Marketers can track how social networking effects brand

Social networks, specifically user-owned blogs, are having a huge effect on blogs. Whether positive or negative - and especially if the postings are negative - marketers need to know what is being said about them. Which is where Relevant Noise, a technology from Zeta Interactive, can help.

by Kristina Knight

Zeta Interactive is a full-service interactive marketing agency.

The Relevant Noise platform collects blog postings from 75 million blogs. Every time a blog is published the posts are placed into the Relevant Noise system, so far that listing is over 800 million posts, which businesses can search to learn who is talking about their products and how their products are being talked about. In addition to blogs, the platform also monitors message boards, forums and use-net posts.

"From a search perspective, [this is] a great way to see trends related to your brand. It's also a great way to buy keywords [for paid search campaigns] before they are mainstream," said Lori Arnold, Vice President of Operations for Relevant Noise. Purchasing keywords before they become mainstream means advertisers can invest the same amount of money in a campaign but buy more keywords; which could effect the ROI of a given campaign.

The platform allows marketers to track the volume of posts on a given product, the tone of the conversation and the influence level and demographic of the bloggers talking about the product. This all create a better view of how the brand is faring, what improvements could be made and in the case of unfairly negative postings (for example from a rival product/service) can help marketers shut down these negative postings.

This platform is a good way for marketers to get nearly-real-time information about their brand in the online world.