If you’re not on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook or other social media sites —and believe it or not, many, many people are not!—you may be missing out on some very important conversations. Some of these conversations may be about you!
In working with a client recently, we did some quick online research and they were shocked to find how many discussions about their product, relative to their competitors’ products, were taking place. Some good. Some not so good.
In another situation, while researching an article for the sleep products industry, a source led me to a YouTube video of a guy from the well-traveled YouTube channel who was providing a review of a specific mattress brand—not all good. There 4200+ views of this video the last time I looked.
Monitoring Your Mentions
Dominos Pizza gained notoriety several years ago (to their chagrin!) because of a couple of employees messing around with the food (which later proved to be a hoax) who posted a video of their purported exploits on YouTube. By the time Dominos could respond—48 hours later—there were in excess of 450,000 views of that video, not including whatever pass-along impacts there may have been.
What are people saying about you, your company and your products and services? If you don’t know, it’s time to find out. Word-of-mouth has evolved exponentially with the advent of the Internet and social media.
Managing the Chatter
In the “old days” you talked to the neighbor over the backyard fence, or at the barber or beauty shop to share information. The impact was important, but relatively minimal compared to what can happen today. A disgruntled employee, customer, neighbor, or activist can instantly generate messages and images that have the potential to be seen by hundreds of thousands of people around the world. Some of these messages gain traction and credibility—some don’t.
Where and how can you monitor and manage these mentions? There are a wide range of options ranging from enterprise-level monitoring tools like Radian6 by Salesforce which can be costly, to simple do-it-yourself (DIY) options like setting up tracking streams in tools like Hootsuite or Sendible, to setting up Google Alerts to monitor mentions.
Knowing what’s out there is the first step. The next is deciding if/how to join in the conversation. These are strategic decisions that are best discussed with in-house communication staff or other communication experts. The beauty of the Internet and social media is that people around the world can engage in open, online discussions for everyone to see. That beauty can also be a beast.
About Us
Strategic Communications, LLC, works with B2B clients to help them achieve their goals through effective content marketing and management with both internal and external audiences. We work with clients to plan, create and publish high-quality, unique content. Whether on- or offline, or both, we’ll help you achieve desired results.
(Strategic Communications is certified as a Woman-Owned Business Enterprise through the Wisconsin Department of Administration.)
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Recommended Reading:
21st Century Secrets to Effective PR
Direct Mail in the Digital Age
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Strategic Planning
The Everything Guide to Customer Engagement
Best Practices in Influencer Marketing
Tags: brand analysis, Brand Management, Customer Communication, managing an online presence, monitoring customer sentiment, Social Media, social media monitoring