There is an information explosion happening around us like never before. Every second there are millions pieces of information being created and consumed. They come from all different sources and media. Whether it is tweets, photographs, videos, articles or any other form it as become nearly impossible to keep up with this surge in information for any business. Just Google your business name and find out how many links you get for your business. Some links will be good, some bad. Some will be true, while others may not be.
This media exposure of your business can have significant impact on the business reputation and bottom line. In the short-term, it can help or hurt your sales and profit. In the long-term, it can position your business to be next Amazon or put you out of business completely. You see, the media exposure is a double-edge sword. It cuts both ways. That is why it is very important to monitor media to find out what is being said about your business.
Now, monitoring is a good start, but you should not just stop there. In my view, there are three steps you have to follow to really take advantage of media and make it work in your favor.
- Monitor – This is obviously the first step you need to take. I already made an argument for monitoring your business reputation earlier. There are a number of companies, such as Kantar media monitoring services, out there that can help you do just that. They can help monitor your business reputation. They can also scan for any developments happening in your industry and provide you the update so that you are up-to-date on latest news and can react to it fast.
- Respond – Once you have put good monitoring practice in place the next logical step is to respond to any news or feedback in appropriate manner. If someone is praising your business in the online forum you can acknowledge and promote it to your advantage. On the other hand, if your business is being bashed for poor service or product you can learn from it and respond to the complaint before thousands of people find out hurting your business.
- Influence – Once you have put in place good monitoring and response processes you can go one step further and take proactive approach by broadcasting news about your business and products in various media outlets to your advantage. You don’t have to wait for someone to do it for you. By proactively promoting your business you can use media to your benefit and improve the business.
With the information explosion it is very important to stay on top of what is being said about your business. By working with media monitoring companies you can do just that and more to improve your business both short and long-term.
