“Reputation is only a candle, of wavering and uncertain flame, and easily blown out, but it is the light by which the world looks for and finds merit.” ~ James Russell Lowell

Online reputation management is a hot topic these days.  While it affects individuals of every profession and companies of all sizes and industries, direct selling companies and distributors face some unique challenges, as I describe in my latest article for Networking Times, Keep It Clean: Twelve Steps to Protect Your Reputation Online.

For one thing, the problem is universal in the direct selling industry. 88% of the DSA Global 100 have negative results on page one of Google for a search for their company name.  Over 75% have one or more negative words (“scam”, “pyramid scheme”, “lawsuit”, “complaints”, etc.) in Google’s instant search suggestions:

Now, it’s not that other companies and other industries don’t have that negative content out there — Google any telecommunication or utility company plus “complaint” and you’ll be stunned.  Look at just the Pissed Consumer page for Verizon:

It’s not that the negative isn’t there for them — it’s just not showing up on the first page of Google.

So what’s the difference?  It’s simple: a) these companies put out massive amounts of content, and b) mainstream media tends to ignore the direct selling industry except when there’s a huge (and probably negative) story.

Another challenge direct selling companies face is what we call “brandjackers” — professional internet marketers who create content targeting company names for SEO, often in conjunction with “scam”. They promise an independent review, and sometimes they’re even positive, but their ulterior motive is to sell something of their own:  leads, marketing tools, their educational product, or perhaps a competing opportunity.

Finally, you have to deal with the fact that the field is competing with the company. It’s certainly preferable to have distributors ranking ahead of competitors or negative sites, but it can be very frustrating when a distributor has their (probably unauthorized) version of your opportunity video ranking ahead of the official one, both on Google and on YouTube.

Are you or your company experiencing these yourself?  Want to know what to do about it?

1. Check out 12 Steps to Protect Your Reputation Online for an overview of the process.
2. Subscribe to my blog. Over the next couple of months, I’ll be expanding on each of those 12 steps as individual blog posts, including specific tips and resources.
3. If you need help now, check out Momentum Factor’s Online Reputation Management services and let’s see what we can do. You can also contact me directly and I’ll be happy to help.

]]> https://scottsocialmediaallen.com/online-reputation-management-presents-unique-challenges-for-direct-sellers/feed/ 0 https://scottsocialmediaallen.com/herbalife-bounces-back-as-savvy-investors-go-long/ https://scottsocialmediaallen.com/herbalife-bounces-back-as-savvy-investors-go-long/#comments Wed, 02 Jan 2013 23:32:21 +0000 https://scottsocialmediaallen.com/?p=1347 Ackman’s short of Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) shows he simply doesn’t understand direct selling.

Bill Ackman represents the very worst of Wall Street. Not only is he attacking a legitimate company that employs thousands of people and generates part-time incomes for over 2 million independent distributors around the world, he has the unmitigated gall to style himself as a protector of the people in doing so.

His whole premise is based on the mistaken idea that Herbalife is an illegal pyramid scheme. If you really want to explore that issue, I recommend reading the FAQs on MLM Companies that Herbalife includes on their investor relations site. And even if the FTC were to take issue with some aspect of Herbalife’s compensation plan, it certainly wouldn’t be the end of the company, just as it wasn’t the end of Amway. Or Google. Or Microsoft. Take a look some time at all the companies that have had problems with the FTC before thinking that it’s the harbinger of death for an MLM company.

What’s most appalling about Ackman, though, isn’t his ignorance, but his hypocrisy. When you start digging, you find all sorts of interesting things, like his past defense of MLM when his fund was an investor in Pre-Paid Legal; his recent investments in JCP and Target, struggling retailers facing growing competition from direct sellers in the fashion, beauty and home products markets; the fact that he bet the farm ($1 Billion — with a “B”) on “driving Herbalife to zero”; and his 2009 character defense of his friend Ezra Merkin, who was charged with civil fraud by the State of New York for secretly steering $2.4 billion in client money into Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. Follow the money.

Fortunately, HLF is bouncing back, Herbalife is going on the offensive, and many other investors are going long on HLF. It appears Ackman may lose his bet…or not.

See, the thing is, Ackman doesn’t actually have to drive Herbalife to zero to make money. According to The New York Times, Ackman “is already up a couple of hundred million dollars”. And for what? For publicizing an ignorant, misguided attack on a company. He doesn’t create anything in the process. No jobs. No products. No real value.

And in the current economic climate, who does that serve?