[sc_fs_multi_faq headline-0=”h2″ question-0=”What is social media monitoring? ” answer-0=”Social media monitoring makes it possible to see what’s being said about your brand. It is a way of finding out what people are saying about your company and where they are saying it. ” image-0=”” headline-1=”h2″ question-1=”Why social media monitoring is important? ” answer-1=”If you are able to gather information on social media before anyone else, that directly/indirectly affects your brand, then you can maintain a positive image of your brand among customers.” image-1=”” count=”2″ html=”false” css_class=””]Social media is taking over the world. More than 2 billion people are now online, creating a vast amount of internet content every day. Every minute internet users type hundreds of thousands of posts on Facebook and upload hundreds of thousands of video footage on Youtube.
At the same time, millions of people find product recommendations through Google which together with social media sites, is becoming a key part of any business. More than 50% of customers who buy products online share information about their purchases via social media. They also use social media to follow brands of products.
Simply put, social media is becoming the best way to understand customers and interact with them. But how do you browse through billions of results to find the ones affecting your brand? This is where social media monitoring comes into play.
Now, what is social media monitoring? Social media monitoring makes it possible to see what’s being said about your brand. It is a way of finding out what people are saying about your company and where they are saying it. Social media monitoring is the process of “listening” to conversations and tracking keywords, hashtags and social mentions that might be relevant to your brand.
Why social media monitoring is important? If you are able to gather information on social media before anyone else, that directly/indirectly affects your brand, then you can maintain a positive image of your brand among customers. You could identify trends and patterns that benefit your brand, and you could also stay ahead of any messages before they go viral in a negative way. Through a precise monitoring tool, you could identify potential influencers which in turn will lead to brand awareness.
So, how does one decide which social media monitoring tool to select for your online reputation management? What aspects should you consider before choosing one? So, let’s see what we got.
Before anything else, be open to the fact that you are not sure what you want. Brainstorm all you want till you can narrow down your objectives and you will know exactly what you want. Social media marketing realm can be complicated at times so be clear in your goals.
Next, decide on a budget. You have got to be sure on the amount of money you are willing to invest in the tool. What you expect from the product should be in accordance with your needs and objectives in order to come up with a healthy budget going forward. Depending on the trend you might want to increase or decrease this budget, so keep that in mind.
The next thing is the interface. In the early stages, always get a demo of the product. Sometimes, you don’t even realise what you want until you see the interface. Do you like it? Is it easy to use? Note down what sort of features and services the product offers, and whether or not you see it working for your business in the long run.
Finally, the support factor. There are intricacies in performing monitoring so you have got to see what help is available to you from the vendor in case you get stuck in the process and understand what costs may be associated with it.
Bottom line
Selecting the correct social media monitoring tool is a trial and error process with a lot of errors, so be prepared to take risks. You will eventually get it right.
