Social Media & Online Reputation Management Resources
A zombified friend recently mentioned to me that because 'we' (meaning the collective of horror-themed freaks, merchants and aficionados) are using so much social media, they actually know more than the 'pros' (meaning professional internet marketers) about building a web presence. That may be more or less true, but it got me thinking.
There are those in our genres of interest who are really working their total social media plan well, while others have so many disparate accounts, I wonder sometimes if they're tracking all the noise about themselves and their work properly.
Building a solid and profitable web presence is more than working your blog, Facebook and Twitter into the ground. While you may have good communication in these areas, do you know what folks are saying about you in places you can't see?
Even for the truly savvy whose voice is spread thin across the internet, tracking it all can be tough. You're sitting on the radio like poor Windows and you're sticking to it, and like him, you have no idea if anyone knows where you are.
Everyone has 'em, but as artists, musicians, writers, actors, filmmakers, etc we have a special breed of ego. We're promoting ourselves and running businesses for things straight from our hearts and psyches. It's all about quality control, and let's face it. Our raunchy, rough and gruff exteriors hide what we all know: we DO care what other people say. Or should. Because not caring and not listening is bad for business!
Social media is simply a tool to be used in building your web presence and should not be relied on as your comprehensive marketing strategy but for some, that really may be all they need to serve their purposes. So why not get ALL you can out of that tool? If you are going to rely heavily on social media to promote yourself, network and make some money, learn to use it to manage your reputation online and increase communication with your fans and customers!
Here are some really useful resources you can use to monitor the backscatter and gossip about you or your brand:
12 Social Media Monitoring Tools Reviewed (I use a few of these, really top shelf stuff. Includes Tweetdeck, Seesmic, Hootsuite and many more.)
A Wiki of Social Media Monitoring Solutions (There are PILES here, many to sort through, find what works for you)
Topsy Trackbacks Bookmarklet (This is one of THE handiest weapons in my arsenal of finding out who is tweeting me, my stuff or anything else I want to find out about. USE IT.)
Why Social Media Monitoring Tools Are About to Get Smarter (For complete geeks.)
What should you monitor?
Reputation and brand monitoring is keyword-based, and you should select the keywords that are the most important to you to keep up on. If you track anything at all, make it your company (or personal) name, your brand name, product names, main social media handles (such as your primary Twitter handle), competitor's names, industry keywords, and keywords relating to your most recent marketing efforts. Look for opportunties to respond to posts and comments about you that you normally wouldn't see. This ensures YOU are in control of your presence online.
With social media having such a strong influence in driving search engine results, chances are good that someone, somewhere might have something positive or negative to say about you or your products. Having an online reputation management strategy in place ensures that you are able to monitor and respond to it and ensure only the positive Things end up on page one of Google.
Give RRC a call, we can answer your questions and help you set up a successful reputation management plan! Want a quick chat? I'm at carboncore27 on Google Talk!
