Monitor your Brand with an RSS Feed Reader. Here is How!

Truth, as marketing will tell you, hinges on who’s telling the story and how far it reaches out. Whoever controls the narratives, controls public perception – and by extension, reality.

You might be the best custom dog food provider in your area, but if a disgruntled customer has managed to go viral with their grievances… Then you have a problem on your hands.

RSS Feed Reader

Brand monitoring keeps control firmly in your hands. However, it can get pricey to do when it comes to the tools available to do the job.

That’s why I want to turn your attention to an unlikely candidate to handle the work – RSS feed readers!

Brief introduction to RSS feed readers

It’s not uncommon to encounter someone who’s really confused when they hear about RSS feed readers. I personally have to explain what a feed reader is more than I care to share. It’s sad to think that such a great tool has been forgotten and right when it’s become the best version of itself.

Alright! Let’s talk about RSS, or ‘Really Simple Syndication’. It’s a protocol as old as the Internet designed to syndicate content from more than one source into a single location (RSS feed reader). Even twenty years ago, developers knew it could get tedious, if you had to visit every site under the sun manually.

Hence, RSS. Readers subscribe to RSS feeds and update simultaneously as soon as a site posts a new update or article. Back in the day, RSS readers only displayed a portion of the article, either a summary (also a reason RSS has been called ‘Rich Text Summary’) or a small excerpt. Also no media files loaded. That’s all in the past as RSS feed readers have moved well beyond these humble beginnings.

Why is brand monitoring important for your business?

Businesses rely on data to thrive and brand monitoring in the digital age presents a low barrier to gathering necessary to make crucial decisions about the future of a company. Brand monitoring is the big eye pointed at what your customers are doing, what they’re saying about you and how they react to new campaigns, messaging and products.

Digitalization comes with its own set of challenges. Most having to do with an accelerated product cycle and generation of trends. Presented with so many options, customers are likely to abandon ship as soon as a better option appears. Brand monitoring – when done correctly and continuously – makes sure that you are the only option that matters.

How can RSS help you with brand monitoring?

Time to draw the line between RSS feed readers and brand monitoring. The reader doesn’t seem like that exciting of a tool to handle something as responsible as brand monitoring.

Here you would be wrong, because advanced RSS readers have done quite a bit of growing. Just look at Inoreader. Developers have spent years perfecting its discovery mode and have released a powerful browser extension to aid you wherever you are on the Internet.

With options to follow just about any type of media, customizable feeds and built-in features for sharing and teamwork, Inoreader proves itself as a true force to be reckoned with! All you have to do is know how to use it effectively.

Achieve more effective communication

Part of brand monitoring is zeroing in on mentions of your brand online. It’s proven that most reviews do not tag companies on social media, so you can’t rely on your mentions to immediately spot when a bad review has popped up. Through good keyword research and monitoring, you’ll be able to spot any negative press bubbling up and give you a chance to respond and diffuse the situation.

Create more targeted campaigns

Brand monitoring also gives you a lot of insight into what makes your customers tick. What are they interested in? What are their online behaviors? Consumer history? Preferred online haunts? The language they speak?

All ingredients to building a strong rapport and targeting campaigns. The more you can build on top of your starting buyer persona the better. To that end it helps to have a few influencers and brand ambassadors on your side so that you can get your foot in the door.

Keep up with the latest trends

Remember when I mentioned Inoreader has fantastic content discovery? This is where it comes in – market research. You never know when there’s a big shift in your industry coming your way and only those quick enough to notice the early signs have a head start in making these trends work in their favor.

These trends can be as large as an overall change in customer tastes and needs, or smaller scale – an uptick in demand at a certain time, for instance.

Track competitors

Competitors often determine a company’s strategy just as much as the customers do. You’re not the only fish in the pond. Therefore, you need to be adaptable and respond accordingly to what your biggest competitors are doing.

If you happen to be mid-tier, then this advice applies doubly to you. You don’t want to launch a new product or campaign, when the market leader in your sector has something big going on. All the attention will go to them and they will drown you out. Exception to this is when you’re both part of a trade show. Launches and big announcements are expected at such an event.

Reach out to customers much easier

RSS in general is fantastic for improving your overall relationship and communication with your target audience. As you discover who your ideal customer is, where they hang out and what their biggest needs are, you not only are able to sell more products, but create a stronger bond.

Brands live and die by the trust they build with their audience. The more you improve your online presence and keep communication channels open, the easier it will be to talk to your customers and get them involved.

About Carson Derrow

My name is Carson Derrow I'm an entrepreneur, professional blogger, and marketer from Arkansas. I've been writing for startups and small businesses since 2012. I share the latest business news, tools, resources, and marketing tips to help startups and small businesses to grow their business.