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Monitoring before a Crisis

Hey marketers - are you prepared for a brand crisis? Today I participated in a session about crisis monitoring at the Syndicate Conference in San Francisco with Rob Key from Converseon. Most marketers are aware by now that bloggers can spread facts and rumors like wildfire but many are still unprepared for a crisis that involves bloggers. Steve Rubel and Shel Holtz have long been vocal advocates about being prepared for a crisis by monitoring blogs before an issue arises. But many companies are still struggling with the question of “who owns blog monitoring” delaying formal monitoring programs and leaving themselves exposed in the event of a crisis. That’s irresponsible in my humble opinion. Bloggers can impact every aspect of your business so blog monitoring should be a corporate initiative championed from the top down.

Unlike the Forbes article that condemned most bloggers as evil-minded antagonists, I believe that the majority of bloggers are not out to attack companies for the fun of it. But if they hear about a product problem, social injustice, unfair practice or rumor about a company they care about it’s going to get their attention.

According to Chief Legal Executive, Vol 3 No 1, Winter 2004:

-         81% of e-Influentials posted, discussed or forwarded hearsay about a brand, company or CEO to friends, family or colleagues in the past year

-         91% confirm hearsay information before passing along to friends

‘Fact checking’ from a blogger’s perspective is usually not as extensive as a professional journalists, but it’s important to note that they often do seek validation before posting. Validation may come in the form of examining the growing discussion on this topic at credible blogs or actually investigating the issue directly by attempting to contact the company involved. If the company doesn’t take bloggers seriously and respond to inquiries, they are missing out on an opportunity to set the record straight – or at least to participate in the conversation.

The best approach of course is to monitor blogs, message boards and user groups for discussion about your company, products and industry and to join the discussion as a fully disclosed participant. But if you haven’t started your own blog yet, you can still engage with bloggers to listen to their concerns and respond openly about the issue at hand. As Rob Key pointed out, single blog post on a hot topic can turn into a blog swarm, that raises the exposure of the original post quickly in search engine results. A negative blog post that is perceived to be factual can quickly outrank your company’s web pages in search engine results. Ignoring the power of online discussions is a missed opportunity to engage with people who are passionate about your company or products and could quickly damage your reputation and revenue streams.

Be prepared. Get involved. Engage with all of your audiences: customers, employees, partners, investors. It feels really good to be connected - the way it felt when you first started marketing and someone told you they loved your product or some event you ran. Passion is addictive. Engaging with bloggers is a great way to get back to that buzz you felt when you first entered marketing. When you were really connected to users. Back when you were wishing that someone would listen to your great ideas to change the world. Bloggers listen and they like to be listened to just like you do.

Posted by Julie Woods on December 14, 2005 at 11:49 PM | Email this post Permalink

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