In today’s world, it’s not enough to just have a web site. Or be #1 in Google. You need to have your finger on the pulse – and know what people are saying about you and your brand. Because on today’s internet, what you don’t know CAN hurt you.
Five years ago, you could have lied, cheated and stolen from your customers – and probably still stayed in business. Sure, some of them would tell their friends or other potential customers they might know, but there would always be someone willing to buy. Your customer’s ignorance was your bliss.
Today, however, that is completely different. People still talk. But they talk faster. And they tell more people. They can post something about you on the internet and tell everyone they know INSTANTLY.
And with social media sites like Twitter, not only can they tell everyone they know – but their friends can tell everyone they know. So within minutes, that message can be passed to thousands, even MILLIONS of people.
It has a far greater potential to ruin your business.
Most big brands don’t understand this concept. But now Motrin does. On a Saturday last November, as part of International Baby Wearing Week, they put out a commercial about wearing your baby. With the slogan “we feel your pain”.
Jessica Gottlieb was outraged. She started the conversation – and one of the most viral conversations to date.
By Saturday evening, the Motrin conversation was the most talked about conversation on Twitter. Even The New York Times blogged about it.
It took Motrin nearly two days to respond. They apologized and pulled the ad off their web site. Why didn’t Motrin know sooner? Why couldn’t they have fixed the problem within an hour?
Laura Fitton puts it best: “Maybe you’re not even ready for full-time social media monitoring. That’s your call. But not tuning in while you launch a new tactic borders on gross negligence, in this day and age.”
Not tuning in. It’s negligence. As Gary Vaynerchuk recently described it, “Twitter is word of mouth on steroids.” How can you not be listening?
The solution is simple. Reputation monitoring. It’s just one of many features in EasyTweets.
EasyTweets is an all in one Twitter marketing tool that allows you to promote your brand and keep your finger on the pulse. At the same time.
If Motrin were using EasyTweets, they would have received SMS and e-mail notifications within 15 minutes of Jessica’s first tweet. They could have seen the conversation, and responded quickly. Even on a Saturday. Even when all of their PR folks were out of the office. Even if they were asleep.
And they could have done something about it two days earlier.
EasyTweets allows you to track trends, get summaries of conversations by e-mail, and get SMS notifications when brand mentions exceed your desired threshold. You can keep your finger on the pulse, even when you’re out of the office.
In this day and age, you can’t afford not to. Sign Up For The EasyTweets Plus Plan
I have to agree that through the Internet a message can travel so fast, especially through social media. I’ve never actually thought about monitoring my reputation. I guess I have to start doing it.
Great article!
Great Post!
Their are countless examples of businesses not listening to conversations in the social sphere, your example is another great one. I am a big Twitter fan, it has been a great tool for our business, however, in the grand scheme of things Twitter counts for a relatively small portion of the social conversation. Without question companies should be monitoring it as part of an overall map, monitor and engage strategy but they also need to pay attention to the other 95% of the social sphere.
Thanks
Matthew Brazil
CEO / Co-Founder
6Consulting
Twitter: @6consulting
You are absolutely right. A website just not enough. Social media optimization is a great key factor to get noticed. other types of online marketing include having a blog, submitting rss feeds, press release distribution and other things of this nature. Great blog post.
Nice summary of some basic do’s and don’t's (is that a word?) that companies and entities need to pay attention to. The Motrin Mom Meltdown is high on my list of case studies of the “don’t” sort. The odd thing with the Motrin disaster is that, in my opinion, didn’t really do anything wrong other than rub one well-connected microcosmic subset of moms the wrong way – too bad that was the segment with the loudest voice.
I just signed up for easytweets and it looks pretty cool. I am going to add it to my stack of social media monitoring tools so thanks for the heads up.