Latest news with #brandperception
Forbes
5 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
Want To Start A Social Monitoring Program? Here Are 12 Important Tips
In a hypercompetitive online environment where every social media comment stands to influence brand perception and loyalty, a strong social monitoring program does more than just collect data. By leveraging mindful attention and thoughtful responses to mentions, brands can turn simple conversations into serious opportunities. Investing in timely, authentic engagement on social media can also prevent small issues from escalating, allowing positive attention to shine. However, effective monitoring requires a clear strategy, fast action and the right people empowered to reply. The 12 expert tips below from members of Forbes Agency Council can help an organization transform social monitoring into a powerful driver of brand trust and connection. 1. Set Up Real-Time Alerts For Brand Mentions Set up real-time alerts with specific keyword tracking—including the brand name, product and misspellings, for example—and assign a team to respond quickly and personally to each mention. Speed and relevance are key in social monitoring. Other than a team, you can also hire a virtual assistant to help you. - Daniel Koren, StartWise 2. Engage Directly To Protect Brand Reputation Many companies underestimate the importance of real-time engagement with individual brand mentions on social media. Automated or ignored responses—especially to negative feedback—can damage brand reputation and lead to missed opportunities for meaningful customer connection and issue resolution. Proactive, personalized engagement is essential. - Prashanthi Kolluru, KLOUDPORTAL 3. Prioritize Human Interaction Over Automation Social monitoring is about engagement, not automation. Assign trained strategic communicators—not bots or junior staff—to manage responses. Public replies show the brand is present, accountable and listening. Always acknowledge a conversation before moving it offline. Escalate patterns, not just posts. - Jason Mudd, Axia Public Relations 4. Align Internal Teams And Establish Clear Guidelines Before inviting engagement, align marketing and communications on goals and your value proposition. Then, draft a quick reference guide. Outline who you're speaking to, your brand's core messaging and value proposition, and a clear response framework that includes tone and voice, templates for FAQs, defined roles, who engages, who approves and how you escalate sensitive or high-profile mentions. - Ahmad Kareh, Twistlab Marketing Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify? 5. Focus On Curating High-Value Conversations In 2025, social monitoring is about curating the conversations you should be in, not just responding to mentions. Smart brands identify high-signal threads where they can add value. This is how you train both people and models to associate your name with the problems you solve. - Kyle Arteaga, The Bulleit Group 6. Interact With Purpose; Showcase Brand Values Don't just collect—interact. Social monitoring is about real-time engagement, but it's crucial to respond with purpose. Be selective and timely and add value. Show your brand's voice through actions, not just statements, and ensure every interaction reflects your core values. - Christy Saia-Owenby, MOXY Company 7. Build A Rapid Response System Set real-time alerts for key brand terms and common misspellings, and create a 15-minute response SOP. Speed and personalization build trust equity. Don't reply hastily just to reply; instead, resolve, elevate, compliment, applaud, recognize and convert. Every mention is a potential PR win, customer recovery or sales opportunity. Most brands miss the moment because they aren't ready. - Tony Pec, Y Not You Media 8. Define The Purpose Of Your Program You must have a clear purpose. Simply starting a social monitoring program isn't going to produce great results. You need to understand why you are doing it and how it will benefit your audience. Once you have a clear mission for your program, it's so much easier to decide the day-to-day tactics. - Mike Maynard, Napier Partnership Limited 9. Use Real People For Authentic Engagement Start by assigning real humans, not AI, to monitor mentions in real time. Authentic, timely responses turn casual shoutouts into loyalty moments and potential complaints into public wins. Monitoring is your brand's chance to show it's listening and that it cares enough to reply. Social monitoring isn't just tracking—it's showing up. - Goran Paun, ArtVersion 10. Prioritize Rapid Response To Direct Mentions In our experience, rapid response to direct mentions is crucial for social monitoring. Our agency protocol prioritizes swiftly engaging with both positive sentiment to cultivate brand advocates and negative feedback for prompt, effective reputation management. This approach ensures your brand maintains a strong, responsive online presence and builds trust with your audience. - Frank Rojas, Miami SEM 11. Respond Within One Hour Whenever Possible Aim to acknowledge or respond to individual brand mentions within one hour, especially for customer service issues or high-engagement posts. Speed signals that your brand is attentive, values customer input and is actively engaged. A fast response can turn a complaint into a loyalty moment—or amplify a positive mention before it loses visibility. - Paula Chiocchi, Outward Media, Inc. 12. Be Present Instead Of Passively Tracking Don't just 'listen'—show up. Social monitoring is about presence, not passive tracking. Know your baseline by learning the usual sentiment mix and typical topics. That way, you won't panic at every angry mention. Set smart trigger alerts so you catch what really matters, fast. If you're not ready to jump into the conversation in real time, you're not monitoring; you're just lurking. - Lars Voedisch, PRecious Communications
Yahoo
16-07-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
New data reveals concerning trend in Tesla's customer base: 'Very dangerous for the brand'
A new poll revealed that Tesla is faltering among people across the political aisle. Unfortunately for the brand, it's not the first time it has faced this kind of issue, with owners reporting embarrassment and disapproval of CEO Elon Musk's behavior. Semafor published data from the Electric Vehicle Intelligence Report that demonstrated Tesla's brand perception has diminished among self-described Democrats, Republicans, and Independents. After Musk aligned himself with Republicans, some people thought Tesla's popularity among them would increase. However, the poll showed the opposite, with Republicans 11% less likely to buy a Tesla now, according to Semafor. The survey of 8,000 consumers suggested that Musk's foray into politics may have harmed the brand. "What he's done by wrapping Tesla into his political adventures, and, now, misadventures is very dangerous for the brand," Evan Roth Smith of Slingshot Strategies said, per Semafor. The shift in public opinion may not seem like a big deal, but it could have impacts across the industry. For example, Battery Technology reported that some executives believed Musk's political activities could have inspired Republicans to try EVs. However, that didn't pan out, as the EVIR data displayed. Battery Technology also suggested that people may be more concerned about buying a Tesla because they don't want to be associated with Musk or fear repercussions such as vandalism. Another potential issue is that Tesla's decline in public favor could create a gap in the EV market, as described by the Detroit Free Press. Considering Tesla became an industry leader and common household name, that's a significant hole for other brands to fill. Building trust in EVs takes time, which means consumers may not want to switch to another manufacturer. As a result, fewer people may be interested in EVs, which could lead to less production of these vehicles, as NPR reported. Additionally, fewer EVs on the road means that more cars powered by dirty energy sources are releasing pollutants into the air. Do you think Tesla can bounce back from its recent struggles? Yes It depends on Elon's actions I don't think it's struggling Nope Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. With all that said, the EV market can continue to gain customers' trust. For example, one of the biggest barriers to owning an EV is cost, whether you're interested in a Tesla or the Nissan Leaf. Making these cars more affordable will be especially crucial when the EV tax credit expires in September, as CNBC reported. It may also be beneficial if manufacturers make charging easier or the government expands public charging facilities. In the meantime, if you're ready to switch to a hybrid or EV, research manufacturers and models to find the right option for your needs. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Entrepreneur
13-06-2025
- Business
- Entrepreneur
Why Qualitative Feedback Is the Most Valuable Metric You're Not Tracking
It's easy to get swept up in the world of data. But if you work in the marketing field, you may have noticed a recent shift when it comes to measuring success. Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. For years, marketers have been obsessed with metrics and data-driven strategies, optimizing for numbers more than people. Don't get me wrong, data is important in marketing. But many of us have operated with the mindset that if we just gather enough numbers, we can predict exactly what will drive success. With every click, view and interaction being tracked, we've been rooted in data and perfect attribution models. It's easy to get swept up in the world of data. But if you work in the marketing field, you may have noticed a recent shift when it comes to measuring success. I know I have. Privacy regulations have tightened, and consumer behaviors are changing faster than ever. Marketers now have less access to the granular data they once relied on, leaving us with fewer exact insights. Success is starting to hinge more on qualitative customer feedback and brand perception. Not just perfect attribution models. It's an important reminder of the humanity, magic and nuance needed in marketing, and that sometimes the most powerful strategies don't come from numbers alone. In some ways, I feel like we're returning to the "Mad Men" era. Success centered around big ideas and overall impact, not hyper-targeted campaigns based on data. Today, marketers are rediscovering the power of qualitative customer feedback and good old-fashioned human insight and intuition. So, marketers, it's time to get comfortable with a little less data and a little more time spent connecting with your customers. Related: 11 Effective Marketing Strategies to Help Streamline Your Startup How to get the qualitative feedback you need Here's the challenge: as businesses grow, it's harder to gather impactful qualitative insights. It's not like the early days when you could pick up the phone and call the few customers you have. If you're not careful, it can also quickly turn into a major timesuck (and a hindrance to your customers). It takes time and effort, but there are a few old-school tactics that can make a huge difference: Customer visits: Get in the room Remember when businesses would send their teams to visit customers in person? It turns out it's hard to replace face-to-face interaction. At Wisita, we've found that customers are far more honest in person, revealing product issues or feedback they might not mention over the phone, email or in surveys. In fact, some of our most meaningful product pivots came from face-to-face visits or unscripted calls. I still remember a time when a customer walked us through how they were misusing a feature we thought was intuitive. It was a wake-up call. And it led us to overhaul the interface for that tool completely. This type of direct "people feedback" is invaluable. It's a core part of our user research and early stages of product design. We sometimes even bring product mockups and prototypes to meetings to understand if we're building something of any value. Face-to-face meetings aren't always fully scalable. But it's definitely worth the effort when you need honest insights. Related: He Was Scared to Give His Business Partners Bad News. Then He Realized a Gamechanging Truth. The power of the right surveys Surveys are still one of the easiest ways to get feedback when done right. My first piece of advice? Avoid blindly sending out surveys to your customers without much thought to context or timing. You're asking people to give up a chunk of time out of their day to help you out. So make their time worthwhile. Also, think about your end goal for your survey. What kind of feedback would be most helpful? What point in the customer journey is best to ask for this feedback? For example, if you're diagnosing customer conversion issues, try placing a survey on your "help" and "signup" pages. It's a simple but powerful way to understand why people aren't taking the next step. At Wistia, we learned this the hard way. We used to send out a big survey at the end of every trial period, hoping to understand what was working and what wasn't. But the responses were all over the place. Too late, too vague. So we changed our approach. Instead of casting a wide net, we added a single question directly to the signup page: "What's holding you back from upgrading today?" The timing was everything. When people were in the moment, facing real friction, their answers got straight to the heart of what we needed to fix. Survey format is also key. Look at Net Promoter Score (NPS) surveys. The data output is useful, but the real gold is in the comments. The qualitative feedback is what tells the full story and helps companies find actionable insights. Take the time to experiment with what survey mode and format works best for you. Related: Take Control of What Your Online Presence Says About You Customer story time Sometimes, the best feedback comes in the form of a story. Early on at Wistia, we listed our phone number on our website and encouraged customers to call with questions. Yes, we would help callers with their inquiries. But it was also helpful for us to hear what people wanted and where they were struggling. We were able to refine our product based on those conversations. As we grew, we turned this idea into "Customer Story Time." At our weekly all-hands meetings, we encourage employees to share customer conversations to help give the team insight into what's working and what's not. This simple practice of sharing qualitative feedback reminds the entire company of the human beings they're serving and helps us best market our products. At the end of the day, marketing will always center around connecting with people. The data will always be there and will continue to play a role in guiding decisions. But the sweet spot is when we take a step back, get comfortable with a little ambiguity and remember that humans are at the heart of everything we do. The future of marketing is in the stories, the feedback and the humanity behind every interaction. Old-school marketing is back, and here to stay.
Arab News
15-05-2025
- Business
- Arab News
Omnicom Media Group consolidates influencer marketing services in Mideast
DUBAI: Omnicom Media Group has announced that it will consolidate its influencer marketing capabilities in the Middle East and North Africa region under influencer management agency Creo following a global directive last month. The move 'ensures our clients can harness the full potential of this communication channel' as digital consumption grows in the region and influencers play an 'instrumental role in shaping brand perceptions,' said CEO Elda Choucair. Creo will give the group's clients 'access to the same advanced tools, talent and technology we've developed globally, but adapted to our region's unique landscape,' she added. These include tools such as the Creo Influencer Agent, an AI-powered influencer selection tool; the Omni Creator Performance Predictor, which uses machine learning to predict the performance of content on Instagram; and the Creator Briefing Tool, which helps influencers create and get feedback on their content through Google's AI chatbot Gemini. The agency will also leverage exclusive partnerships with platforms such as Amazon, TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat in the region. Anthony Nghayoui, head of social and influencer at Omnicom Media Group, has been appointed to lead Creo.
