Business MUSTS: Social Relevancy, Online Reputation Management and Measurement

Social Relevancy, Online Reputation Management and Measurement are musts for all companies and frankly for all individuals who run or are involved in business they want to move to the next level.

To prove it, companies are getting funded in 'social relevancy' sectors and startups like PeerIndex and Klout are doing their best to prove to the world that relevancy matters.

Look at Dell as an example. They're focusing more attention on Twitter because they realize that people only buy a PC/laptop once every year or once every two years, so they need a social 'tool' to keep their fans engaged all the time.

In doing so, it's important to not just identify but consistently use that 'organizational voice.' Zappos is a great example of a company who consistently brings that corporate culture into every aspect of their work and play. They integrate play into their work in a way that works.

Online Reputation Management: people will check out your reputation online before they will consider doing a deal with you or working with you. Here are some great examples worth reading about.

• Pepsi: bad ad goes nuts and then the negative tweets started going nuts, but they responded right away and said, yeah, you're right, this isn't appropriate, we agree and we’ll take it down right away.
• FTD.com responded badly to comments about flowers not being delivering on Mother’s Day and did so btw, through a traditional press release that didn't really address or respond to people's concerns, and in the process only made it worse. Perception is reality my friends. Know when the 'game is on.'
• Taco Bell – Taco Hell: Rodent Video Signals New Era in PR Crises.  Again, they poorly responded through a traditional press release. It doesn't mean they can't respond that way, it means that it can't be the only way they respond and the only outlet. It's critical that your offenders and/or customers/fans in each case, feel understood and heard.
• Sears Killed My Dog: see story about how Sears backed up & killed a family dog and how it was 'eventually' handled.
• United Broke My Guitar: the music around this got 9+ million reviews. (Harvard case study says that it cost United $180 million lost in shareholder value)

Some social measurement tools to monitor your online reputation include:

• SocialMention.com – run social mention on you and your company
• Addictomatic.com
• Klout.com
• Google Alerts
• Radian6 – paid subscription service 
• SM2 – paid subscription services
• Viral Heat – paid subscription service
• Pissedconsumer.com
• Angies List
• Rate my doctor
• LawyerRatingz
• Rate my teacher
• Speaker Rating

If you're not running 'listening campaigns' on your name, your company name, product names and your competitor company and product names, how can you know what you don't know and respond effectively?

By listening and engaging, you can more effectively respond when you see or hear something negative on you or your competition.   

Measurement is also key when you run listening and engagement campaigns. A key question is this: what is the sentiment ratio? Once you identify what it is, keep measuring it. Monitor, measure, change strategy if needed (and perhaps even messaging) and then monitor and measure again.

It's an ongoing process. If you don't have this in place, you are not in the game. Don't be driven by someone else already in the game, please lead. Don't you want to be more than just a step ahead of your competition?

Photo credit: Erasseo.