Mediaboss Marketing

Protecting your online brand is more challenging now more than ever.

Companies can often find it problematic to create a genuine digital brand identity.

The growth of social media influencers impact on reputation management combined with the impact of third-party and search engine owned review sites, weighs much of the control of brand perceived value and sentiment outside of the traditional brand website.

Competing as a brand on hyperlocal, local, national and international arenas increases the complexities of consistent and robust brand management online.

That said, there are always reliable tactics to deploy proactively to strengthen your brand online five of these tactics are the focus of this post.

Google is a big fan of universal search results.

Also, know as enhanced and blended results, these are effectively where Google brings into the search result pages a mixture of content types and features.

Examples include video and image content, Google My Business (GMB), and related features such as Google Answers and more.

All of these items represent a fantastic opportunity to position your brand within extra segments inside of the search result pages.

Added to this, the mixed content types and in-SERP features tend to rank prominently on the first page of results the key area where you want to maximize your brand exposure.

When typing in a brand name (the example screenshot below based on the company I work with Vertical Leap), it becomes clear what these practical opportunities look like.

In this case, it includes:

When it comes to brand protection and management, frequently the brand is a party to a fraction of the important conversations happening online.

There are numerous layers of brand conversations which a business should be continually monitoring, aware of and actively participating in.

An example of this in action is a PCB company with an ecommerce store. The typical layers that the brand can become visible and dominant within include:

Social listening plays an important practical part with this, as does the ability to leverage key staff and business expertise to the greater value of the wider audience and community, both online and offline.

As a company, part of your content creation process should include the repeated building of audience-aware content hubs that:

Elements of brand visibility are ringfenced into search verticals such as paid, organic, and social media marketing.

It is important that you are present in all of them.

Paid brand bidding is cheap to do (as quality score is naturally very high and costs per clicks low) and it maximizes the retail space in the search engine results pages reserved for paid advertising.

Likewise paid and organic social media marketing can be a cost-effective means to expand and access your audience.

This can increase the value from all your content created, and produce consistent and reliable conversations with influencers operating non-competitively inside your digital niches.

Done correctly, the intertwined working between these marketing channels can deliver a multiplier effect and increase the combined value outside that of the component parts.

Often this is due to gains made with recombining data sets, aligning strategies, and using each medium to overcome the challenges and barriers of another for example, using SEO to target non-feasible PPC terms.

Content is the consistent element that joints all of the tactics mentioned in this post, and warrants dedicated focus.

Brand building content has a specific purpose and intent outside of the supporting role that content plays in other tactics discussed.

Here is a useful guide to creating brand content if this is something new to your business.

There are some important considerations when it comes to building the brand with content such as:

Storification brings faces to brands, reinforcing a myriad of supporting real-world context to products and solutions, plus supporting wider value proposition reinforcement.

Adding a story to a service helps gain trust and social engagement, as well as build genuine brand loyalty.

These stories are frequently more visual-based and in the form of:

Storytelling can help bring products to life and add clarity towards the intended value and purpose of any product or service.

People are looking to digest content in more visual ways plus the shareability of content increases substantially once the text is replaced with visual triggers.

Once you match a true understanding of your audience with a story that reflects their wants, needs, and pain points, you enable your brand to build a more powerful relationship.

It is this relationship that increases the impact of content and the robustness of the brand to external reputational threats.

In this post, I shared five of my key brand protection and building tactics that repeatedly work.

These can be summarized as:

More Resources:

Image Credits

Screenshot taken by author, March 2020

More:
5 Brand Protection Tactics That Work - Search Engine Journal

Hes brought many of his supporters along with him. Seeking to provide him political cover and reacting against a perpetually hostile media, theyve resorted to every possible argument to dismiss the threat of the coronavirus. Its just like the flu. Only old people die. The swine flu killed more people.

And so, what is supposed to be a populist nationalist movement is reacting foolishly to what otherwise would be a natural populist nationalist issue.

It is China, the country that Trump supporters rightly want the U.S. to be more suspicious of and less reliant on, that gave the world the coronavirus. Surely this is more damaging than, say, putting together iPhones.

It is borders that are the first line of defense, both within countries and between them.

Relatedly, it is globalization and increased interconnectedness that have been a key vector for the spread of the virus.

It is the so-called deep state, the vast apparatus that runs the federal bureaucracy, that played a big role in botching the initial testing here.

The New York Times ran a maddening account of a Seattle-area research project that wanted to, and had the ability to, test for the coronavirus early. But it got told no repeatedly by federal agencies that had a pettifogging commitment to senseless rules the project was using the wrong kind of labs, the test didnt have approval of the Food and Drug Administration, patient privacy could be violated, etc.

It is global supply chains that have increased the vulnerability of the U.S. if the virus runs out of control, with China manufacturing a large share of medicines for the U.S. and other countries beginning to hold on to the masks and protective gear that they make.

Finally, it is the government that will have to organize the U.S. response, not the free market that populist nationalists argue is overemphasized by conservative and libertarians.

Nonetheless, Trump supporters on talk radio, on cable TV and on Twitter have gone down rabbit holes of denial rather than reacting to a threat that should be in their wheelhouse with tools that should be congenial to them.

There are honorable exceptions. Sen. Tom Cotton, the Arkansas Republican, is a China hawk attuned to the full spectrum of foreign threats, who was warning of the coronavirus when the country or at least the media was still obsessed with impeachment. Tucker Carlson, too, has been full-throated about the potential dangers from the beginning.

It is typical for big events to carry a distinct ideological charge. The 9/11 attacks had a strong conservative valence an attack that emanated from overseas, that exploited holes in our immigration and security apparatus, and that cried out for a military response.

The financial crisis was the opposite a disruption that involved the big banks, that implicated risky financial practices and that required massive fiscal stimulus.

Trump is showing signs of wanting to change his tone, but hes been on a path toward allowing the coronavirus to discredit him and his supporters when it rightly should vindicate their key assumptions and spur them to action.

Visit link:
Opinion | On the Coronavirus, Nationalists Aren't Nationalist Enough - POLITICO

For the remainder of the 2020 SEC Men's Basketball Tournament, there will be no crowd noise, no bands playing in the background and no cheerleaders chanting on the baseline. The champion will be crowned in an empty arena.

The league announced Wednesday evening that fans will not be allowed to attend games in Bridgestone Arena starting Thursday in response to concerns over the spread of the coronavirus.

Only essential staff, limited family and credentialed media will be able to attend the games in Nashville, Tennessee, for the final four days following the recommendation of the NCAA COVID-19 Advisory Panel related to conducting sporting events closed to the public.

The SEC's decision followed other Power 5 conferences.

NCAA president Mark Emmert announced the NCAA men's and women's basketball tournaments would be closed to fans out of concern over the virus, just hours prior.

With the growing rate of cases for COVID-19, conference officials determined that the safest course of action is to prevent a large number of fans from congregating. In the conference's press release, Sankey alerted schools and their fans that they would not be permitted in Bridgestone arena for the remainder of the contests.

"In light of recent developments beyond our control related to the spread of the coronavirus, including a recommendation from the NCAA COVID-19 Advisory Panel, and after consultation with our member universities, we have made the difficult decision to hold the 2020 SEC Men's Basketball Tournament in Nashville without spectators beginning with games of Thursday, March 12," Sankey said.

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The commissioner also added that the ban will last beyond the tournament, which would include on-campus sporting events like baseball and softball.

Effective immediately, the policy will also apply to other SEC Championship events and on-campus regular season games scheduled through at least the end of March," Sankey said.

Sankey concluded his statement by stating his confidence, despite the backlash that may come with it, in the SEC's decision to withhold spectators.

"After conferring with local and national health authorities, we remain confident in our ability to safeguard the health and well-being of our student-athletes, coaches and other staff who will be participating as well as the limited number of family members and media who will be in attendance at the tournament," Sankey said. "We regret the inconvenience and disappointment this decision has caused our fans, especially those who have already traveled to Nashville for the tournament.

Do you like this story? The Plainsman doesn't accept money from tuition or student fees, and we don't charge a subscription fee. But you can donate to support The Plainsman.

Sumner Martin | Assistant Sports Editor

Harrison Tarr | Sports Writer

See the original post:
Fans not allowed for remainder of SEC Tournament, on-campus sporting events due to coronavirus concerns - The Auburn Plainsman

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It's hard to remain calm and rational in a time that seems to be careening wildly out of control. Were continually overwhelmed with negative news. We are subjected to panic-inducing worries over the coronavirus, arguments about which politician will wreak more havoc, the deteriorating economy and its impact on your job and the frighteningly plummeting stock market.

Understandably, you just want to pull the covers over your head and stay in bed. Of course, you cant because you have a family to look after. Youre now expected to show up to work feeling sharp and happy. For most people, the reality is that we constantly face a fight everyday against our fears, anxieties and worries.

You cant change the events of the world, but you can change how you think about them. You need to focus on whats within your control. Keeping a positive mindset, having a thick skin and resisting the urge to simply give up is essential to getting through tough times.

Its easy to blame your annoying, overbearing boss and insipid, backstabbing co-workers for your misery at work.

Youve switched jobs hoping that the grass would be greener on the other side, except now the new lawn is brown and the trees are barren. Nothing has changed. Youre still unhappy. Your boss is a jerk. Your co-workers have cliques and you dont feel like you belong.

You can point to everyone and everything as the cause of your career stagnation. Some of the reasons may be valid. However, if this continues happening for a couple of years at various companies, you may want to rethink your blame game.

Its possible that just maybe a new job isnt the answer to your unhappiness at work. You may want to look inwardly. Perhaps, youre the source of your own misery.

Its a very common thing. You get stuck in a downward spiral of negativity. Your boss angrily lectures you about something stupid, you missed out on a promotion, less deserving people are bypassing you and on the fast track toward success and a sure-thing interview didnt work out. This puts you in a negative headspace. You start feeling bitter and resentful. You take it out on everyone around you. After a while, theyre tired of hearing your complaints and move on.

Its evident to everyoneexcept youthat you are in a career, mental and emotional tailspin. Before you start looking for another new job or try to obtain a promotion within your company, you need to engage in some cold, hard and critical introspection. Look at what you are doing. Analyze your actions, thoughts and beliefs. Start deeply considering what youre thinking and doing.

Heres a checklist to help you get started:

If you feel and act this way, its time to break the cycle. Youve already taken the first step by reading this piece. It all starts with recognizing that youve created harmful habits and thought patterns.

Tune out all of the noise. Stop watching so much television, especially angry cable news that stirs up fear and rage. Put down your phone and detox from social media. It riles you up and also makes you feel inadequate compared to what everyone else is supposedly doing.

Start replacing these self-defeating thoughts and actions with positive, self-affirmative actions. Once you remove toxic thoughts and behaviors, you can really begin to drive your career forward. Then, there will be nothing stopping you from reaching your goals and succeeding

Read more:
Fight Back Against Toxic Thoughts And Self-Defeating Actions That Hold Back Your Career - Forbes

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The coronavirus outbreak has been labelled a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO).

WHO chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the number of cases outside China had increased 13-fold in two weeks. He said he was "deeply concerned" by "alarming levels of inaction".

A pandemic is a disease that is spreading in multiple countries around the world at the same time.

Hours later Italy said all shops except food shops and pharmacies would close.

Announcing the toughest lockdown seen yet in Europe, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said bars, hairdressers, restaurants and cafes that could not guarantee a metre's distance between customers and non-essential company departments would also close.

The impact of the tightened restrictions - in force from Thursday until 25 March - on the rate of new coronavirus cases would take a couple of weeks to be seen, Mr Conte said.

Dr Tedros said that calling the outbreak a pandemic did not mean the WHO was changing its advice about what countries should do.

He called on governments to change the course of the outbreak by taking "urgent and aggressive action".

"Several countries have demonstrated that this virus can be suppressed and controlled," he said.

"The challenge for many countries who are now dealing with large clusters or community transmission is not whether they can do the same - it's whether they will."

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Governments had to "strike a fine balance between protecting health, minimising disruption and respecting human rights".

"We're in this together to do the right things with calm and protect the citizens of the world. It's doable," he said.

His appeal was followed by the several other countries announcing ever more stringent restrictions to try to prevent the virus taking a hold.

Denmark - which has 514 confirmed cases, up 10-fold since Monday, but no deaths so far - is to close all schools and universities from Friday and will send home all public sector employees who are not in critical roles in the coming days. The government also urged the cancellation of events with more than 100 people attending.

Meanwhile India has suspended most visas for foreigners until 15 April and Guatemala is banning European citizens from entering from Thursday.

The country has already closed schools, gyms, museums, nightclubs and other venues across the country.

It has more than 12,000 confirmed cases and a death toll of 827. Nearly 900 people with the virus in Italy were in intensive care, the WHO's emergencies head Michael Ryan said.

Dr Ryan said the situation in Iran - where the official figures are 354 deaths among 9,000 cases - was "very serious". The WHO had sent 40,000 testing kits to Iran but there was still a shortage of ventilators and oxygen.

"Iran and Italy are suffering now but I guarantee you other countries will be in that situation very soon," he said.

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Earlier, Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that up to 70% of the country's population - some 58 million people - could contract the coronavirus. She said since there was no known cure, the focus would fall on slowing the spread of the virus. "It's about winning time," she said.

Some German virologists dispute the high figure. Former federal government adviser on disease control, Prof Alexander Kekul, told German media he saw a worst case scenario of 40,000 cases.

The number of confirmed cases in Germany has risen to 1,567 from 1,296, the Koch institute for infectious diseases said.

By Philippa Roxby, BBC Health

The use of the p-word by the WHO to describe the global spread of this new coronavirus is not a huge surprise.

Up until now, it has talked merely of the "threat" or the "potential" for a pandemic. But with cases in more than 100 countries, and increasing numbers not linked to travel, the language has changed.

The WHO no longer 'declares' a pandemic the way it used to, so this is as official as it gets. Yet this doesn't mean the pandemic cannot be controlled, it explains.

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It's a call to action and a plea for all countries not to give up, no matter how large the number of cases.

Practically, countries are being told to continue to do what they have been advised to do. That means some may have to step up their response.

But the WHO is not changing what it's doing or the threat level of the virus.

What the use of the word "pandemic" highlights is the importance of countries around the world taking urgent action to respond to their own outbreaks - because now it's everyone's responsibility to turn the tide on the virus.

France said there had been 48 deaths in the country, an increase of 15 from Tuesday. There are 2,281 confirmed cases. Coronavirus-linked restrictions have been extended to two more areas, France's health minister said.

In the western US, Washington state is banning some large gatherings in certain areas and has told all school districts to prepare for possible closures in the coming days. The governor of Seattle's King County said he expected a serious coronavirus outbreak within weeks.

In the eastern US, New York's governor announced that troops would be sent into New Rochelle, in an attempt to contain an outbreak of the virus, as the total number of US cases passed 1,000 on Wednesday.

A one-mile (1.6km) containment zone was in force around the town north of Manhattan. Some individuals have been quarantined.

Music festivals and other major events in the US, including Coachella festival in California, have been cancelled or postponed. The E3 gaming show set for Los Angeles in June is among those cancelled.

Thousands of flights have been cancelled worldwide as airlines struggle to cope with a slump in demand.

A UK health minister, Nadine Dorries, said she had tested positive for coronavirus and was self-isolating at home.

Several countries - including Sweden and Bulgaria, as well as the Republic of Ireland - have recorded their first deaths, while the number of confirmed cases in Qatar jumped from 24 to 262.

China - where the virus was first detected - has seen a total of 80,754 confirmed cases and 3,136 deaths. But it recorded its lowest number of new infections, just 19, on Tuesday.

What are your experiences relating to the coronavirus outbreak? Share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.

Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also contact us in the following ways:

Link:
Coronavirus confirmed as pandemic by World Health Organization - BBC News