As an account executive, Dave Chlastosz performs a variety of public relations functions for Fahlgren Mortine’s business-to-business and consumer clients including social media research and analysis, media relations, project management, content development and technical writing. He has also played a central role in the development and implementation of social media strategy and tactics – from proactive social media monitoring to social network content development and promotion – for a wide range of clients including Cardinal Health, Emerson Network Power, Emerson Embedded Computing and Power and Aperture Technologies. Posts by Dave Chlastosz
As an account executive, Dave Chlastosz performs a variety of public relations functions for Fahlgren Mortine’s business-to-business and consumer clients including social media research and analysis, media relations, project management, content development and technical writing. He has also played a central role in the development and implementation of social media strategy and tactics – from proactive social media monitoring to social network content development and promotion – for a wide range of clients including Cardinal Health, Emerson Network Power, Emerson Embedded Computing and Power and Aperture Technologies. Wednesday 2nd - Dec 2009 @ 2:47 PM
Social media best practices
We all have heard this rumored success story at one point or another. It seems so simple:
Step 1: A company creates branded accounts with all of the newest and most popular social media services.
Step 2: The company populates their account with the latest information about their brand and all of the great products they have to offer.
Step 3: The company goes viral and accumulates throngs of captivated followers, fans and subscribers.
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Tuesday 9th - Jun 2009 @ 3:09 PM
Social media monitoring is only half of the battle.
In my last post, I wrote about the importance of social media monitoring and some of the tools companies can use to gauge the public’s attitudes toward their brands in real time. However, all things considered, monitoring is really only half of the battle. Though you may know what is being said about your brand, you are still undoubtedly left asking yourself: “What do I do next?”
Unfortunately, it is not always as easy as recognizing that someone has taken interest in (or issue with) your brand and responding to them directly, though that can be a great start. Oftentimes, responses can walk a fine line between transparent business-to-consumer engagement and self-promotional messaging or spin; with the latter likely resulting in more problems than you started with.
In order to maximize the potential of your monitoring and response efforts, it is important to consider a few best practices that well help you to maintain your credibility while also adhering to many of the values the online community holds sacred.
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Monday 18th - May 2009 @ 8:00 AM
The importance of social media monitoring
If you are up on your news, you probably remember that last month, two employees of a national pizza chain videotaped themselves mishandling food (an admittedly extreme understatement) and posted the evidence on YouTube. Within 72 hours, nearly one million people had viewed the video before a formal response from the company was issued - resulting in an unprecedented groundswell of public outcry and irreparably tarnishing the company’s brand.
Coincidentally, around the same time, Susan Boyle - the product of a little-known British reality show - became a worldwide sensation overnight when her audition video went viral on YouTube, sending her “brand” into the stratosphere and boosting the program’s ratings to record highs.
Though these are obviously hyperbolic examples, they nonetheless drive home an important lesson: If don’t know what the social media community is saying about you, your product and your competitors right now, you may be exposing your brand to unimaginable risk and missing valuable opportunities to engage your customers. Fortunately, while the social media universe can be intimidating to the uninitiated, new resources are available that enable you to monitor what YouTubers, bloggers and the Twitterverse are saying about your brand, products or competitors in real time via an easy to navigate dashboard.
Social media listening posts (like this one) enable companies to identify upticks in chatter, whether good or “not so good,” and respond accordingly before it reaches the proverbial tipping point. These resources also help to keep companies in tune with the latest industry trends and influencers, enabling them to remain well-informed and consistently ahead of the curve in their field.
In the immortal words of Ferris Bueller: “Life moves pretty fast, if you don’t stop and take a look around once and a while you might miss it.” If this pre-Web 2.0 credo still holds true, than life in today’s the social media-rich world must certainly move like a full-tilt, runaway freight train. And if you can’t hear it coming, well…
What are you doing to monitor social media? Do you use a listening post?
