I recently made the observation that consumers increasingly expect the brands that they interact with to answer back within the social media context. More and more, we find evidence of growing frustration and a new kind of social consumer expectation. I recently posted this to our company website. Whilst its not the sort of content that I normally deal with here, social brand monitoring is generally topical at present so I thought it might be worth posting here as well.
At Affiniti Digital we see tweets asking if major homeware retailers are listening (and find that they are), blog posts questioning the relevance of finance companies that don’t respond to negative blog posts and Facebook groups whose 7000+ members have one thing in common – a poor customer experience at the hands of a leading Australian telco. Its no surprise then that brands are beginning to look at various methods of social media monitoring to pick up on brand references as they appear across the social landscape.
With this in mind it is worth considering the following points if you are exploring the possibility of monitoring your brand…
- Not all social media monitoring tools are the same
- There is no such thing as free
- Machines don’t always get emotion
- Some things can’t wait
- Give your monitoring the resources it needs
- Plan your responses in advance
All social media monitoring tools have their specialties and their particular idiosyncrasies. We use a mix of free and paid tools. Some offer better blog coverage, others have broader news coverage whilst others are attached to vast data farms and allow for greater historic searching than networks like Twitter offer via their own search facilities. Some offer convenience by creating an aggregation platform of the native search tools of the various networks. Some crawl the web broadly like search engines and store what they find.
Others are dependent upon primary directories such as Technorati. Many tools are very Euro or US-centric which can be an issue for Australian brands. It is important to understand the strengths and shortcomings of the social media solutions that you select. Tools with blind spots can create a false sense of security.
Even if the tools are free, the spongy organic matter that interprets it generally isn’t. You will need staff to monitor and respond to the brand references that you find. Bear in mind that tracking takes time – especially if its not a core activity and if you are using manual tools.
Be cautious of relying too heavily upon automated sentiment tracking. Australians – particularly angry or dissatisfied ones – love sarcasm. Machines generally don’t. Machines classify dominant emotion on the basis of keyword combinations. Most times this works – but consider posts like this…”I just love being screwed by my (utility) company”, “I enjoy nothing better than spending my Saturday night on hold to my ISP helpdesk”, or “Another example of the high esteem with which my telco views me”. Positive words – not so positive sentiments. Often it’s contextual and needs a human eye to tell the difference.
If you think that social media monitoring is historical (like getting the day’s press clippings) just ask Dominos Pizza. Disgruntled customers can generate enormous momentum and issues can escalate quickly – especially when their calls for attention/action go unheeded. Be prepared to check your tracking frequently and act if you need to. Predetermine contact points at each of the relevant internal areas – legal, PR/Comms, Marketing, even Executive if warranted -who understand the need for swift response. Issues left hanging might return the favour.
Staff your monitoring like a good customer support desk. If you are going to seriously listen and respond to to the views of your customers, make sure you assign the task to someone with sufficient experience and maturity to take the task seriously and to understand that their actions and responses speak on behalf of your brand. Note that this is about maturity – not age. As Nestle recently discovered, moderating a brand’s Facebook brand page in the same way as some might manage their personal account reflects badly on the brand. While its important for brands to have a personal voice, that voice will reflect the real level of respect and importance with which your brand holds its customer relationships.
If you have come to this point then you understand the need to listen to your customers and to hear what they think about your brand. You’re probably wondering what happens if the news isn’t good? It’s worth beginning to consider now how you would respond to negative comments or, more importantly the process required to intervene to solve a customer’s problem. It will give you comfort to map the process in advance rather than have to create the process and solve the problem on the fly.
Remember that social media doesn’t rely upon your participation to exist – conversations about your brand are happening around you whether you are listening or not. Listening can be confronting – it takes courage. Good luck.
Affiniti Digital is a Melbourne-based company that helps brands listen to and connect socially with their customers. We work with agencies, major brands and SME’s and provide hands-on, commercially-driven services without the hype. Our services include cost-efficient outsourced social monitoring services, common-sense digital and social strategy, engagement campaigns and customer acquisition strategies. We help brands become more social. www.affinitidigital.com.au.
in senior online media, online marketing and digital brand management roles. Passionate about the customer experience and cautious of false prophets, I help clients and brands create genuine long term value within the digital & social media landscape. 
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