In his 1937 novel Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck wrote a paraphrased line about “the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” Nearly any business leader will tell you this is a true statement. In today’s technology-savvy world, things that go awry can often times create a publicity snowball effect — both positive and negative — in the mind of the consumer, influencing more and more stakeholders as word spreads like wildfire. At Get Page One, we believe reputation management strategies are a proactive approach to the handling of crisis; identifying brand supporters and developing a feedback loop for communication with publics.

Reputation management once existed as a sub-genre of public relations (PR) personnel in the media industry to create or manage spin and shape perceptions. Because of the real-time communications technologies of today, reputation management has taken on a unique significance in the marketing repertoire. Consumers are flocking to the Internet, taking the water cooler conversations to social media sites, such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and blogs, expressing evangelism for the brands and products they love, distaste and distrust for those they do not. And it’s not just happening to giant corporations. Small and medium sized organizations are just as susceptible to positive and negative feedback on the Internet. And because this conversation is taking place at lightning speed, ignoring it is not an option anymore.

Of course, it’s always great to be prepared when things go “awry,” and the need for help managing your brand’s reputation doesn’t require a crisis the size of a British Petroleum oil spill. Small customer relations issues, packaging or service problems can turn a seemingly minor dilemma into a major setback that may spread throughout the social web. A proactive approach to monitoring and managing these quandaries can turn a negative into a positive. Conversely, reputation management is not just about handling negative conversations. Encouraging and responding to positive mentions by consumers through social media marketing can enhance brand reputation in the same way.

In days past, coping with consumer perception meant having a journalist at your disposal, a public relations professional on your staff and spending thousands on advertising to help modify public opinion. Now, the consumer is the journalist, social media professionals are your public relations managers and two-way feedback is replacing the expense of one-way advertising. And since we are keen on quoting writers today, poet Oscar Wilde once wrote, “There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.” Search marketing and social media services help get you talked about, and reputation management from Get Page One helps manage that conversation.

Barack’s Not a Muslim

You may have seen recent news about the Barack Muslim rumor. As a result of this and other smears, Obama has set up an “internet war room.” Rather than a place for Matthew Broderick and War Games, this internet war room is actually the site for a different kind of gamesmanship – the gamesmanship of reputation management.

You see, internet marketing isn’t just for blind-sided businesses and celebrities dogged by smarmy rumors. Even presidential candidates are susceptible to the powerful (and frankly, ridiculous) waves of hearsay that often stir the murky waters of the internet. In Obama’s case, he’s been plagued by false claims that he’s a terrorist, a Muslim, and simply unpatriotic. Apparently he isn’t fit for the Oval Office because he didn’t wear an American flag on his lapel for a few debates. That’s where American politics has sunk. If only the Founding Fathers could see us now. Poor Barack.

Muslim communities should be pitied as well. Despite what you may have heard, the Koran is not a manual of suicide bombing techniques, and there are many fine, peaceful Islamic communities around the world. Judging all Muslims based on Al Qaeda is like judging all Christians based on David Koresh and Jim Jones. The Barack Muslim rumor is not only false but racist.

In any case, Obama’s internet war room has been established to practice reputation management on the Barack Muslim rumor and other blather — a sub-field of the search engine optimization that we do every day.

A Free Offer to the Barack Muslim Rumor War Room – And to You

We’ve been pretty darned successful with reputation management and search engine optimization. You can see some of the numbers on our homepage. So we think we have a compelling offer for the Barack Muslim rumor folks:

Please contact us for a free SEO analysis and assessment of your reputation management needs.

But the raw truth is that this offer isn’t just for presidential candidates. If you’ve got questions about SEO and/or reputation management, you can contact us too. For free. Not a bad deal, huh?

Barack Blast-Off

Barack Muslim rumor news articles indicate that the presidential hopeful’s reputation management section will be staffed by a “crack team of cybernauts.” We at Get Page One find this description particularly amusing.

Time for me to put on my internet helmet and enter the cockpit of my netsurf ship. The tubes are calling.