CardMarketing 2.0

I wonder how many issuers have a blog monitoring tool that allows them to actively track any mentions of them in the blogosphere? It's an area, I'm pretty sure, few issuers have looked into yet (I say this because I was in a meeting the other day with a highly successful UK dotcom and even they are only starting to do it in the new year). But it's an area issuers can no longer afford to ignore.

As at the end of November, blog monitoring company Technorati was tracking 112.8 million blogs and 250 million pieces of tagged social media — now that's a lot of conversations. And what's certain is that many of these conversations, happening right now, involve your cards and your brand.

One of the key roles of blog monitoring tools such as BlogPulse and Signal Fire Strategies (there are a growing number out there, with different strengths, so you'll need to do some research) is to allow you to keep an eye on what's being said, and to provide you with the opportunity to engage in conversation at suitable times.

This basically means you can rock up out of the blue into online discussions where you or your cards are the subject, which can be a great way to build or (presuming the thread is negative) repair relationships. Blog monitoring is now an essential extension of your marketing and PR — it's fundamental to your social media strategy and online reputation management.



Companies like Signal Fire allow you to manage your reputation online and keep track of how your campaigns are going down in user-generated enivronments.
 
One thing's for certain: it's an opportunity that never existed before. You can never know when a group of friends sitting in a bar are talking about how poor your customer service is, but you can find out and potentially influence a group of people if this conversation is taking place online — on a blog or message board, or in an online discussion group or forum. In cases like this, you can waltz over with a virtual round of drinks, plonk yourself down and proactively deal with the issues they have. In most cases, and presuming you contribute useful views and content and are helpful and honest, they'll appreciate your joining in.

So, where do you start? Well it's impossible to monitor all blogs at all times so first up try and single out the blogs and discussion forums that are specifically relevant. And make sure you have all the really popular ones covered, as these will boast increased 'mindshare' of the online audience. For example, issuers in the UK should certainly monitor the busy forums on personal finance site, MoneySavingExpert.

The screengrab below contains a question a person posted only yesterday on what card might be best for them when they're away travelling for a year — they're after a credit card with a £2k limit and 12 months' interest at 0%. Now, you may or may not be interested in this (hmmm, I'd be thinking long-term and apathy rather than rate tart), but it's an example of a conversation that you can engage in and potentially benefit from. Snippets like this can be as warm a lead as you can get.