Do I need to monitor brand sentiment on social media?

imagesMany brands use sentiment monitoring as a tool to see “who” is saying “what” about their brand, products and/or services. It can be very beneficial, but also tedious and costly.

Before purchasing a sentiment monitoring tool, take a minute and determine what you would do with the information if you had it…

  • Are you using it to just listen? Or to take action?
  • Do you plan to develop a strategy to react to both negative and positive mentions?
  • How can you incorporate it into your crisis communication strategy?
  • How can it help streamline your social media processes?

Keep in mind, while beneficial, monitoring tools capture a ton of chatter that is considered spam. Take a look at the options before you dive in. If you plan to use it as a monitoring tool to add a number to your monthly reporting (10 negative mentions; 100 positive mentions; 30 neutral), it is probably not worth the time or money. However, if you plan to invest time in sentiment analysis, it could prove beneficial to identify the perception of your brand in the marketplace.

Here are some services that offer sentiment monitoring:

1. SDL SM2: Formerly Alterian SM2, SDL SM2 focuses on social media data collection across all languages, geographies and platforms.

2. Radian 6: Now part of the Sales Force product offering, Radian 6 enables users to identify and analyze conversations on social media.

3. Raven Tools: Social Monitor results update about once an hour with automatic sentiment analysis for each post in that search.