For more information on the awards and saidWot’s official press release: 

http://www.dst.gov.za/other/techtop100

http://www.saidwot.com/2011/12/saidwot-wins-at-the-top-technology-100-awards/

The Top Technology 100 Awards are recognised as the premier business excellence awards in South Africa; a longstanding national program mandated to celebrate South Africa’s role-models in science and technology that acknowledges with fanfare the success that today’s organisations enjoy through their development and use of technology. More importantly, it encourages, measures and honours these organisations for the value their use of technology brings to the South African economy.

“We are proud to receive this acknowledgement in what is a highly competitive environment, maintaining focus in our product offering and excellence in delivery are key cornerstones of our success to date. Keeping up with ever-changing trends in the online space and meeting the needs of the client in our product delivery is a constant challenge to our team” says Ingrid Rubin, CEO saidWot Global.

saidWot (Pty) Ltd is a leading online monitoring, management and reputation strategy company. Offering a software application that can be accessed by clients globally to research their market and manage and monitor their brand reputation online. The tool supports the analysis and development of robust communication strategies for the ever-growing social media space, and allows the brand to report back on the Return on Investment from the campaigns implemented.  

Carla Jones – GM & Chief Strategist: South Africa and Armond Furmie – Technical Lead, were at the event to accept the award on behalf of the company.  “Winning this and similar awards is an important and well-deserved acknowledgment of success based on the focus and passion of our team”, says Carla.

To read more about the awards: http://www.dst.gov.za/other/techtop100

For further information about saidWot contact:

South Africa: Carla Jones – Carla@saidwot.com

United States: Ingrid Rubin – Ingrid@saidwot.com

You can find the eBook here: http://www.mtnradioawards.com/ebook/on-air/

saidWot is the official Social Media management agency for the MTN Radio Awards.

View our advertisement on page 31.

Did he go on this rant out of pure frustration and used his opportunity of being on live radio wisely? Did he do this to draw attention and make a name for himself as a controversial and opinionated radio personality in the hope of following in the footsteps of the likes of Mark Pilgram and Gareth Cliff? Or did he really commit career suicide?

At this stage, public opinion seems to be that he was only saying what most of us were thinking anyway and most individuals are applauding him for this and, although some are questioning if it was truly necessary to swear so much, others believe that this is exactly what caused the huge impact. Additionally, with an initial 3568 followers to a growth of 453 on Twitter within a matter of 24 hours, I would say the impact has been tremendous.

However, some opinions on answerit.news24.com include that he is an “Attention seeking twazzer, he wanted his 15 minutes of fame and he got it. Silly, childish little boy” and “Certainly not very high ambitions. He was quoted as saying ‘all I ever wanted was for Gareth Cliff to read my blog’. That would be the pinnacle of success…?”

A Marketer’s Perspective on this:

Let us ignore the question of why he did what he did and have a look at the impact it made, and what marketers can learn from this.

Firstly, the incident took place at 1 am, a time that most media strategists would not consider for advertising their brands. This incident has proven that a truly impactful, unexpected message can take place at any time and that it can reach your market virally anyway. A Brand that applies this often is Nando’s. Their ads are usually only aired once or twice and their posters are only up for a day before somebody complains about them and they are removed by the ASA. However, by the time this happens, they have already made their rounds on the Internet by members of the public, through YouTube, Facebook, Twitter or blogs.

Secondly, and this is widely known, but a reputation that takes years to build can be destroyed in seconds. Although, it is uncertain whether in the curious case of Mark Esterhuysen he intended to build his reputation with this outburst or if it was truly an act of insanity based on pure frustration; the rule still applies. It takes years of hard work and sometimes countless efforts to own a specific space in the minds’ of your audience and all this hard work can be instantly ruined by a silly mistake. There are many examples like this that are easy to find with a simple Google search, try it out with the keywords “car recall”.

So, in this world where incidents that take place in the early morning hours can spread like wildfire through the interconnected network that we take for granted every day, how can one ensure that the reputation that they worked on for years stays intact? Well, in my opinion you should use this interconnectedness to your advantage and constantly keep an eye out for what is being said about you. Consumers no longer only share their opinions with friends and family around the braai, but share this with the rest of the world.. And we all know that it is easier to share a bad experience than a good experience with your peers online. Therefore, keeping a close eye on what is being said about you and analysing the impact on your brand, makes a huge impact in terms of maintaining brand health. This can easily be done with the use of Online Reputation Management tools.

So, if you are planning on doing something outrageous, unexpected or shocking, or you are just interested to see what is being said about you, make sure that you contact saidWot for a free trial as your first port of call.

The Job to be done:

My job title ‘Online Brand Analyst’, even 5-years  ago  would have seemed completely futuristic. So what does this job entail, how exactly does one analyse a brand online?

I’ll tell you how; we filter through all the mentions collected via the monitoring tool that we use (from social platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Google +, and YouTube, to blogs and websites) regarding brands, based on keywords that we have inputted into the system. 

What I particularly enjoy, is that I get to read unadulterated opinions of consumers and see how the ad-guys use the information to better brands.

After all, consumers are king, so , shouldn’t their opinions be valued above all else? Their opinions form the basis of all research that we provide and that should be conducted before the work on any brand commences.

My job is also highly entertaining; this is where having a good sense of humour comes in. Sometimes people create jokes out of a brand name, it’s hardly ever reputation damaging, however, it does add to the brand awareness created online especially through the use of retweets. It is also vital to understand these acronyms and pet names and to update them in the system to track and start to use in in the content that the brand is generating to show the consumers that you are listening and do understand where they are coming from. Currently, my favourite mention I picked up is: “Dear Snooki, there’s a fine line between a tan and looking like you rolled in a bag of Doritos, Sincerely, you’re making me hungry!”.

 Although jokes such as these don’t really give brands any useful information from the consumer’s point of view, it still creates awareness around the product. Additionally, the chances of me recalling the joke and the product related next time I’m looking for comfort food in the chips aisle, is rather high.

It’s all in the understanding:

Right now you’re probably wondering what jokes made online have to do with research for Ad agencies and the Brands they serve; here’s the answer to your question…. it’s all part of the research process, the conversations that occur online and the jokes that spark off conversations all relate to what people are saying about a brand or product. Therefore, it’s all relevant.

This brings me to my next point, with ORM tools such as saidWot, one can observe what consumers are saying about certain brands or a product, including what or how they consume certain brands; and this information is incredibly useful during the research process of a campaign. Not only because it allows a brand to fix any problems that consumers are having with the brand/product, but it also allows us to delve into the habits and passions people have around certain brands, this makes up valuable consumer insight.

For example, a couple of weeks ago “I wish they would bring back” hash tag was trending on Twitter and many individuals tweeted that they would like a certain product brought back. This information allows brands to find out what consumers most like about their brand and also cater to their needs. When consumers see that a brand they’re loyal to has taken time to respond to them and make provisions for them, consumer loyalty will increase. Consumer insight doesn’t stop at products; it also applies to ATL adverts.

Traditional advertising through billboards, print media and TV commercials are all great mediums when trying to create brand awareness, however, how often do above the line agencies find out what consumers are saying about the brand before creating a campaign? There are loads of adverts that get slaughtered online on a daily basis and it’s usually due to insufficient research. Through the use of ORM tools such as saidWot, valuable consumer insights can be made and research should form the backbone of all campaigns. Moreover, measuring the success of a campaign can be easily tracked online. What people say, the amount of times people mention a certain advert they saw, the impact it created on them, all these aspects are vital for ATL agencies and the ROI they are delivering to the Client.

How campaigns are received online and whether the feedback has been positive or negative will allow agencies to improve their campaigns or to keep doing what they’ve been doing all along. This all adds to the research process, and like previously stated, research should form the backbone of any campaign, not only to benefit the agency, but also so that campaigns are received favourably by the consumer. Now you’re probably thinking “of course we conduct research, we just pay market research companies to get the information we need before we start our campaign”, however, there’s a huge difference between results received by means of online reputation management tools such as saidWot, and research conducted by market research companies

The real truth online;

Firstly, receiving and sifting through mentions made online is unbiased, it’s raw, and it’s the consumer expressing their opinion for no incentive whatsoever, so results are never skewed. Plus, it’s anonymous. People feel they can say whatever they want without implications. The truth is, they can and they should be encouraged to do so. This can only help brands improve their services or products. Although social media is an easy tool to complain about bad service or products that weren’t satisfactory, it is also used for those rare occasions where people show some brand love. This is always encouraged; a happy consumer equals a loyal consumer. Brand loyalty is something most companies try to achieve and are never able to because building lasting, satisfactory relationships with consumers is difficult, but it’s not impossible.

I recently had a problem with Vodacom and I whined about it on Twitter, not only did I get a response immediately, but the problem was resolved within the hour. The person dealing with a very angry and disappointed customer was friendly and that experience managed to get me to change my mind about switching to another network. Thus, positive mentions are great, it means a brand is doing all the right things, and negative mentions can be considered as constructive criticism, or a chance for the brand to rectify its mistakes. Mistakes are okay, everyone makes mistakes; the important thing to remember is that consumers are forgiving, as long as the brand takes action. An apology goes a long way. However, a television advert and a great big billboard isn’t going to fix the problems people are having with a brand, being aware about the issues and dealing with them before going forward with a new campaign will be received far more favourably than a campaign that’s been launched to very disappointed consumers.

The Social Fresh Conference held in Charlotte earlier this year attracted marketers from across the US. The conference hosted a number of experts  and provided useful insights. The saidWot US team attended the event.

You can find a summary of the conversation that took place online around the event at http://www.slideshare.net/saidWot/social-fresh-case-study

The Topsy foundation is a non-profit organisation which partners with rural communities empowering people infected with, and affected by, HIV and AIDS, through medical care, social support and skills development.

They aim to do this by providing free treatment at their Comprehensive HIV and AIDS Care Clinic, counselling and testing services, support for families affected by the disease and also empowerment through the provision of skills.

Topsy’s work is best displayed by the award-winning television advertisement, “Selinah”. This advertisement displays the true story of the dramatic recovery of an AIDS sufferer, over the period of 90 days. Although it is a touching piece of creative work, it is even more powerful because it shows just how the work of this Foundation makes such a large positive change in peoples’ lives.

Selinah

In an effort to support the Topsy foundation in making such a large difference, saidWot  offered to monitor Topsy’s online reputation through the use of our unique, near-real time Online Reputation Management (ORM) tool. This allows us to monitor how much the Selinah advertisement as well as other projects and campaigns by Topsy are being spoken about, and what the sentiment is around those campaigns. saidWot monitors all aspects of the brand online, on a continuous basis, keeping Topsy up to date on a weekly basis with Dashboard Reports. A full case study has also been compiled for Topsy – detailing the results of the saidWot analysis.

This is a perfect example of how companies and charities can collaborate to boost the positive results for South African communities.

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saidWot is an online media monitoring and reputation tool that allows brands to monitor competitor activity, brand reception and sentiment by the marketplace, as well as an overview of the required areas of opportunity to improve brand image and engagement online. In addition, strategic services such as audits, brand positioning, campaign implementation, reputation & PR strategies, as well as monthly reporting on ROI objectives are offered.

For more details – engage with us on Linked In, Facebook, Twitter or test.saidwot.com

Please also support the Topsy foundation: www.topsy.org.za

Issued:

Date: 23 August 2011

Place: Johannesburg

By: saidWot

In the past months saidWot has spread its wings and the team has expanded to not only provide support services in South Africa, but also in the United States. With online media monitoring and reputation management becoming an integral part of most Brands’ digital strategies, the business is experiencing increased demand in global markets.

With established offices in both North American and South African markets and discussions underway with partners in Australia – the ability to service clients in their local markets is becoming more efficient. Whilst the saidWot tool is accessible from anywhere online, the physical training and strategic support provided goes a long way to building meaningful, results-driven, relationships with clients.

While support of the client accounts is provided in local markets, the product marketing and strategic development will be driven primarily out of the US office. The US office, based in Charlotte, NC, is headed by Ingrid Rubin who is the founder of saidWot and CEO of the Company.

saidWot was first released in 2007 and is currently in its third version, with offerings of reputation score , sentiment tracking, sophisticated analysis metrics, brand reach reporting and key influencer tracking, as some of the key features. In addition to these insights, the business offers clients and partners strategy and reporting to support and monitor the progress of a successful online strategy and better understand the brand position and reputation online. The South African office is represented by Carla Jones, a seasoned digital strategist and reputation specialist. Carla was appointed as Chief Strategist and General Manager of saidWot South Africa, from 1 July, 2011 and is responsible for business development, strategy and client relationships in this market.

=====================================================================================================================

saidWot is an online media monitoring and reputation tool that clients and brands can license to provide strategic management information. It allows brands to report back on competitor activity, brand reception and sentiment by the marketplace, as well as an overview of the required areas of opportunity to improve brand image and engagement online. In addition, strategic services such as audits, brand positioning, campaign implementation, reputation & PR strategies, as well as monthly reporting on ROI objectives are offered.

For more details – engage with us on Linked In, Facebook, Twitter or test.saidwot.com

U.S. office: ingrid@saidwot.com
S.A. office: carla@saidwot.com

Issued:
Date: 18 August 2011
Place: Johannesburg
By: saidWot

Every year, for 67 minutes South Africans do something for somebody else. This is done in order to honour former president, Nelson Mandela, who gave 67 years of his life to build a better South Africa. This year, saidWot and Virtuosa teamed up to do something small for the community we function within.

There were some complaints about a piece of land near our offices that were littered beyond belief. Passers-by leave food wrappers and empty bottles and cans in the field, disturbing the birds that nest there and making that area unattractive. The saidWot and Virtuosa teams decided to tackle this problem by cleaning up this piece of land in order for the residents, and us, to function in a cleaner, less littered environment. So, late afternoon, armed with boots, gloves and refuge bags we started cleaning up the park. After 67 minutes, all the bags were full and the team was filthy, but at least we made a noticeable difference to the park. The residents noticed the change too.

The use of Facebook and Twitter by businesses is growing every day, and so is the use of these platforms by members of the public. So what does this mean for your business?

As we already know, relationship building and communication are vital parts of any business today and since we are way beyond the point of communicating ‘to’ and are now communicating ‘with’, these platforms can prove to be quite valuable. Not only are they affordable to use, they also allow for real-time response – a non-negotiable for today’s consumer. They offer a means of communicating information and getting new business as well as a means to receive input from those who use your brand – They are interactive!

In essence, the value of these platforms lies in the fact that they provide a platform for consumers to have their say, and for your business to have yours. If you are not available on these platforms, you are seen as unwilling to communicate or difficult to communicate with. But remember, although it is important to update your profiles regularly with quality content and interact with your clients, this is only the first part of the process. It’s also important to monitor what is said about your business on these platforms (and not only on your own profile, but also behind your back.

Source: Mashable Infographics