A recent eMarketer article suggests no, companies “don’t need to respond to every ounce of negative buzz.” The article suggests letting other customers (or brand advocates) address some of the problems. That strategy can backfire, though, if a number of customer questions go unanswered. For example, 49.5 percent of respondents in a Conversocial survey said they’d be far less likely to buy anything from a company that had unanswered complaints or inquiries on their social sites.

If customer questions are bogging down your brand page on social sites and your social media team, consider establishing a separate page for customer service-related issues. For example, Comcast’s @comcastcares and Delta Airline’s @DeltaAssist pages on Twitter are good examples of companies successfully setting up a separate presence to handle customer issues.

If the thought of managing multiple pages makes your head spin and you’re not going to address customer concerns on your brand page, consider directing customers to where they can get help. For example, Virgin Airlines offers a clear statement in its Twitter bio: “Although we won’t address specific guest service issues on Twitter, our team of experts is eager to help you at http://vgn.am/GstHlp or call 1-877-359-8474.” This is also a good tactic if you’re in an industry that deals with sensitive personal and/or financial information, such as banks.

If your company is constrained either by budget or resources—or both—and you know you won’t be able to respond to every customer question that comes in over the virtual transom, I recommend establishing criteria to help prioritize the questions you should respond to. Consider whether the problem or question is related to any of following:

• Brand reputation
• Product quality
• Safety
• A potential legal issue

When you do respond to customer complaints, keep in mind that it matters not only what you say, but also how you say it.

Are you using social sites to field customer service issues? How do you determine which questions or complaints to respond to?

While Karla unravels the buzzword to present a comprehensive definition of content marketing, I came across a number of other buzzwords in CMI’s predictions survey. Namely, content hub, crowdsourcing, content curation, and personal branding. You’ve probably heard these buzzwords bandied about, but below we’ve defined them and provided further reading for each term.

Content hub
Smartphones and tablet computers are useful devices, but using them to surf the Web for your daily dose of news and social media updates can be painful. Enter the content hub, which pulls together content based on your profile and interests together with your social media networks and curates them into a single destination. Content hubs that are making the news are Flipboard for iPhone, Google Currents, and Zite.

And where there is a trend, some marketers are already thinking of ways for brands to take advantage of it. If you’re creating original content for your customers, why not create a content hub that would be useful to your target audience and make it into a destination that they will return to regularly? To give this a test drive, check out the VentureFizz blog post that details how to build a basic content hub for your brand.

Crowdsourcing
Crowdsourcing, the idea of gathering a group or “crowd” to accomplish a task through an open call, has been around for as long as folks are willing to donate their time for a good cause. The Habitat for Humanity project, which draws thousands of volunteers around the United States to build and beautify homes for the needy, is a great example. Marketers are now using crowdsourcing in social media to increase awareness of their brands and/or campaigns.

Brands have also used crowdsourcing to help them develop new products. My Starbucks Idea, for example, encourages customers to share their coffee-related ideas and wishes online. However, there is an art to managing crowdsourcing projects, as my colleague Siobhan Nash explains in her post, “Why crowdsourcing isn’t a synonym for community.”

Content curation
Content curation is an extension of content aggregation, the automatic gathering of links, often by broad topics such as business, politics, and sports. While aggregation provides no connections between the links, content curation uses human intervention in the form of editorial judgment and organization to present content pulled from a variety of sources that’s relevant and timely. Another Tendo View post describes content curation in more detail: “Content curation: aggregation with a new name?”

Personal branding
We can’t stop some of our friends who are hell-bent on posting embarrassing pictures of us, but we can control what we post about ourselves. You are making personal branding decisions each time you craft your status update, post a comment on someone’s blog, or Instagram that cute picture of your dog. You are defining how others view you. Some content marketing experts say personal branding and corporate branding will collide in 2012, benefiting both parties.

Brands can build trust in the market through the trusted reputation of some personal brands (for example, when your employees post positive sentiments about your company to their friends). Individuals get increased visibility within the industry by being associated with your brand. Read more about how personal and corporate branding will converge.

Have you put any of these buzzwords to good use? Please share your story!

Often a company’s execs will use their personal accounts to cheerlead about the brand. Although that human-to-human interaction may provide the best “social engagement,” having a brand-based identity is valuable for at least three reasons:

• It’s easier to find. Not everyone will think to search for your vice president of development’s feed. They’ll be looking for your company name.
• It’s an information hub. Large enterprises might have a dozen people tweeting about the company and the market niche. For specific announcements and news, though, you expect a corporate site to aggregate it.
• It’s permanent and controlled. When employees leave, they take their accounts with them. A former employee may shut down the account, stop tweeting about your market niche, or even start tweeting about the rival company he or she just joined. A corporate identity is yours, even through staff changes. And you don’t have to fight for it in court.

But there’s one challenge to “@companyname” versus “@companyperson.” If the face of your account is your logo rather than, you know, a face, how do you successfully engage in the most personal and identity-driven form of marketing since door-to-door? It’s no problem when the tweet is “Hey, watch our new video” or “Attend our free webinar.” But what happens when it’s more personal?

Companies large and small have dealt with this potential social disconnect in a variety of ways. Here are a few:

Allstate tweets as a single entity (@allstate), but its page posts names and photos of the six-person team behind the tweeting. Generic announcements of contests and such go unsigned, but tweets directed at individuals or with a personal flair are initialed. It makes a big difference when the tweet responding to a problem and offering direct contact for resolution comes from an identifiable human rather than a cipher behind a logo.

(In a sort of inverse, Michelle Obama initials all the tweets that are actually from her. Tweets without her initials are sent out by anonymous staffers. Either way, it’s about authenticity and the human touch.)

Social media marketing house Radian6 names its Twitter attendants in its profile (@Radian6) and posts their active hours. Is it weird to think of something on the Internet being “closed for business”? Maybe, but at least the company lets followers know when they can and can’t expect responses. Intel tells you who its three tweeters are (@Intel) and links you to their personal Twitter accounts as well, but there’s no way to tell who’s tweeting what on the main Intel feed. Because Intel’s stream is fairly impersonal, even by B2B standards, knowing who’s typing each tweet seems less important.

But @CiscoSecurity names the marketing manager behind the account as Jason Lackey, who runs it with a mix of announcements and interesting security-related links. The recent content I scanned was not much more “personal” than on Cisco Systems’ main feed (@CiscoSystems is as impersonal as @Intel), but just having a name made those “hey, interesting reading” links more appealing to me.

There are different uses and strategies behind a Twitter account, especially when you’re coordinating your brand identity with other, human-identified accounts, so there’s no one correct approach. And norms change.  People become used to the idea of “companies” tweeting.

I turn the question to you—should a brand’s official Twitter account identify its humans or keep them anonymous? If it depends on circumstances, which circumstances persuade you one way or the other?

I might also have mentioned that’s what old seems to be new again—just revamped for the Internet age. Our parents clipped coupons, we use Groupon. Our parents had garage sales, we have Craig’s List and eBay. We used to make collages, and now we make them online, using sites like Pinterest. However, I can’t really discuss these topics with (Pinterest) authority because I’m still waiting for my invite to join the Pinterest community. When I requested an invitation last Thursday, here’s the message I received:

Hi! Thanks for joining the Pinterest waiting list. We’ll be sure to send you an invite soon. In the meantime, you can follow us on Twitter. You can also explore a few pins. We’re excited to get you pinning soon!

- Ben and the Pinterest Team

They get points in my book for giving me more information—“pins” to explore and a link to the site’s Twitter feed. The email isn’t just a dead-end. However, I found the message to be a big missed opportunity. Here’s why:

I requested an invitation, but that doesn’t mean I know much—or anything—about the site. This is Pinterest’s chance to tell me why it’s cool and why it’s worth waiting for. It doesn’t need to be five paragraphs—I appreciate short and snappy—but give me something. And give me a clue about when I’ll get an invite and why there’s a waiting list in the first place. Is it to create more buzz and excitement? Is it because the servers can’t handle the potential onslaught of traffic caused by the site’s increasing popularity? There might be strategic reasons that the company doesn’t want to share with users, but it can’t be too tough to think of a customer-friendly explanation to provide to people who have expressed an interest in your business.

Also, who’s Ben? Clearly, he’s an informal kind of guy, but should I have to do a Google search to find out that he’s most likely Ben Silbermann, one of the site’s cofounders? A little context in the email would have been helpful.

Lastly, and most importantly, the email omits the fact that if you have a friend who’s already joined, that person can send you an invite. Wouldn’t it make sense to mention that? Had I known, I would’ve emailed a handful of friends or posted something on Facebook to find out if anyone I knew had already joined, thereby spreading the buzz about the company.

Every communication with your customer is an opportunity, especially if it’s potentially your *only* communication with that customer. Don’t blow it.

Over the last few years, computer scientists and business intelligence experts have been developing sentiment analysis tools that track and assess the perception of your brand in social media conversations, newspapers, online chat groups, videos, and many other digital sources.

Sentiment analysis is a powerful tool that enables you to understand what customers and potential customers are saying about you. Used correctly, you’d be able to stop negative sentiment from getting out of control or promote and grow positive sentiment.

Experts suggest that there are some 200 tools and platforms that provide sentiment analysis. Some, such as Jive Software’s free Fathom application, provide basic monitoring and analyzing of social media conversations. With Fathom, organizations can keep track of conversations and engage in these discussions, as necessary. Facebook was recently reported to be testing a negative sentiment analysis feature for its upgraded Page Insights offering. Page administrators would be able to view the number of Facebook users who have commented negatively in response to a brand post.

Other sentiment analysis tools provide more detailed analysis and are able to notify and mobilize specific job functions, such as product development, customer support, public outreach, and lead generation, based on the analysis.

What the best sentiment analysis tool should do
The Holy Grail of sentiment analysis tools is not only to listen to conversations on social media and other digital platforms, but also to marry that with customer data found in traditional sources, such as customer relationship management or enterprise relationship management systems used to identify sales and business opportunities. The most effective sentiment analysis tool would be able to filter the noise around social media, understand and take into account different cultural and geographic nuances, predict likely outcomes, and present business decisions as recommended actions.

There are many examples of organizations acting on sentiment analysis. A New York Times article describes how StubHub avoided a full-blown customer revolt by offering discounts and credits to fans affected by a rain-delayed Yankees-Red Sox game. Fans had mistakenly been told by stadium officials that the game had been canceled. The fans were denied requests for refunds because the game was actually played. When fans voiced their displeasure online, the company moved to offer discounts and credits.

Sarcasm or genuine sentiment?
Experts say there are a number of challenges with sentiment analysis. “Sarcasm or other forms of derisive language are extremely problematic for technologies to interpret,” notes a post on the TIBCO Business Intelligence Blog. Context could be another problem. How well would sentiment analysis tools differentiate between these two statements: “Rolex watches cost a great deal” versus “I have a great deal of work ahead of me. Thank my Rolex watch for keeping me on time.” Also, these complex tools likely need the human touch of a statistician or business intelligence expert to analyze the results effectively.

If you haven’t experienced sentiment analysis tools, you can test out the very basic tool at tweetfeel.com. According to the site’s FAQ, the tool monitors positive and negative feelings in Twitter conversations using some “insanely complex algorithms to make sure your results fairly display the true feelings.” Type in a common term, such as “Ashton Kutcher,” and watch the numbers under the happy green icon and the unhappy red icon ratchet up as the real-time tweets showing your search term scroll down the screen.

The TweetFeel FAQ admits the tool can be fooled by sarcasm, though: “Achieving perfection is impossible, but that doesn’t mean we won’t try.”

If a company could combine the two, well, there’s your meaningful connection.

Why cause marketing works: a first-hand account
I had heard about my friend Moana’s accident, but had completely lost touch with her and had no idea how she was doing. But with just a few clicks, I could make a donation and share her cause with my entire Facebook network. So, too, could dozens of other college friends who knew her. Through the power of social media, the Magic for Moana campaign could reach thousands of people fast—and at no cost. If a brand was associated with the campaign, say as a matching donor, there’s no question I would feel loyalty to that brand.

How companies use social media for cause marketing
Visit Coca-Cola’s home page on Facebook and you might be surprised by what you see. Yes, there’s the iconic image of a Coke bottle on the left. But the dominant image is that of a mother polar bear and her two young cubs. One cub glances at you innocently.

So why is Coca-Cola, the behemoth beverage company, promoting Arctic polar bears on Facebook? Adjacent to the momma bear and her cubs is a blurb about Coca-Cola’s partnership with World Wildlife Fund to create an Arctic refuge for the polar bear. It’s hard not to laud Coca-Cola for its effort. And what if I told you the polar bear cause is also good for Coke’s business?

As I suspected, research indicates that consumers prefer buying from companies that support causes they believe in. For example, Cone Inc. found that 85 percent of Americans have a more positive image of a product or company when it supports a cause they care about. And Bob Gilbreath, chief marketing strategist at Bridge Worldwide and author of “Marketing with Meaning,” has shared the following statistics about cause-oriented brand affinity: 87 percent of consumers would switch brands based on association with a good cause, and 50 percent of consumers would pay more for a product from brands that support causes.

Millennials care more
There’s a widely held theory that consumers now expect more of companies because of the corporate misbehavior in recent years (think Enron, MCI, BP, banks, mortgage companies). In theory, corporate misbehavior has motivated consumers to reward those companies that “do good.”

There’s also research indicating that millennials (born 1979-2001) have a stronger social conscience due to the economic and natural disasters they grew up with (like the dotcom collapse, 9/11, and Hurricane Katrina), and that these events influence what brands they support. Although a few years old, Cone Inc.’s “2006 Millennial Cause Study” reports the following about millennials:

• 83 percent will trust a company more if it is socially/environmentally responsible
• 66 percent will recommend products/services if the company is socially responsible
• 89 percent are likely or very likely to switch from one brand to another brand (price and quality being equal) if the second brand is associated with a good cause

The critical link in the cause marketing + social media equation is, of course, the underlying motivation for why people share. In a blog post titled “The science of sharing: How charities can increase financial support using social media,” Craig Hartzel, CEO of Charity Greetings, cites research from a team at the Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania that claims, “people prefer to share information with a positive rather than negative theme.”

If this holds true, using social networks to align your brand with efforts to solve social and environmental issues could build brand affinity with your target market.

Successful cause marketing campaigns for social media
Several brand-name companies recognize this issues-oriented shift among consumers. They also understand the viral nature of social media and have developed some impactful cause marketing campaigns for social media.

• Pepsi’s Refresh Project, which was promoted on Facebook and Twitter, featured an online contest for community projects. Those that received the most votes received grants from Pepsi in the range of $5,000 to $250,000. In total, Pepsi is believed to have distributed more than $20 million. As reported by Jennifer Preston in the New York Times, Pepsi achieved its goal of aligning its brand with a good cause on social media: “As Pepsi had hoped, competitors have turned to their personal networks on Facebook and Twitter to gain support for their ideas, extending the Pepsi brand and its do-good message. Nearly 19 percent of the 77 million votes have been cast through Facebook. On Twitter, participants were urged to use the hashtag ‘#PepsiRefresh,’ and they did.”
• Kohl’s Love to Give Happy to Save contest on Facebook is giving away $500,000 to charities. The contest asks that people submit stories and photos describing who or what inspires them to give. The public votes for their favorite stories and they win the cash. James Epstein-Reeves, contributor to the Forbes Corporate Responsibility Blog, summarized Kohl’s Cares campaign in a blog post titled, The Democratization of Corporate Philanthropy. “The Kohl’s Cares Facebook page has surpassed one million ‘likes.’ This gives Kohl’s an effective way to engage people with its brand, a permission-given way to communicate with these potential customers, and very valuable demographic information,” wrote Epstein-Reeves.
• And Ford Motor Company is running The People’s Fleet on Facebook, a charity program through which the company will donate a 2012 Ford Focus to non-profit organizations in the Los Angeles area, as well as provide a team of filmmakers to document and promote their work. I couldn’t find results yet for Ford’s campaign, but the company built a top-shelf website and the program appears to be gaining traction. Keep an eye out for news on its results.

It’s always a good time for companies to support the causes they believe in. But with the unmatched viral potential of social media and the social consciousness of today’s consumer, now may be the best time ever.

Happy holidays.