27 October 2008 515 views No Comment

Here at Engage, we’re currently working on a training module entitled: ‘Putting the ‘e’ in eavesdropping’. Its aim is to explore, evaluate and instruct on the value of using Social Media coverage in stakeholder research. Our overview outline follows, and your feedback is welcome:With a multiplicity of automated online monitoring tools at the disposal of Comms, Marketing and PR Directors, the ability to ‘listen in’ to market conversations has never been easier or more widespread. Clearly the ability to track blogs, forums and on-line conversations provides organisations with additional sources of stakeholder information. But are the often raw Social Media conversations and invisible sources a reliable stream of credible research intelligence? PR author, blogger and strategist Gerry McCusker is both an advocate for and exponent of Web2.0, and generally believes in its speed and efficacy as a networking, intelligence and influencing tool.
In “Putting the ‘e’ in eavesdropping”, Engage ORM explores the pro’s and con’s of Social Media monitoring and research including:
·         The Conversation: you gotta be in it, to win from it
·         Word of mouth vs word of mouse; the credibility conundrum
·         Eavesdropping: free monitoring, collating, research and distribution tools
·         Skew You; how bias and blunders can affect research reliability and validity
·         Perception vs reality; what is online research really measuring?