There are umpteen examples which illustrate how not being on top of what is being said about your brand can render a jolt to its equity. In our previous blog post we discussed how an online reputation management platform can help avert brand reputation issues.
We elaborate on one aspect of such reputation management platforms which is an important component in your ORM tool kit – Alerts. As the name suggests, such alerts are great when you get the right information, as-it-happens, across to the right person or team within your organization.
What are the alerts which your system needs to enable? Here are 5 which are important.
- Negative mentions alert: The simplest one alerts you to any negative mention of your brand, as it happens. If you use a ticketing system, you should be able to choose whether you would have a ticket automatically created for every negative mention or do it manually. A robust reputation management system allows for both use cases.
- Influencer mention alerts: There are two scenarios in which such influencer alerts help:
- The first obvious scenario is one where any influencer’s mention needs to be dealt with extra sensitivity and caution and warrants an escalation to higher-ups. Depending on influencer scores, you may want to escalate the mentions right to the CMO/CEO.
- If you have a very high buzz volume (for example, if you are a utility provider such as in the case of mobile/internet services). You’d need a way to prioritize influencer mentions and keep a tab on such mentions yourself.
- News mention alerts: Mainstream media monitoring is essential and given the reach of print media as well as the relatively higher credibility consumers attach to print news, such mentions need to be part of the ‘as-it-happens’ alerts.
- Crisis alerts: A common feature of a crisis is that the volume of mentions spikes multiple times in a short time frame. An alert which gets triggered beyond a specific threshold when such a trend is breaking out is an important feature in your alert toolkit.
- Competitive intelligence: An alert which tells you stories about competitors or important handles which might provide you with competitive insights or great marketing opportunities. An example which shows the value in having such alerts is discussed in one of our previous blog posts.
The value of alerts improves as they use data enrichment done using AI. For example, location specific mentions being directed to the location head. Alerts can be based on the root cause of a consumer issue and can be sent out to the right team within the company or organization.
Alerts form an important weapon to defend your brand’s reputation. While evaluating online reputation management platforms, be sure to ask about such alerts.