A Blog Post Worth 17 Billion...

by Sarah Beaumont

Living in London and taking public transport to work has given me a little extra time in the mornings to catch up on the London news. I recently came across a rather interesting article that really helped highlight the importance of Online Reputation Management (ORM).

A while ago the BBC News business editor, Robert Peston, decided to air his views on the current credit crunch. To quote his closing thoughts:

“...confidence in one or more British banks may continue to ebb away, to a potentially lethal extent - or so the banks fear.”

He published this post an hour before markets opened and according to the article, is now said to have caused over ₤17 billion worth of damage.

To put these figures into perspective, at that stage the Royal Bank of Scotland is said to have lost ₤10 billion alone, with HBOS close behind losing an easy ₤5 billion. Now while Peston's post can't be held solely accountable for all this damage, it is entirely believable that it did impact on investor’s confidence and in turn share prices. Robert Peston is considered a credible source and when he states that “major banks have been in secret crisis talks with Alistair Darling” people take him seriously.

If the banks had been using ORM software (like BrandsEye for example), they would have been made aware of Robert Peston’s statements in real time. They could then have issued press statements immediately – before the markets opened - and hopefully minimised the damage. In another recent example a member of the public wrote in a blog post that Steve Jobs had died from a heart attack. Over that weekend Apple’s stock dropped by a massive 10%.

When confidence in you, your product or even your bank relies on public perception – which lets be honest is almost always the case – you have to keep an eye on what people are saying and believing. With the instant worldwide distribution that the Internet facilitates you simply have to keep an eye on your brand at all times.

2008/10/20 | permalink | comments (5) | trackbacks (0)

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Recent Comments

Kat on Engaging as a Company

I agree with you. There are some things that should ideally not be discussed by an employee in the public sphere.
Would a communications policy have stopped the said journo from speaking out? He/she must have known a huge risk was being taken? I suppose it's also an incredibly difficult thing to predict. The lack of control can be alarming.
I'm definitely interested in seeing a more specific list, so if you find it do share.
Thank you for your comments :). Here's hoping there's a good coffee shop close to you..
vincent on Engaging as a Company

I guess the mark of a well crafted brand starts at HR policy for new recruits - ensuring that they fit the brand's/corporate's persona. So in that sense yes you could argue that left to their own devices employees would, regardless of an online communications policy, communicate in a style the sponsor would approve of. Not sure if that's always the case but I'm inclined to agree with this generalization.
I think what is also important is that the individual writing within the bounds of a sponsor's site does so in a restricted locale. You can police your own domain if you're a corporate, you can't necessarily control the individuals mouth outside of it. For instance on twitter, personal blogs and forums. Owing to the nature of niche stardom you could argue that the employee comes to represent the brand, more so than that personifies the brand in organic conversation with consumers and would carry significant weight both within corporate sites and externally. Making some individuals very wary to write for their companies at all.
For instance in our not too distant past a prominent journo got the boot for publishing his gripes with his employers and their professional ability - he was promptly fired...He would no doubt have been policed on a company blog but owing to the fact that he chose to represent the company elsewhere he took his brand and the papers brand with him - dragging both through the mud as traipsed on towards epic-failuredom...
So to come back to a point, there is definitely a sense that the policies as listed above are quite ambiguous. Even you yourself suggest that requisite legalese is absent, and I have to assume that such legalese would include a fairly long list of do's and dont's. I have a list somewhere laying about which dictates in a very bland corporate fashion how to represent the brand in public - if I find it I will share it with you.
Perhaps its worthwhile to enforce points like "don't tell secrets" and my own favourite, "for the love of god don't gripe about the boss who you've publicly named online"...
That's my mental-riff for the day, I'm afraid I veered rather uncharitably off course but such is the nature of thought.
Now if only the company I worked for had some decent coffee!!
Kat on Engaging as a Company

Transparency is a key issue - as is allowing people to carve their own niche.
My thinking is that people engage with a personality - an individual personality - in conversation more than with a collective. It's just easier. A company personality surely reflects the people who work there as well as a crafted (constructed?) image that the stakeholders choose to present. While you want engagement it's not the same as speaking to an individual.
There are definite risks involved - but I would lean towards allowing people to carve a niche.
vincent on Engaging as a Company

Couldn't have said it better. Nice post, it is most certainly something corporates are going to struggle with. How much transparency is too much? Who should be allowed to represent a brand and to what extent should the individual be given the opportunity to carve their own niche rather than extol the virtues of the mother - brand?
Who knows. We shall soon see as this year pans out and we find out how the big media players tackle the rise of the cost effective digital media channel.
Kat on Engaging as a Company

It is a tough issue, and I can understand why you've never published. I would encourage you to do so though - you probably have a feeling for when your writing reflects your voice and when it doesn't - and the rewards are worth it.
Thanks for reading Wendy. :)

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A Blog Post Worth 17 Billion...

by Sarah Beaumont

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