Working in the online reputation management industry has allowed me to observe the ins and outs of the usual day-to-day activities within the industry. ORM is not as simple as it seems, yet it’s not as complicated as it may seem. Overlooking the “raw” data that comes in and the process it goes through before the final results gets sent to the clients is time-sensitive and everything that comes in needs analysis as sentiment cannot be managed by an algorithm. One also needs patience, a keen sense of observation, passion and a huge sense of humour.
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.
