There’s a ton of posting going on around the need to monitor the blogosphere to track conversations about your company and brand. Conceptually the idea’s been talked about for some time. In practice it now appears to be finding critical mass. A couple must-reads include Andy Beal’s beginners’ guide to tracking online reputations. It’s an impressive deep dive into the depth and frequency required to be truly tuned in through monitoring efforts. Another is from Tom Foremski on the mania of finding influential voices through a silver bullet tool or site. I wholeheartedly agree with his take that the best way to figure out who important bloggers are (as well as how to best engage) is to go into the communities as a participant versus spectator.

Technorati Tags: Blogs, Buzz, PR 2.0, reputation management

Kudos to Microsoft for showing how to flip customer concern into positive conversation. Similar to Jeff Jarvis’ public plea to Dell, Hugh Macleod put word out to Microsoft on gapingvoid and got quick resolution to his Tablet PC issue. What followed was a glowing post from Macleod and interesting commentary from those weighing in on the effort, especially from Robert Scoble. Microsoft’s proactive efforts represent the big leap progressive communicators are making. They’re not only tuned in and listening to independent voices, but more importantly, they’re empowering employees to act on information as a way to connect with and serve customers.

Technorati Tags: Microsoft, blogs, PR 2.0, crisis management

A couple weeks ago I wrote up a post on assessing risk profiles and the need to step out of comfort zones as a means of actually reducing risks. Along similar lines, Ad Age ran a Rance Crain commentary under the title, “Risk Aversion is Risky Business for Marketers and Agencies,” (registration required). The problem he says:

“…we are living through an era “where great uncertainty reigns,” and people and companies are hunkering down around their core competencies — which might not be the right ones for the time. If the “old traditional platforms” don’t work anymore, as another M&V speaker said, nobody is sure what is going to work, so the temptation is to stick to what used to produce results.”

That’s where the problem lies. Results are getting tougher to come by through traditional means as the marketplace gets more attention-deficit, time-constrained and skeptical overall.

While his message of taking greater risks was directed at ad agencies, it equally applies to client-side marketers and those of us working in communications firms.

Technorati Tags: creativity, new media; PR 2.0