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Brand MonitoringTips amp Tricks to Help Manage Your Brand Online
Prepared by Lauren Candito Social Media Solutions
Brand Monitoring Tips amp Tricks wwwSocialMediaSolutionsLLCcom
Brand monitoring has become an essential task for any individual or corporation Marketers must understand that conversations are being held on the web with or without our consent and when conversations start on the web like a forest fire they travel very fast and wreak havoc along the way what might start out as a mere tweet may turn into a blog post and potentially national news
Why is this HappeningUntil recently information was dispersed and controlled by mass media networks of television radio and print where large corporations could control the mass media with the right combination of public relations and marketing
Now however the Internet has fundamentally transformed the way in which information is created distributed and consumed In additional to marketers losing much of their control of brand image they are also facing a larger variety of marketing channels than ever before
The modern consumer has developed greater immunity to the constant barrage of advertising messages Increasingly consumers are turning to online communities consumer writers and fringe media as trusted sources of input on everything from what to buy to how to vote
What Marketers Are SayingMarketers and brand managers now struggle with challenges such as
ldquoMy brandproduct has a lot of negative search results that have accumulated over time and unlike simple word of mouth these comments never seem to go awayrdquo
ldquoWersquore launching a new product next quarter and I want to generate pre-release buzz to build demand and create better brand awareness How can this be done without a huge investment in traditional mediardquo
What Can You DoDeveloping a brand monitoring plan should be one of the most important pieces of a companyrsquos marketing strategy not an after thought All too often I have seen companies fail because they have not listened to the buzz in the community
All successful brand monitoring plans have two critical pieces Listening amp Responding
ListeningListening is the gathering of online information about your brand It is simply put listening to what is being said about your productsservicesbrand online There are a variety of tools that help marketers ldquolistenrdquo but here are a few of my favorites
General Brand Monitoringbull Google Alerts - Google alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google
results based on your choice of query or topic You can subscribe to each alert through email and RSS The alerts track blog posts news articles videos and even
Brand Monitoring Tips amp Tricks wwwSocialMediaSolutionsLLCcom
groups Set a ldquocomprehensive alertrdquo which will notify you of stories as they happen for your name your topic and even your company
bull Yahoo Pipes - This is also a good tool for aggregating and combining feeds into one central repository
Blog Monitoringbull Technorati - Technorati tracks ldquoblog reactionsrdquo or blogs that link to yours Search
for your brand on Technorati and subscribe to RSS alerts so that when someone blogs about you you find out
bull Backtype - Backtype is a tool for monitoring blog comments by allowing you to find follow and share comments from across the web Use it to remind yourself where you commented discover influencers who are commenting on blogs that you should be reading and continue conversations that you started previously You can even subscribe to these comments using RSS
Discussion Board Monitoringbull BoardTracker - Along with blogs and
traditional news stories discussion boards are another channel where people can gather in a community and talk about you Most people disregard discussion boards until they see other sites commenting on information viewed on them Use boardtrackercom to get instant alerts from threads citing your name
Other Great Social Media Brand Management Tools
bull Yacktrack - This service lets you search for comments on your content from various sources such as Blogger Digg FriendFeed Stumbleupon and Wordpress blogs For instance if you comment on a blog you can locate other people who are commenting on that same blog post and rejoin the conversation My favorite feature of this tool is the ldquoChatterrdquo tab which allows you to perform keyword searches on social media sites and then notifies you of instances of your brand name Yacktrackrsquos search page results also gives you an RSS feed for the search term
bull Twitter Monitoring - Using Twitter search you can locate any instances of your name and decide whether you want to tweet back or ignore them It really depends on the context and meaning of the tweet Conduct a search for your name your companyrsquos name or various topics yoursquore interested in and then subscribe via RSS Twilert is another tool you can use to receive email alerts
bull Social Mention is a social media search engine that searches user-generated content such as blogs comments bookmarks events news videos and microblogging services It allows you to track mentions of your brand across all of these areas The results are aggregated from the top social media sources such as Flickr YouTube Digg Delicious Twitter and more Like the other services you can subscribe to your results by RSS or email Other social search engines include Serph and Keotag
Brand Monitoring Tips amp Tricks wwwSocialMediaSolutionsLLCcom
Itrsquos also a smart idea to listen to conversations about your competitors For example if the Marriott had a Google Alert setup for ldquoSheratonrdquo they could listen online for customers who get frustrated with their Sheraton experience enough to blog about it and they could engage those frustrated bloggers and possibly gain new customers
Talking Back Once you have set up an effective monitoring plan and you have listened to what the community is saying it is time to talk back Here are some guidelines for communicating with online users about your brand
Respond quickly to criticism If you donrsquot respond quickly to criticism you can lose control of the conversation
Admit your mistakes Why is this so difficult for brands When you mess up the onlymdashand I mean ONLYmdashacceptable response is to take full ownership explain what went wrong and share your action plan for fixing the mistake
Empower your employees to become problem solvers As a customer there is nothing worse than having a full-on collision with bureaucracy Wersquove all been there ldquoIrsquom sorry marsquoam but Irsquoll have to check with my supervisorrdquo Or worse ldquoIrsquod like to help but we have a policy against thatrdquo Tim Ferriss author of the bestseller ldquoThe 4-Hour Workweekrdquo tells his employees and contractors
ldquoKeep the customers happy If it is a problem that takes less than $100 to fix use your judgment and fix the problem yourself This is official written permission and a request to fix all problems that cost under $100 without contacting me (p 105)rdquo
Exceed your customersrsquo expectations Every customer problem is an opportunity to create a new amazing experience But itrsquos not enough to meet their expectations you have to exceed them Anything less is merely restitution
Conclusions Understanding brand monitoring and its impact on your business is critical Static websites are no longer the pinnacle of communication as todayrsquos consumer seeks engagement and two-way conversations As consumers are increasingly empowered to take control of brands online through user generated content blogs forums etc marketers must adopt new ways of approaching brand management and marketing their productsservices
If you would like additional information on Brand Monitoring Interactive Marketing or Social Media please contact Lauren Candito at Laurensocialmediasolutionsllccom
Please visit httpwwwSocialMediaSolutionsLLCcom for additional insights into the interactive realm
Brand Monitoring Tips amp Tricks wwwSocialMediaSolutionsLLCcom
About the AuthorLauren Candito is a interactive marketing amp social media expert that utilizes her deep understanding of the interactive realm to develop results driven interactive campaigns amp online marketing strategies for her clients She understands the importance of engagement and interaction and pushes companies to reach outside of traditional marketing barriers to develop their interactiveonline strategies Lauren is a skilled strategist who incorporates a variety of social media tools into her strategies and tailors each strategic approach to her clientrsquos needs amp goals
Lauren has obtained her MBA degree in International Marketing amp Business Strategy and has numerous years of experience working for global corporations intimate interactive agencies and small business ventures Lauren takes an ambitious self-directing approach to the social media environment developing measurable long-term online strategies for her clients
Lauren has an amazingly high level of energy and enthusiasm that is balanced with a great understanding of business analytics and a detail-oriented management style She has a proven passion for learning and naturally exceeds expectations Her excitement about interactive marketing resonates in every campaign she develops amp implements resulting in successful implementation of client strategies and the development of cutting-edge marketing techniques
Twitter LaurenCanditoLinkedIn Lauren CanditoSkype Lauren CanditoJabber LaurenCandito
Brand Monitoring Tips amp Tricks wwwSocialMediaSolutionsLLCcom
Brand monitoring has become an essential task for any individual or corporation Marketers must understand that conversations are being held on the web with or without our consent and when conversations start on the web like a forest fire they travel very fast and wreak havoc along the way what might start out as a mere tweet may turn into a blog post and potentially national news
Why is this HappeningUntil recently information was dispersed and controlled by mass media networks of television radio and print where large corporations could control the mass media with the right combination of public relations and marketing
Now however the Internet has fundamentally transformed the way in which information is created distributed and consumed In additional to marketers losing much of their control of brand image they are also facing a larger variety of marketing channels than ever before
The modern consumer has developed greater immunity to the constant barrage of advertising messages Increasingly consumers are turning to online communities consumer writers and fringe media as trusted sources of input on everything from what to buy to how to vote
What Marketers Are SayingMarketers and brand managers now struggle with challenges such as
ldquoMy brandproduct has a lot of negative search results that have accumulated over time and unlike simple word of mouth these comments never seem to go awayrdquo
ldquoWersquore launching a new product next quarter and I want to generate pre-release buzz to build demand and create better brand awareness How can this be done without a huge investment in traditional mediardquo
What Can You DoDeveloping a brand monitoring plan should be one of the most important pieces of a companyrsquos marketing strategy not an after thought All too often I have seen companies fail because they have not listened to the buzz in the community
All successful brand monitoring plans have two critical pieces Listening amp Responding
ListeningListening is the gathering of online information about your brand It is simply put listening to what is being said about your productsservicesbrand online There are a variety of tools that help marketers ldquolistenrdquo but here are a few of my favorites
General Brand Monitoringbull Google Alerts - Google alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google
results based on your choice of query or topic You can subscribe to each alert through email and RSS The alerts track blog posts news articles videos and even
Brand Monitoring Tips amp Tricks wwwSocialMediaSolutionsLLCcom
groups Set a ldquocomprehensive alertrdquo which will notify you of stories as they happen for your name your topic and even your company
bull Yahoo Pipes - This is also a good tool for aggregating and combining feeds into one central repository
Blog Monitoringbull Technorati - Technorati tracks ldquoblog reactionsrdquo or blogs that link to yours Search
for your brand on Technorati and subscribe to RSS alerts so that when someone blogs about you you find out
bull Backtype - Backtype is a tool for monitoring blog comments by allowing you to find follow and share comments from across the web Use it to remind yourself where you commented discover influencers who are commenting on blogs that you should be reading and continue conversations that you started previously You can even subscribe to these comments using RSS
Discussion Board Monitoringbull BoardTracker - Along with blogs and
traditional news stories discussion boards are another channel where people can gather in a community and talk about you Most people disregard discussion boards until they see other sites commenting on information viewed on them Use boardtrackercom to get instant alerts from threads citing your name
Other Great Social Media Brand Management Tools
bull Yacktrack - This service lets you search for comments on your content from various sources such as Blogger Digg FriendFeed Stumbleupon and Wordpress blogs For instance if you comment on a blog you can locate other people who are commenting on that same blog post and rejoin the conversation My favorite feature of this tool is the ldquoChatterrdquo tab which allows you to perform keyword searches on social media sites and then notifies you of instances of your brand name Yacktrackrsquos search page results also gives you an RSS feed for the search term
bull Twitter Monitoring - Using Twitter search you can locate any instances of your name and decide whether you want to tweet back or ignore them It really depends on the context and meaning of the tweet Conduct a search for your name your companyrsquos name or various topics yoursquore interested in and then subscribe via RSS Twilert is another tool you can use to receive email alerts
bull Social Mention is a social media search engine that searches user-generated content such as blogs comments bookmarks events news videos and microblogging services It allows you to track mentions of your brand across all of these areas The results are aggregated from the top social media sources such as Flickr YouTube Digg Delicious Twitter and more Like the other services you can subscribe to your results by RSS or email Other social search engines include Serph and Keotag
Brand Monitoring Tips amp Tricks wwwSocialMediaSolutionsLLCcom
Itrsquos also a smart idea to listen to conversations about your competitors For example if the Marriott had a Google Alert setup for ldquoSheratonrdquo they could listen online for customers who get frustrated with their Sheraton experience enough to blog about it and they could engage those frustrated bloggers and possibly gain new customers
Talking Back Once you have set up an effective monitoring plan and you have listened to what the community is saying it is time to talk back Here are some guidelines for communicating with online users about your brand
Respond quickly to criticism If you donrsquot respond quickly to criticism you can lose control of the conversation
Admit your mistakes Why is this so difficult for brands When you mess up the onlymdashand I mean ONLYmdashacceptable response is to take full ownership explain what went wrong and share your action plan for fixing the mistake
Empower your employees to become problem solvers As a customer there is nothing worse than having a full-on collision with bureaucracy Wersquove all been there ldquoIrsquom sorry marsquoam but Irsquoll have to check with my supervisorrdquo Or worse ldquoIrsquod like to help but we have a policy against thatrdquo Tim Ferriss author of the bestseller ldquoThe 4-Hour Workweekrdquo tells his employees and contractors
ldquoKeep the customers happy If it is a problem that takes less than $100 to fix use your judgment and fix the problem yourself This is official written permission and a request to fix all problems that cost under $100 without contacting me (p 105)rdquo
Exceed your customersrsquo expectations Every customer problem is an opportunity to create a new amazing experience But itrsquos not enough to meet their expectations you have to exceed them Anything less is merely restitution
Conclusions Understanding brand monitoring and its impact on your business is critical Static websites are no longer the pinnacle of communication as todayrsquos consumer seeks engagement and two-way conversations As consumers are increasingly empowered to take control of brands online through user generated content blogs forums etc marketers must adopt new ways of approaching brand management and marketing their productsservices
If you would like additional information on Brand Monitoring Interactive Marketing or Social Media please contact Lauren Candito at Laurensocialmediasolutionsllccom
Please visit httpwwwSocialMediaSolutionsLLCcom for additional insights into the interactive realm
Brand Monitoring Tips amp Tricks wwwSocialMediaSolutionsLLCcom
About the AuthorLauren Candito is a interactive marketing amp social media expert that utilizes her deep understanding of the interactive realm to develop results driven interactive campaigns amp online marketing strategies for her clients She understands the importance of engagement and interaction and pushes companies to reach outside of traditional marketing barriers to develop their interactiveonline strategies Lauren is a skilled strategist who incorporates a variety of social media tools into her strategies and tailors each strategic approach to her clientrsquos needs amp goals
Lauren has obtained her MBA degree in International Marketing amp Business Strategy and has numerous years of experience working for global corporations intimate interactive agencies and small business ventures Lauren takes an ambitious self-directing approach to the social media environment developing measurable long-term online strategies for her clients
Lauren has an amazingly high level of energy and enthusiasm that is balanced with a great understanding of business analytics and a detail-oriented management style She has a proven passion for learning and naturally exceeds expectations Her excitement about interactive marketing resonates in every campaign she develops amp implements resulting in successful implementation of client strategies and the development of cutting-edge marketing techniques
Twitter LaurenCanditoLinkedIn Lauren CanditoSkype Lauren CanditoJabber LaurenCandito
Brand Monitoring Tips amp Tricks wwwSocialMediaSolutionsLLCcom
groups Set a ldquocomprehensive alertrdquo which will notify you of stories as they happen for your name your topic and even your company
bull Yahoo Pipes - This is also a good tool for aggregating and combining feeds into one central repository
Blog Monitoringbull Technorati - Technorati tracks ldquoblog reactionsrdquo or blogs that link to yours Search
for your brand on Technorati and subscribe to RSS alerts so that when someone blogs about you you find out
bull Backtype - Backtype is a tool for monitoring blog comments by allowing you to find follow and share comments from across the web Use it to remind yourself where you commented discover influencers who are commenting on blogs that you should be reading and continue conversations that you started previously You can even subscribe to these comments using RSS
Discussion Board Monitoringbull BoardTracker - Along with blogs and
traditional news stories discussion boards are another channel where people can gather in a community and talk about you Most people disregard discussion boards until they see other sites commenting on information viewed on them Use boardtrackercom to get instant alerts from threads citing your name
Other Great Social Media Brand Management Tools
bull Yacktrack - This service lets you search for comments on your content from various sources such as Blogger Digg FriendFeed Stumbleupon and Wordpress blogs For instance if you comment on a blog you can locate other people who are commenting on that same blog post and rejoin the conversation My favorite feature of this tool is the ldquoChatterrdquo tab which allows you to perform keyword searches on social media sites and then notifies you of instances of your brand name Yacktrackrsquos search page results also gives you an RSS feed for the search term
bull Twitter Monitoring - Using Twitter search you can locate any instances of your name and decide whether you want to tweet back or ignore them It really depends on the context and meaning of the tweet Conduct a search for your name your companyrsquos name or various topics yoursquore interested in and then subscribe via RSS Twilert is another tool you can use to receive email alerts
bull Social Mention is a social media search engine that searches user-generated content such as blogs comments bookmarks events news videos and microblogging services It allows you to track mentions of your brand across all of these areas The results are aggregated from the top social media sources such as Flickr YouTube Digg Delicious Twitter and more Like the other services you can subscribe to your results by RSS or email Other social search engines include Serph and Keotag
Brand Monitoring Tips amp Tricks wwwSocialMediaSolutionsLLCcom
Itrsquos also a smart idea to listen to conversations about your competitors For example if the Marriott had a Google Alert setup for ldquoSheratonrdquo they could listen online for customers who get frustrated with their Sheraton experience enough to blog about it and they could engage those frustrated bloggers and possibly gain new customers
Talking Back Once you have set up an effective monitoring plan and you have listened to what the community is saying it is time to talk back Here are some guidelines for communicating with online users about your brand
Respond quickly to criticism If you donrsquot respond quickly to criticism you can lose control of the conversation
Admit your mistakes Why is this so difficult for brands When you mess up the onlymdashand I mean ONLYmdashacceptable response is to take full ownership explain what went wrong and share your action plan for fixing the mistake
Empower your employees to become problem solvers As a customer there is nothing worse than having a full-on collision with bureaucracy Wersquove all been there ldquoIrsquom sorry marsquoam but Irsquoll have to check with my supervisorrdquo Or worse ldquoIrsquod like to help but we have a policy against thatrdquo Tim Ferriss author of the bestseller ldquoThe 4-Hour Workweekrdquo tells his employees and contractors
ldquoKeep the customers happy If it is a problem that takes less than $100 to fix use your judgment and fix the problem yourself This is official written permission and a request to fix all problems that cost under $100 without contacting me (p 105)rdquo
Exceed your customersrsquo expectations Every customer problem is an opportunity to create a new amazing experience But itrsquos not enough to meet their expectations you have to exceed them Anything less is merely restitution
Conclusions Understanding brand monitoring and its impact on your business is critical Static websites are no longer the pinnacle of communication as todayrsquos consumer seeks engagement and two-way conversations As consumers are increasingly empowered to take control of brands online through user generated content blogs forums etc marketers must adopt new ways of approaching brand management and marketing their productsservices
If you would like additional information on Brand Monitoring Interactive Marketing or Social Media please contact Lauren Candito at Laurensocialmediasolutionsllccom
Please visit httpwwwSocialMediaSolutionsLLCcom for additional insights into the interactive realm
Brand Monitoring Tips amp Tricks wwwSocialMediaSolutionsLLCcom
About the AuthorLauren Candito is a interactive marketing amp social media expert that utilizes her deep understanding of the interactive realm to develop results driven interactive campaigns amp online marketing strategies for her clients She understands the importance of engagement and interaction and pushes companies to reach outside of traditional marketing barriers to develop their interactiveonline strategies Lauren is a skilled strategist who incorporates a variety of social media tools into her strategies and tailors each strategic approach to her clientrsquos needs amp goals
Lauren has obtained her MBA degree in International Marketing amp Business Strategy and has numerous years of experience working for global corporations intimate interactive agencies and small business ventures Lauren takes an ambitious self-directing approach to the social media environment developing measurable long-term online strategies for her clients
Lauren has an amazingly high level of energy and enthusiasm that is balanced with a great understanding of business analytics and a detail-oriented management style She has a proven passion for learning and naturally exceeds expectations Her excitement about interactive marketing resonates in every campaign she develops amp implements resulting in successful implementation of client strategies and the development of cutting-edge marketing techniques
Twitter LaurenCanditoLinkedIn Lauren CanditoSkype Lauren CanditoJabber LaurenCandito
Brand Monitoring Tips amp Tricks wwwSocialMediaSolutionsLLCcom
Itrsquos also a smart idea to listen to conversations about your competitors For example if the Marriott had a Google Alert setup for ldquoSheratonrdquo they could listen online for customers who get frustrated with their Sheraton experience enough to blog about it and they could engage those frustrated bloggers and possibly gain new customers
Talking Back Once you have set up an effective monitoring plan and you have listened to what the community is saying it is time to talk back Here are some guidelines for communicating with online users about your brand
Respond quickly to criticism If you donrsquot respond quickly to criticism you can lose control of the conversation
Admit your mistakes Why is this so difficult for brands When you mess up the onlymdashand I mean ONLYmdashacceptable response is to take full ownership explain what went wrong and share your action plan for fixing the mistake
Empower your employees to become problem solvers As a customer there is nothing worse than having a full-on collision with bureaucracy Wersquove all been there ldquoIrsquom sorry marsquoam but Irsquoll have to check with my supervisorrdquo Or worse ldquoIrsquod like to help but we have a policy against thatrdquo Tim Ferriss author of the bestseller ldquoThe 4-Hour Workweekrdquo tells his employees and contractors
ldquoKeep the customers happy If it is a problem that takes less than $100 to fix use your judgment and fix the problem yourself This is official written permission and a request to fix all problems that cost under $100 without contacting me (p 105)rdquo
Exceed your customersrsquo expectations Every customer problem is an opportunity to create a new amazing experience But itrsquos not enough to meet their expectations you have to exceed them Anything less is merely restitution
Conclusions Understanding brand monitoring and its impact on your business is critical Static websites are no longer the pinnacle of communication as todayrsquos consumer seeks engagement and two-way conversations As consumers are increasingly empowered to take control of brands online through user generated content blogs forums etc marketers must adopt new ways of approaching brand management and marketing their productsservices
If you would like additional information on Brand Monitoring Interactive Marketing or Social Media please contact Lauren Candito at Laurensocialmediasolutionsllccom
Please visit httpwwwSocialMediaSolutionsLLCcom for additional insights into the interactive realm
Brand Monitoring Tips amp Tricks wwwSocialMediaSolutionsLLCcom
About the AuthorLauren Candito is a interactive marketing amp social media expert that utilizes her deep understanding of the interactive realm to develop results driven interactive campaigns amp online marketing strategies for her clients She understands the importance of engagement and interaction and pushes companies to reach outside of traditional marketing barriers to develop their interactiveonline strategies Lauren is a skilled strategist who incorporates a variety of social media tools into her strategies and tailors each strategic approach to her clientrsquos needs amp goals
Lauren has obtained her MBA degree in International Marketing amp Business Strategy and has numerous years of experience working for global corporations intimate interactive agencies and small business ventures Lauren takes an ambitious self-directing approach to the social media environment developing measurable long-term online strategies for her clients
Lauren has an amazingly high level of energy and enthusiasm that is balanced with a great understanding of business analytics and a detail-oriented management style She has a proven passion for learning and naturally exceeds expectations Her excitement about interactive marketing resonates in every campaign she develops amp implements resulting in successful implementation of client strategies and the development of cutting-edge marketing techniques
Twitter LaurenCanditoLinkedIn Lauren CanditoSkype Lauren CanditoJabber LaurenCandito
Brand Monitoring Tips amp Tricks wwwSocialMediaSolutionsLLCcom
About the AuthorLauren Candito is a interactive marketing amp social media expert that utilizes her deep understanding of the interactive realm to develop results driven interactive campaigns amp online marketing strategies for her clients She understands the importance of engagement and interaction and pushes companies to reach outside of traditional marketing barriers to develop their interactiveonline strategies Lauren is a skilled strategist who incorporates a variety of social media tools into her strategies and tailors each strategic approach to her clientrsquos needs amp goals
Lauren has obtained her MBA degree in International Marketing amp Business Strategy and has numerous years of experience working for global corporations intimate interactive agencies and small business ventures Lauren takes an ambitious self-directing approach to the social media environment developing measurable long-term online strategies for her clients
Lauren has an amazingly high level of energy and enthusiasm that is balanced with a great understanding of business analytics and a detail-oriented management style She has a proven passion for learning and naturally exceeds expectations Her excitement about interactive marketing resonates in every campaign she develops amp implements resulting in successful implementation of client strategies and the development of cutting-edge marketing techniques
Twitter LaurenCanditoLinkedIn Lauren CanditoSkype Lauren CanditoJabber LaurenCandito
Brand Monitoring Tips amp Tricks wwwSocialMediaSolutionsLLCcom
