Congruent Media Q and A: Gossip tracking
Q: How can I monitor what people are saying about my brand online?
A: Good job thinking about this. Some businesses assume that a simple Google search for their company's brand name or a couple of keywords ranking well on various search engines are all they need to know about their standing in their industry. And, on the other hand, some folks are so daunted by the mere idea of the task, they ignore it all together. The truth is, if you're actively marketing yourself on the Internet, your company's profile is probably complex enough that just a few searches won't cover all your mentions. However, that does not mean you can't easily hack out a relatively simple system for occasionally monitoring news that's relevant to you and your industry.
Here's another tidy little list of general guidelines and specific tools:
- There be tools: Google Alerts is free. Use it to catch any keyword's appearances on Google News, Youtube, blogs, non-blog sites, and Google Groups. You can have it deliver updates to your email or create RSS feeds so that it doesn't buzz you absolutely crazy (we know this can happen from experience). Other services include "social" search engines such as www.socialmention.com (narrow down your blog searches), samepoint.com (social search with keyword analysis), www.serph.com (special attention to blogs), and Pipl (the definitive people search engine).
- Know thy terms: Whether you have products, models, actions, press release titles, ISBN numbers, public figures, partners, competitors, or your kids to keep track of, make use of keyword lists. Use synonyms. Get plural. Think hard.
- Set up reminders: If you set up alerts to shoot you emails, they'll let you know when you need to know. Otherwise, you should probably set up some calendar alarms so you check things out once a month. Handy with Excel? Track your progress. Make some goals; this week, two attaboys … next week, the World.
- Don't get crazy: Hey, it's just your identity, right?! But, whatever you hear, use common sense when dealing with it. If you find good things, share those links! If you find not-so-good things, learn from them and bury them with good press. And we were kidding about your kids. Don't search your kids. You probably don't want to know. Seriously, would you have wanted your parents to search you?
If you're lucky and you've put in a bit of effort, people are talking about your company. And, whether they're leaving happy notes, constructive criticism, or big, flaming bags of [woof] around the Internet, you need to know and you can find out. Enjoy! And, you know … if you want us to do all this for you and draft it up in pretty reports, we can do that.
In summation, there's an amazing post over at User Interface Engineering by webslayer Jared called the “$300 million button”:
I was shopping for the Congruent Media Team at Safeway in Canton this morning and learned a little lesson from the best checker in the joint. His name is failing me now, but I'll be sure to get it for a follow-up post.
After a 6% sales tax on technology services was passed in the special session last fall (literally in the middle of the night) the Team at Congruent Media worked with the 


