Feelings Measured on the Internet?

With "70-80 percent accuracy," you can now measure online sentiment regarding your brand. That's right, the latest wave in culling the Internet for market research uses algorithms to do a "sentiment analysis" on a topic and grade the emotional reaction on subjects related to your brand.

"Mining the Web for Feelings, Not Facts" in the August 24, 2009 issue of The New York Times details the emerging field of Sentiment Analysis and looks at three companies: Scout Labs, Jodange and Newssift - all offering some context for analyzing and, daresay, managing online sentiment.

Sentiment Analysis is especially interesting, because it targets the ever-increasing desire and concern of business owners and managers to contain negative online messaging. It is essential for company's to participate in social media via blogging, Facebook, Twitter and/or LinkedIn. But, the biggest impediment to diving into the Internet marketing universe frequently is a fear of losing control of a brand's image and its message.

Sentiment Analysis applications take Google Alerts to the next level. These new applications agree that comments on the Web rarely die into utter obscurity, but they can be tracked and mobilized into positive business-to-consumer engagement.

The days of the Internet being the land of anonymity to vilify businesses or people are quickly being wrangled. There is, as yet, no perfect science to controlling negative online messages, but if your company continues to add to the authentic and transparent messaging through news posts and other social media avenues, then your brand is certain to weather the critics well.

While the concept of adequately measuring emotions - especially written feelings - seems a tad far-fetched, these sentiment analyzer applications do work to better harness negative online commentary. Most marketing gurus would tell you that, in most cases, dissatisfied customers could be converted to satisfied customers if the situation is properly managed. Well, consider the World Wide Web on its way to being properly managed.

PR Is Not Dead; It's Online.

Perhaps it is the former journalist in me, but I am constantly on the hunt for a story. Not surprisingly, my eyes still pop wide and the eagerness piques at the sound of a good public relations opportunity for a new or existing client. But when I ask, "Have you received any press for that story?" Far too often, the answer is, "Not really. I didn't think about it." Or, it is simply a matter of time to promote one's own business.

In a recession or any other time, public relations is a key part of any marketing plan. Granted, in today's marketplace, it is more and more difficult for your story to appear on the coveted editorial pages of a publication. Yet, the opportunities still exist. You just need to craft the right message, define it well and cater to your choice publication. Media in prime media outlets still offer a credibility, authenticity and reach that ignite prized word-of-mouth advertising for a business or service.

Or in more tense situations, a good public relations expert or team can help you and your business navigate negative media attention ... and prepare you ahead of time to deal with it.

Public relations, however, is being redefined and is a blend of traditional and new media efforts. Social Media Marketing, E-Mail Marketing and Web site news pages are all public relations avenues. In general, I always encourage a company to include a Content-Management System (CMS) news page on a company Web site. Blogger and WordPress are free examples of a CMS platform and are easy for most to use.

Your news page serves several objectives:
1. It always publishes your PR story.
2. It lets you advertise promotions, events and success stories.
3. It leaves a record of authenticity and timeliness for anyone visiting the site.
4. It boosts your Web site's Search-Engine Optimization (SEO) results.
5. It can easily be connected to social networking sites that will increase your reach.
6. It increases your online image.
7. It can be used to encourage prospective or current customers to sign up for targeted e-mail marketing news.

These are a lot of pros for a relatively low investment. BUT, you have to manage the content, develop a voice, maintain a posting schedule and target each news piece so that it is valuable to potential readers. In short, your news page is a 24/7 tool for public relations, but you have to know how to use it. And, you still need to couple efforts with traditional public relations avenues.

If you need help developing your public relations efforts, contact Marketicity at 314.266.4450 or 618.281.6648. We can work with your budget, helping you with full-time public relations needs or acting as a consultant for your in-house efforts.

Teens Not the Driving Force for Twitter

In general, trend forecasters look to teens to forecast trends and to predict growth. In general, teens are a good source; they initiated the Facebook trend, they are early adopters of technology, and they know no world without Internet.

Yet, in the case of the social media network Twitter, it is the 25-54 year olds that comprise this application's largest user demographic. In fact, teens are the least likely to use Twitter. Even the 55 and older demographic outpaces teens on Twitter. Read the original Mashable article.

Not surprising, it is the 35 and older group that is the fastest growing group among Facebook users. And in June alone, Facebook acquired 24 million unique visitors worldwide to increase their total user count to 340 million.

To further the importance of the ever-expanding reach of the Internet, a recent St. Louis Post-Dispatch article quoted a recent survey that showed a 11 percent spike in broadband connectivity among senior citizens, so that 30 percent of senior households are now opting for faster Internet speeds.

As a broader range of age demographics adopt regular Internet and social media usage, so must businesses seeking to reach their target audiences. Even today, a lead from a client that wanted to advertise on Dish led me to discover Google's new TV ad campaigns, which make cable-broadcast commercials accessible to smaller vendors who need more regional than national advertising.

While I do not advocate dropping all traditional marketing efforts, I do recommend starting to better track your advertising dollars and the effectiveness of each avenue. Likely, you will find that you will need to reallocate your marketing budget, decreasing avenues in some areas to start driving new media alternatives.

If you need consulting services on how to better allocate your marketing dollars, call Marketicity at 618.281.6648 or 314.266.4450. We help companies in the St. Louis metropolitan region, including the Metro-East, and beyond.