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Monitoring Your Brand On Social Media

Steve OlsonIf you’re confused by everything happening in Web 2.0 you’re not alone. Things are changing so fast it seems impossible to track everything that’s being said about you, your company, your products, and your brand online. But regardless of the enormity of the task, you’d be foolish to ignore this new media.

I’m going to warn you, this is a long post, but don’t worry, most of it is a list of resources. So if you’re new to social media and/or you want to understand it better, I think you’ll find it worth your time. If you don’t have time to read it now, go ahead and bookmark it and read it later.

Later in this post I’m going to show you a tool you can use to research your brand online. But first let me give you an overview of social media/networking itself.

What is this new media? Here are a few sites which comprise the new media:

Blogging (A few of my favorite blogs)

Microblogs

Bookmarking

News Aggregation

Video

Social Networks

Photos

Seems overwhelming, doesn’t it? So what can you do track your brand online?

Sean McDonald, Director of Community Conversations at Dell recently shared some information about how Dell engages with their customers via social media. They started tracking online conversations in April 2006 with a customized Technorati search and an Excel spreadsheet. Now they use a online solution called Radian6.

I use HowSociable. It consolidates searching for your brand across multiple social networking/media sites in one simple package.

You can drill down on specific social media sites by clicking on the view results link here:

For example, here are the 228 instances of ‘ergotron’ metioned on flickr.

Overall HowSociable is a good way to get a high level look at your brand on the internet, while also giving you that ability to drill down for research.

The cons? It isn’t comprehensive and there isn’t any way to keep notes or track history. But it’s the best thing I’ve found for the price (free).

Steve Olson - Technical Manager, Ergotron, Inc. Blogging about Technology, Social Media, Lifestreaming, Productivity, Lifehacks and anything else that’s interesting.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 4th, 2008 at 12:18 pm and is filed under Social Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

5 Responses to “Monitoring Your Brand On Social Media”

  1. Reach Machines » The Two Most Important Components of Social Media Marketing Campaigns Says:
    September 4th, 2008 at 1:14 pm

    [...] Monitoring Your Brand On Social Media [...]

  2. David Alston Says:
    September 5th, 2008 at 8:32 am

    Hey there Steve,

    Thanks for the Radian6 mention and the link to the post on how Dell works with Radian6 to monitor and engage in social media. We’d love to get your feedback on Radian6 as well if you are ever interested so feel free to email me any time.

    Cheers. David

  3. Bob Boucher Says:
    December 18th, 2008 at 10:21 am

    Every once in a blue moon I stumble upon a blog worth bookmarking, saving, even PRINTING. This is one. A big thanks!
    Bob Boucher
    Creative Director
    Cole & Co.
    Boston

  4. Dr. Scott Testa Says:
    December 19th, 2008 at 3:14 am

    Cool article would love to post on my site!

  5. Social Networking Branding Measurement Tool « Dr. Scott’s Cool Marketing and Business Blog Says:
    December 19th, 2008 at 6:09 am

    [...] http://blogs.ergotron.com/blog/2008/09/04/monitoring-your-brand-on-social-media/ Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)Social Networking Patents Could Turn Friendster into Foe [...]

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