Total Politics - because knowledge is power

inhouse-pr advert

 

We all do it. Wait for a lull one day, check nobody is looking and gingerly type our own name into the Google search engine to see what, if anything, has been written about us.  Apparently, we shouldn’t be so coy. “Google yourself at least once a week,” is the advice of Andy Beal, an on-line reputation defender, a Google optimiser or you could call him an internet marketing consultant. Companies like Beal’s monitor, manage and advise on how to improve your on-line reputation. It’s hit the United States where consultants like Beal can command up to $30,000 per case.


A positive reputation is everything to a politician, off- line it is considered so important that all messages are crafted with great care and every effort is made to ensure anything you don’t want published remains out of the public domain, and anything you do is used to its optimum. Off-line there is much more control over what is and what is not said about you, your politics and your message.


But the PR effort is given less consideration on-line with greater freedom, questionable accuracy and where there is far less control over what is written about you.


Although still embryonic in the UK, Americans have their fingers on the pulse. Will Critchlow, founder of Distilled, a search engine optimisation consultancy says: “If you Google most US politicians it is not until you reach the seventh or eighth item on the list that you will find something they may not be in control of.”


Once you’ve mastered the basics of managing your on-line presence other aspects of internet marketing can be used as effective campaign tools in their own right.   Will says: “Broadly there are three areas where it may be useful, these are campaigning, managing and controlling reputation information and it also has a potential for engagement”.


The last Mayoral election saw each party conduct a slick campaign. Each candidate made use of social networking sites such as Facebook. Lib Dem candidate, Brian Paddick, organised the first Twitter chat, no doubt to appeal to a youthful audience, and the Conservatives ensured that  anything associated with Boris’s campaign or the Mayor was Google optimised, meaning his name appeared before anyone else’s on a simple Google search. The first name to come up in a natural search (not a sponsored link) for the Mayor of London was Boris Johnson rather than then incumbent mayor Ken Livingstone. Boris had a powerful campaign team but as an incumbent you expected to find Ken at the top of any search.


The concern for many of Andy’s clients is Google optimisation. “Google is such a powerful tool the majority of the focus is directed at Google reputation management regardless of anything else,” he says.


A simple Google search for any politician will typically reveal within the first hits; their own personal website, a link to a news story from a (national) newspaper and often a Wikipedia entry. The first page, indeed the first three or four entries are the most important, they are after all the ones most people will look at.


Although Google is clearly powerful, the on-line encyclopaedia Wikipedia is one of the biggest threats according to Critchlow. Wikipedia can be edited and updated by anyone, at anytime. “Monitor content on Wikipedia very carefully,” is Will’s advice adding: “It can become authoritative, giving ‘right’ answers, in fact journalists have been known to use this to check facts, and when it appears in papers people say  ‘well its definitely true it was in the papers’.”


Wikipedia is a very powerful tool and together with Google it can be a problem. Google will try to return the most relevant answers to a search and do so by examining what websites say, but crucially they examine and pick up on what other people say about it on their own sites. And, of course, it measures the number of hits the site has had.

Critchlow warns: “Wikipedia is a real threat to politicians largely because there is no guarantee that you can get remarks removed. ‘Wiki editors’, as they are known, can go back and change anything that has been edited by yourself, and in addition the edited history shows up too.”


If you are a normal ‘celebrity’ you can stay fairly anodyne but as a politician you are more likely to say controversial things, such things will be picked up and you may never live them down if they appear in the world of Wikipedia. Will estimates that Wikipedia will appear in 90% of searches for politicians.

 

While it is a threat, internet marketing more generally is also a great opportunity. It is a really powerful way of engaging with younger, increasingly busy people.


Downing Street, for example, launched its Twitter earlier this year. It can be used as an innovative way of broadcasting policy - reaching people who might otherwise not read or hear about it. “It’s a great way of staying in touch and is a great tool for on-line marketing,” argues Will.


Over 2,000 people currently follow the Downing Street Twitter, both Democratic camps have used it, and Will claims it has potential to be a powerful reputation management tool.


Can companies like Distilled really help? Journalist Rosie Millard visited Distilled because her own on-line reputation was abysmal. Her domain name had been obtained, and a website built in her name, which was being used in a derogatory way. Distilled advised her that she could re-claim her domain because it was her own name. The company are currently advising and reconstructing her on-line image.


Local politics is often the source of a lot of personal attacks. And Will advises that, at the very least, people should be aware and monitor what is being said. People say unfounded things and every politician must be hyper aware to limit this occurring on-line. Fortunately there are some simple steps.

 


A monitoring checklist:

  • Monitor on a weekly basis what is being said about you. This can be done simply by checking the results for your own name on Google

 

  • Create a website attached to your personal name or if you can’t get the exact name then use something closely associated with you. For example, J Smith - Brighton councillor. Whatever you use it should be something that will be picked up by a simple Google search

 

  • Bring together trusted advisors - they will be useful if you come under fire. It is natural to become defensive, but a team of trusted colleagues may be more effective than you at defending your reputation

 

  • Sincerity - If you make a mistake apologise for it before on-line content spirals out of control

 

  • Consistency - ensure you are seen as a consistent politician. Remember your history on-line is much more accessible than it is off-line.