Following our first installment of :cgi (consumer generated insight), part two shifts the focus from the importance of CGC to what corporate marketers can do with it. While social networks, CGC and WOM are stirring a lot of conversation within marketing departments, few companies have embraced the channel beyond a tactical execution or two.

The implications and advantages of CGC are significant in all aspects of marketing, from research through loyalty, and any approach should consider each of these in an ongoing and iterative process.

Here we’ll focus on the research aspects of :cgi including measuring and monitoring.

As the first step in harnessing the power of Word-of-Mouth online we recommend an initial audit to assess the volume of CGC related to our clients and their competitors, and an analysis of that data to establish benchmarks. The audit process, developed with our colleagues at Market Sentinel, consists of:

1) Reputation Imperatives Interview
Define the scope of content to be captured and analyzed such as keywords, brand metrics, communication priorities, hot topics, etc.

2) Data Capture
Technology spiders the web capturing relevant content and information about its source. The audit typically gathers content from the prior 6-month period for analysis.

3) Volume Measurement
Initial measurements of the amount of CGC are taken to establish a benchmark and to identify trends and influences upon commentary volume.

4) Influential Stakeholder Analysis
The data is analyzed to identify the most influential sources of CGC relating to our client, competitors and their industry.

5) Issue Influence Index
A measure of relative influence of content sources on the issue in focus.

6) Net Approval Index
Based upon the extensive research of Fred Reichheld in the development of the Net Promoter Score. We have adapted and applied this methodology to the universe of online conversation.

7) SWOT Analysis
Quantitative and qualitative analysis of the CGC data provides insights about product sentiment, market topics, customer segments, etc which are then plotted in a SWOT analysis, illustrating strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

With volume measured, influencers indexed and topics identified, these benchmarks provide the foundation for ongoing monitoring of the online consumer conversation in near real-time. Weekly, monthly or quarterly reports are created based upon the most recent CGC data measuring our clients’ brand health against Key Performance Indicators such as Net Approval Index. Acute attention is paid to the qualitative data content to identify actionable consumer insights as threats or opportunities. Competitive intelligence is maintained and compared in parallel with brand performance.

Together, the audit and ongoing monitoring can provide a marketer with deep insight about the health of their brand and set the stage for innovative marketing efforts - but we’ll save that for part 3…