Do you wonder what Internet monitoring is and how to use it in marketing activities? Does it give an opportunity to generate leads? Check it out!
Currently, Internet users share family and animal photos, thoughts and even personal documents online, particularly through social media. However, what is more important for marketers, they also share with the rest of the world their personal experiences and opinions on brands, products or services. How to turn these pieces of information into effective sales and image-related activities?
Internet monitoring in the service of business
We have never had better access to such a large number of honest consumer opinions as we are having today. Information and opinions about the brand or product reviews are widely available on the web. How can this be used and provide potential customers with even better-quality products and services? The answer is Internet monitoring, allowing to monitor selected words or phrases in social media, message boards or public discussions. The monitoring tool automatically sends notifications when a predefined reference is detected. We can easily find opinions on the brand, thank for a positive review or simply help solve a problem. However, these are not all the possibilities offered by Internet monitoring.
Valuable feedback
Internet monitoring provides access to public information on a given product or service. From the level of a dedicated platform, we can check statistics, observe the stream of information, analyse discussion intensity charts, classify sources of results, and even check the emotional characteristics of information on a given brand (positive, neutral or negative). Thanks to the extensive tool, we will find out why customers like and buy a given product or service. All consumer observations help improve the product or service quality. Internet monitoring allows for consistent image-building activities, including rewarding loyal customers, as well as crisis intervention. Internet users are very honest and refer directly to a given brand. If we offer them benefits that they care about, marketing campaigns will take effect.
Searching for customers through Internet monitoring
We can invest huge amounts of money in marketing activities, but if we don’t know what consumers really expect, we can simply “burn” the advertising budget. Sometimes it is worth testing the simplest solutions. For example, if we set the monitoring to the key phrase “I am looking for an off-road car” or “I will buy a used car”, and someone on Facebook or message board posts such information, we will receive a notification with a link to the place where the mention has appeared. In this simple way we will be able to contact a person who has specific needs and knows what to expect.
Internet monitoring also gives an opportunity to search for people who most often contribute to a given topic. These are opinion leaders having a significant impact on Internet users’ buying decisions. After all, according to the principle of recommendation marketing, we tend to trust more our friends and people who we identify with.
Engaging Internet users
Monitoring of information on our product or service is not enough. It is worth joining the dialogue, thanking people for their kind opinions or trying to solve customers’ problems. It is a perfect way to increase brand exposure on the web. Internet monitoring is a great tool for both large and novice enterprises. When we do not have too much budget for advertising, it is worth focusing on providing excellent service to recipients, in particular through social media. According to Harvard Business Review, consumers who feel taken care of are three times more likely to recommend a company to others.
Competition monitoring
Internet monitoring plays another important role. It gives a possibility to monitor the activities of competitors and learn from someone else’s mistakes. We can see where competitors are advertising or what actions they are taking online. This is an excellent tool for market research and analysis of available solutions. Internet monitoring gives an opportunity to have your finger on the pulse. Owing to the above, we will be able to draw conclusions based on the actions and mistakes of others, which will help protect the company against unforeseen effects of wrong decisions.
