Yes, You May be “Listening” to 1% of What People Say About Your Brand! The Good News is…

• Most business organizations are aware of only 10% of their customers’ brand-related reviews/opinions

These two numbers lead to the following (equally shocking!) conclusions:

• Most businesses do NOT take advantage of 99% of what they know about their customers’ brand-related buzz/reviews/comments
• Even worse, most businesses are not even aware of 90% of their customers’ conversations about their brand

These numbers are quite shocking but as the saying goes, “knowing the problem is half the solution.”  Now that you accurately diagnosed the problem, the prescription is easy:

1. Grow bigger ears and maximize your knowledge about your brand reputation
2. Learn from and act upon the knowledge you assimilated for optimal results

Let’s discuss each of these common-sense solutions in details…

1. Grow Bigger Ears and Maximize Your Knowledge About Your Brand Reputation

Thanks to social media, knowing who is saying what about your brand online is easier than ever. For example, we dedicated an entire article about SocialMention and I guess the name says it all!

In addition, there is a staggering array of Twitter, Google alongside other brand-buzz tools. Here is a list of 25 brand-monitoring tools designed to help you assess your brand reputation online.

It goes without saying that your brand image can make or break your entire business future. So, It’s definitely worth your while to do more Social Listening.

2. Learn From and Act Upon the Knowledge You Assimilated

Here’s when things get a bit tricky! How can you separate the meat from the lettuce when it comes to brand conversations? In other words, how can you determine which reviews are worth acting upon and which should be tossed in the nearest waste basket! The following are what I call the signs of action-worthy brand reviews:

1. Repetition When you see the same positive/negative review repeated by different people and in various social media, that’s a definite call to action!
2. Details If a customer is sincere about providing an honest brand review, s/he will be detailed and descriptive. But if you find a 3-word review saying: “This product sucks!”, probably it’s a fake review made up by some envious, unethical competitor!
   These are the types of reviews you must ignore for a simple reason: it didn’t give you anything to work with or any specific flaw to improve.
3. Common Business Sense You know your business strengths and weakness more than anyone. So if you read a review that resonated within and struck a chord with you, again.. it’s definitely worth acting upon.

The rest simple! Once you identify your brand image in the eyes of your customers, you will take appropriate action. If you discovered a positive aspect about your brand, magnify and build on it.

As for brand flaws, do whatever it takes to resolve any issue(s) your customers may have. For example, if your customers complain that your after-sales service needs tweaking, go ahead and tweak it immediately.

To be honest with you, I brainstormed the signs of action-worthy brand reviews on my own without researching. Do they make sense to you? Are there any other action-worthy signals you would add? Your valuable contribution is much appreciated.