The Internet has given way to a unique brand of reputation monitoring, which offers the chance learn the average consumer's opinion about your goods and services through online postings.
For decades corporations have relied on clipping services to gauge the amount and quality of press coverage. But ventures like eWatch monitor listservs, newsgroups and chat forums for companies. For this, companies can spend between $295 and $1,000 a month, which rivals what companies can spend on media analysis.
The enterprise was started in 1995 by Internet communications company eWorks, Inc., New York and Minneapolis. Its clients include vendors such as Canadian-based Bowdens, and businesses such as Northwest Airlines, St. Paul, Minn., and AllState, Northbrook, Ill.
EWatch relies on a virtual ocean of information from venues, such as AOL and Prodigy, rogue Web sites and online government domains such as epa.org and fda.org. The company gathers intelligence about corporations, small businesses and associations and provides a snapshot of what is hot in cyberland by gauging online buzz about brands.
And most recently, it began tracking what brands are nabbing the online spotlight according to those with the largest volume of messages.
But eWatch's director, James Alexander, cautions that finding a large amount of online messages and dialogue about your company doesn't mean you're in the wake of a crisis or that your brand's being criticized. It signals that you need to dig a bit deeper.
"Companies need to have the other pieces [clipping services, media analysis, customer surveys, trade show feedback, investor/analyst insight] too, and view this as a natural - but necessary - add-on. Then they can get away from the noise and look at what the signals are," he says.
Northwest Air is Near
Every afternoon, Jim Austin, managing director of corporate PR for Northwest, sifts through forwarded messages that were downloaded from the Internet by eWatch. He is learning what's being said online about his company.
"This is just as important as monitoring whether a video news release is used or relying on clipping services," says Austin. "We've set a wide net to catch everything, but I figure that the day you ignore this is the day something will happen that will make you regret that."
It may be an anomaly for a corporate executive to be so exacting, but Austin is convinced he's learned a lot from the process. Three years ago, he began going online and engaging in online discussions when the issue involved Northwest. It gave him a chance to interact with customers he otherwise never would have met.
"I liken it to the bat phone," Austin recalls. "There would be messages like: "Is John Austin still monitoring this group? I want to ask him a question.'"
Of the thousands of messages he comes across monthly, most do not require a response. Overall, Austin parses the postings into two categories:
- trivia: such as queries about frequent-flyer policies; or
- service: customers venting about a bad experience.
However, if a comment is especially disconcerting, Austin will send a private e-mail in an attempt to learn more about the customer's gripe. "I don't ignore the Internet because the lines between what is legitimate journalism and tabloids is continuing to blur, and this is just one spectrum of this."
Regular online stops for eWatch's tracking for Northwest includes forums on AOL and CompuServ and altflameairlines.com and rec.travel.air. (eWatch, 914/288-0000; Northwest, 612/727-4284)