February 8, 2010. Social networks: Twitter, Facebook, blogs, images, videos, etc. are a digital hotbed of sentiment about your brand. And what makes them so powerful is that you can watch your brand’s identity literally evolve–for better or worse–through consumer sentiment in these open channels. Knowing you can’t ignore social media anymore, and realizing your brand is a target for identity crisis, is step one. Realizing you can use social media to protect and improve your brand is another thing entirely.
But first, you must listen to what consumers are saying about your brand so you can understand, and better yet improve, your brand’s digital presence.
So, what’s the most efficient way to monitor consumer conversation about your brand across all social media? There are a number of tools that do this. We recommend Scout Labs (www.scoutlabs.com) to many of our clients because it is a powerful listening tool for mention of your brand, or your competition. You can even use it to pick up key phrases like, “I wish your product did XYZ” and gather some consumer generated R&D ideas. There are a lot of great ways we are using it with clients today, but, bottom line, there are three reasons why we like it:
1) The price: Scout Labs has a variety of pricing options (from $199 per month) each with a 14-day free trial. Despite the price going up recently due to some enhancements such as better reporting, more blog and news coverage, an upcoming API release, and more, this is still a good value. These features push Scout Labs towards the higher side of the lower-end cost options. If you are using more than 5 search options, you may find yourself quickly at the level where you should review more advanced options like Radian 6 too. However, with regards to value and bang for your buck…Scout Labs is a great starting point.
2) Useful dashboard and graphing tools for analysis without paralysis. Real-time and relevant analytics are presented in an easy to understand graph format for an unlimited number of users. Buzz worthy content is brought to the top so you can quickly see what’s important to you, and filter out a lot of irrelevant information.
3) New features keep rolling out in 2010. Scout Labs announced today that they now offer Forums Data for the top 2 million English language forums; added assignments to create tasks for colleagues in the Scout Labs admin area; and integrated a graphical breakdown of ‘buzz’ by media type for Twitter, Facebook, etc.
Happy listening!