Monitoring brand visibility is the first step in a brand protection program. Once you have identified negative and potentially harmful online coverage, how do you respond? The response obviously depends on whether the allegations are true or false.

If false or factually incorrect, contact the blogger or webmaster and politely notify him/her that the information is incorrect. Make sure you explain why the allegation is incorrect and, if possible, provide evidence. Then, ask for the post to be removed or the comment retracted. In most cases, the blogger will gladly remove the negative comment if notified of its factual inaccuracy. If you find that the blogger is not co-operative, post a polite but firm comment in response to the blog post explaining why the comment is inaccurate. Depending on the severity of the allegation, you may wish to consult a lawyer.

If the allegation is true, this is where consulting a team member with crisis management experience is vital. Always discuss and confirm external messaging before responding and never deny an allegation that you know is true.

Brand protection, traditionally known as reputation management, used to be a Public Relations tactic. These days, brand protection cannot be performed effectively without using online marketing tools and tactics.

The Internet and the evolution of social media such as forums, are making brand protection and monitoring a huge task. There are so many opportunities for a negative comment to appear and completely fly under the radar.

Here are some tools and tactics I use to monitor the visibility of a client’s brand:

Email Notification Services
Google Alerts & Yahoo Alerts
Enter a client name or keyword phrase to receive email notifications as online mentions occur.

RSS Feeds
Keep up-to-date on client visibility in the blogosphere by signing up for RSS feeds to blog search engines:
Feedster
Technorati
IceRocket
Google
Blogpulse

Type in your client’s name in the search box and then subscribe to the results page feed. Every time your client is mentioned in a blog post, you will be alerted via your RSS feed reader.

Many people are talking about blogging being an effective PR tool. The truth is, blogging can be a great component for a variety of marketing campaigns.

Marketers are beginning to see the value of Search Marketing as an addition to a traditional PR program. Blogs complete the circle. Not only can bloggers be pitched like journalists, but blogs in themselves are an excellent way of improving search engine ranking.

We are now encouraging clients to use a blog to manage their online newsroom at the very least.

Why?

Blog are dynamic and link oriented which means that they’re great for generating Google juice. The more that new content is added to a website, the more interested the search engines become. Since a blog is essentially a website that is continually being updated with content, it is an easy way to gain credibility with the search engines.

Yesterday I attended the annual MIMA Summit at the Depot in downtown Minneapolis. Aside from winning an XBox 360 (thank you MIMA!), there were some very interesting breakout sessions on the latest in interactive marketing.

I attended one session about pitching bloggers. With blogs quickly becoming another channel on PR pros’ media lists, learning how to correctly communicate with a blogger is a must.

Actually, the secret to pitching bloggers is not all that dissimilar to pitching journalists - understand who they are, what they’re interested in and, most importantly, what they write about.

If you are serious about gaining coverage by pitching bloggers, you will have to conduct indepth research.

Tips
- Read your target bloggers on a regular basis
- Open up a dialogue by posting comments
- Be honest/Don’t pretend to be someone you’re not