don’t forget to grab your free Trackur account!

There are many reasons why companies outgrow Google Alerts. One of the biggest is that you realize you need to monitor more than just your company name. When you start compiling the list of keywords you should monitor on a regular basis, you quickly see why you need a social media monitoring tool like Trackur.

Not compiled your list yet? Here are the twelve to put at the top of it!

1. Your Personal Name

Whether you’re an independent consultant, professional, or a very small cog on a big corporate wheel, you should absolutely monitor any media mentions of your own name. An extra tip, monitor your social networking usernames too: monitoring “andy beal” would likely not include mentions of “andybeal.”

2. Your Company Name

Another “no brainer.” Monitor your company name, but also monitor any likely misspellings or legacy company names. For example, GlaxoSmithKline should also monitor “GSK,” “Glaxo,” and “Glaxo Wellcome.”

3. Your Product Brands

If you’re Google, you would monitor the reputation of your key product brands. What’s being said about “Android” or “Chrome.” The same goes for your product brands. You may not be able to keep track of all your products, but you should track the ones that are the most vital to your business.

4. Your CEO (and other execs)

I’ll make you this promise. At some point in his tenure, your CEO will put his foot squarely in his mouth. You should monitor all possible iterations of his name, so you can be the first to know–or at least know before the WSJ finds out.

5. Your Media Spokesperson

Even if your company’s CEO is a recluse, I’m sure someone in your company is in the public spotlight a lot. If I were Lenovo, I’d monitor mentions of David Churbuck–after all he’s likely discussing Lenovo on his blog and Twitter.

6. Your Marketing Message

“So easy even a caveman can do it?” “Just do it!” What if those campaign slogans were accompanied by “sucks” or “I’ll never buy from them again?” Monitoring your marketing campaigns will help you understand if your message is getting across, and what your customers have to say about it.

7. Your Competition

Surely you’d find value in knowing your biggest competitor just got the jump on you. Reports suggest that inside Lenovo, execs knew about the launch of Apple’s Mac Air within minutes–important for Lenovo, as it was planning it’s own ultra-light notebook.

Likewise, if Shell & Exxon are not actively listening to the complaints about how BP is handling the Gulf oil spill, they are crazy. Both could use BP’s crisis to explain how they’re “cleaner” “better” or “safer.”

8. Your Industry

If you keep a watchful eye on industry trends, you can spot opportunities and potential disasters. Everyone’s raving about the iPhone, but some are having issues with the new antenna. By listening to industry news and feedback, you can learn what consumers look for in a cell phone–and build a better iPhone.

9. Your Known Weaknesses

Your brand has a weakness. If that’s a shock to you, I apologize for being the bearer of bad news. Still, it’s better I tell you now, than a customer tell the New York Times.

Take an honest look at your products and services and ask yourself, what are our weaknesses. If Toyota had been honest with itself about its sticking gas pedals, it could have prepared a crisis communication plan and conducted a recall in a manner that wouldn’t have tarnished its reputation (as much).

10. Your Business Partners

If you’re Boeing wouldn’t you want to know if one of your airline customers just declared bankruptcy? How does that effect your quarterly sales numbers? For you, maybe the CEO of a company you did that “co-branded” campaign with, was just snapped leaving a brothel–how would that reflect on your own reputation.

Identify your key business partners and make sure you know what’s happening to their business.

11. Your Clients’ News

OK, for all of you internet marketing agencies and PR firms–and anyone else that knows the value of keeping clients happy–here’s a tip for you. Monitor the news for your clients and then send them a note to congratulate them on their accomplishments–or maybe “watch their back” if you see trouble brewing. Your retention rate will go way up!

12. Your Intellectual Property

If you invested the time–and expense–to register a trademark or copyright your work, shouldn’t you make sure it’s not being infringed upon? Apart from enforcing trademark infringements, you should also make sure there aren’t any cases of mistaken identity. Did someone just complain about how much their Google iPhone sucks? You might want to suggest a correction–or maybe not, if you’re Apple.

Want more? There are at least 30 different identities you should be monitoring on a regular basis. We put them all in a handy PDF for you to download.

Insurance in business is usually not a very fun subject. It usually implies an expense because in many cases there is not much need for it. Service businesses, for instance, must have some form of business insurance if they are renting space from someone. Will it ever be used or truly needed. Not likely but if something happens and it’s there you will feel pretty good about that ‘expense’. Of course, there is the issue of health insurance but we’ll just let the politicians fight that one out.

I am learning to see how the act of online reputation monitoring and management (or online business listening as I am prone to calling it these days) is a new and improved form of insurance for a business.

New and improved? Yes, that’s right. Traditional insurance is important after some negative event has already occurred. Of course, most companies try to prevent the bad things from happening even though their insurance is there to protect them. Why? Because when they use that insurance their costs to have it in the future increase. In other words, you may have the insurance but it’s better for everyone if it is never used.

Well, online monitoring and listening are types of insurance. They act very differently than traditional insurance in that the activity is as much proactive as it is reactive. By being aware of the complete business environment through online monitoring a business can prevent more things from actually happening. By catching that disgruntled customer early in the process a business can avert or avoid a much larger customer service issue. This saves, time, money, reputation and so much more. It’s like an insurance policy that truly protects rather than just covers you.

Would you rather find out about an issue after it has had time to fester in the marketplace or when it is just starting to smolder? What kind of damage can taking this approach prevent? It’s almost immeasurable.

Would there be a benefit if you were alerted to an industry concern earlier than a competitor? Would you get benefit if you had an insurer that was actively looking to see just how you sit in the marketplace against competitors? Of course you would.

If you could buy insurance that could actually prevent disasters rather than just react to them would you see it as something more than just an expense? Of course you would. It would be an investment at that point because it could be adding or saving real dollars that impact the bottom line.

Tracking online activity is a form of business insurance that you simply cannot afford to be without. If you do you are simply exposing yourself to greater risk than should be acceptable in today’s marketplace.

Are you going to need more insurance to stay ahead of today’s business climate? Yes, you do but with online reputation monitoring and online business listening you will be insuring yourself in a way that looks a lot more like an investment.

Interested in seeing how Trackur can help you listen? Request more information or a demo today!

We admit we’re going to sound a bit like a used car salesman here, but, for the next 24 hours only, sign-up for our Trackur Ultimate plan and we’ll refund $227 of your first month’s payment.

Yes, sign-up for our legendary low-cost, easy-to-use, low-mileage, white-labeled social media monitoring dashboard before 5pm ET on July 7th, and we’ll immediately refund $227 of your first month’s payment–so you get Trackur Ultimate for just $150 for the first month!

This special offer won’t be extended and may not be repeated. With our 10-day full money back guarantee, you have nothing to lose!

Sign-up here!

I suspect that there may be more than a few readers who may be scratching their heads right now but that’s OK. That is still a common response to the idea of online listening by businesses these days.

Most people who are at least aware of their surroundings understand that something is being said or indexed or whatever online about your company, your brands, your people and more. It’s just a fact of life. When companies choose to not monitor those mentions they do so at a very high risk.

In talking with companies about monitoring the online space it’s interesting that most people have never considered the potential cost to their business of an online attack or issue. Out of sight, out of mind I suppose.

I used to sell commercial grade Internet connections to businesses back in the early days of the web and one thing we talked to companies about was adding additional firewall protection. It wasn’t cheap but we often asked prospects “What would the cost be to your company if someone breached your systems via the Internet? What could be at risk if you were not guarding against it?”

It was at this point that those who were aware of the potential damage had what a Sr. VP of Marketing at a rather large telco company termed their “Oh s%$#!” moment. It’s the true understanding of the potential hard dollar cost of some kind of negative event.

• What might happen if one of your biggest customers was unhappy but didn’t tell you the whole story? Instead they told the industry in some forum and it cost your sales team a deal? How much does a potential lost sale cost your business?

• What might happen if someone was misusing your trademark or misrepresenting your products online? What might be the hard dollar cost of this kind of action to your bottom line? How would that affect performance over a year? How might that affect a bonus payout?

• What might happen if someone spread a rumor about your company that caught on virally and suddenly your stock started to nosedive? What would be the business and personal damage done there?

If you don’t get the point by now then you likely never will and that’s fine. The reality is that in today’s world everything is much more fragile than it has ever been. People have a voice that they never had before and most people are ignorant enough to believe that if it’s on the Internet then it must be true.

So now it’s your job to decide how much is it worth to protect from such an event. Sure budgets are tight but there is still waste in many. If you don’t free up resources to protect yourself online today you may not be around tomorrow.

Is that a risk you are willing to take?

Interested in seeing how Trackur can help you listen? Request more information or a demo today!

According to Fleishman-Hillard’s 2010 Digital Influence Index (pdf), consumers that user Twitter and other microblogs overwhelmingly want companies to monitor what they are saying about brands and products.

In the US, 72% of users would be delighted if you would only keep an eye out for their feedback, praise, and complaints. Apparently, the UK is a little more cynical about your intentions, but even 52% of Brits encourage your participation.

The key to success?

Consumers don’t just want  you to monitor for monitoring’s sake. Neither do they want you spying on them. However, if your company has initiated a social media monitoring strategy, so that you can truly engage with your customers, then the majority of microbloggers welcome you!

What’s your social media monitoring strategy?

Online listening is an important function in the new world order of business in the Internet Age. Last time I covered online listening as it relates to sales activity. There are opportunities to be had out there that have real dollar value attached to them whether it’s in gaining the new revenue of a sales or saving mounds of cash in avoiding a bad new hire. As a part of this continuing series, today we’ll look at online listening in the human resources world.

We already know that HR professionals have become dependent on tracing prospective employees’ (especially younger ones) trail of stupid human tricks. These ‘fun’ things that seem cool and innocuous to those who have no sense of responsibility end up coming back to bite them in the same part of their anatomy that is sometimes featured in ‘fun’ party antic pictures. While this is certainly a great application of any online listening tool and the associated strategy for the HR professional there’s more to consider.

Here’s a few of the things that HP professionals should consider when actively listening on behalf of their employer.

• Rogue employees – When you put a group of people to together you are going to get a certain percentage of people that were born a cynic and use the rest of their life to sharpen this skill. As a result, they often are the first to point out the various shortcomings of their employer because, let’s face it, they are simply smarter than everyone else . I speak from experience because earlier in my life I thrived on this kind of subversive activity. Thankfully, I have grown up and see it for what it is which is just harmful and unnecessary rabble rousing that helps nothing and hurts everything. HR folks can now find these folks when they post on their personal blog or tweet that their company is full of morons etc etc.. Getting rid of these kinds of employees can save countless hours and dollars.

• Ruthless headhunters – Want to know who is trying to cherry pick your best employees? Keep a watchful eye on your industry to see who in the world of recruiting has a taste for the kind of employee you offer. Better to learn their tactics and see just what they look for in a potential target. Knowing even a little something could prevent losing a valuable player which would be harmful to morale and the bottom line for who knows how long.

• Management gaffes – Ever have a manager or someone who has responsibility for employees in the company do something that puts the company at risk?  Sexual harassment or age discrimination cases can turn up at the worst possible times. I have seen what companies are capable of and just how someone within an organization can act in a way that would put the company at risk if only people knew. Now with the world of everyone knowing and saying everything you can catch these instances before the sparks erupt into flames.

• Industry insight – While most companies that provide benefits to employers update their customers on changes in policies or regulations it doesn’t mean that they are giving you the full story. Being able to network with other HR professionals through online listening and engagement can bring something to light that may have been missed otherwise.

• Find the best employee for the job – Tired of bad candidates being paraded in front of you by recruiters and others? Tired of sorting through piles of resumes of unqualified people for that critical job opening? Listen to the buzz out there and find who is looking. Be careful you don’t cross any lines though and become the ‘recruiter’ you hate when they get in your way.

There are likely to be endless applications for online monitoring and listening activities as they relate to the human resources professional. If you have some to offer and add to the conversation here please do.

Listen well and you’ll be rewarded.

Last week I discussed very briefly several areas where online listening is much more than just a buzz monitoring activity. Online listening is more about gathering business intelligence across the enterprise (or SMB for that matter). We get caught up in talking about social media monitoring but there is a lot more to this.

Over the next few posts I will be looking at how using a tool like Trackur can help a business in many areas including sales, marketing, PR, HR, legal etc. etc. I’ll start of by examining how online listening can allow your sales efforts to flourish in these less than robust times.

Sales are about opportunity. This opportunity has to exist on both sides of the equation in order for good business to be done. In old school selling everything is an opportunity. If your prospect doesn’t need your product or service you would then have to convince them that they did and make sure you “close them” before they truly understood that they were making a poor decision based more on coercion than need.

As the buyer has evolved so has the sales process. Sales people have to be more intelligent about who they approach, when they approach them and most importantly why they are approaching them. Online listening can help turn the sales process into a truly productive activity for both buyer and seller alike.

So how can online listening help sales?

• Identify prospects early in the cycle – As a sales person there is nothing worse than coming into a sales opportunity right when the prospect is set to decide within a week about who they will be going with. You are late to the party and chances of success are very slim. By listening online your prospects may be giving off clues about their desire to find new sources / vendors long before they actually start the process. Get in early to make your case over time and not against it.

• See where the competition is faltering – If you are not monitoring your competition’s brand just as closely if not more than your own then you are making a huge mistake. Disgruntled customers of the competitor may be talking about their bad experience right now online. Would it help your cause to be aware of this? Of course! So don’t hope you catch a prospect at the right time with a cold call. Know you have someone interested when you call because they have already said as much.

• Look smarter than your competitors – By listening about everything in your industry and. By default, your prospect’s industry you are going to be more informed and appear more intelligent than the competition. People like to work with smart people. Listen and get smart!

• Work smarter than your competitors – Picking up a directory and making cold calls is something that can only work at scale. In other words, there has to be a large number of people making a large number of calls for the law of large numbers to kick in. Most businesses don’t have that luxury so they need to be more targeted and intelligent in their efforts. Online listening saves the time, effort and tiring effect of unnecessary cold calls in large numbers. Anyway, no one in sales actually makes a lot of calls if there is a better way. Find the better way and use it.

• Have objections answered before they are asked – There are plenty of hints online as to what are roadblocks to purchasing just about anything. You can know the trouble spots and have answers for objections simply by being aware. If you get caught in a sales call with a question that an answer exists online for you will look bad and will hurt your cause more than help it.

• Be an internal information depot – An informed salesperson is very important to many organizations. Why? Sales touches all aspects of any business and if the sales team / person is a source of incredible knowledge then they get more done internally. Be a source of information to your co-workers not a source of frustration.

What other benefits can a sales team member get from listening online? Let us hear your suggestions because we know that the world of online listening is evolving rapidly every day. Let’s learn together.

It’s been two weeks since we launched the new Trackur Ultimate plan. The new social media monitoring plan is fully white-labeled, meaning you can add your logo, use your URL, and apply your color-scheme.

At the time, we decided to keep the pricing at the same low $297 a month. But, as we warned, the pricing will increase on July 1st to $377 a month. However, if you sign-up for the Trackur Ultimate plan now, you’ll keep the $297 rate for as long as you renew your account!

So, how are companies using Trackur’s white labeling options?

Time really is running out. Remember we offer a 10 day money-back guarantee, so go ahead and get signed-up now–before the price increases!

When discussing brand management online most often the conversation gravitates toward monitoring buzz and handling comments from customers and the like. There’s nothing wrong with that at all but is has become the online listening industry’s equivalent of the lowest common denominator. It’s a concept that everyone gets and can nod their heads at the right time during a conversation so it is the new safe subject.

Online listening needs to be expanded though because it encompasses so much more that should fall under the heading of business intelligence. B to B Magazine did a nice article (with a Trackur mention, thank you) on the subject and said

The use of “listen” and “response” processes, as well as formal reputation-management tools, is a trend that’s taking hold. What’s more, these procedures are moving beyond the PR department to marketing, product development, sales and customer support. That phenomenon is itself triggering a related call to pull social media data into more systems, such as CRM or call-center platforms.

“Although a majority of marketers track customer feedback, they’re still in the early stages of putting that information to work for them. And, in most cases, [they] use fairly basic tools to manage their data collection,” said Zach Hofer-Shall, an analyst at Forrester Research. “We’re still in the early days of companies adopting these tools, but the marketers I speak with see a lot of value in the investment.”

While I am not ready to give social media a free pass in to CRM and call-center platforms just yet (Let’s figure out some of the basics first please! Crawl before you walk. Walk before you run. Get it!), I do applaud the call for online monitoring and listening being more than just about reputation.

So what can be done with an online monitoring tool that goes beyond just seeing your brand mentioned online? Here’s a quick and far from exhaustive list:

• Sales intelligence: Determine what keywords and phrases prospects may be using to gather their own information about product and services. Maybe there are leads out there ‘advertising’ their need for your product or service. If you’re not listening for them, though, your competition may be.

• Competitive intelligence: This often goes hand in hand with sales intelligence because it’s very helpful to know where your competition is falling down with their customers. No better time to strike then when a customer is airing your competitor’s dirty laundry in a public forum. You have to be listening though to learn.

• HR intelligence: Got a rogue employee who likes to give away company secrets or bad mouths the company online? Minimize the damage remove them before their efforts leave a scar. There is also a positive side to the human element. What if you found an employee who is going above and beyond what is expected of them and is being praised by a client or other employees. Those people are the keepers and they, more often than not, are not the usual loud-mouthed internal self-promoters bucking for a raise. This may be the way to find these gems.

• Market research: There are great ideas being floated every day in open forums about how to improve things. What if you heard directly from your customers about changes the would like to see that would improve their experience. What if you enlisted their help? Think that goes a long way to building brand loyalty? The answer is yes, by the way.

• Cultural intelligence: The old way of identifying trends was when they were already underway. What if you saw them at their earliest stages through online conversations? Wouldn’t it be great to help shape the next trend rather than react to i

• Market intelligence: Often the mood of a marketplace is practically palpable when observed through online interactions. You can unfiltered feedback and data that is nothing like any artificial focus group environment could ever provide. People won’t tell you what you want to hear if they don’t know that you are listening. What you will learn, however, is the truth no matter how good or bad it is.

So don’t limit your thinking about online listening to just brand mentions. That’s so 2009. Open up your mind and your online ears to hear it all. Of course, what you do with that information is a whole other deal so we’ll save that for another day.

Interested in seeing how Trackur can help you listen? Request more information or a demo today!

If you have ever watched a war movie where the lead ‘scout’ goes in front of a platoon to help navigate tough and dangerous terrain, the skill that is usually the most important is listening. Listening tells stories that the other senses can’t understand. It warns of unseen dangers long before the eye can see them, or the nose can smell them. It’s arguably the most important sense we have.

So why do so few companies actually spend time doing it? Why do most attempts to “get the ear” of the right person at a company fall on deaf ears? Why is listening so undervalued in today’s corporate world? Here are a few thoughts:

• Listening requires silence – Many people have mistaken social media as a one-way bull horn that can be used to beat anyone within earshot into submission with buying messages. If you are shouting in social media and talking about yourself too much no one will listen to you. They’ll follow you but they won’t listen to you. That’s not a good thing, by the way.

• Listening takes patience – Listening is about being quiet and patient. The reward comes from letting those who are truly most important, like customers and critics, have their say. It doesn’t happen every second of every day. Just because someone isn’t talking doesn’t mean you have to start talking. Be patient and keep your mouth shut.

• Listening is a discipline – In our world of immediate gratification there is less discipline than ever. Disciplines become habits with practice. They are not natural actions for the most part. As a result, we have to learn the discipline of listening to be effective using it for our business

• Listening requires courage – Ever had to sit back and listen to someone read you the riot act and you just had to sit there and take it? It’s hard and it’s uncomfortable. It is also, incredibly valuable. Growth and knowledge come from listening even during the times when you think you should fight.

• Listening is a team sport – With a good guide who listens everyone else is free to do their job. They can still listen but they can also work and be looking for things within their control. There is great value in letting people do what they do best.

• Listening is a lost art – In today’s “ME! ME! ME!” world listening is not valued because it seems so old school. Guess what folks. We are in the current mess we are in because we didn’t follow time-tested principles that have worked since the dawn of commerce. We stopped listening to the right voice so we could use our own voice. You get what you pay for.

So are you and your company ready to listen today? Do you have what it takes to listen and learn and succeed? What are you hearing right now that needs your attention?

Interested in seeing how Trackur can help you listen? Request more information or a demo today!

Mike Proulx of Hill Holiday provides BusinessWeek with his Top Five Social Media Marketing Mistakes that companies make. Mike is our kind of guy, with social media monitoring being his #1 mistake:

1. Not (or Barely) Monitoring: Companies that do not first “listen” and observe how their evangelists and detractors talk about their brand risk jumping into a cyclone of unanticipated activity. Constant monitoring is a must.

Even a well-liked Internet brand can fall victim to lack of social media monitoring. In 2009, hackers exploited a vulnerability in online retailer Amazon.com’s (AMZN) site, causing all books by GLBT (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender) authors to disappear. Over the course of a weekend, thousands of consumers on Twitter, Facebook, and forums voiced their concern, suspecting that Amazon had made the authors unavailable deliberately. Two days later, when Amazon made an attempt to explain the glitch, people on Twitter already had created a hashtag further ridiculing the company’s ineptitude.

You could stop there, but then you’d miss out on the other 4 big mistakes companies make in social media.

Now, we just need to know, will Mike spot this blog post?

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!

This doesn’t need too much explaining.

Try any Trackur paid plan and, if you decide it’s not for you, simply let us know within the first 10 days of your first month and we’ll give you a full refund. No questions asked…OK, we may ask you for some feedback, but it’s not conditional on the refund.

Why are we doing this?

We believe that Trackur’s social media monitoring plans are the most affordable and easiest to use in the world. We want you to be able to try the plan that you feel best fits your needs. So, go ahead and sign-up for the Ultimate plan. Take it for a test drive. You now have no reason not too!

Have you entered to win a free Apple iPad yet?

Well, you’d better get a move on because the June 30th deadline is fast approaching. To recap, we’re giving away an Apple iPad to one lucky Trackur user.

Whether you grab a free Trackur plan or one of our affordable paid plans, all are welcome to enter. Simply head to this page and follow the instructions.

Good luck!

Click to Enlarge

I’m excited, no thrilled, to share with you the brand new Trackur web site AND announce the launch of the industry’s most affordable white-labeled social media monitoring dashboard.

We’ve revamped Trackur.com site and also made some usability improvements to the Trackur dashboard–which, by the way, has moved to its new location at track.trackur.com.

Along with the new look, we’ve renamed all of the Trackur plans, and have added some ground-breaking features to the Trackur Ultimate plan. Here’s what’s new:

• Use your own domain name: You asked for it, and we’re delivering. You can now point any domain name to your Trackur Ultimate dashboard and that’s what you–and your clients/users–will see. Your domain name will be used for everything, while we take care of everything else.
• Use your own logo: We’ve made it easier for you to upload your own logo and replace the Trackur logo. This further allows you to place your brand front and center with those that login to your Trackur dashboard.
• Pick your color scheme: We know, we know. Green doesn’t match with every company’s color-scheme. So, we’re delighted to announce that our Ultimate plan now allows you to pick from a wide range of color-schemes.

So, to recap, Trackur Ultimate let’s you provide you own branded social media monitoring dashboard without you having build, update, maintain, or lift a finger! We do all the heavy lifting! Building your own reputation monitoring dashboard would cost you tens of thousands of dollars in time and resources. Trackur Ultimate is just $377 a month–and we take care of everything! Better yet, sign-up before June 30th and you’ll get the Trackur Ultimate plan for just $297 a month! And that’s a rate that you will keep each month–so long as you renew your plan!

This is just the start. What’s going on behind the scenes is just as important as what we’re announcing today. We’re building a new platform that will allow us to announce some cool features over the coming weeks. Stay tuned!

Oh, and don’t forget, everyone can enjoy Trackur without charge, thanks to our Trackur Free plan!

Andy Beal
CEO

As more and more companies start monitoring the web, we’ll start seeing some creative uses emerge. For example, did you know that lenders and debt collectors are monitoring social media to help them track down delinquent payers and conduct credit checks?

Andy Beal, the owner of Trackur, told the Pittsburg Post-Gazette that many companies–among them, credit lenders and debt collectors–are now using social media monitoring services to “match online profiles with real world identities.”

The online Lending Club, for instance, scans loan applicants’ social networking profiles in addition to performing the usual credit and income checks. What this means, the Post-Gazette reports, is that creditors are realizing how social media profiles can provide unique insights that a traditional credit history cannot.

As an individual, do you know what they’d find if they conducted such a search on you? With our Trackur Free plan, you can easily–and freely–keep an eye on any site that discusses your name. That could come in handy, the next time your friend blogs that you and he took a day of work to go fishing.

When it comes to social media monitoring, it’s easy to think that all you need monitor is your company name and perhaps the name of your CEO.

However, if you take the time to really think about the keywords that are important to you, you end up with a much longer list. Thirty items to be exact!

So, to help you get the most out of your social media monitoring, we’ve compiled this handy cheat-sheet of keywords you should be monitoring with Trackur. We’ve even converted it to a PDF–so you can download and share with anyone you wish.

Happy tracking!

If you’re reading this, then it worked!

No we didn’t build a flux capacitor and travel back in time. We did better. We improved on the already awesome Trackur.com web site!

The new site was well overdue, but just like the cobblers kids, our shoes were the last to be repaired. Now that we’ve updated, we hope you’ll like what we’ve done with the place. The site is faster, easier to navigate, and we’ve removed a lot of the clutter that we’d collected over the years.

As part of the new design, we’re launching this blog. Unlike our Trackur Tracking blog–which we’ll continue to use for urgent messages and system status updates–this blog will bring you news and trends from the world of social media monitoring and reputation management. After all, we’re are somewhat of an expert in that space.

Wait, there’s more! As part of this new design, we’ve also spruced up the Trackur dashboard and spent time adding some really cool new features. But, I’m getting way too ahead of myself. We’ll share that news in another blog post.

In the meantime, me casa su casa!

Andy Beal

CEO, Trackur.com