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 Happening?
Until 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 bramd 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 Can You Do?
Developing a brand monitoring plan should be one of the most important pieces of a company’s 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 & Responding.
Listening
Listenting is the gathering of online information about your brand. It is simply put, listenting to what is being said about your products/services/brand online.
Once you have sucesssfully listened to what is being said in the market, you can begin to respond. Check in tomorrow for part two of this post, and to learn tips for responding to all the chatter.
