Do You Know How Your Music Brand Is Perceived?

How to monitor and manage online conversations about your brand.

The internet gives music manufacturers 24/7 access to the opinions and complaints of customers via online platforms like Twitter, Facebook, forums, and even videos. Potential customers listen to what’s being said about your brand, and you should too. Brand perception affects purchasing decisions—and your bottom line. By joining in and quickly clearing up misconceptions or complaints, you can ensure a positive brand perception. Here’s how:

Monitor Your Mentions

The Advertising Research Foundation found that 23% of people who saw brand mentions visited a company’s website, 20% visited a brand’s Twitter page, and 20% searched online to learn more about a brand. Online brand mentions move people to act, so it’s important to be aware of them and respond when they are less than positive.

Services like Mention or Google Alerts allow you to monitor what’s being said about your music brand anywhere online. You can then respond to negative feedback with information and offers of customer support. Don’t worry if attempts to stamp out negativity aren’t successful. It’s the effort that matters. Actively participating will help your music brand generate more positive mentions, effectively burying negative mentions with more relevant, accurate and positive ones.

Participate in Industry Forums and Blogs (or Host One)

Music brands win when they listen to customers, even when their brand isn’t the topic. Regularly checking and participating in relevant music forums and blogs in your category lets you track topics that matter to your customers, keep your brand top-of-mind, and respond to brand misconceptions or complaints when/if they arise.

Drum manufacturer TAMA hosts its own music forum called Backbeat, which is a smart way to learn what customers care about. The brand actively participates through an administrator and responds to customers in the voice of an educated peer when brand clarification is needed. For instance, when one participant questioned how TAMA chooses drummers to endorse, an administrator jumped in to explain. Managing brand perception while interacting with customers on music sites can reinforce a company’s reputation as being responsive, customer-focused and genuinely interested in music!

Choose Your Platforms Wisely

Finally, your marketing team can’t be everywhere, so be discerning about where you invest time and energy. For instance, Fender has a LinkedIn page that may help it with recruiting, but it is not a platform the brand’s target audience would use to find information. Fender’s Twitter page is much more robust, and the brand clearly puts time and money into managing it because that is what matters to its customers. The goal is to engage target audiences on platforms that appeal to their interests and allow you to share their passion for music. If you do this with authenticity, a positive brand perception is sure to follow.

Need more tools for listening to customers? Check out my post Four Reasons Music Brands Should Be Rocking Customer Reviews.