The most common mistakes of companies make on Wikipedia
Wikipedia is the world's most important online encyclopedia. With over six million English articles, it is the leading source of information for many people. Therefore, it is crucial for large organizations to maintain and update their Wikipedia page well. As a press spokesperson, you are responsible for ensuring that your company is well represented on Wikipedia.
This blog post aims to highlight common mistakes PR departments can make on Wikipedia:
Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, not an advertising portal. Companies should be aware that promotional language is not permitted on Wikipedia pages. Rather than subjective claims, companies should focus on factual and neutral representation, and avoid statements such as "We are the leading company in our industry" or terms like "launch," "entrepreneurial spirit," or "full-service provider". Instead, objectively showcase your company's performance through facts and data.
Another common mistake press spokespersons make on Wikipedia is editing pages without high-quality sources or references. Wikipedia is a community-driven platform that relies on the use of evidence. This means that any changes you want to make to your company's Wikipedia page should be substantiated with meaningful sources.
As a rule of thumb: Information can only be entered into the article if there is reliable, secondary source independent of the subject, (e.g., a journalistic source) that fully supports the information.
Wikipedia has a large set of policies and guidelines created by the community to ensure the quality of articles on the platform. It is important that you familiarize yourself with these rules and ensure that you adhere to them when making changes to your company's Wikipedia page. Violating a policy could result in the deletion of your changes or, ultimately, your entire Wikipedia presence.
Wikipedians are anything but lenient when it comes to unknowingly breaking rules.
To address the elephant in the room: Press spokespersons often make the mistake of incorporating their own viewpoint too strongly into their company's Wikipedia page. It is generally good that they are convinced of their company.
However, it is important on Wikipedia to be independent and objective, ensuring that your company's portrayal on Wikipedia maintains a neutral perspective. The tone of an article should always be factual and contain no evaluative statements unless supported by reliable, independent, secondary sources.
Another important point that press spokespersons often overlook on Wikipedia is the regular updating of their company's Wikipedia page. The information on your Wikipedia page should always be up-to-date so that the readers of your page stay informed. Every interest group keeps an eye on your Wikipedia entry, whether they are applicants, customers, employees, or organizations even like the tax office.
Therefore, you should always ensure that you make updates not only when a crisis occurs or something changes and you need to react to a change, but regularly and proactively.
Your Wikipedia page is an important part of your online presence as an organization. It is crucial that you take care of it and ensure that it is factual, objective, and up-to-date. With us by your side, you avoid the above mistakes and instead work on creating a high-quality and informative Wikipedia page for your company.
