After Wiki-PR was exposed last year for manipulating Wikipedia and received a cease and desist letter from the Wikimedia Foundation, more marketers have been raising questions about their approach to Wikipedia and ethical behavior on the site. The Chartered Institute of Public Relations has published a best practices guide for marketers participating on Wikipedia and Ethical […]
David King
3 Keys to Successful Content Marketing on Wikipedia
Offering content to Wikipedia’s editorial community is different than traditional content marketing. The content is rule-bound. The editors are thorough. And we must produce neutral content about the company, rather than a thought-leadership subject. Some companies have such strong opinions about themselves and certain controversies they are involved in, it can be an emotional process […]
6 Ways For PR Firms To Ask For A Correction On Wikipedia
Qorvis recently joined the ranks of PR firms like Bell Pottinger, Portland Communications and Finsbury that stand accused of manipulating Wikipedia entries for their clients. Something that stood out from the summary at The Daily Dot was that Qorvis is defending their actions with a familiar tune – accusing Wikipedia of not providing reasonable processes […]
Wikipedia Marketing Requires PR Skills
Ethical Wikipedia engagement is similar to traditional public relations with journalists. Just as a PR firm would with media, EthicalWiki offers contributed content, resources, discussion and factual corrections to Wikipedians. As it is with media, relationships, reputation and offering something of value to the medium are crucial. The big difference? Journalists expect PR professionals to […]
5 ways to convince clients to be ethical on Wikipedia
PR and marketing firms are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Edit Wikipedia on behalf of your client and risk breaking the law or joining a long history of publicly humiliated organizations. Tell the client there is nothing that can be done, and you ignore arguably the world’s most important website, while inviting […]
Wikipedia, astroturfing, and why it matters to your business
This blog post does not constitute legal advice Wikipedia’s openly editable model and a history of misbehavior on the site creates radical attitudes from marketing professionals and the legal departments that support them. As a Wikipedia consultant, companies routinely ask me if they can just remove negative information, with a straight face and no realization that […]
Four lessons from Wikipedia on writing with credibility
Many Wikipedians have strong opinions about language. We strive to use neutral language, but are choked by the impossibility of the task. “Claimed” implies doubt, “stated” implies officiousness, “said” implies the message was spoken. Neutrality is an impossible objective, when even the most basic statement is filled with innuendo. Wikipedia and its choice of words […]
5 ways to explain to your boss why Wikipedia matters
The biggest reason marketing and Wikipedia’s editorial community often find the relationship contentious is because companies haven’t invested the intellectual capital in meeting Wikipedia’s content needs. We’ve made a science out of the most viral tweet, the optimal Facebook post, most compelling blog and optimized landing page, but haven’t invested in ethical Wikipedia engagement. We’re […]
85 percent of brand pages on Wikipedia need improvement
Wikipedia articles define our company’s brand, heritage, leadership and culture for the internet. They’re important. But Wikipedia has thousands of them and about four million articles in all. According to a new study published today, 90 percent of brand pages on Wikipedia are marked as low or medium priority by the Wikipedia community. The study […]
Lessons from Microsoft’s Wikipedia Participation
I bumped into Rick Jellifire on Wikipedia. The one that made headlines in 2007 for accepting an offer to get paid by Microsoft to contribute to Wikipedia. He was upset about the media’s depiction of his Wikipedia participation as a secretive attempt to corrupt Wikipedia’s neutrality. The media said his plans were “revealed” even though they […]