Seven Point Plan

The following outlines a seven point plan which Daemon Digital recommends to any organisation as a starting point to managing their reputation in the digital media:

1. Find out where you stand

What’s being said about your organisation online and by whom? 270,000 users mention Coke in their Facebook profiles and 617,000 have joined groups dedicated to Ugg Boots. 1 in 5 Australian internet users have a Facebook profile and that’s just one social networking site. You cannot manage your organisations’ reputation if you don’t know what’s being said about you.

2. Know your audience

Is your primary audience online and active? Know your audience and understand their current online habits as well as basic demography like age, geography and profession, for example, and then go to them.

3. Trust your people

You cannot harness the participative web if you are not using it internally. You cannot expect your own people to champion the cause if it is new and alien to them. Practice what you preach and encourage your people to blog, share, wiki and network. Trust them to add value to your brand and to your organisation.

4. Get involved and stay engaged

Being actively involved in managing your message and managing your organisation’s reputation using the tools on the participative web can be invaluable to any organisation. Look at the potential and then if you consider it appropriate, get involved and stay engaged.

5. Keep it real

Don’t try and fake it, you will get caught out. Yes, communicate your messages and manage your own agenda, but do it honestly and do it openly.6. Get to the pointYou don’t own the space, make your point move on and let someone else have their turn. Also speak using language that your audience relates to and understands, don’t use technical language or jargon if it doesn’t add value to your point.

7. Measure what you are achieving

If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it and just because it’s new doesn’t mean it should not fall under the same maxim as all of the other communications techniques your organisation employs.