A PR professional’s nightmare probably consists of the following scenario:
Company “messes up” in some way. People get wind of this bad news. Bad news goes viral (as bad news does so easily).
PR professional awakens to find out that within the last 8 hours while they were in dreamland, the entire internet is abuzz with chatter on what their organization did ( or didn’t do). The Reputation/Brand image that took them years to build, has all come crashing down within a short time frame.
Products/services in certain genres are hot online topics. Consumer experiences relating to fashion, consumer electronics, travel related services (airlines, hotels, transport), places to eat, etc are close to their heart and its something that they will talk about. People will about their good experiences or purchases, and they are more likely to do so when they’ve had a particularly bad experience.
United Airlines: A Passenger’s Musical Revenge
Some even publish them in response to the customer service he did not receive, a rather good effort too, if I may add. Great tune!! Quite an old example by now, but still a good one nonetheless.
Sure, the company in question responded finally, but the damage had already been done – reportedly $180 million in losses when United Airline’s stock plunged 10 percent after the PR fiasco. The article cautions that no one can be sure the extent of the damage actually caused by their video, but it is a plausible correlation nonetheless.
But what happens when no one is talking about you?
The opposite end of the spectrum details quite a different situation altogether. People are not interested in what you have to offer, what you are doing, nor spreading it to their friends. If you were selling a daily necessity, that might be understandable, given few people actually bother to wax lyrical about the suppleness of their toilet paper/light bulb/hand soap for example. Certain products just naturally inspire less brand advocacy.
Marketers and PR folks might not have been able to fully grasp the effects of their campaigns or engagement efforts in the past when they invest in traditional media channels. Not anymore. The outcome of Social Media campaigns are concrete and measurable because it is out there online for everyone and any one to see.
Look, social media isn’t going to be the sole driver of ROI. But what social media will do is act as an indicator of where your brand stands in the eyes of your audience, getting you closer to ROI. It’s your gateway to a live focus group. But unlike a roundtable in some offshoot mirrored room outside the Forum Shops in Las Vegas, where moderators have to pull responses and people may fake warmth toward your product or service, social media is live and unfiltered.
I’d like to end off with this nice quote I came across that says
“Listening is one part of the equation. Being able to discern what’s valuable and then act upon it is another.”
Tags: Competitor Intelligence, Marketing, PR, Social Media Monitoring
