I was on IM the other day with Connie Bensen, my favourite Community Strategist star and she mentioned about brand monitoring. I am no brand expert, and I did not realize what I was doing with Google Alerts was part of brand monitoring. That sets me thinking about how companies have the opportunities to shape their branding with people who are actually their customers, and ones to-be.

Association of Small & Medium Enterprises (ASME) organizes the Singapore Brand Awards annually to choose winners in several categories who “have managed their effectively through various brand-related initiatives“. I am wondering how many of these companies have turned to conversations in social networks, forums, social enabled sites in helping manage branding activities.

My Starbuck IdeasIm a Starbucks Fan and I thought it is kinda nice they are putting up a web site to gather inputs from their customers. That has to do something to your brand, and keep it current with what customers values most during purchases. MyStarbucksIdea is the same as Dell Ideastorm. Ideastorm was deemed the point of return for a company that once entered a brand crisis. You have to be serious enough to bring upon changes with sites like this. Notice that they have “Ideas In Actions” tab, it is not your typical NATO ( No Action Talk Only) fashion. I think this certainly keeps the values of a brand in check.

The Open Room from the people in Ogilvy Singapore, is a blog for brands and bloggers. They started a conversation on the topic Can Brands Have a Social Life. Interesting comments, from that post.

Related Links

10 Top Reasons For Monitoring Brands In Social Media