So many SEOs complain a set of local rankings reach a plateau. Or, they can bring in the traffic, but just can’t seem to get it converting at a half decent level. That’s because they often make one very big mistake. Oh, it’s nothing to be upset about and it certainly isn’t done on purpose, but it’s something that can really hold local businesses back if they’re not paying attention.
Are you ready for it? Ok, here it is:
We’re no longer normal. We forget how to think like a user! A real customer!
When I first got a computer after a substantial period without one, the online world had changed from the little chat room/Geocities/Yahoo world I had left a few years prior. The ‘me’ of today would have definitely been laughing at myself of yesteryear for sure.
I didn’t really use Google much, and when I did, I essentially knew nothing beyond how to type in the box and click ’search’. Paid ads and organic results didn’t look any different to me, and I didn’t use any of the fancy-pancy search functions like blog or news search. Most of the time, I found cool stuff by jumping from one site to another through links and ads. I didn’t use RSS, I didn’t use email and I definitely wasn’t using social networks.
It sounds odd, but it still happens way more than you think. My dear loving family, for example, doesn’t really use that ‘Google’ thing. This means, if they can’t type the address, it isn’t shared via email, or they don’t fall onto it through another site, they’ll never find it. They aren’t the exception to the rule either. Large portions of society don’t have or use the Internet daily. Shocking, I know!
Granted, this doesn’t hold true in every instance. If you’re working for a business that sells printers, routers, and other computer accessories, chances are your audience is going to be fairly good with computers and the Internet. If you’re working on a site for a local coffee shop, however, likely not. So, if you’re getting links and citations from directories, social networks, and other more technical means, you might want to reconsider your strategy.
First, recognize that it’s easy to forget exactly how different we are from real people (ha!). I often don’t realize just how much I’ve learned and changed since I got sucked into this business, and I’m willing to bet you’re the same.
Find out how people in the real world are finding sites. Go to an Internet cafe or library and nonchalantly watch the less familiar users. Talk to friends and family about how they discover sites. Have the business owner talk to his customers. And for cripe sakes, use your imagination!
Talk to other local websites about posting some content, going together on some type of deal, and see about getting listed on other local business websites. Don’t be afraid to offer a little space and bandwidth to local charities or events as well. You can toss up a page for them quite easily in exchange for some link love and it reflects well on the business to boot. Connecting with the community has numerous benefits for the local business owner outside of just boosting traffic.
Let’s pretend, shall we?
We’re working on a site for a local bakery and lunch room. We’ve done Yelp and all the regular spots, but we’re needing an extra boost. So, here’s where I’d be looking for links and citations:
Local hospital — they’re having a fundraiser, we spread the news, they offer up a link
Grocery store — we drop a piece on planning birthday parties for diabetics
Party planning store — we talk them into a citation/recommendation
Tourist information booth — they love having tons of information on the local area, so we send them some! Like helping them put together a free ebook interested visitors can download. Of course links and information for the business will be inside.
Radio station — we talk to the local biz owner and they agree to play the station in the store in exchange for a great link/ad
Local Facebook pages
Hotel /restaurant/lounge — They’ve got a little newsletter that’s going fairly decently, so we’ll help them put it together every month.
Real customers — Make sure the business owner is promoting its website in store and offline as well as sites such as Yelp, Google Local Listings, and FourSquare. Promoting customer reviews is huge and even helps encourage customers to talk about the business elsewhere.
Make pages and features local businesses would make use of: an interactive map filled with local info and hot spots, a list of upcoming events , interesting local information and odd stories collected from locals, track deals offered by area businesses. These ideas require you to do some work and give out some links, but others will happily link to them and send people directly to the site.
Many times, you don’t have to do more than just ask for a link or citation and you’ll get one. It’s often a matter of showing the other business owner they can benefit from working together. However, don’t be afraid to offer up a little something either. Being cheap isn’t going to get you anywhere.
Once upon a time, when Google wore diapers and SERPs looked very different from the ones you see today, SEO was pretty simple. Drop some links, and the more links you got, the higher your site would go. Today, however, things just aren’t that easy. Links still play a very important role, but they are only one piece of the puzzle. Users are demanding more and so are Search Engines.
SEO Specialists
Ask any old school SEO and they’ll tell you exactly what the industry is all about. For them (generally speaking), there is a very fine line between SEO, IM, SMM, and the many other disciplines. SEOs worry about tags, structure, link building, anchor text, and all of the on and off page things that deal directly with boosting that’s site’s rankings.
And when you think about it, they do have a point. After all, generalists can only go so far and there are a large number of benefits to specializing in one area of another. I’m a generalist, but even I’ll admit that it’s impossible to hold a match to the many specialists I deal with on a daily basis. But is being a specialist in one area enough? Can you know enough as a generalist to be of any real use?
Enter Social Media and Universal Search
When you look at the SERPs today, you’ll see:
Paid ads
Videos
Images
Real Time Results
News
Related searches
Maps
Local listings
And this doesn’t include all the extra stuff like search wiki, blog searches, and the list goes on and on. ‘Being visible’ means a lot more than just getting your site into that coveted number one spot. In fact, I’ve started to wonder if just showing up on the first page is really enough. Of course, this depends on the industry you’re in, the keywords you’re targeting, and what the actual SERPs look like, but it’s worth some thought.
Personalization, Conversion, and You
Now that there’s more than ten websites on a given topic, just showing up in the search engine and getting traffic isn’t enough anymore. At least, not if you plan on actually making money with the site. You have to make things as easy as possible for web visitors while convincing them to buy from you.
You also need to keep in mind that your site is likely attracting a number of different visitors who are using your site for different reasons and are looking for different things. And they’re only going to put in so much effort before they go elsewhere. Are you analyzing your site to make sure each visit counts and that your conversion rate is as high as possible?
The question I’m posing is this:
Is offering ‘pure’ SEO doing clients a disservice in today’s searchscape? Should SEOs expand their skill sets or band together with other specialists to provide the combination of skills and requirements needed for a truly visible site?
Ok, so I realize this is a horrific title and probably a bad set of ads to put together, but considering the topic is bad viral content, I decided it was perfect. Anyway, I think these serious screw-ups examples have some great lessons to teach us.
Ford and Its Evil Car
These have been around a long time, but just so you know what I’m talking about:
I highly doubt I need to explain the problems with this campaign, but just in case, you might want to have a look at the second video (not for the squeamish or cat lovers):
Shockingly, the official word is that the first ad was approved while the second was not. I have my doubts, and so do a lot of others. It actually turned out like the PUMA fiasco, but you can be the judge.
Regardless of whether the reaction was intended or not, animal lovers or anyone who vaguely likes cats was horrified, the marketing world was horrified, and the backlash became so fierce Ogilvy & Mather released a statement assuring the public the commercials was computer generated.
Some people were completely horrified and the ad world seemed to be abuzz with the idea that a company would release something so evocative. I would like to argue that they were aiming for children with a mild rip-off of Simon Says, but using words like ’subservient’ really kills that idea.
Were These Link Bait / Viral Campaigns Successful?
Well, if you type ‘Ford Ka Cat’, ‘Ford Ka Bird’, or ‘Ford Ka Pigeon’, you’ll notice these campaign had no trouble generating links. In fact, many of the authority sites mentioned something about the videos and millions more shared them.
As for the odd Burger King content, Snopes.com and the Wall Street Journal report that only 20 people were told about the site and a few TV ad featured the address. However, the site had received an estimated 15-20 million hits. The Barbarian Group who worked on the project state it made the cover of Business Week and “sold a lot of freaking chicken sandwiches.” That’s not bad at all, considering the backlash created at the time.
How To Fix Negative Viral Content, Link Bait, and Badly Behaving PR Campaigns
Before making a move to put out the fire, I think it’s important to weigh the seriousness and extent of the damage. BK’s attempt at serving up chicken your way wasn’t horrific. In fact, it seems to have accomplished everything it set out to do. So, worst case, they had to calm a few frazzled nerves and maybe give out a few coupons for free chicken. Was there much to fix? Well, no. Not really.
Ford’s mistake is a little different. (Keep in mind, these were released a number of years ago.) They made a number of people very angry and created a large amount of buzz. The other problem is that they couldn’t simply give away a few pieces of chicken to solve their problems (although, I would have been first in line to scream complaints if they were giving away a new car).
So, they had to endure the firestorm and do what they could to minimize the effects. They explained what they could and attempted to take responsibility for the rest.
But here’s the thing: Has everyone stopped buying Ford cars? They might have lost a few sales, but people are still buying cars just as much as they did before. In fact, I would venture to guess the recession hit them harder than the backlash from their campaign. Had it of been a small company dealing on a local basis, they may not have been so lucky.
For businesses like Kryptonite Bike Locks, negative content can be extremely hard on your business. The topic, in this instance, proved their products were essentially useless, and to make matters worse, the content circulated directly through the intended target audience. Not saying it killed the company or cut sales right off, but I’d be willing to say it slowed sales down considerably.
It’s also important to note, however, that Europeans are a little more…uh…open minded when it comes to advertising. While an ad like that may cause chaos in North American, it’s merely frowned upon and ignored elsewhere. This is not to say there’s more approval. The ad agency just isn’t roasted at the stake for it.
When you first realize link bait or viral content has gone pear-shaped, you want to deal with the damages and try to minimize its effects as much as possible. This is usually when a junior exec or external team member gets blamed for screwing up and apologies are made. Someone might even get fired to make it look good.
Don’t just stammer and make whatever excuses come to mind, however. Handle an angry member of the public the same way you would an angry client. With a bat Delicately!
Start by listening to the complaints. All of them, all the way to the end. It only makes people angrier when you interrupt. (If you’re dealing with them online, this likely won’t be too much of a problem. Oh, and hopefully you put some type of monitoring or alert system in place prior to launching the content. If you didn’t, use wine boxes from the liquor store to move your breakables because they have great cardboard inserts.)
Validate what that (those) individual(s) are saying, do your best to take responsibility, and make things right. Exactly how you go about this will depend on the exact situation, but so long as you let the audience guide you, you should be fine.
This doesn’t mean let them boss you around. But, by listening to the audience’s needs and concerns, you should be able to determine your first few moves (In the United Breaks Guitar situation, the airline would have walked away unscathed if they had just paid for the damage!).
It’s important to deal directly with the source of negative feedback. Many times, the person spreading the negative content isn’t the person who experienced the problem. If this is the case, simply explaining the situation and asking nicely is often enough to have them reconsider their position.
If they were the one wronged or offended, try to solve the problem and ask them nicely to spread the word. Yes, you made a mistake poor judgment call and were in the wrong, but you personally contacted them and fixed everything. It doesn’t hurt to go the extra mile here either, even if you weren’t wrong.
The worst things you can do include (as many companies have already experienced):
Threaten to sue a bunch of bloggers. This just makes the story more popular and you end up looking like the bad guy.
Argue with the masses. There’s one of you, and likely millions of people who have heard the story…you do the math.
Pull down the link bait/viral content without providing any sort of an explanation or acknowledging what you’ve screwed up done poorly. You just look really guilty and lose any benefit you might have gained from the experience.
Follow it up with the exact same content that got you into hot water in the first place. This makes a normal mistake into pure idiocy, and that’s never a positive trait for any company.
Well, don’t panic. I don’t see these as necessarily being a bad thing. (There’s no such thing as bad press, remember?) Yes, this will likely spread some negativity about your company, but being able to laugh at yourself and your mistakes is an important trait.
The way I see it, these things have a way of making a horrific story that brings shame and shudders from a target audience into something they’ll chuckle about and pass along. In other words, it takes the edge off. Plus, you’ll likely get traffic and links.
Chances are the evidence links to your failed link bait/viral content will be scattered across the Internet like seeds in a watermelon, and no matter how hard you try, you always find one popping up somewhere. So, when you can’t make it disappear, bury it!
Now, I really shouldn’t have to go into detail here since you all should have ideas as to how to do this, but I will anyway. Here’s a few ways to bury that content and help people forget about the incident (and yes, there are many more; you just need to get creative!):
For Brands/Businesses:
Bury the bad by doing something good. In other words, give to the needy, solve world hunger, or save a whale and tell the world about it! With all the bad PR you’ve been getting, more people are watching you than ever. In fact, if you’re going to do something particularly risqué, consider having something you can release right after.
Distraction can be a powerful tool, so drop another piece of link bait or viral content (NOT the same kind you just got in trouble for!) It’s sort of like a magician. If people watch what the left hand is doing, they soon forget about the right. Releasing a new product or service line can also help.
Visibility. Show that you’re not going to hide from your mistake by putting yourself out there. Even using the situation as a learning tool for others isn’t a horrible idea. Just get out there and show others that your company or site has the same value it did prior to the catastrophe.
Forget about it. It’s only a matter of time before everyone moves on to the next big thing. Get over it, get over yourself, and move on. You know the saying that goes ‘others don’t worry or think about you near as much as you do? Well, it’s really true.
In the worst-case scenario, use the three Rs: Rebrand, Relaunch, Remarket. Keep in mind, however, that people still know who you are! So, if you’re hyper-local (ie. Do little to no business outside of your hometown.) this likely isn’t going to have any effect.
For SEO/SMO/Marketing/PR Firms:
Panic! (Yes, I’m kidding!)
Explain the above information to the client: while it’s not the reaction you’d hoped for, negative PR is not the end of the world. The clients are going to be hostile, they’re gonna be mad, but do your best to listen, acknowledge their feelings/opinions, and do what you can to rectify the situation. If you’ve been able to cover up your mistake move quickly enough, now would also be a good time to explain the steps you’ve already taken to control the situation.
Blogging, article marketing, press releases, and content generation. Just try to stick to the safe subjects!
General link building, and lots of it! By this, I mean directories, commenting, content programs, guest blogging, and all the usual systems you use to build a profile up quickly. I should mention here that you’ll need to be careful. Building too much, too quickly, and particularly all from the same source can be a big mistake.
Use a variety of media. So many people get so hung up on written content they forget about videos, images, and other types of content that are still out there.
Distribute free ebooks, white papers, reports, and other items. They generate links/buzz and help establish your client as the authority.
Target the terms and long tails of the responses (“Ford Ka cat”, for example) can give regular keywords a boost and help offset the negative content as well. However, these are a lot more difficult and often require you to be a bit sneaky to pull off. This isn’t always an option, but I’m throwing it out there anyway.
Do what you normally do, but do it with caution. Just don’t let those negative results stay at the top.
This brings me to the next question:
Should SEOs have a solid understanding of Social Media?
Last week, I published a piece on dark side of viral content and link bait, and it certainly seemed to get the conversation going on Twitter and beyond. This week, I thought it’d be good to look at a few examples and learn from a few other’s screw ups. Let’s go to the dark side shall we?
Now, I know we’re talking about link bait and viral content, but the story of Walmart’s experience with its virtual audience wouldn’t be complete (?) without getting a bit of background in here.
(Disclosure: I worked at Walmart for a few years. However, this post is not connected to that in any way. All things considered, I liked it there.)
The Story:
Walmart has been taking the heat for a number of years on various issues surrounding its business practices and the way it treats its work force. In fact, it has turned into a bit of a PR nightmare that just doesn’t seem to go away. So, to combat this, Walmart decided to go straight for the working population to fix it. It decided to use the power of the Internet.
It may not be Walmart’s first attempt at Social Media, but their Facebook page was definitely one that should be included in SM textbooks in the future. You see, instead of using it to launch a complementary marketing strategy or share information, someone at the company thought it would be wise to let people share their stories about the company.
Well, I’d love to show you the results of this little experiment, but Walmart got rid of it pretty quickly. However, I can tell you it had attracted a number of people who were less than happy about several questionable business practices. Can you say ‘whoops’?
One of them, for example, (and this is going to sound familiar to Tim Horton’s fans) followed an imaginary couple as they crossed the country in their RV and ventured from Walmart to Walmart. Others were fake stories by imaginary staff members and other ‘family’ members about all of the wonderful things Walmart had been doing.
The Problem:
Um, they lied, and for a retailer and a company who has worked to make its company part of daily life for the working public (or a part of their family, depending on which way you look at it), this was pure suicide.
In the case of their Facebook page, they failed to recognize the true power of the general public and exactly what they would do if left to their own devices. The only real upside to the whole thing at this point was the fact that their reputation was already pretty tarnished, so this wasn’t a big shocker to anyone.
Possible Solutions:
When it was discovered that things when horribly wrong, the evidence simply disappeared. There was little to no conversation about the topic on the official side, and no real statement made by the offenders either. Well, an Edelman senior account manager blamed a junior, so someone lost his job. In vain, I might add. The whole situation smells funny and it’s even worse if you know a little history on Edelman. They may as well have not bothered.
Making up a bunch of BS posts about how wonderful Walmart is and all of the great things it does for everyone should have been the last thing they considered. Why not take the time to talk to some of the people who work and shop there? It wouldn’t have taken that long, and if they’d have done it right and offered a reward or prize for each person who submitted a feel-good story, they would have been able to repair their image from the inside out. They could certainly afford it!
Once they got busted for fake content, they should have come clean. They should have admitted to the screw up, but they also should have followed it up with a collection of really awesome genuine stories. The more grass roots, the better. Videos or podcasts would have been even better.
The next step would have been giving back to the public in some way. Giving away something on those fake blogs would have been ideal, particularly if the coupon or post about the giveaway was sent through the RSS feed only.
At the same time, Walmart and Edelman both generated a number of links, and most people forgot about the whole situation. Maybe it wasn’t so bad after all? Maybe they decided to try it anyway? Neither company had much to lose. Remember, their reputations were already pretty dark.
The Facebook page demonstrated nothing but pure stupidity, really. I mean, before soliciting for testimonials and revealing them to the public, you should make sure you want everyone else to know what they say.
Had they moderated the comments published to the page in some way, they would have been fine, but they didn’t. In fact, they could have just forgotten about the fake blogs and just posted some of the real stories on their Facebook page.
You know what would have made some really great viral material for a place like Walmart? Posts like ‘Odd situations/occurrences in your local Walmart’, ‘Weird Shoplifting Incidents’, or even ‘If you could change one thing about your local Walmart that would have you returning several times per week, what would it be’.
We’ll look at a few more examples of negative viral content/link bait, but I’d love to hear your ideas on this first.
Based in Saskatchewan, Canada, Angie Nikoleychuk (Haggstrom) is the Senior Copywriter and Content Consultant for Angie’s Copywriting, a professional business copywriting service providing high-end content to companies and organizations of all sizes. In addition to her online copywriting, Angie is also a contributing author and guest writer for several industry leading publications, a diehard coffee addict, and avid Twitter user. Her favorite subjects? SEO, SM, branding, marketing, and business. (Besides writing, of course!)
Marie-Claire Jenkins is a seasoned SEO professional and a PhD candidate in Information Retrieval that has worked with a number of Fortune 500 companies to create comprehensive SEO strategies and SM campaigns. She is a semantic web expert and a keen developer. When she isn't with her laptop she can be found surfing or on her yoga mat. Her website: Science For SEO
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