How savvy firms monitor customers' online chatter

Monitoring, analyzing and responding to what consumers are saying on social media sites are no longer just activities for big-name companies. With consumers sharing their experiences through Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other outlets at "the speed of thought," as Gartner Inc. analyst Toby Bell puts it, this is quickly becoming an essential piece of any company's risk management and customer engagement strategy. Social media monitoring efforts usually start in marketing or public relations departments. But as they become more important and expand to other areas of the company, the IT department will need to play a role. "These systems open up opportunities that cross organizational silos, and CIOs are in the right position to understand the technology layers and how the data should connect to the business strategy," says Nathan Gilliatt, principal at Social Target LLC, a research and consulting firm in Apex, N.C. At a minimum, he says, IT leaders should understand the goals of social media monitoring and engagement initiatives. And as practices mature, they should help to combine social media analysis with data from other systems to gain new customer insights.