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Generative AI is everywhere now. You see it in content, campaigns, customer experiences, and even internal workflows. It promises speed, scale, and efficiency, but there’s a harder question sitting underneath all that progress; Do your audiences actually trust it?

Trust in the Age of AI: What Consumers Really Think About AI Generated Content

Today, PR teams aren’t just tracking media coverage and share of voice. They’re also measuring how their brand shows up in AI-generated answers, search summaries, and large language models (LLMs). This new LLM visibility layer is quickly becoming a critical part of PR performance.

15 Must-Have PR KPIs and How to Track Them

See how one platform can power every decision across PR, communications, and marketing.

The Meltwater Blog

Blog Topics: Generative Engine Optimization, Media Intelligence, Media Relations, Social Listening, Consumer Intelligence, Influencer Marketing

Find out how you can leverage Facebook to boost your brand's online presence and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

Facebook Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage Instagram to boost your brand's visual appeal and gain a competitive edge. Explore our category page today!

Instagram Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage LinkedIN to grow your professional network and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

LinkedIn Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage TikTok to elevate your brand with creative content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

TikTok Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage X / Twitter to engage your audience effectively and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

X / Twitter Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage YouTube to create engaging video content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

YouTube Blog | Meltwater

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is transforming how brands show up in AI-powered search. Explore insights, strategies, and best practices to help your content rank and resonate across conversational engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot.

Explore insights and strategies for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) to help your brand stay visible and discoverable in AI-powered search.

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) Blog Collection | Meltwater

Every day billions of conversations take place on social media: tweets, posts, comments, blogs, reviews, podcasts, and much more.
Learn how to use social listening to make sense of all of that data.

On our social listening category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around social listening and social media monitoring. Read more.

Social Listening Blogs | Category

Business Reputation Management: What does it take to add reputation management to your marketing strategy? More importantly, how do you keep your reputation sparkly and shiny? Here’s your all-access guide to online reputation management for the long term.

On our reputation management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around business reputation management. Read more.

Reputation Management Blogs | Category

From your brand's logo to your website, your social media presence to your customer support—these elements combined are what constitutes a brand in the minds of customers. But, there are thousands of other businesses that have a logo, website, social media presence, and website. So, how can you position your business on the market and make it stand out from the competition?
The key to success is branding & brand management!

On our brand management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around brand management. Build your strategy and reach your goals!

Brand Management Blogs | Category

Competitive intelligence and the act of collecting competitive data can be seen as growth drivers for a company. Our guide will help you understand the concept of competitive intelligence (CI) by answering questions such as: What is the definition of competitive intelligence? How is competitive intelligence useful to organizations? What is the goal of competitive intelligence? And more.

On our competitive intelligence category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around competitive intelligence. Learn how to stay ahead.

Competitive Intelligence Blogs | Category

Let’s dive into the customer journey framework and how to optimize the process by creating a customer journey map and using metrics that matter when analyzing the customer journey.

On our customer journey category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Customer Journey Blogs | Category

What Is Data Analytics? [Beginner’s Guide 2023]
How can I grow my business? 
How do customers interact with my newly launched product?
How do I increase the productivity of my employees?
How do I know if my marketing efforts are working?
We have just two words for you...Data analytics!

On our data analytics category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around AI and data analytics. Technical and still easy to understand.

AI & Data Analytics Blogs | Category

Public relations and media relations can add impact to any marketing strategy. It’s an opportunity for brands to grow their reach beyond traditional sales messages. PR helps to shape the image you want people to have of your brand.
So, what is PR and how do you use it? This guide shows you everything you need to know to build a strong public relations foundation.

On our public relations (PR) category page, you find all our blogs covering public relations and communications topics. Step up your PR game.

Public Relations (PR) Blogs | Category

We all know exactly what the roles of sales or accounting are in a company, right? We might even have a slight idea of what the IT guys are doing.
But there is another business discipline, that plays a crucial role in organizations, even more so during the pandemic – internal communications!
But what exactly do we mean by that, what purpose does it serve and what steps can you take to ensure you and your employees will communicate effectively?

On our internal communications category page, you find all our blogs about internal comms topics. Learn about the intranet, internal newsletters, and more.

Internal Communications Blogs | Category

As the internet has taken root in more areas of our lives — everything from entertainment to shopping to paying bills and more — traditional marketing is becoming less impactful. As any marketer knows, you need to focus on where your audience is if you want to reach them. Since the average person spends about seven hours a day online, it’s no surprise that content has maintained its hold on marketers.

Here's a closer look at what content marketing is and why it matters more than ever in our digital-first economy.

On our content marketing category page, you find blogs about content marketing topics. Learn about strategies, KPIs, tips, and more. Make your content king!

Content Marketing Blogs | Category

The rise of the influencer marketing space – today a $10 billion industry, growing 50% per year – is one of the clearest examples of how social media is transforming traditional marketing. These days having a business website, presence on social, PR coverage, and your own content isn’t enough to compete.
We'll dive into the intricacies of influencer marketing to help ensure that you're equipped with the insights needed to be successful in this space.

On our influencer marketing category page, you find blogs about influencer marketing topics. Build your strategy, find influencers, and measure results.

Influencer Marketing Blogs | Category

Have you just launched a new product or service that you want to get the word out about? Maybe you want to share with consumers why it is awesome and how it is so much better than the one your competitors offer.

Well, then, there is one thing you can't do without...Marketing!

On our marketing category page, you find blogs about marketing topics. Learn about all the different angles and types of marketing and improve your results.

Marketing Blogs | Category

In this guide, we want to give you a peek into the definition of social media management, the daily schedule of a social media manager, social media platforms to promote your business, and the do’s & don’ts of social media management.
Are you ready to begin the journey of becoming a social media superstar?

On our social media management category page, you find blogs about social media management topics. Build and manage your online community.

Social Media Management Blogs | Category

Building a following and using social media platforms to reach a wider audience requires a well-planned social media marketing strategy. In this guide, we’ll be looking at why social media marketing is so essential and how you can make it work for your business.

On our social media marketing category page, you find blogs about social media marketing topics. Learn how to get the highest paid social ROI!

Social Media Marketing Blogs | Category

In the fast-evolving realm of digital marketing and public relations, utilizing the right tools is crucial for success. Our interdisciplinary category showcases all the pertinent tools for digital marketing & PR. These tools help in enhancing your online presence and effectively reaching target groups, whether through reputation management, influencer marketing, or social media management.

On our digital marketing and PR tools category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Digital Marketing & PR Tools Blogs | Category

As former US Speaker of the House of Representatives Tip O’Neill would attest in his book, all politics are local. However, with the rapid rise of technology and intertwining relations of multilateralism, O’Neill’s adage is becoming harder to prove as the international sphere of influence becomes wider and more complex.

Foreign interference is a valid and subliminal threat in politics, especially in the realms of electioneering and realpolitik. Instances have been witnessed in the political arenas of the United States and Britain. Social media campaigns in those elections were plagued by Russian operatives who carried out large-scale attacks of disinformation, capitalising on issues such as race and equality, gun ownership, and abortion rights. Using fake accounts and bots, these operatives attacked deep-seated issues within the society, seeking to further divide the voting public.

With social media being intrinsically linked in election campaigns, every notion of carrying out a democratic process is threatened. Every nation is vulnerable to such an attack, including countries such as Singapore. Meltwater delves deeper into this to extrapolate narratives within the media and whether foreign actors are making psychological inroads into the politicisation of domestic issues.

On 10 July, Singapore held its General Elections (GE2020) and voters turned out in droves. GE2020, dubbed as Singapore's "first truly Internet election", materialised as restrictions on campaigning were put in place due to COVID-19. The sphere of rallies and meet-and-greets transcended from the physical space into the digital realm. On both sides of partisan lines, devising strategies based on online discourses and measuring audience reach became intrinsically part of their campaigns. 

Meltwater data revealed that social media volume in the run up to GE2020 increased four times, compared to the previous elections held in 2015. Singapore’s leading newspaper The Straits Times in July shared our findings which revealed that even though the incumbent People's Action Party (PAP) received the majority of social media mentions, the main opposition Workers’ Party’s audience engagement generated more sustained numbers of conversation.

Fig. 1 - ST Graphic on Meltwater’s findings.

Following the publication of this report in The Straits Times, policy makers and strategists in the public service have consulted Meltwater on whether conversations on social justice and inequality had affected voters. We also received queries on whether Singapore had experienced foreign interference in its election process – a legitimate worry after witnessing incidents in the 2016 Presidential Elections held in the United States and Brexit referendum in the United Kingdom.

According to William Evanina, Director of the US National Counterintelligence and Security Center, Russia, Iran, and China have been identified as the top three countries carrying out active foreign interference operations. However, in the recently-concluded  US presidential election, only China came 21st in the chart of the top 30 countries discussing the political process. Sophisticated encryption and bogus IPs are part of these operatives’ modus operandi and detection becomes an arduous task.

Fig. 2 - The Top 30 foreign countries discussing 2020 USPE from 20 July to 18 October.

Social media against foreign interference

The giants of social media recognised this threat, tweaking policy changes to ensure the integrity of public discourse on their platforms. Facebook introduced steps to combat foreign interference and to make elections fair and safe. The company has also worked extensively with governments and law enforcement agencies to detect and nip emerging threats.

In June, Channel News Asia reported that Facebook had established dedicated teams in Singapore to keep a lookout for malignant activity on the platform, such as identity falsification and sentiment amplification. Such preparatory work had been put in place since July 2019, and since then, accounts that showed signs of engaging in interference tactics have been removed.

Twitter also introduced its Civic Integrity Policy in May 2020, which states that the Twitter platform is not to be used to manipulate or disrupt civic processes, such as elections. Accounts in violation of its regulations will have to take down their tweets or face permanent suspension if related offences are repeated.

Knowing that measures have been put in place to curb the spread of disinformation and sentiment amplification in bid to maintain the integrity of elections is reassuring, and perhaps even comforting. Bots can be programmed to swiftly spread disinformation, and a particularly negative, intentionally-amplified sentiment could gain traction that endures long after its deletion.

How can we use our social media monitoring tools to identify instances of foreign interference, if any? There will be digital trails that can be picked up, and critically, prominent narratives that have to be identified to thwart amplification.

Using the recent Singapore elections, we assessed the data for these narratives which may have traces of foreign interference based on Meltwater’s geo-location technology. Based on what we discovered, while foreign-based accounts actively participated in discourse about GE2020, the accounts were predominantly owned by real users who expressed a genuine interest in Singapore politics and social issues. 

#1: Medium article, "The Dangerous Influence Of 'Chinese Privilege' In Singapore" by Donovan Choy

On 20 June, Donovan Choy had written an article on Chinese privilege in Singapore and published it on social journalism platform Medium. Choy's article had led to the emergence of other narratives, with netizens recounting their own experiences with racism in Singapore. Notably, one netizen had brought up that she had been rejected for a job opportunity at a clinic located in Paragon on Orchard Road because she did not agree to remove the hijab.

Subsequently, social media chatter on Choy's article garnered more than 12,000 posts. Most of it was backlash from netizens who alleged that Choy was denying the existence of Chinese privilege in Singapore. Chatter on the original article and subsequent narratives borne from it held largely negative sentiments. The chatter came from at least nine countries, with the bulk on it circulating on Twitter.

Interestingly, out of the nine identifiable countries, most of the posts originated from Malaysia. There were seven per cent more social media posts from Malaysia than Singapore. Twitter users that were engaged in the conversations on the topic appear to be genuine accounts and with no suggestion of bot-like activities.

Based on our assessment of the tweets as well as a sampling of these accounts, it seems that Malaysian users were genuinely interested in Singapore's race dynamics and actively partook in conversations about Chinese privilege in Singapore. Most of the discussions centred on the issue of race itself. While the issue emerged in the midst of GE2020 campaigning, there was no evidence that indicates that the discussions - in Malaysia or otherwise -  took on a political slant.

Examples of chatter from Malaysian accounts.

#2: Investigations into WP Candidate Raeesah Khan’s social media posts on racial inequalities in Singapore

On 5 July, 5 days before polling day, SPF released a statement noting that WP Candidate Raeesah Khan was being investigated after two reports were lodged against her for her comments on social media. In one of her Facebook posts, Ms Raeesah had written that law enforcement in Singapore seems to discriminate against people - citizens and migrants alike - based on their race and class.

Like Choy’s article, this incident spurred dialogue on race and inequality in Singapore. There were a total of more than 6,000 posts. Twitter posts on the issue surfaced with many netizens expressing their support for Ms Raeesah, sharing the hashtag "#istandwithraeesah".

On the other hand, some netizens had also called for Ms Raeesah to resign from the WP team contesting for Sengkang GRC, so as to not damage the team's chances at getting elected into Parliament. Overall, the chatter came from at least 17 countries, with the bulk of the conversations happening on Twitter.

Of the 17 identifiable countries, 20.5 per cent of the chatter originated from Singapore, 7.6 per cent came from Malaysia,  5.5 per cent came from the United States, and 1.1 per cent each from the United Kingdom and Switzerland. On Twitter, 50 per cent of the posts were retweets and 47 per cent were quoted tweets. Only one per cent of the tweets were original ones.

Naturally, given that the context of the incident is a political one, many of the social media posts took on a political slant. The phrase "Chinese privilege" came up often, as netizens compared the alleged unequal treatment between regular Chinese and Malay or Indian folk in Singapore, as well as the difference in attitudes towards political candidates of the various races.

Examples of original posts from foreign accounts.

#3: Support for WP's manifesto on lowering age eligibility for single BTO applications

On 28 June, The Straits Times reported on 10 proposals from WP's manifesto. WP suggested that singles should be able to apply for a BTO flat at the age of 28, instead of the current 35. The manifesto noted that young, single Singaporeans should not be denied an opportunity to own a home of their own.

Support for the policy change was expressed on social media. The news garnered a total of 1,099 posts on social media. Again, the posts largely originated from Twitter and discussions on the manifesto also took place on the subreddit, r/singapore.

Users from at least six countries partook in the discussions. While the location is unknown for a good majority of these posts, close to 30 per cent of chatter emerged in Singapore. Even then, 81 per cent of the total tweets were quoted ones, and 18 per cent were retweets.

No bot-like activities were detected. The conversations were mainly neutral, as netizens expressed their desires to own a home at a young age. The posts also did not carry any notable political slant.

In another aspect of our analysis, a series of "VN" Twitter accounts stood out. These account names had the same country prefix, VN, followed by a random string of numbers behind. There were at least seven such accounts, created only in June and July 2020. Six of these accounts are currently suspended.

The tweets posted by this series of accounts were extremely critical of some political office holders, with a few tweets devoted to calling for Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's arrest, and alleging that the Singapore Government publishes fake news. While these accounts exhibited questionable behaviour, its influence was negligible in GE2020.

These three topics serve as examples of the approach we took towards other social media chatter surrounding GE2020. Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) also reiterated this recently. However, the Ministry added a caveat that social media and online gaming may be utilised to spread disinformation and sway voters' opinions, noting that "the risk of foreign interference will only increase moving forward".

While social media platforms are taking a proactive stance against foreign interference campaigns, social media users must remain on guard against deliberate falsehoods and influence operations. As a society, we cannot afford to be complacent or risk the integrity of our politics.

Elections And The Threat of Foreign Interference

At the heart of any marketing strategy lies content, and any marketer knows that in order to build a relationship with their target audience and potential customers, they need to effectively use content to capture their attention first before engaging with them to build a long lasting relationship that yields customer loyalty. But before this can all happen, step one of creating a strong content marketing strategy is getting to know your customers - their likes, dislikes, sentiment around certain topics and their behaviours. 

Here you can find more information about our Media Monitoring Solution in Arabic.

When it comes to the Middle East, knowing your customers is particularly vital if you want to see success with your content marketing efforts. The region is rich in diversity and is constantly on top of a number of tech trends. In the past, brands have tried using generic forms of communication to get their message across the whole region, with the results of their campaign strategies showing how they missed reaching full potential. So, if you want to learn how to master content marketing for the Middle East, here are some quick tips to remember: 

Content marketing matters in the Middle East

According to a survey done by Zeentree.com back in 2015, 60% of marketers in the Middle East planned on increasing their content marketing budgets over the next year. The survey revealed how marketers within the region were rapidly turning towards content marketing as a key focus of their overall digital marketing efforts. To add onto this, the survey found that 69% of marketers interviewed viewed content marketing as ‘very important’ to their marketing efforts. So, if marketers find content marketing important, so should you. 

Content marketing has a lot to do with answering your audience’s questions. You want to be able to build trust between your brand and your audience, and content is a great way of achieving this by addressing the very questions they have. What are the tourist attractions in Dubai that they can visit? What are some of the fashion trends that your audience in the region needs to be aware of? If these are just some of the questions that your audience is asking, create content that will answer them. You not only give yourself the opportunity to be top of mind for these topics, but you connect with your customers and, with consistent content, can improve conversions and generate leads. 

In 2020, "content marketing" was mentioned 1208 times on social media in the UAE, with the term engaging over 100 000 users and garnering a social reach of over 2 Million. Looking at the trending themes for "content marketing" in the region, the data highlights how social media users are interested in the topic, and marketers need to be too. 


But, you don't want to produce the same old, recycled content. Catching the attention of your audience in the Middle East means producing quality content that doesn't just inform but is entertaining and generates enough interest that your audience wants to share it with others. As the region continues to invest in technology, digital marketing and e-commerce, marketers who are considering content marketing for their strategies in the future should invest time and resources into optimising their content; think SEO and the right copy, if you want to start standing out from the rest. 

If you want to guarantee a successful digital marketing campaign, the focus of the content you create needs to be geared towards community. This simple rule has proven to be successful for some of the biggest brand names, such as Nissan. Below are two pictures of an advert for the Nissan Pathfinder. The first image is an ad for the Saudi Arabian market and second image is for the U.S. market. Notice how a key difference between the two images is that the ad for the Saudi Arabian market depicts the car as a ‘family car’ whilst the U.S. one simply highlights the specs and details of the car. This is because family and a sense of community is crucial when marketing in the Middle East. 

The content you create should also be written in a language that your consumers and target audience will understand - both literally and figuratively. Arabic is one of the main languages for the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Egypt and even other GCC countries like Bahrain, Qatar and Oman. This means that for your content, you should incorporate both Arabic and English. This will give you some of the best results when it comes to audience outreach, so make sure that you include these languages into your content. 

If you also are creating content that is at the top of the marketing funnel, make sure that these content pieces are easy to follow and linguistically make sense collectively. Additionally, the images you use also need to make sense so avoid anything that may confuse your audience.

With an increase in mobile usage in the Middle East, remember that when creating content for the Arabic market, ensure that it is optimised for mobile consumption. Most Arabs use their smart phones to use the internet, with Saudi Arabia ranking 3rd globally for smartphone usage. Make sure that your website is not just language friendly, but mobile friendly too. 

The shift in the Middle East's ability to adapt to technology has seen the users in the region continue to increase usage of social media platforms. This provides marketers with the opportunity to use social media as effective channels for their content marketing campaigns, and in turn, reach a wider audience and increase engagement. 

Influencer marketing is also quite popular in the Middle East, where the most popular influencers now have millions of followers on social media. In 2020, the term 'influencer marketing' has been mentioned 266 times in news articles and 751 times on social media in the UAE, based on Meltwater's Media Monitoring data. This is an increase of 57%, compared to last year, indicating that more people in the region are talking about influencers and the potential they have. Additionally, while there are still neutral feelings towards influencer marketing within the region, 17% of social media mentions on influencer marketing are positive as both users and brands begin to see the value and effectiveness that influencer marketing has.

By incorporating influencers into your content marketing approach, you'll soon realise how great of a fit influencers can be within the cultural and market tendencies. People prefer peer recommendations over impersonal brand campaigns, and the same is true for the Middle Eastern market. 

Whether you are a global brand or a local business, being culturally sensitive is important when coming up with marketing campaigns and strategies for the Middle East. Marketers need to learn and understand the Middle East’s cultural diversity, and how that can actually be an advantage. 

In September 2017, Saudi Arabia’s King Salman issued a decree that allowed women to drive for the first time. Ford Middle East celebrated the news by sharing a striking ad on Twitter that was positively received by a number of social media users in the region.

What can you take away from this? If you're in marketing, make sure that you study the cultural and consumer landscape before you create a marketing campaign strategy. A great example of being culturally aware with your content marketing strategy is to use the month of Ramadan to plan a marketing campaign that is creative but embraces and respects the importance of religion in the daily lives of Middle Eastern audiences.

Creating a content marketing strategy is one of the most important steps you can take for your marketing efforts in the Middle East. Try to audit your current content and see what has been working for your brand and where you might want to improve using the above tips. If you need a guide on what it takes to create an effective content marketing strategy, see our 9 Keys to an Effective Content Marketing post.

How to Master Content Marketing in the Middle East

I’m sure at some point in our lives, we’ve all googled our name and were shocked to find pages of search results returned, include links to your personal social media accounts and maybe even to a past bylined blog. Whatever the search results return, it is clear that your digital footprint is searchable to others, and your personal reputation is something to consider managing carefully online.

During this article, we’ll touch on key personal reputation management practices, including how to build a positive online reputation and what to do if you spot negative conversations. The result? You’ll never be embarrassed by search results when googling your name again!

Why is personal online reputation management so important?

In a nutshell, your personal reputation is your brand, and it should be protected at all costs. The act of personal reputation management involves reducing the impact of negative conversations while simultaneously working to generate favorable ones online.

These days, thanks to digital media, our individual personal reputation and our professional reputation go hand in hand. That’s one of the reasons why it’s so important to monitor conversations mentioning your name, as failing to do so means you run the risk of an HR representative at a company you are interviewing at finding something that portrays you in a negative light. 

Any your personal reputation or brand quickly becomes intertwined with the company you work for the higher you are up the corporate ladder. Research by Weber Shandwick found a staggering 49% of company reputation is attributable to the business owner or CEO, which makes online reputation management (ORM) particularly vital for these job titles.

The benefits of online reputation management

Aside from being an invaluable corporate asset, having a favourable online reputation can also help:

Offering protection if you ever find yourself in a reputation crisis

So how can you go about creating a positive individual brand reputation? Let's explore some of the tactics you use. 

A personal reputation management system is a plan set in place to ensure your online reputation looks as good as possible. There are several simple things you can do to help avoid or manage an individual PR disaster, let’s explore some reputation management tactics.

Carve out thought leadership positioning for yourself

Decide which channels or networks you want to prioritize

Consider the role of SEO in reputation management (remember those Google search results we mentioned in the beginning)

Ask people for endorsements and personal reviews

Protect your online reputation by investing in a media intelligence tool

1. Kick start reputation management by carving out thought leadership positioning

Our first online reputation management tip is to invest in thought leadership.

What do you want people to see when they type your name into a search engine? The good news is that you can control the narrative of search results and your reputation to some degree through thought leadership tactics.

The first step in this process is identifying the topics you want to "own" and position yourself as an expert in. We’d recommend running an industry search in your media monitoring platform to spot both trends and the areas your competitors haven’t yet hopped on. Then use a consumer insights tool like the Meltwater consumer insights platform to understand if this topic is relevant to your community.

It’s worth mentioning that while being data-driven is important, so is making sure that you’re genuinely interested in the subject area before committing to this as your profile niche. If the data matches your professional business goals or personal passion, run with that thought leadership angle! 

This leads us nicely onto our next reputation management tip…

2. Decide which channels or networks you want to prioritize

Once you know your thought leadership area, it’s then time to think about the best marketing channels to discuss the subject matter on. For reputation management, this will likely be a mix of trade events, editorial publications and social media sites like LinkedIn, Twitter & Quora.

A social media tool can help you determine which social media networks are the most relevant to your target audience. Using social media listening you can also surface relevant conversation on the topics of interest to you so you can contribute thought-leadership content. By monitoring these online conversations you can also identify journalists or other thought leaders in the community that you could partner with. Proactive engagement will help enforce your reputation and keep you top of mind.

Tip: Take a look at the top reputation monitoring software on the market.

3. Consider the role of SEO in reputation management

90% of Google traffic is generated by the first page of search results, so by having an SEO content strategy that aims to push neutral or positive content to the top (and bury domain names with negative results), you can drastically reduce the chance of harmful content being seen and impacting your online reputation in a negative way.

Whether it’s scattering relevant keywords throughout your LinkedIn profile or ensuring your blog contribution is Google-friendly, you should be thinking about SEO whenever you write content. In most cases, you can’t delete a negative search engine result unless you reach out to the author (which can be very awkward), however, generating more positive content and getting this to rank in search engines is one strategy that’ll help you combat this. Our third online reputation management tip is to brush up on your SEO skills.

4. Ask people for endorsements and personal reviews

As the age-old saying goes, “You don’t ask, you don’t get.” If your aim is to profile yourself as an expert, ask people that you have worked with to validate your skills. 

LinkedIn is a particularly useful professional social media network for boosting your online reputation. Not only can you highlight your awards, certifications and skills, but you can also have others vouch for you through either the "Endorsement" or "Recommendation" features. Third-party endorsements would typically be considered to be more trustworthy than any statements that you yourself created stating that you’re an expert.

For each skill endorsement you receive, you’re making your online reputation more credible in the eyes of potential clients, job recruiters and your wider industry peers.

5. Protect your online reputation by investing in a media intelligence tool

Negative conversations can badly affect your personal and professional reputation, harming everything from relationships to your bank credit rating. So, our final online reputation management tip is to monitor the thousands of online conversations held every minute online for mentions of your name. Sounds impossible, right? Actually, it’s not!

I’m a big believer in the mantra “you can’t manage what you can’t measure," and it’s impossible to fix something if you don’t know there is an issue. A media intelligence tool mitigates reputation risk by acting as your eyes and ears, scanning thousands of digital editorial and social media conversations daily, surfacing only the most relevant ones. That way, negative conversations relating to you are identified and accounted for, so you can save time planning your approach rather than wasting your day scanning Google and social media for negative mentions of your name. 

If you do happen to spot a disgruntled comment about yourself that’s sure to skew your reputation online, don’t panic. It’s not too late to change their opinion, but firing off a response right away might result in them becoming even angrier. To help you respond to the bad review in a thoughtful manner, check out this "Complete Guide to Crisis Communications" to work out what to do next after discovering a bad review. 

A strong personal reputation takes years to build, and only seconds to break. By following the above personal branding and online personal reputation management tips, you’re much better placed to protect your online image.

Tip: Learn more about brand reputation measurement.

Want to learn more about reputation management? Watch our on-demand webinar, “How a Powerful Personal Brand Can Improve Your Bottom Line” or contact us on the form below to explore reputation management services provided by Meltwater.

Why Personal Reputation Management Is the Key for Your Success

From helping support Covid-19 relief efforts to raising awareness around social inequalities, we’ve seen a string of brands up their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and purpose-driven marketing in the past 12 months. The year 2020 was forced brands to reevaluate their relationship with consumers and the communities they operate within as people all over the world looked to politicians and brand to do better.  

But, today's consumers don't just want to read a polished corporate statement from a company's PR team — they want action. Social responsibility needs to be deep-rooted in the DNA of your organization to prevent audiences from perceiving you as ‘woke washing’, ‘greenwashing’, ‘good washing’, ‘armchair activists’, ‘slacktivism’ and the rest. Implementing CSR initiatives into your marketing strategy requires a willingness to help others, not only your bottom line. In this blog, we'll explain what an authentic CSR program looks like. 

But first, what is the definition of corporate social responsibility?

 If you are asking yourself, “what does CSR mean?” we like to defer to this CSR definition:

“Corporate social responsibility is a mechanism for businesses to assess the impact they have on society and put responsible, ethical policies in place to support individuals, the local community, the marketplace and the environment.”

Unfortunately, each company has its definition of corporate social responsibility, but there are notable common threads used to define what is CSR in business:

An aim of contributing to societal goals through philanthropic or charitable acts

An acknowledgment of the fact that corporate responsibility is a self-regulated initiative that helps a company to be more socially accountable through corporate governance

Acknowledgment of the fact that CSR assists relationship management between the company and its surrounding environment (e.g. stakeholders and local communities)

What is the Purpose of Corporate Social Responsibility?

Giving back to the communities you serve and helping protect the environment is the cost of doing business today. While why a company begins to focus on CSR should be driven by an internal motivation to do good, external forces are also making sure CSR in on the corporate agenda.

Audiences place a high value on social responsibility, in fact, 78% of people want companies to address social justice issues and 63% said they hoped businesses will drive social and environmental social responsibility change where government regulation lacks. By focusing on social responsibility, corporates are giving their audiences what they demand.

Also, it’s nice to be nice. Having a CSR strategy should come from wanting to be/ do better — and not from wanting to drive profits. Today’s savvy consumers can spot brands that partake in social responsibility from a ‘selfish’ standpoint from miles away. And if an organization is looking to begin a CSR campaign solely as a means of making money or improving the company's reputation, the truth is that this can actually end up damaging your brand rather than enhancing it. That’s not to say you can’t promote your CSR  initiative — you can, but you have to make sure you do so tastefully which we’ll discuss later in this article.

4 Ways Businesses can Kick Start CSR Practices

A company that wants to improve its social responsibility efforts may choose to focus on a number of different activities and approaches. Below we explain how a company can denote resources, change its products or services, give back to employees and contribute to supporting the environment. 

With a growing interest surrounding brands that take their earthly responsibility seriously, we thought it would be the optimal time to break down the 5 best environmental campaigns on social media in recent history.

Corporations can embrace corporate philanthropy by making strategic donations to causes. For example, you may wish to donate a percentage of your profits, sponsor an event or hold an employee volunteer day.

Remember, just because you’ve parted ways with some cash, that doesn’t mean that you’re putting your money where your mouth is. For that to happen, you need to embody the values of the nonprofit you’re partnering with, which in turn, means you need to walk the talk. With this in mind, it’s best practice to find a nonprofit that’s responsibility aligns with both your company priorities and that of your audience.

2. Make changes to your products or services

For CSR to work, it’s important for companies to look in the mirror and, as Gandhi said, “Be the change they wish to see in the world.” These changes could be anything from making your packaging eco-friendlier or, on a bigger scale, ensuring corporate social responsibility in global supply chains is closely monitored. 

If your business takes on the responsibility to evaluate, rework, or make the product more socially responsible, make sure this is communicated by business leaders. You can’t expect stakeholders to know what’s happening behind closed doors; communication plays a key role in how socially responsible a brand is perceived.

Adopting practices and programs that support employees is another way to demonstrate social responsibility. During the pandemic, research found 90% of consumers said that it is important to them that brands take care of their employees, with a further 49% expressing how businesses treat their staff as one of their top five purchasing considerations. Beyond ethics, workplace happiness helps productivity and employee engagement, so being socially accountable is a win-win situation for all! 

Check out Comparably's ranking of the top 100 highest-rated companies with the Happiest Employees to learn more about what defines being a great place to work. (P.S. Look out for Meltwater on the list!)

It’s easy to get swept up in the idea of grand changes on a global or national level, however, contributing to local social responsibility programs is equally as important. For many businesses, local customers are a key source of sales, therefore, company prosperity depends on favorable conditions within the community. Some local authorities also prefer to award contracts and tenders to businesses that take on the responsibility of getting involved in their community, so having them on your side is a massive win.

Community involvement is a great way to humanize your brand, this can take many forms including contributing financially to local projects or supporting nearby schools or community centers. 

What to avoid when it comes to rolling out a CSR strategy

Asserting commitment to CSR and actually adhering to practices are two different things. As mentioned earlier, companies that don’t walk their talk are at risk of being perceived as frauds, and there's a growing list of terms that people are using to describe such organizations.

Greenwashing refers to making unsubstantiated or misleading claims about the environmental social responsibility benefits of a particular company initiative or decision. In doing so, companies create the illusion they’re more ethical and environmentally friendly than they really are. 

You may remember Heathrow airport coming under fire for this a few years ago? The public slated its eco-sanctuary living wall and Garden Gate as merely an attempt to mask its expansion plans with a proposed new runway.

In our blog “5 Signs of Greenwashing—And How to Avoid Doing It Yourself,” we highlighted greenwashing signals to watch out for, including:

Making environmental social responsibility claims the company is already legally required to provide

Lobbying against measures behind the scenes—while leadership and comms regularly deliver pro-environmental messages

Putting inaccurate environmentally friendly claims on your labels

Wokewashing is a term used to describe when companies cynically prey on customers' social responsibility awareness by adopting the veneer of progressive values using progressive-orientated marketing for profit. 

Unfortunately, we’re seeing an increase in marketing pros commodifying social movements and piling on to the latest cause to “out-purpose” the competition without taking the time to check their own company values and culture. Who remembers Kendall Jenner's Pepsi ad which many claimed appropriated the Black Lives Matter movement? The drink giant's tone death ad failed at its attempt to position itself as both a protest drink for key challenges in the world and as having the power to heal tensions. 

In the wake of the brand crisis, we used Meltwater’s media monitoring tool to track the sentiment of Pepsi before the ad launched and after. As you can see, the reputation plummeted after the ad release and for some time after. Fortunately for Pepsi, judging based on their brand sentiment they recovered from the crisis, but not all brands are that fortunate.

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