In the past, brands advertised via traditional media outlets. Today, many brands use influencers to promote their products and services through video reviews, blogs, and posts. Influencer marketing is predicted to continue growing. A clear strategy is necessary to manage these interactions and keep track of brand appearances.
Many methods exist for tracking your brand online, whether automated or manual. Some focus on a particular problem, and some are big fishing nets.
Simple, requires no subscription cost. Go to a particular platform and search for your band, #yourbrand or abbreviated names. Using search tools within social platforms is very simple and cheap.
The cons are that you'll get what the algorithm thinks is relevant, it takes time, and it requires input on each platform. Time is limited, and your staff may need more time, restrict coverage.
Find an agency that specialises in this kind of activity. This task can require some specialist methodologies. If you need detailed reports, share of voice, breakdowns and data for KPI, this might be the most viable option.
You may need more expertise or time to do this in-house. The cons are that this setup could cost you many thousands a year.
Remember to check review websites. Trustpilot, Yelp, Mumsnet, and TripAdvisor all discuss brands, products and services at scale. These websites can create profiles on your behalf and charge you fees to receive notifications, meaning you need to learn about reviews you have previously received.
Suppose somebody wrote a review about your product, especially in a commercial context (influencer, blogger, vlogger); it's probably for search purposes. Consider setting up Google Alerts, which can notify you when something is found relevant to you.
If somebody is blogging about your product, they may seek sales or profit from a review of your offering. A complaint would commonly address one particular point (speed, cost, weight, taste), whereas a "review" may seek to target many points to create a more significant reader impact.
At some point, somebody is going to get annoyed at you. Innocent and unintended, yes, but it is going to happen. It would help if you had an effective plan and strategy for dealing with this when it does occur.
Often, you can turn a negative experience into a positive one. Customers will experience missed deliveries, outages and mistakes if communication is prompt, sincere and empathetic.
If your harmful exposure is from a commercial view, you either have genuine issues you must address, or somebody is trying to cash in on negativity. Don't be overly confident in the latter. Consider all options; perhaps a message must be understood, or you got something wrong. If it requires responding openly, be transparent with what went wrong, a plan to fix and an honest timescale.
Look at the problems Linus Media Group faced in 2023. The video response starts with "we have work to do"; it acknowledges a problem. In the video titled "What do we do now?" Gary, the head of Labs, says ", We've made mistakes" right at the start. He then tells precisely what actions are being taken and how his team aims to correct the reported problems.
Whatever you say you will do in a response, action it. Your customers will start to distrust you.
If you are producing content, focus on the context and the platform. TikTok requires a different level of editorial than YouTube. Keep the quality relevant to the platform.
Don't sell, sell, sell; if you want to engage with your customers, give them something of value—entertainment, information. Don't expect anything in return.
Consider search engines. Share information and provide value through search results—recipes and advice for lawnmower oil types. Whatever the subject, write about it and share that information. Customers are more likely to remember the people who helped them.
Encourage your customers to leave reviews on your website, your product pages, review websites and social media. Genuine and honest reviews are valuable to a brand's reputation and credentials.
Build off of somebody else's brand. If an influencer aligns with your brand, explore working with them. You can build your authenticity by associating yourself with somebody else. It can go wrong, but done right, it can be perfect for brand awareness.
Respond quickly, be genuine and listen carefully. Do that, and you'll go some way toward building a solid brand reputation. Your customers will know you'll respond quickly with a proper solution.