Reputation Management in the Political Forum

Some 26 million Americans used the internet to gain information about politics in August 2006. As mid-term elections grow near and the race heats up for 2008, it seems for certain that the internet (and the information contained therein) is going to play its biggest role to date in shaping the opinions and ulitmately the votes cast by countless Americans. Interestingly, this fact opens up a world of opportunity for online reputation management with respect to politicians. Much like a large corporation's brand name, a politician is very much in the public eye - and even more hotly debated over. Politics have often brought out some of our fiercest emotions, emotions that stem from most people's core beliefs on government, society, and morality. In cyberworld, the realm of public opinion is more vast and more dynamic than ever. News reports, blog posts, forums, and press releases spread through the net at the blink of an eye, and to the end of the earth. For a political candidate, no matter how big or small, what is being "said" about them online must be their concern.

Political Reputation Management, then, is the search marketing discipline borne from the collision of all these realities. Politicians in today's age should be well advised on how to both strengthen the search positions of thier official sites, profiles, reputable news stories and the like, while at the same time lessening the presence of negative or irrelevant websites and posts relating to their name and their campaign. It is virtually impossible to quantify the effects of positive or negative websites that lie in the top 10 or so in the search engines for a person's name, but the prevelance of use of search engines like Google to research information on any given topic by people in our country is undeniable. And as the recent USA Today article explains, millions are using it every day to learn more about local, state, and national politics. While I don't expect most politicians nor the people who run their campaigns have much knowledge about search engine marketing at this point, it is becoming more and more a part of the "game". There are some companies out there who can help with search engine marketing, as well as Plus 1 Marketing, which specializes in reputation management for politicians.

It's an exciting time with respect to the online reputation management industry, as much of it is just getting traction among the search marketing community and new niches keep appearing. Job applicants, corporate brands, and now politicians all fit the mold of being in need of a good online reputation, and I believe we are only scratching the surface. What will the next group be? We'll know shortly.