Blog

Monitoring your brand mentions

MentionRecently, Eveready’s marketing team was criticized for not seizing the opportunity when their company’s name was mentioned during a live presidential debate. Knowing what people are saying about your brand is important, but expecting marketing teams to monitor and respond to live TV the same way they respond to mentions on social media is just not possible.

Regarding the latter, there are a number of different tools marketers can use to make monitoring and responding to mentions on social media much easier.

One of the simplest things marketers can do is just remember to always check their social media accounts. All platforms have notification options that let marketing teams know what their brand is mentioned almost instantly (e.g. via email or text message).

Perhaps the best tool for monitoring mentions is the aptly named Mention. This is a paid service that allows users to monitor brand keywords across the Internet. The service will notify you when someone is talking about your brand in real-time, allowing you to take action and interact with your brand base. Mention makes it easy to see where conversations are happening and what people are saying about your brand.

Keeping up with what people say about your brand online is key to understanding your customers and responding to any mentions.

Uber’s unethical behavior

new-uber-logoSince it is PRSA’s Ethics Month, I thought I’d share an example of how a national company violated its business ethics.

Uber, the mobile app that instantly connects customers with drivers, knows how to use aggressive tactics (while taking it too far) against its competitor Lyft. According to CNN, since 2013, Uber employees ordered and then cancelled 5,000 Lyft rides, forcing customers to subsequently use Uber’s services. This not only hinders the company but hurts Lyft drivers’ income and time.

Also, in the same article by CNN, Uber employees in New York are being told it’s against city regulations to work for both companies, even receiving text messages forbidding the action. However, according to the city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission, this is false.

Whether you’re a part of a startup or a company with a net worth of $3 billion, one of the first things that needs addressing is providing your employees (and management, in this case) with a compliance/ethics training program. That’s because your credibility is directly tied to your ethics.