Social media monitoring and fear of the dark

Fear of the unknown seems to be a handy leverage point for many companies in the social brand monitoring space.

Ive been doing quite a bit of due diligence on various social media brand monitoring solutions of late. As a result, I recently posted an article on my corporate blog www.affinitidigital.com.au regarding what seems to be an emerging polarity in the way that brands are being “sold” the notion of social media – and of brand monitoring in particular. Sure, in any emerging media there will always be extremes. Zealots, like those espousing the virtues of the internet in the late ‘90s, will inevitably ring in yet another new order and tell established marketers that everything they know is wrong. Despite the extreme nature of this approach, it is atleast positive – and is infinitely preferable to the zealot’s evil twin who instills paranoia and fear.

Unfortunately, there are a growing number of companies who seem to view and encourage their clients to view social brand monitoring purely for damage control and without any intention of customer engagement. There is an inherent risk with this approach. It focuses attention upon tools rather than outcomes. Brand monitoring often falls victim to this. Whilst it forms part of a broader strategy, monitoring the “social conversation” is not an end unto itself.

The problem with a fear-driven approach is that it treats monitoring purely as a defensive tool and therefore encourages brands to simply find new ways to be evasive, protective and guarded. This conventional PR lock-down thinking is the antithesis of what the social ethos is about – and it gets brands into trouble.

Read the full post on www.affinitidigital.com.au.

Image: Fotolia:© Charles Dykstra

(Tip of the hat to Adam Singer’s Fear Nothing post for adding fuel to the fire whilst I was writing this.)

Tagged as: brand experience, Brand Management, crisis management, digital strategy, online branding, relationship management, srm