Is Any Press Good Press?
The same question has been going through your mind for years now as a business owner, is any press good press? This could be something that happens accidentally, or as part of a PR stunt. If a brand is dominating in the press, the news can be massive, but there are potential payoffs and drawbacks alike. If you are interested in what to expect from your business and the potential of any media coverage in the future, it is very important to look at the businesses that have been the most prevalent in headlines.
There are a number of questions to ask yourself and find answers to when it comes down to those particular businesses, as well. Does positive publicity and press always bring back more benefits than negativity? Is there a long term value beyond the initial spikes in web traffic and back links? Would a large band stand to gain more from something like this? Is a negative press stunt worth the risk that goes along with it, and could there be any long term damage to the brand’s reputation over the course of time? These are all questions that need to be carefully investigated, regardless of what your company is.
Does Negative Media Coverage Impact My Website?
In many cases, positive and negative spins alike being put on a story and the subsequent sentiment can play a major role, as can the subsequent details as they emerge. You will find bad stories that become positive, and good stories that can become negative. All of this is relative and tends to differ depending upon the particular situation at hand. Have there been stories like this in recent years?
One very prominent example of this was a CEO of a credit card processing company boosting staff salaries to a minimum of $70,000 per year! The story was difficult to miss in that it was covered by nearly every major news outlet. This story had longevity and continued to remain relevant and popular for months on end, with massive increases in web traffic. However, there was a negative side of the story stemming from the fact that the salary increases may have been in response to a lawsuit aimed at the CEO in question. In this case, the good seems to have outweighed the bad, with the site’s popularity skyrocketing with little or no backlash to speak of. However, every situation is unique and not necessarily typical.
It is interesting to note that, over the past several months, negative stories attracted more coverage and social media shares and the like than positive stories. However, this does not automatically mean that any publicity is good publicity. There is such a thing as too much conflict within a brand name; getting this can end up having long lasting negative repercussions for any entity, no matter how respected they have been in the past. There are so many things to take into consideration; any company or brand needs to plan or be prepared for what is to come.
