3 guidelines for using social media monitoring during a PR crisis

The latest they-did-what? examples feature an automobile repair shop employee using Twitter to find a pot dealer and a daycare employee ridiculing toddlers via Instagram. Both were fired.

What these examples show us is that more companies and their PR partners could use social media not only for engagement with key audiences, but to defend and protect brands by identifying potential threats. It can also assess trends and pounce on strategic opportunities. Tuned-in organizations realize that social media improves their businesses and fine-tunes critical customer service, employee relations and operations, one tweet or snap at a time.

Sure, a media monitoring service for capturing print and online placements, broadcast segments and general mentions is crucial. But traditional monitoring only goes so far. You may miss conversations or shares on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook and other sites rich in everyday conversation, shareable visuals and personal revelations that could affect your brand. Standard old-style monitoring is valuable, but it can’t hope to capture insights a more robust system will corral.