E-Marketing – it's a perspective

In the day and age were Social Media has become so prominent, online monitoring can allow a firm to prepare for crisis and reputation management, find niche campaign idea, research for future campaign ideas, and gain a competitive advantage through better understanding consumer behaviour, needs, and preferences. However, internal goals and systems must be aligned before a social media monitoring and campaign can be put in place so as to have a basis to compare what is happening in the media against the current goals and strategies.

I have provided a summary below of the 10 Steps for Successful Social Media Monitoring as explained by Maria Ogneva, a writer for Mashable:

1. Define an Objective – have a clear end goal to guide you to target your resources correctly
2. Decide Where to Monitor – determine the best channels to engage through and listen to
3. Decide What to Monitor – track what people are saying about the brand, products, company name, competitors etc.
4. Prioritize – Social media has many large channels and networks, focussing on key channels and networks will help you determine what is most important while using resources optimally
5. Develop a Plan – figure out how to manage different situations, and the online reputation
6. Involve Others – involving others can greatly help manage information flow
7. Listen first – listening provides the basis of creating a profile of members, stakeholders, and community norms and will give an idea of how to communicate within the community setting
8. Inbound vs. Outbound Conversations – outbound communication is the proactive participation in discussions, while inbounds refers to the communication that people are talking directly to you or about you with specific end goals.
9. Build Relationships – building relationships, especially with influencers, can allow you to have a voice and become a resource for others
10. Select Tools that Match your Strategy – selecting the right tools to use will be key to the effectiveness of the previous steps (read more…)

For more information on the above 10 steps, please click here.

As can be seen, Social Media Monitoring is an opportunistic approach to enhancing a brand/ name, and at the same time, allows for an better understanding of the target market and their influencers.