Reputation management: monitoring, tracking and communicating through Social Media

In simple terms, reputation management is the process of observing the marketplace’s perception of your brand. Since the boom in social media this process has evolved to become a whole lot more complicated…

So where to start?

Firstly, regular monitoring of hotspots such as industry-focused forums, expert blogs, social networking sites and Twitter is a number one priority. Are relevant topics being mentioned in depth? Scan previous posts and use RSS feeds to persist with the analysis. Yes, I’m not going to deceive you it does take time and there is much scrolling through, reading and listening – which is the key term in this method.

Once you’ve collated a list of relevant mediums, don’t just jump in with the hard sell. Be a person. This does not mean in any shape or form – lie about who you are, read these corporate blunders if you’re even considering it: http://webformula.amplify.com/page/4/#. Believe me, it will come back and bite you where it really hurts. Approach the conversation with care and build up friendships within the groups. It isn’t bad practice to just ask if they are open to talking about your business.

If you’re thinking of starting your own online community, there are steps to help you succeed; stroke a few egos, ask questions, acknowledge good work and accept and respond to criticism (for full article http://webformula.amplify.com/page/3/#).

If you are planning to use social media as a push tool and wish to distribute content – developing relationships with online editors and bloggers is the next step. This can be of huge importance when addressing opinions. One thing to note here is the importance of understanding the formality changes when dealing with online communication – sending a blogger a standard press release will not work. Read their blog, know their style and adapt!

Finally and most significantly, being pro-active around comments and feedback made about your business is the key to successful online reputation management. Responding quickly and efficiently can prevent a situation exploding.

Tools to be used for monitoring:

RSS subscribers, BlogPulse, Twitter mentions, links and ranking in Technorati, unique visitors to your site per month and comments on forums.

I know there are many sceptics out there who still are yet to put their faith into social media because it currently still presents challenges (or as I see it stumbling blocks) – in audience segmentation, fragmentation and the crucial keyword, Return-on-Investment. To me, it all boils down to the ‘change’ factor. We don’t like it! But the point I’m making in this post is that no, social media hasn’t been defined yet and no, there aren’t experts in the field and still no, the influence of a blog mention cannot compare to an article in a national newspaper but it can reach out virally to an like-minded audience if you do the research

Ultimately, at this stage of the lifecycle, social media campaigns can’t completely replace traditional media. It can however, enhance it.