Taking damage from searches for your own key terms
Politicians are no strangers to controversy, but as we become more and more immersed in the digital world, regular citizens are gaining the power to cause serious reputation management issues for these seemingly lofty figures. The following quote, from a MediaPost article by Derek Gordon, highlights some rising online troubles for Presidential hopefuls Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney:
…each has a certain search engine problem. Santorum’s is very well known and is the result of a years-long effort by gay rights activists to define the word “santorum” as a byproduct of certain sexual activities. (Rick Santorum has long been a vocal opponent of marriage equality for gay people, and even went so far as to compare homosexual marriage to bestiality.) The website responsible for the redefinition of “santorum,” spreadingsantorum.com, currently ranks in the number three slot on Google.
Romney now has a similar problem, thanks to the debut of SpreadingRomney.com in mid-January. It has jumped to page 1 of Google search results in just a few week’s time, which even industry veterans like Danny Sullivan find remarkable. The “romney” definition relates to the story of how Governor Romney once strapped the family dog to the roof of the car for a road trip to Canada, which made the dog sick and caused it to develop a nasty case of diarrhea while still on top of the car. (To be fair, the dog was in a dog crate; Romney didn’t literally strap his dog to the top of the car. The New York Times columnist Gail Collins has, in particular, not let the story die.)
In a political race that is still dominated by the largely conservative voting population, these pages place huge, unavoidable spotlights on issues that the candidates would love nothing more than to be buried at this stage in the race.
Keep in mind, SpreadingRomney.com is owned, operated, and promoted by ONE person. The two crisis management lessons to be taken from this are:
- Dominate search results for your terms. There is no excuse for Santorum and Romney to have not pushed these results off the front page, they have the money, they can get the manpower.
- In today’s world of e-reporting and Internet-dominated news, ticking off the wrong person can have grave consequences.
Your reputation is your most valuable asset, protect it online and off!
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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. , an international crisis management consultancy, and author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]