12 Reputations Every Company Should Monitor Online

Thursday, April 10th, 2008 by Andy Beal

12 Reputations Every Company Should Monitor Online

Reputations In Radically Transparent, we explain why you should monitor your online reputation 24/7. In fact, it’s so important, that if you can figure out how to monitor it 25/8, you should absolutely do so.

But, it’s one thing to know how important reputation monitoring is–and which tracking tools to use–but what “reputations” should you monitor exactly? You should already know the importance of monitoring your personal name and company brand, but here’s a list of 12 items every company should track.

1. Your Personal Name

Whether you’re an independent consultant, or a very small cog on a big corporate wheel, you should absolutely monitor any media mentions of your own name. An extra tip, monitor your user names too: monitoring “andy beal” would likely not include mentions of “andybeal.”

2. Your Company Name

Another “no brainer.” Monitor your company name, but also monitor any likely misspellings or legacy company names. For example, GlaxoSmithKline should also monitor “GSK,” “Glaxo,” and “Glaxo Wellcome.”

3. Your Product Brands

If you’re Google, you should monitor the reputation of your key product brands. What’s being said about “Android” or “Gmail.” The same goes for your product brands. You may not be able to keep track of all your products, but you should track the ones that are the most vital to your business.

4. Your CEO (and other execs)

I’ll make you this promise. At some point in his tenure, your CEO will put his foot squarely in his mouth. You should monitor all possible iterations of his name, so you can be the first to know–or at least know before the WSJ finds out.

5. Your Media Spokesperson

Even if CEO might is a recluse, I’m sure someone in your company is in the public spotlight a lot. If I were Lenovo, I’d monitor mentions of David Churbuck–after all he’s likely discussing Lenovo on his blog and Twitter. (Knowing David, this post made his radar within 2 minutes of being published…hi David!)

6. Your Marketing Message

“So easy even a caveman can do it?” “Just do it!” What if those campaign slogans were accompanied by “sucks” or “I’ll never buy from them again?” Monitoring your marketing campaigns will help you understand if your message is getting across, and what your customers have to say about it.

7. Your Competition

Surely you’d find value in knowing your biggest competitor just got the jump on you. Reports suggest that inside Lenovo, execs knew about the launch of Apple’s Mac Air within minutes–important for Lenovo, as it was planning it’s own ultra-light notebook.

As we explain in the book, Pepsi found itself in troubled-waters over the revelation its Aquafina was nothing but purified tap water from New York. If Coca Cola monitored the buzz for Pepsi’s products, they would see how consumers reacted to the news–and prepared for the questions about its own “tap water,” Dasani.

8. Your Industry

If you keep a watchful eye on industry trends, you can spot opportunities and potential disasters. Everyone’s raving about the iPhone, but some hate the touchscreen keypad? Maybe BlackBerry should offer a handset that offers both a touchscreen and its highly-praised keyboard.

9. Your Known Weaknesses

Your brand has a weakness. If that’s a shock to you, I apologize for being the bearer of bad news. Still, it’s better I tell you now, than a customer tell the New York Times.

Take an honest look at your products and services and ask yourself, what are our weaknesses. If Dell has admitted to itself that it’s customer support sucked, maybe it would have been in a better position to discover–and respond–to Jeff Jarvis sooner.

10. Your Business Partners

If you’re Boeing wouldn’t you want to know if one of your airline customers just declared bankruptcy? How does that effect your quarterly sales numbers? For you, maybe the CEO of a company you did that “co-branded” campaign with, was just snapped leaving a brothel–how would that reflect on your own reputation.

Identify your key business partners and make sure you know what’s happening to their business.

11. Your Clients’ News

OK, for all of your internet marketing agencies–and anyone else that knows the value of keeping clients happy–here’s a tip for you. Monitor the news for your clients and then send them a note to congratulate them on their accomplishments–or maybe “get their back” if you see trouble brewing. Your retention rate will go way up!

12. Your Intellectual Property

If you invested the time–and expense–to register a trademark or copyright your work, shouldn’t you make sure it’s not being infringed upon? Apart from enforcing trademark infringements, you should also make sure there aren’t any cases of mistaken identity. Did someone just complain about how much their Google iPhone sucks? You might want to suggest a correction–or maybe not, if you’re Apple.

How do you monitor all of this?

Well, you could take a look at the list of 26 Buzz Tracking Tools we compiled. Or, you could let my online reputation monitoring tool Trackur.com do it all for you. It takes less than five minutes to set-up–as the video below shows.

Social Media Monitoring in Just 60-Seconds. Guaranteed!

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30 comments on “12 Reputations Every Company Should Monitor Online”

Rachael823 Says:

April 10th, 2008 at 11:40 am

Hey Andy, great post!
JulieW8 Says:

April 10th, 2008 at 11:40 am

Great advice, Andy! I’m saving this one.
Nathan Gilliatt Says:

April 10th, 2008 at 11:44 am

While monitoring your name, remember to monitor common misspellings, too. I couldn’t begin to tell you how many times the second T in my last name is left off, and a search on the correct spelling would miss those.
Online Reputation Management | Bobby Pham Says:

April 10th, 2008 at 12:30 pm

[...] part of your overall marketing strategy. Check out Andy Beal’s blog for some information on online reputation management. As participate and experiment more with monitoring online reputation, I’ll post more [...]
» Reputation Management Made Easy Search Engine Optimization Journal Says:

April 10th, 2008 at 4:19 pm

[...] Beal is perhaps the foremost authority on reputation management online. He’s real big on reputation monitoring and I agree that it is very important. But I also believe, and I’m sure Andy does too, that [...]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, April 10, 2008 | Search Engine Studies Says:

April 10th, 2008 at 5:10 pm

[...] 12 Reputations Every Company Should Monitor Online, Marketing Pilgrim [...]
Joseph Fiore Says:

April 10th, 2008 at 8:02 pm

I would strongly recommend searching your business address. If its an office tower, then use the main building address. You would be surprised how often events are planned unknown to the neighbouring businesses operating out of business tower. In the most extreme case, a demonstration or rally may cause serious disruption for staff, visitors, or the walk-by traffic for the floor level retailers. Another thing we see happening often is car enthusiasts and community driven events being run out of vacant commercial parking lots on weekends – sometimes without receiving permission.
David Churbuck Says:

April 10th, 2008 at 9:07 pm

Now you’ve made me paranoid.
Great post Andy.
dc
Andy Beal Says:

April 10th, 2008 at 9:11 pm

@David – hah! I knew you’d find it.
Seologia Says:

April 11th, 2008 at 9:04 am

Very interesting post! Looks like you didn’t miss a thing.
Futon-Matt Says:

April 11th, 2008 at 9:16 am

Great post, now I’m looking over my shoulder a lot.
Karen Swim Says:

April 11th, 2008 at 9:16 am

Andy, clear, concise and comprehensive post. This is a list that everyone should print for reference. So often we think of managing what we do and say online but don’t carefully monitor what others are doing and saying about our name, company, marketing and brand. Whether you’re GSK or a solo practitioner this is great advice. Thank you!
NextInstinct Says:

April 11th, 2008 at 9:18 am

Dugg!

@David Churbuck I heard Tim Storm say good things about you online, about 6 months ago. But you’d never know that without Trackur.

I can see this being critical going forward.
Sarah Says:

April 11th, 2008 at 9:21 am

No doubt its an amazing post. Most of the points are really true above. Specially from point 7 to 12 is really great.
Copywritingace.com Blog » It’s Time to Stalk Yourself Online Says:

April 11th, 2008 at 11:02 am

[...] How do you monitor all of this? Check out his original post for more tips and tools! [...]
Rachel Phillips Says:

April 11th, 2008 at 11:36 am

This is invaluable! Thank you so much.
Leo Says:

April 11th, 2008 at 12:16 pm

Got the link from twitter, this is stuff we will be using at Wcx. Thanks
Steve Teal Says:

April 12th, 2008 at 11:49 am

As, an attorney I need to be more aware of my online reputation. Whether it is a review from a previous client, maybe what my competition might be saying about me or even where my name is associated. It’s more difficult to manage your online reputation if you have a common name. Thanks!
ShinyRed » Blog Archive » Listen and watch your reputation on the net Says:

April 15th, 2008 at 9:58 am

[...] online when it comes to reputation. According to post, companies and PROs should look out for 12 key reputational elements when monitoring the web and they [...]
My del.icio.us bookmarks for April 13th through April 15th | AccMan Says:

April 15th, 2008 at 10:08 am

[...] 12 Reputations Every Company Should Monitor Online – But, it’s one thing to know how important reputation monitoring is–and which tracking tools to use–but what “reputations” should you monitor exactly? – do you have a reputation worth tracking in the first place? [...]
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May 1st, 2008 at 9:13 pm

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May 2nd, 2008 at 3:31 pm

[...] 12 Reputations Every Company Should Monitor Online – Qué cosas deben monitorizarse para gestionar la reputación online de una empresa. [...]
SEO news » Marketing Pilgrim - 12 Reputations Every Company Should Monitor Online Says:

May 5th, 2008 at 6:55 am

[...] with some ideas on how to manage the good and bad of your company or client reputation online:12 Reputations Every Company Should Monitor Online Searchinnovationblog is written by Daria Goetsch, founder and search engine marketing consultant [...]
PHARMANCY information. » PHARMANCY.ORG Says:

May 11th, 2008 at 8:32 am

[...] on you, that you must monitor. I wouldn’t be surprised if Kevin Rose gave this two thumbs up!read more | digg [...]
How to anger PR folks « PR Research Says:

May 20th, 2008 at 4:07 pm

[...] reputation is covered with a list of 12 key things to monitor online. They come from another list here. 1. Personal name 2. Company name 3. Product Brands 4. CEO and other execs 5. Media spokesperson 6. [...]
Gypsy Queens, Birdlegs and Social Media Nicknames - Scott Clark Says:

June 24th, 2008 at 11:39 am

[...] they’re really just playing to an underlying perception that might already exist. If you hear the name early you might prevent the nickname spreading. Let things get out of hand and they will tell others your [...]
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January 6th, 2009 at 7:06 am

[...] 12 Reputations Every Company Should Monitor Online From Marketing Pilgrim: Advice on the 12 pieces of information (e.g. Company name) that you should be tracking online. [...]
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February 3rd, 2009 at 9:05 am

[...] 12 Reputations Every Company Should Monitor Online From Marketing Pilgrim: Advice on the 12 pieces of information (e.g. Company name) that you should be tracking online. [...]
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February 6th, 2009 at 11:48 pm

[...] 12 Reputations Every Company Should Monitor Online on marketingpilgrim.com. Here Andy Beal is presenting a list of 12 items every company should track. [...]
Best of The Web - Blog Posts 2008 Says:

February 10th, 2009 at 12:41 am

[...] 12 Reputations Every Company Should Monitor Online on marketingpilgrim.com. Here Andy Beal is presenting a list of 12 items every company should track. [...]

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