Brand Monitoring: An Overview And Seven Tips

Whether for brand security, crisis prevention, reputation, competitor observation, or trend scouting: brand monitoring has become indispensable for brands. While the attention used to be on social media comments, now images, videos, and podcasts are also becoming interesting for brand monitoring.

Corona has changed a lot. Not only that many companies have had to change their sales strategies and increasingly switch to e-commerce. Those who did not listen to their customers during these turbulent times quickly backed the wrong horse. Not so Clarins: high-quality cosmetic products are the trademark of the French luxury company. When sales from the stationary business collapsed due to the pandemic, the brand focused on e-commerce and used social media to offer customers digital experiences. The strategy was implemented using various tools from Hootsuite. With the help of Brandwatch, Hootsuite’s social listening partner, Clarins analyzed customer conversations related to its brand and found that the communication originally planned was no longer relevant.

During the lockdown, interest in makeup plummeted as people went back to basics when it came to skincare. The data collected has also shown that customer preferences are shifting, meaning that the originally planned content would have come to nothing. Instead, what was needed was content that could be used to market cosmetics tailored to the effects of stress.

Not least because of such insights, the brand was able to initiate appropriate measures, including video advice and beauty coaching via Instagram stories with a DIY character. An effective social media advertising strategy was also developed based on trending conversations in search engines and social media channels. The combination of measures was successful. By listening to customers, adapting quickly, and changing tactics, the company has been able to create and expand new online revenue streams despite the store closures.

Shopping habits come into focus

In the pre-corona era, brands typically used social media monitoring and listening for image and trend analysis. However, after-sales collapsed in brick-and-mortar retail due to the corona, shopping habits have also come more into focus for classic brands. Influencers play an important role in the social web. They are usually opinion-makers and multipliers at the same time. Above all, YouTube stars and popular Instagrammers influence the purchasing decisions of their followers.

Modern monitoring solutions now help brands to identify suitable influencers. The monitoring automatically determines which influencers are reporting on desired topics. The number of posts, the sentiment of the content, and the reach are good indicators for selecting the right partner. Brands can also use such tools to assess the work done by existing influencer cooperations. The hard numbers show who is reporting and what the response is. By monitoring previously defined criteria, it is possible to quickly find out which influencers work with success and which do not.

Tips and product information sought after

A current study by ECC KÖLN also shows why it is so important to keep an ear very close to social media consumers in these times. Accordingly, Corona has led to a sharp increase in the number of followers. One in five of the social media users surveyed (22 percent) stated that they had followed more retailer and manufacturer sites since the crisis – among younger people it was even 38 percent. In particular, Instagram (48 percent) and TikTok (44 percent), but also Facebook (34 percent) were accessed across all ages. Above all, information about new products, discounts or tips and tricks for using the product was sought.

The monitoring can cover the entire public Internet

Accordingly, communication about brands and their products on the social web also increased. In the communities, consumers freely express their wishes, praise, criticism, and purchase intentions or show interest in certain topics. Opinions about products and brands are shared. Good, but also bad. The latter can quickly grow into a shitstorm. Many big brands have already experienced this. An effective means against this is a comprehensive information and quick reactions. Almost all social monitoring solutions enable automatic e-mail alerts or push notifications to be sent immediately to those responsible for the brand as soon as a certain topic is discussed and shared frequently. The more brands now become online retailers themselves, the more important it is to include the opinions and reviews of products and services in social media monitoring. Monitoring does not have to be limited to social media. Typically, the entire public internet can be covered, including blogs, forums, and rating platforms. If retail plays a direct role for a brand, review monitoring should also be included in an overall technical solution.

The positioning of the competitors also becomes more interesting in this context and can best be observed automatically. SIE Solutions, a specialist in digitization and system integration, uses a monitoring system (echo bot), for example, to be informed about current customer comments and what is happening in its own market environment. Especially during the first phase of the pandemic, the company wanted to stay informed about the most important news from customers and thus provide starting points for discussions. While previously manual research and a high level of personal effort were required to prepare the media monitoring, the software now provides a ready-to-use compilation of the desired topics and media. Selected articles are sent to all employees with one click.

Make brand love measurable

Although the focus of many brands is now shifting to retail, image and branding must not be neglected. They remain extremely important aspects that companies have to keep an eye on online because the brand image is right, consumers can be more easily excited to buy. The social listening platform Talkwalker recently determined the most popular brands in the world among users and named the “Love Brands”. In other words, brands that people have a positive connection to. More than 1200 brands worldwide were analyzed based on various criteria on the web, including engagement rate and consumer sentiment on social media and in the news, as well as a percentage of mentions that belong to the “joy” category or contained certain keywords. The result: The most popular brands on the web in the DACH region are Obi, Sennheiser, and Rossmann. The upside: Not only are consumers more likely to remain loyal to brands when they have a strong emotional connection to them, those who love a brand are also more likely to recommend it to others.

But a positive connection between people and brands is not only expressed in texts. Images and videos dominate the web and transport emotions far better than words strung together. Accordingly, images and videos should and are now included in technical brand monitoring. In this way, companies on the social web are able to find, for example, posts in which photos are posted with their brand logo, without mentioning the brand name in the accompanying text.

Podcast monitoring is coming

New channels can also be analyzed better and better. Around half of all Germans now listen to podcasts regularly or at least occasionally. These audio formats are used with above-average frequency, especially by younger and more educated target groups. This was the result of a representative study recently conducted by the podcast marketer Julep and the Pilot agency. These high usage figures suggest that brands that want to know what is being said about them will have to “listen” in the truest sense of the word in the future and should have this communication medium “on the monitor”. In the past, podcasts could also be included in brand monitoring. But the providers only examined the show notes, i.e. the short written explanatory texts for an episode.

The first analysis tools are able to search through spoken content as well

The first speech analysis technologies are now able to search spoken content as well. They are still in their infancy, but one can assume that they will develop and spread quickly. In the USA, for example, the telecommunications brand Verizon has already had good experiences with this. Earlier this year, multiple US news sources reported that star investor Warren Buffett had bought Verizon shares. The conversations there quickly flattened out again. Using podcast monitoring, it was found that the stock was still being discussed positively for weeks after the first reports. Finding such mentions “hidden” in podcasts allows a brand to better respond and tailor communications. Another analysis in the “Nintendo Switch Craft” podcast showed, that despite many positive terms, a brand can also get insights on what needs to be improved for future updates. It should only be a matter of time before podcast monitoring becomes one of the standard instruments as part of automated brand monitoring. The first podcast monitoring solutions already include German-language podcasts in the language analysis. This development is considered an important step in order to obtain comprehensive and valid mood pictures in the future and to increase marketing efficiency. The first podcast monitoring solutions already include German-language podcasts in the language analysis. This development is considered an important step in order to obtain comprehensive and valid mood pictures in the future and to increase marketing efficiency. The first podcast monitoring solutions already include German-language podcasts in the language analysis. This development is considered an important step in order to obtain comprehensive and valid mood pictures in the future and to increase marketing efficiency.

7 tips: How to create the framework for automated brand monitoring

1. Since the possible uses of monitoring solutions are very diverse, the goals must be clearly defined in advance.
2. Identify all channels where your brand is being talked about.
3. Choose a suitable social monitoring solution or an appropriate service provider and continuously monitor the identified sources.
4. No matter where you want to “listen” in the market: Consider the language of your customers when defining topics and keyword lists.
5. Prepare yourself for eventualities right from the start: schedules for crisis communication or for the integration of customer service should be worked out and be immediately available if necessary.
6. Think outside the box and include your competitors in the monitoring – this way you can better identify risks, but also trends.
7. If necessary, act immediately: Automatic e-mail alerts or push notifications will help you to identify a shitstorm at an early stage and possibly prevent it.