The Truths and Myths of using Google News for Online Reputation Monitoring and Management (ORM) as noted in a blog post on Marketing Pilgrim, explores the practical uses for folks who use Google to monitor and repair reputations. The realization of any/all limitations of available ORM tools starts with posts like these. I wanted to use these posts as a footnote to inform further discussion here on our blog.

Fundamental to the success of your ORM strategy means staying on top of the "buzz creep" - this means tracking every incident of online mention of your company name, your staff, brands, products/services, etc. - before if finds you. Using news alerts to monitor your reputation can work if you use it strictly as a monitoring barometer to help understand i) the timeline and delivery of incident details to the inboxes of Web audiences, and; ii) tracking how quickly the news can impact any rise or drop on first page Web search results.

The main drawback to solely using news alerts as an ORM strategy (a point that seems obvious to many of us, but one that can never be overstated) is that they don't cover the entire online terrain. Our experiences suggest that Web audience approval or disenchantment occurs most in places where debate on an issue or topic has the most potential to flourish and involve input, and although mainstream media has taken significant steps in recent years to allow input on news articles and stories, the content controls are a major reason why discussion and debate continues to happen elsewhere.

Another important consideration is that mainstream media, intentionally or not, has historically excluded some of the groups and associations most actively involved in using online environments to carry their message. For example, environmental groups may choose online communications because it allows them a control over the theme and message of their initiative - a control mechanism that is far less achievable in mainstream media coverage that would sooner point out the consequences of the groups actions (past or present) than focus on the message and relevance of their cause.

Taking this example one step further, like it or not, the debate to determine whether a newly launched campaign is 'eco-chic' or an eco-sham will be settled by the Web audiences, and the choice of where to debate the issue could find fertile ground on a MySpace blog maintained by a member of the activist group, and may eventually even make its rounds to a MySpace group or forum discussion. Whether or not those discussions transpire into any planned action outside your commercial establishment, our experiences inform us that using news alerts for ORM will mean you will only be apprised of the situation after it has happened.

As well, when we are speaking of online attention that can make or break a brand, keeping an eye on discussions that may lead to a planned protest are more likely to happen on a blog, a message board/forum, or social network site. The most striking evidence of this phenomenon is the little mainstream coverage received by the recent Energy Action Coalition's Fossil Fools Day initiative. For this reason and many others, ORM strategies must go beyond vanity searches, news alerts or a collection of feeds.