Newscounter misses the mark
A new corporate communications service has just launched, charging companies £300 a pop to respond to comment appearing online. By providing a ready, SEO-friendly platform, newscounter is hoping brands under fire will turn to them to get their message across.
Unfortunately, I think it misses the point entirely. Newscounter’s founders clearly have spotted the growing need for companies to manage their brand reputation online. But have missed the fact that there are more effective – and frankly cheaper – ways to achieve this.
A company blog offers everything that newscounter offers and more. If a blog has existed for an appropriate length of time, the number of links it collects from peers in the blogosphere ensures that it too is endearing to Google’s SEO spiders. Comment can also posted at will – for free.
However, the most important benefit is that a blog provides an opportunity for readers to post their own comments in response. And this is where newscounter really falls down. Aside from the prohibitive cost of £300 whenever a company wants to add something else to a certain debate, there is no mechanism to encourage and foster dialogue.
I find that these things often come down to natural common sense. If you think of a house party, with everyone discussing a topic in the living room, newscounter would be the equivalent of putting up a loud, brightly coloured poster in the dining room. Not in tone with the party atmosphere and easily disregarded. People might see if it every now and then through the French Doors, but will more than likely continue their own conversation regardless.
How loud a poster of course depends on newscounters’ success in the coming weeks. I suspect it may pale and fade quickly.
Technorati Tags: SEO, newscounter, company blog
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