Online Brand Success

With an estimated 87% of the population using search engines as their primary means of finding web sites, search is without doubt become a major influence in the Brand life cycle.

When people look for your client online what they

find is part of your brand identity – and that impression can make a vital difference to your overall brand equity.

Likewise –  the popularity of blogging continues to rise. There are an estimated 13 million blogs active on the Internet. That number is growing by a staggering 48,000 a day.

The rise of blogs and message boards as influential places for customers to seek help on buying decisions, combined with the rise of search engines, poses real consequences to brands that we need to keep our clients aware of.

Search results are increasingly impacted by commentary from message boards and blogs. This is a great opportunity to take a lead with clients and use social computing to best effect.

A weblog – or blog – is really just a simple website

which is easy to use and update. (www.blogger.com is a good example).

Blogs are personal websites that are highly dependent on linking for their traffic. Because their currency is opinion, bloggers tend to be more outspoken than they might be in person.

And because blog sites are highly linked, Google loves them. That means that when consumers type the name of your company or brand into Google, they will often see blog results. Of the top ten results which come up when you access Nike in Google, two are hostile to the company on the grounds of its labour practices. Try searching it!

The AC Neilson survey below outlines key brands that have negative blogs showing up in their top level search results

So what do I need to do then?

Define a Digital Strategy. This involves deciding how the brand should look, feel and behave in the online space.  Online is a different experience and we want to control the image we project within interactive channels.. Call me if you’d like some ideas on how to begin this type of discussion with clients.

Define a Search Strategy. It’s our job to ensure our clients’ brands are being found, and found in the right context.

A search strategy can ensure that the top results returned from a search point to the correct brand sites (not for example a site which might present the wrong image to a consumer). Have you implemented a search strategy for your brand.