Cherkasova Irina

Cherkasova Irina

Monitoring of social media. How to use information from social networks for business development?

Article of Irina Cherkasova, manager with social media of Aykumen IBS Ltd company, about advantage of monitoring of social media. Why social media become object of monitoring? What purposes of monitoring and who is ready to pay for it? How to prevent problems with reputational risks?

What is monitoring? Wikipedia gives the following definition of monitoring: Monitoring — systematic data collection and processing which can be used: for decision-making, for informing the public or as instrument of feedback coupling.

Why social media became object of monitoring? Let's address foreign experience. According to the September research PewResearchCenter, more than a half (58%) of adult Americans uses the Internet for information search about goods and services, in May of their this year there were 52%. Growth in 4 months for 6%. Impresses, isn't that so?

24% of Americans publish in the Internet the responses and comments devoted to goods which purchased or to services which used.

Producers of goods and services cannot ignore growth rates of social networks. Today the audience of the largest Russian social network VKontakte makes 100 million people, on Twitter 145 million people chirp, and on Facebook 500 million people are registered. You want that or not, but users of social networks constantly discuss brands, the companies, persons, goods and services.

I will give a small example. Not so long ago 2 employees of Domino'sPizza cafe in the small town Konoverv quality of "joke" shot the small video clip discrediting reputation of network of cafe and laid out eg the Internet. In two days the "amusing" video was watched by more than one million people and built for years, the reputation of huge network of pizzerias seriously suffered. Company management officially assessed the damages at 50 million dollars.

Wal-Mart is the largest retail chain stores of the USA known for the low wage and a huge number of the illegal immigrants working for the company. Trying to overcome the negative campaign launched against Wal-Mart in Worldwide network, the company acted as the initiator of emergence of the blog under the name Wal-MartingAcrossAmerica. On initial intention two average Americans Jim and Laura had to share positive impressions of communication with different people whom they met on parking lots near Wal-Mart in the different cities of the USA. The method of recovery of a reputation of trade giant, effective as envisioned by organizers, in Internet communities developed into the next scandal. To perturbation of the public there was no limit when it became known that travel of a sociable couple are paid by Wal-Mart.

Similar stories not a rarity and in Russia. Silence of the Lukoil oil company concerning accident of the vice president Barkov on Leninsky Avenue led to the fact that the negative connected with one, let and the high-ranking employee, was thrown on all company.

S7 airline constantly gets into troubles in a blogosphere. Run 1871 of S7 airline on October 27, 2007 Moscow-Rimini. In Moscow fog, but services of the airport claim that run will take off in time and the delay will not be. Flight was delayed for 9 hours. Water to children was issued only after persistent requirements of parents, and a power supply was not issued in general. Though the press secretary of airline said that all passengers, received a power supply and drinks. The post of mother of one of school students from this run got to TOP and collected in LJ of 487 comments.

There is no this story who knows, the blogosphere sharply would apprehend the fact that the visually impaired person Pavel Obiukh was not allowed S7 aboard the plane, referring to corporate rules: disabled people should fly to S7 only accompanied or a seeing eye dog. History was actively lit in a blogosphere. Pavel Obiukh carried the case on the claim to airline and received 25 thousand rubles of compensation, and the airline did not come into contact with a blogosphere.

And infinitely there is a lot of such examples. Regularly monitoring social networks the companies always have a chance to react quickly to any appeared negative and to establish a feedback with clients, having improved thereby the reputation and products. Communication in social media is a new level of relationship of the client and producer.

What to do to the companies in similar situations and how to prevent problems with reputational risks?

It is possible to monitor blogs manually, using Yandex blogs service and RSS subscriptions, hoping that important information will not pass by you, but it is much simpler to use professional solutions for monitoring of social media using which it is possible:

• Manage reputation of the company and a brand
• Analyze activity of competitors
• Reduce costs for marketing and PR
• Localize ill-wishers and cooperate with lawyers of a brand

It is important to understand that information obtained as a result of monitoring does not go to emptiness in the company, it is not read and not stored, and it can be applicable in specific work of client department, marketing department, analysis department and department of development. And the main thing, you can estimate efficiency of your steps specific indicators. For example, in case of client department is the number of appeals to the company by means of blogs and quantity of the permitted claims to a company performance; in a case with PR department - activity, likes, comments in groups; in a case with marketing – number of the ideas for promotion, spread of viruses, inflow of target audience on your website, etc.

What main objectives of monitoring? Tracking of important information. Very often blogs overtake news agencies on the speed of issue of information in air. In 2007 on November 18 about five o'clock in the morning one of eight rotunda towers of the well-known Stalin skyscraper hotel Ukraine collapsed. And while journalists went to the scene, bloggers from adjoining houses filmed collapse effects, and information appeared in network.

Analysis of the acquired information. Nothing should pass by you, each comment received from bloggers it is necessary to read and make the decision upon.

Reaction upon even if the blogger read a fact of common knowledge! It is all the same necessary to tell the blogger thanks for an ina signal in which case, not to erase the message.

Example from life of multinational corporation. The food concern Nestle did not react to the request of bloggers which appeared on the Facebookprekratit page to buy the palm oil which is contained in its products (KitKat bars, etc.), from those companies which get it without respect for the environment. "The Nestle company, KitKat producer, buys palm oil from the companies, which cut down the Indonesian tropical forests that leads to extinction of orangutans and also threatens the usual habitat of locals."

The moderator of the Nestle group instead of listening and somehow to react began to erase messages. Bloggers began to write even more. After a while the Greenpeace organization joined them, having shot a video in which the office worker eats the fingers of an orangutan covered with chocolate.

As a result, Nestlé was forced to recognize the defeat and to declare failure from use of the oil which is purchased from the Indonesian agrarian concern SinarMasGroup.

Involvement of bloggers to work with a brand. Listen to the ideas of bloggers, take them into account and adopt their ideas.

Recruitment - to make the fans not just loyal, but idea carriers that they could infect with the loyalty to a brand of all around. The key condition - is free.

Which of the companies is ready to pay for monitoring? First of all, those it is important to whom to hear the clients - B2C companies: banks, insurance companies, hotels, restaurants, travel companies, retail, pharmaceutical companies, transport, movie theater chains. Such companies have many clients satisfied or unsatisfied with quality of the purchased products or the rendered services.

Officials and political parties, especially during the election campaigns and also the VIP-person – a star and an asterisk.

What problems can the companies when monitoring face? The main complexity of monitoring of social media – processing of a large number of not structured information in the compact report, with specific indicators and visually evident diagrams and schemes. Therefore it is important to understand what needs to be monitored and what key word at the same time to use:

• Name of your company, brand
• Your product row and services
• Owners, management, Board of Directors
• Your competitors, their products and services
• Partners, suppliers, dealers of your company
• Links to your website, LJ, Twitter and page to Facebook

Having received, having analyzed and having competently fulfilled the obtained information, it is possible not only to strengthen reputation of the company. You receive the new channel for a fidbek and fast reaction. Formation of idea of a brand among advanced users of social networks can become the main outcome of monitoring. And which of brands does not want to go in vanguard?