Grounded In Reality

My observation is that most pr pros rationalize away the act of monitoring as beneath them.  In the past, monitoring is typically reserved for the junior staff and/or a third-party vendor; while measurement dashboards and executive summaries are the critical slide wares that pr pros arm themselves with for client briefings.

The rub is that today’s half-second news cycle is forcing us to get our hands dirty and wrestle with raw data gleaned from the trenches.  This is because of the (1) lack of a comprehensive monitoring solution (2) speed at which online reputations are made or broken by digital influencers (think Apple & Engadget).

The business case for near real-time, online monitoring (blogs, forums, social network, etc.) is that:

1. You need to find a blog or learn more about a specific blog or digital influencer.
2. You need to monitor an issue to determine if it is escalating.
3. You need to understand online conversation and identify influencers and engagement opportunities.
4. You need to manage online reputation 24/7.

Your monitoring goals are likely four-fold:

1. Amplify the positive
2. Resolve the negative
3. Correct misinformation
4. Understand the conversation in order to join the dialogue

I’m not thumbing my nose at monitoring partnerships (we need them) or debasing the many bright minds working on comprehensive monitoring solutions (GCI works with several preferred monitoring vendors), but rather suggesting that online reputation monitoring needs a new approach in the digital age.

There will come a time in the near future when online monitoring will be as structured and methodical as traditional media monitoring; in the meantime, be ready to jump into the fray of online monitoring to help your clients make sense of the digital information overload.