Many people have given into curiosity and “Googled” their names -or put their names into any of the search engines for that matter and regularly keep tabs with what is being portrayed about them on the web.
Who is responsible in your organisation for monitoring the conversations that your customers or your staff or their friends or your competition have about your company, your brands, your executives? Do you know what is being said / written about your business in blogs, in the social networking communities.
If you did know- you would also be able to be proactive in managing the issues.
Some companies are finding it strategically valuable to monitor conversations and even engage with people who mention them in the social media. In the old days of marketing you would commission a very formal research report or conduct focus groups to understand trends and conversations about your brand values. These still have their place, but today it’s possible to gain some insight by simply being aware of the tone of your markets blog posts, social networkingchatroom conversations about your company and brands online.
Customer Q& A’s and complaints can also suddenly be captured by the search engines – blowing out small incidences into larger ones.
When last did you track one of your own media releases on Google – the major search engine in New Zealand? What environment do these releases find themselves in ? Is it favourable or hostile?
Barry Hurd, the author of a popular social media consulting business gives some simple tips like creating RSS feeds or using your personalised Google page to monitor key words and phrases. He also gives some great basic questions that companies should be asking themselves about managing their brand and online reputation in this article…
http://123socialmedia.com/2008/05/12/social-media-measurement-and-brand-control/
