Social chatter and noise can be very distracting when you try and measure what is being said about your company, key industry concepts and your site.   And as we all know the social networks are ever changing. We think conducting a brand audit is a good first step and a key elements of a successful social media monitoring campaign.

Brand Audit As A Baseline

Having an analytical baseline is a good starting point.  Some key points to look at when doing the brand audit are:

– Volume of Conversations
– Sentiment & Tone of Conversations
– Brand Attacks
– Customer Service Issues
– “Attaboys”
– Influencers
– Locations
– Sources

After getting all the data you find relevant, map it out.  Social Report will even let you export the data to make it easier.  Even if you have to use Excel to map it out, know what is being said, by whom and how often.

What Opportunities Are Present

With the right data, organized correctly any social media professional can look for the opportunities that the social graph is showing you.  Expediency in getting data and feedback is a key element of social media marketing, so watching frequently for social trends is crucial.  A few opportunities to monitor, advance and in some cases save your brand can include:

– customer service slip-ups
– confusion about your product
– brand attacks by competitors
– employee PR issues
– press that is praising your brand

Remember though, this audit can’t tell you everything.  Think of the brand audit as a global thermometer to gage the what, the who and the where of social conversations.  Knowing what the outcomes are versus what the expected outcomes are, is the first step to getting any social media marketing strategy on track.  Social media is no magic bullet but it can make the difference in many company’s bottom line with the right data.