1. Search “social media monitoring” on a search engine to find companies specializing in monitoring social media. Many of these sites discuss examples of how businesses use their service. Discuss two examples in which businesses used social media monitoring successfully.
2. Monitoring “tagging” is hailed as the way to keep tabs on the Internet. Explain what is meant by a “tag” and explain why monitoring such tags is beneficial for marketers.
If you’ve ever complained to friends about a bad product or service experience, the marketer probably never heard you. That is, until now. If you complain on a social networking site, you just might get a response. That’s what Moosehead, Canada’s oldest independent and third largest brewer, did. Moosehead learned of a customer who complained on a blog about purchasing spoiled beer that had not been stored properly at the retail level. The brewer’s quick remedy resulted in the blogger posting a “glowing review” of the treatment he received. But how do companies monitor online communications among the millions of consumers worldwide using social media such as blogs, video sharing (YouTube), photo sharing (Flickr), and microblogging (twitter) sites? The key is that users of social media leave clues, such as social bookmarks, friends, followers, comments, favorites, votes, and so on. Companies could monitor these clues themselves, but most hire experts specializing in social media monitoring to track how people are talking about their brands.