Nicolas Cage may be able to steal six figure valued cars in less than 60 seconds, but here is how failing to keep up on your presence in social media, Google, and the press could cost you say, $50,000 every .06 seconds.
A recent experience in my hunt for housing last month reminded me of the power of a simple search. Google is reality. Make no mistake about it, whatever comes up under a Google search defines you and your business to most people. Unfortunately for the nameless person in this story, his Google search didn’t turn out so well
My friends and I went on a tour of a few houses we were considering for next year when one of them pulled me aside and whispered that he had heard some bad things about this guy before. After some back and forth and consideration we ended up not going with this particular landlord and a major piece of that decision for me was what came up under his name.
A negative article about his landlord tactics was top of the list, along with poor ratings and complaints on multiple review sites. Generally you have to take people’s complaints about landlords with a grain of salt, especially in the U-District, but fractions of a second online gave me enough evidence to want to look elsewhere.
The saddest part is, all the people living with him currently had no complaints when I talked to them. Had his online presence been on par with that feedback, he might not have lost out on our group. The great part for your business or personal image is that a reputation on Google isn’t permanent.
Sometimes bad press or a bad review here or there is unavoidable so keep in mind that it isn’t the end of the world. Google rewards fresh content and simple SEO tactics can drive your own site and sites that support you toward the all important first page of Google,
leaving the bad apples in oblivion. The second result was from 2007! Obviously this guy was not very aware of his online look and I doubt we were the only group to think twice about it. On top of all that, he wasn’t even attempting to use social media to hit his target audience or replace bad results with profile pages he could control!
The solution for this is simple and could easily be turned into something powerfully positive with just a little work and know how. Salty Waffle is full of passion for social media, marketing, relationships, and getting your business looking and feeling great. This blog, our book, and our classes are all great ways to get the simple help you need to fix a PR problem or just boost traffic and get on top of all those crazy words like twitter, buzz, and blogosphere. Were already working with businesses that recognize the power of the mediums we specialize in, the waffle can help.
Don’t let .06 seconds kill your business, manage your online presence and start controlling the conversation!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6AyAM1buQ8[/youtube]