The Manager and the Industrial Accident
At the enormous industrial complex, the buzz of activity like the sound of machines running was music to the ears for many of the workforce. This was a place where perfection counted for the world—where one slip can cost you the price of your life. In the middle of it, was Michael Harris, our SEO Manager, whose work in the company was anything but mechanical; but without whose contribution, the life and existence of the business would not have been possible.
Michael was not your ordinary SEO manager in any given company. For in an era in which SEO was generally synonymous with keywords, meta descriptions and backlinks, his mission went beyond the web. He was the man who linked the online aspects of the company with the actual functioning of the company. His job was to make sure the company’s industrial services domain was ranked high online but with special focus on the potential backlash that would ensue from any negative trademark that would be associated the company online.
The Rising Storm
The firm, TechIndus Corp, dealt in production of machines that are bulky, specifically in the mining and construction lines. It was a giant organisation which had plant in almost every corner of the world. Still there was one problem, and, as the recent months showed, a rather evil one – people had started associating TechIndus with ‘industrial accidents’. Every day Michael ran the analytics and every day the picture that showed up was even more disturbing.
It was just a usual working day for Michael, he began the day with coffee and then went straight to new SEO reports. But there was something that was different today. A spike in traffic from a particular set of keywords caught his eye: Some of the headlines include: “ TechIndus industrial accident,” “ machinery breakdown” and “ employee mishap.”
He thought of his sick wife and his stomach erupted into a cold sweat. The two immediately searched up the latest news and Michael quickly found the information. His heart sank as he read the headline: “Lives of TechIndus Employees Fire Disaster — Several Employees Of TechIndus Corporation Sustained Injuries In A Major Industrial Accident at the Plant,” read only a few headlines, but their meaning was obvious. This was not a usual news story that just covered an event; it was a ticking time bomb which was ready to have a disastrous effect on company reputation and therefore a disaster on its online niche.
The Emergency Meeting
Being fully aware of the consequences, Michael immediately convened a crisis meeting with the PR and the operations department. It became quiet and all people came into the room. The head of operations, Lisa Carter, was the first to take the floor.
And yes, you can imagine the scene when Lisa declared rather tensely, ‘We have had an accident at the Plant 3.’ “One of the machines broke down and some workers were maimed,” It is worse, Michael The company is under fire and what we do not want is the incident to get to the social media.
Michael just quickly agreed with the discussion, his mind was working on the next three steps already. “They are likely to set a negative narrative about the firm,” he said. “But most importantly we need to know why this happened and what can be done in order not to repeat it in future It is not about SEO rankings anymore – this is about company’s reputation and our employees’ safety.”
It remained to disseminate the information within the team, ideas ranging from writing press releases to posting the safety measures on the company’s blog. Michael realized that while fire fighting activities was only part of the solution that could be implemented. The real test would be in restoring the Image of the firm and correcting the mistakes that were made that led to the mishap.
At the end of the meeting, everyone left with the exceptioning of Michael who put a lot of thoughts into. Consequently, he had his mind filled with questions. Several questions could be asked here to find out what had gone wrong in the plant as follows; How has it progressed to that level without anyone’s noticing it? And how could he make sure that the scandal like this made TechIndus’s name synonymous with this event?
The Digital Investigation
One evening Michael was in his office still trying to go through some figures. He tried to capture the whole picture from the bits and pieces that could be seen from the searches and social media posts. Slowly he found out that this accident had not happened by chance, no, it was an indication of weaknesses in the company.
Realizing that time was passing on Michael came up with a strategy. The first was to fix the current SEO disaster and stabilize the company’s online presence so it would not deteriorate further. But beyond that Arjun could see that TechIndus had to fundamentally rethink how it operated and change nearly everything. The risk was that big, but Michael did not care and was willing to go through with it.
The Path Forward
The next day Michael unveiled his plan before the executives. It was a plan which did not only entail the mitigation of the effects of the debacle; it also entailed a radical shift in the manner in which the company dealt with issues to safety and transparency. It was daring, but it was the only way that Michael thought it was possible to go about it.
As the executives sat round making their decisions, Michael felt a pinch of pressure. That was not the matter of another SEO issue, that was the matter of the further existence of TechIndus and all people who work there. The deliberations made in that room would shape the future of the show as well as the impacts it would impose both on the World Wide Web and the physical world.
Finally, Richard Grant, the CEO, spared a glance at Michael and gave him a nod. We’ve been doing it my way he said. “But that’s not all, we are going to rely on you to take charge on this, Michael.”
Michael also accepted what he heard and a stern expression overcame his face. He was fully aware that the road shall be tortuous and arduous, nevertheless he prepared himself for the task. The industrial accident had been a wake-up call—everyone realized that in the world that is more connected than ever, people’s online personas are not so far from their lives.
A New Chapter
When Michael left the boardroom, he felt a surge of energy within him to get back to work. It was not about ‘search engine optimization,’ ‘search queries,’ or anything of the sort. This was about changing the world, yes, changing the world in some small way that would make a real difference to the end users of TechIndus. That was a challenge which was waiting for him to take head on.
Over the next few weeks, TechIndus started adapting some of the changes that Michael has recommended. Some measures that were taken included changes in safety measures, new and clear communication measures were put in place. It was only gradually that company’s online identity began to rebuild, as did the confidence of the staff and buyers.
However for Michael this was just the start. He had understood that in the world where the online and the offline are constantly merging the job of an SEO manager is much broader than just making the website rank higher in search engines. It was about protecting one’s future at the company — in both the physical and cyber realms.
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