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America’s obsession with sex scandals and drama is a bit alarming, and can cause those of us in the PR and reputation management fields stress and sleepless nights. So what can we do to prepare ourselves for that often unexpected and unfortunate call from a client with a tarnished reputation? Take a lesson from Tiger Woods.

At the beginning of the Tiger Woods sex scandal experts criticized his lack of involvement, shunning the media, and hiding out. Was he waiting for the media frenzy to die down? Possibly. Should he have reacted differently? Highly likely. Taking full responsibility for the behavior, and admitting to the infidelity might not have salvaged his reputation but could’ve at the very least put a small Band-Aid on the wound.

I liked the below piece I read in The Economist as it is a great example of what you should ask yourself when experiencing a scandal such as Tigers:

“The key to a successful relaunch lies in making a cool-headed assessment of how much the scandal damages your company. Does it involve life and limb, rather than less consequential matters? Has it spread beyond particular products or particular divisions to afflict the corporate brand? If the answer to both questions is yes, then companies are well advised to go into collective overdrive; if it is no, then they can experiment with more nuanced responses, such as lopping off a tainted product or sacrificing a rogue division.” ~The Economist “Companies Provide Lessons as Tiger Woods Tries to Restore Image”.

A few key things to remember:

• Act quickly when needed and address the public, something Tiger did not do until much later in the scandal.
• Allow the brand to be more accessible, unlike Tiger’s guarded nature which inevitably caused him more scrutiny (and still does).
• Frame the issue without delving too deeply, like Tiger did when he finally issued a statement.
• Separate the issue from how it affects your business or ability to perform.
• Seem natural and not scripted in public communication: speak from the heart. Unfortunately, Tiger didn’t seem natural although some would say his messages have seemed heartfelt.
• Don’t just talk about how you are going to fix the issue, actually fix it and show how your brand or name deserves to survive, I.E.: Go to rehab, and reconcile with your wife.
• Work on connecting with your audience again: think about using social media networking to reconnect. Remember to listen first, however, and then react.

What other key things should one evaluate when dealing with crisis management and reputation management nightmares?

A part of my job requires me to search the internet everyday for top news stories and ideas for pitch angles. If your daily dose of Twitter feed is not enough, check out some of these more in depth resources below.

Image Courtesy of: Tony Gigov

I’ve been noticing something with Twitter, the brands or companies I tweet about, who respond appropriately, I have a more positive association with them. It may seem obvious, respond back to customer tweets=more positive views, but a lot of companies are not responding timely or appropriately.  I looked back on my twitter and out of the four brands that I talked about on my feed, within the past few weeks, one responded within one hour of my tweet, two responded over 24 hours after my tweet, and the last never responded.

The company that is doing a great job with Twitter is #FedEx. I tweeted that I was waiting for my new computer and within an hour someone from FedEx tweeted me asking if they could help track my package. Within 30 minutes I knew the exact time it would arrive. I was blown away, it was such a good use of Social Media. My experience with them was powerful, and next time I am looking for a company to ship my packages, you can bet who I will use.

On the other hand the brands that I tweeted and took a few days to get back to me, I view a little more negatively than I used to. Its not that I am never going back again but eh…I wish they had a faster response time. It also annoyed me a little that I took the time to tweet them and it took two days to get a response or nothing at all. To ask a customer what they had to eat 2 days after having lunch at their restaurant is lame (I couldn’t even remember). Now, I’m sure they probably don’t have as much time or money devoted to social media as FedEx, but to never respond to a customers positive comment is really unacceptable. Am I asking too much?

This goes to show that social media is a full-time job and requires a lot of time and energy for a company to use it appropriately. A recent study about twitter on Mashable showed 79 percent of Tweeters are more likely to recommend a company that they are following and 67 percent more likely to buy the product. I should think a positive experience with that company on Twitter would also affect those followers.

A group called Reboot is encouraging members of the Jewish faith to turn off their their electronic lives for the Sabbath. They aim to rebuild tradition after the last decade of 24-7 Myspace, Facebook and now Twitter abuse. This weekend was the National Day of Unplugging lasting from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath. I am curious to know how hard this was for the participants? If you cannot shut-off your devices for the boss, then who?

Everyone is so connected 24-7, with new technology unfolding every month, from iPhones to Blackberries. Can you really blame everyone being so connected? It is so easy nowadays. Is social media creating a digital addiction? You see it everywhere, you may have experienced it yourself at some point! I know I had friends in the past that would not put down their cell phone to a point you question why they even want to hang out! Sometimes I see couples out to dinner glued to their smart phones, not even speaking a word until dinner arrives! Even “True Life” a popular MTV show is featuring a “I have Digital Drama” show next week that follows two lives as they become more desensitized to their addiction to the internet. It isn’t just them America, we all have a little twinge that tells us to check our Facebook, yes even at the dinner table.

If every person, no matter what race or background instilled a “National Unplug Day”, do you think we could do it? I am pretty sure I would have to lock up my iPhone and Macbook, what about you?

Social media, the Internet, SEO, online analytical tools, software. First MySpace, then Facebook. IBM, now Safari. Then something becomes 2.0. Everything is always changing and you, my friend, can’t do anything about it. Even the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications has revamped its curriculum a mere semester since I graduated.

As in any profession, we need to continue to teach ourselves the newest advancements to stay competitive in today’s market. That was AZPRC’s first initial goal: A place to network (for free) while simultaneously learning from each other. You and I were probably taught the same way how to write a press release, but chances are that our various jobs distribute them differently. What works? What doesn’t?

And so, every month we try to meet with varying topics. Last month, the always charming Jeff Hecht talked to us about personal branding. The month before, we discussed social media. However, we felt it necessary to go out of our PR norm and discuss internet marketing, particularly how to enhance SEO from a PR perspective (it needs to stay relevant, no?). Elise Redlin-Cook, internet marketing specialist for Vertical Measures gladly shared how to enhance a client’s SEO by a few simple do’s and don’ts

SEO enhances online presence for clients and personal branding

1. Choose your keywords wisely. What is it your client does or sell, and what are their specialties? Do these keywords match up with what  people are searching for? Does the content on the client’s website mention Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and users are searching for broadband?
2. When it comes to online press releases and internet distribution services, always put in the header (if not the URL) what you are trying to tell and/or sell and LINK IT back to the client’s landing page of that service/product.
3. Link every hundred or so words. Google will know if you link over and over again and it takes away from the content.
4. Link on key phrases or words. Never link ‘for more information, click here’. Google will read that as ‘click here’ is related to the topic linked. For example: A great local PR blog, Convince and Convert, is an informative read about the industry. Google will understand that a local PR blog means ‘Convince and Convert’. However, Google will  not understand that ‘For a great local PR blog, click here’ means the well-known blog by Jay Baer.
5. Remember the ‘F’. Readers tend to look at the top and across, while also searching down the left side (sometimes quickly in the middle). Try to put keywords in those places. Putting the most important information on the right side, halfway down the page is going to loose the reader. In essence, don’t do what I did with this blog…
6. Comment and don’t be afraid to link back to your website. If you are following social media rules, commenting on relevant information in a professional way merits a link or two back to your information so don’t be afraid to author your content. Social media started with the assumption that people will partake in dialogue online, so do it!

This past AZPRC meeting truly taught all of us something new that we didn’t know about SEO. Thank you again, Elise, for being a fantastic guest speaker! And for those of you that were there last night, I feel I may have missed a good tip somewhere along the line so please comment!

Most days I peruse various sites to check out the news and relevant stories. I was shocked to come across this video with Representative Patrick Kennedy, screaming during a House of Representatives meeting into the microphone. He was upset that there were only two members from the press in the meeting and directly attributed their lack of interest to their work in the House. He suggested that the press only cover irrelevant topics and when big decisions are discussed, like money or war, no one is there to relay to the American people.

I understand that we obtain news through a controlled filter. The press control what we are exposed to, good or bad. There are already 78 million viewers who tune into CNN each month to receive hard news. The point is, Americans ARE tuning into various news outlets. What messages are they receiving? Is it consistent among all levels? How much do you trust your news source? We already use tools like Hootsuite or Tweetdeck to filter our news and social media profiles for us, it is hard even then to keep up with all the information. The press do a great job of covering relevant stories, yeah some are biased or modified, but what do you expect? This is the way our world works, and to get good press you need to focus on media relations. I do not blame the press for one second for not covering every Senate hearing. Do we really need to know everything?

Representative Kennedy’s outburst had a point, however it seems like he does not understand his audience. The American public should be the audience for all government related issues. As citizens of the United States, it is our right to vote and with that right we should stay tuned with all issues affecting us directly. The war, in theory, affects the entire country, but who is actually affected by it each day? Every issue our government debate is relative to each individual.

I will leave you with this food for thought: As a PR professional, do you think it is harder to pitch the “feel good” stories nowadays? I know we are not accustomed to pitching negative stores, as the saying goes “Not all press is good press”.

Photo Courtesy of: Business Insider

Please join us again at D’lish Coffee House on March 16th, 6:30pm. Elise Redlin-Cook (@RedlinCook) will be discussing her guest blog entry and several SEO tips. Elise is an Internet Marketing Specialist at Vertical Measures, an internet marketing company in Scottsdale. They are experts in the field and can help your clients with SEO, link-building, online marketing, and social media. Check out their blog for additional resources.

If you would like anymore details, please feel free to contact me sarah.geiger27@gmail.com