Social Media Channels – Online Moderation

2026 Social Media & Content Moderation Outlook: What’s Changing and What It Means for Your Brand

Mark Somol — Thu, 11 Dec 2025 16:26:13 +0000

Social platforms are now shaped by tighter regulations, shifting user behavior, and faster-moving trends than most teams can comfortably keep up with. In 2026, the way content is created, monitored, and enforced is changing more quickly and more publicly than ever before.

For brands, this isn’t just background noise. It affects how you protect your reputation, how you engage with customers, and how you keep your communities safe and growing. The choices you make now about policies, partnerships, and the systems you rely on will determine whether you stay ahead of the curve or spend the year putting out fires.

Here’s what’s reshaping the landscape and how your brand can prepare.

1. AI-Generated Content Creates New Moderation Challenges

Sophisticated AI-generated content is flooding social platforms and review sites. Deepfakes, synthetic reviews, and AI-written comments are becoming harder to distinguish from authentic user content. Bad actors can now create convincing fake controversies, generate hundreds of seemingly legitimate negative reviews, or impersonate customers at scale.

Automated detection tools can flag obvious AI content, but sophisticated attacks require human judgment to identify. Context matters. Is this a coordinated campaign or organic criticism? Is the language pattern suspicious or just coincidental? Understanding brand history, product issues, and community dynamics becomes essential to separating real concerns from manufactured crises.

The prediction for 2026: AI-generated content will become a standard threat vector that brands must actively defend against. The volume and sophistication of synthetic content will increase, but the solution won’t be more AI detection alone. Success will require experienced moderators who understand both the technology and the subtle patterns that indicate coordinated inauthentic behavior.

2. Regulatory Compliance: The New Reality

Major regulations like the EU’s Digital Services Act and the UK Online Safety Act are transforming content moderation from a “nice to have” into a legal requirement. These aren’t suggestions, they’re mandates with serious financial penalties for non-compliance. Similar regulations are emerging in other jurisdictions, and child safety laws are becoming increasingly strict with severe consequences for violations.

Compliance isn’t just a platform problem anymore. Brands are responsible for content in their owned communities, comments on their posts, and how they moderate customer interactions. Financial services and healthcare companies already understand this reality, but it’s expanding to all consumer-facing brands. The cost of non-compliance includes both financial penalties and reputation damage.

The prediction for 2026: Regulatory compliance will drive moderation budgets as legal and risk management teams get involved in social media decisions. Companies will need documented processes, audit trails, and demonstrable monitoring coverage. The informal approach many brands have taken to social media moderation won’t meet the coming regulatory standards, and the companies that treat moderation as risk management rather than a marketing function will be better positioned.

3. Reddit: The Opportunity Everyone’s Talking About

Reddit experienced a staggering 1,348% increase in Google visibility throughout 2025. Reddit’s prominence in Google search results has fundamentally changed how consumers research brands and products. What was once a niche community platform now appears in the top results for product reviews, service complaints, and brand discussions. This shift coincided with major search engines prioritizing authentic user conversations over traditional SEO-optimized content.

The platform’s influence extends beyond direct visibility. Reddit threads are currently the #2 source of training data for large language models, meaning conversations happening on the platform shape how AI tools respond to brand-related queries. Unlike managed social channels, Reddit’s culture demands authenticity as users quickly identify and reject obvious corporate messaging, making it a unique challenge for brand reputation management. Brands like Spotify, Xbox, and Nissan succeed by embedding themselves into communities first, contributing value before promoting products.

The prediction for 2026: Brands will treat Reddit monitoring with the same priority as traditional review sites like Yelp or Trustpilot. The platform’s dual role as both a search result driver and LLM training data source makes it impossible to ignore and companies without dedicated Reddit moderation strategies will face reputation risks they can’t see coming.

4. Social Search Changes Discovery and Risk

Younger consumers increasingly bypass Google entirely, using TikTok, Instagram, and Reddit as their primary search engines. They’re looking for product recommendations, service reviews, and brand information directly within social platforms. This behavioral shift means brands must optimize content for social discovery, not just traditional search engines.

This change multiplies the touchpoints where reputation can be damaged. A negative comment on TikTok, a critical Reddit thread, or complaint on Instagram can now serve as a prospect’s first introduction to a brand. The “always-on” nature of social search means there’s no downtime. Conversations happen 24/7 across time zones, and responses need to be timely and appropriate.

The prediction for 2026: Social search will drive increased demand for comprehensive, cross-platform monitoring services. Brands that treat social media as purely a marketing channel, rather than a search and reputation environment, will struggle to control their narrative. The companies that understand this shift will invest in continuous monitoring across all platforms where their audience searches.

5. Human-AI Collaboration Models Mature

The question isn’t whether to use AI in content moderation, but how to combine it effectively with human judgment. AI excels at processing volume, from scanning thousands of posts, flagging potential issues, to identifying patterns. Humans excel at context and are great at understanding brand voice, assessing nuanced situations, and making judgment calls during crises.

Forward-thinking companies are deploying hybrid models where AI handles the scale and humans handle the decisions. This approach acknowledges that AI can’t replace the institutional knowledge of experienced moderators who understand a brand’s history, values, and customer base. The most effective moderation teams use AI as a tool to enhance human capabilities, not as a replacement for them.

The prediction for 2026: The market will split between low-cost, AI-only services that fail to catch sophisticated issues and premium human-AI hybrid services that deliver actual results. Brands with significant reputation risk like financial services, healthcare, and consumer products, will increasingly demand proof that humans are making final decisions, especially during crises when nuanced judgment matters most.

6. Video Content Demands New Approaches

Video content has surged over the past few years, and moderating it has become increasingly complex. Unlike static posts, video blends visuals, sound, and movement, all of which need to be interpreted together and often in real time.

TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and similar formats generate massive volumes of brand mentions, product reviews, and customer complaints in video form. This shift presents unique challenges. Video requires more time to review than text, context can be harder to assess, and the volume continues to accelerate.

Live streaming adds real-time complexity. Live commerce, product launches, and interactive events require immediate moderation decisions without the buffer of recorded content review. The technical and operational requirements for effective video moderation are significantly different from text-based social media management.

The prediction for 2026: Looking ahead, video moderation will keep evolving to handle rising challenges, from spotting deepfakes to navigating cultural nuances and newly emerging harmful trends. Brands will face difficult decisions about video moderation capabilities and priorities. While monitoring posted video content is manageable, real-time livestream moderation requires different infrastructure and staffing models. Companies will need to honestly assess which video platforms and formats are essential to their business and allocate resources accordingly, rather than trying to cover everything inadequately.

7. The Migration to Private Communities

Users are abandoning public social feeds for more intimate digital spaces like WhatsApp Channels, Discord servers, and Instagram broadcast channels. Smart brands are building exclusive communities that generate higher engagement and stronger loyalty than traditional social media. But intimacy creates new challenges. Moderation failures have outsized impact in smaller spaces where a single toxic member can poison community culture.

Traditional moderation approaches designed for high-volume public feeds don’t translate well to private communities. These spaces require moderators who understand community dynamics and can balance safety with authentic discussion. The operational complexity increases as private communities often lack the built-in moderation tools that major platforms provide. And, these communities often benefit from active moderators who contribute to conversations.

The prediction for 2026: The migration to private communities will accelerate, and brands without proper moderation infrastructure will learn expensive lessons. The winners will treat community moderation as a strategic investment, understanding that in private spaces, moderation quality directly determines member experiences and brand loyalty.

The Bottom Line

The social media landscape of 2026 presents brands with a paradox: more opportunities for genuine connection, but also more ways for things to go wrong. AI-generated content, regulatory compliance, social search, video moderation, and private communities all demand sophisticated approaches that most internal teams aren’t equipped to handle alone. Volume and complexity are increasing while tolerance for mistakes is decreasing. A moderation failure can trigger regulatory penalties, viral backlash, or permanent community damage.

The brands that will thrive recognize content moderation as a strategic function rather than a cost center. This isn’t something you figure out as you go. The learning curve is steep, the consequences of mistakes are significant, and the landscape changes faster than most teams can keep pace with.

If you’re navigating any of these challenges, from AI-generated content attacks, regulatory compliance, cross-platform monitoring, video moderation, to private community management, reach out to us at Online Moderation. We specialize in helping brands build moderation strategies that actually work, combining experienced human judgment with the right technology to protect your reputation and grow your communities safely. Let’s talk about what effective moderation looks like for your specific situation.

The post 2026 Social Media & Content Moderation Outlook: What’s Changing and What It Means for Your Brand appeared first on Online Moderation.

Company Subreddits: Are They Worth It? Pros and Cons Explained

Kate AlShafie — Thu, 28 Aug 2025 18:08:15 +0000

Company Subreddits: Are They Worth It? Pros and Cons Explained

If you spend any time on Reddit, then you will come across some thriving Subreddits where users rally around the brands they love. Users are swapping tips, solving each other’s problems, and hyping up the latest product drop. It’s organic, enthusiastic, and totally customer-driven. As a marketer or business owner, it’s hard not to think, “How do I build something like that for my own brand?”

But before you dive into creating r/YourAwesomeCompany, let’s have a conversation about what you’re really signing up for. Starting a company subreddit can be a game-changer for community building, but it’s not all upvotes and wholesome discussions. Like any marketing strategy worth its salt, it comes with both incredible opportunities and some pretty significant risks.

At Online Moderation, we have been building and managing Subreddit communities for quite some time now and every single launch teaches us something new about what works, what doesn’t, and what can absolutely blindside even the most prepared brands.

So if you’re considering launching a company subreddit, here’s what we’ve observed from the trenches. In this blog, we are breaking down whether launching your own Reddit community is the right move for you.

The Sweet Spots: Why Company Subreddits Can Be Pure Gold

The Magic of Organic Evangelism

There’s something magical about creating a space where your most passionate customers can geek out together. When you launch a subreddit, you’re not just creating another marketing channel—you’re building a digital clubhouse for people who genuinely care about what you do. Instead of customers feeling like they’re shouting into the void when they have questions or ideas, they suddenly have a place where fellow users can jump in with solutions, workarounds, or just moral support.

One of our most successful client communities started with just 47 subscribers. Fast forward 18 months, and we’re looking at 12,000 active members who genuinely love talking about the product. But here’s the kicker—about 60% of the valuable content comes from users, not the company. The brands that nail this understand they’re not building a marketing channel—they’re building a genuine community that happens to revolve around their product. When you get that balance right, the loyalty is incredible. We’ve had community members defend brands during PR crises, promote new features organically, and even recruit their friends to try the product. We’re talking about the kind of loyalty that turns customers into evangelists.

The Feedback Loop That Actually Changes Products

Here’s where things get really interesting – the communities that thrive are the ones where the company actually implements user suggestions. We work with a software company whose subreddit has directly influenced their roadmap many times. Users don’t just complain—they propose solutions, debate alternatives, and even mock up interface ideas.

But the secret sauce? The company’s product team is active in the discussions. Not in a “thanks for the feedback, we’ll consider it” way, but in a “here’s why that’s technically challenging, but what if we approached it like this?” way. Users feel heard, and more importantly, they see their input actually matter.

One client implemented a feature request that came from a 15-comment Reddit thread, and the excitement in that community was better than any product launch campaign they could have designed.

Customer Support That Actually Scales

We manage communities for several B2B companies, and the peer-to-peer support that emerges is honestly impressive. New users ask questions that power users answer faster and often more thoroughly than traditional support channels.

What’s particularly effective is when our clients’ support team members participate as themselves—not as “CompanyName_Support” but as “Mike from Support” or “Sarah from the Product Team.” It humanizes the brand without feeling forced or artificial.

One of our clients reduced their support ticket volume by 23% within six months of launching their subreddit, simply because users were helping each other solve problems organically.

Building Industry Authority (When Done Right)

The brands that use their subreddits to share genuine insights—not thinly veiled product pitches—build incredible authority and a go-to source in your industry. When you consistently share valuable insights, respond thoughtfully to discussions, and contribute meaningfully to conversations, you’re not just promoting your product—you’re building genuine authority and trust.

The Tricky Parts: What Catches Companies Off Guard

The Control Paradox

This is the biggest adjustment for most of our clients. You want an authentic community, but authentic means unpredictable. We’ve had clients panic when users started discussing competitors positively or when someone posted a detailed critique of a product limitation.

The companies that struggle are the ones that want to moderate every negative comment or steer every conversation back to their talking points. Reddit users can smell that kind of control from a mile away, and they’ll call it out mercilessly.

We’ve learned to help clients embrace what we call “productive discomfort”—those moments when the conversation isn’t going exactly where you’d like, but it’s generating valuable insights and authentic engagement.

The Resource Reality Check

Here’s what we tell every potential client: plan for at least 5-10 hours per week of dedicated community management to get started if you want this to work. That’s not counting content creation, strategy planning, or crisis management.

We’ve taken over communities from companies who thought they could “set it and forget it,” and let me tell you—a dead subreddit is worse for your brand than no subreddit at all. Reddit users will absolutely roast you for starting a community and then abandoning it.

One client came to us after their internal team tried to manage their subreddit as a side project. Three months of inconsistent posting and delayed responses later, their community had turned into a complaints forum. It took us six months of dedicated work to turn that perception around.

The Authenticity Tightrope

Reddit’s culture is brutal when it comes to corporate authenticity, and we’ve seen brands stumble hard on this. We had one client whose marketing team wanted to seed the subreddit with “success stories” written by their sales team. The community saw right through it and called them out publicly.

The most successful approach we’ve found is radical transparency. When our clients’ team members post, they identify themselves clearly. When they’re sharing company content, they’re upfront about it. When they don’t know something, they say so and find out.

We actually encourage our clients to occasionally share content that doesn’t directly benefit their business—industry news, useful tools from other companies, or insights that help the community even if it doesn’t drive sales.

When Competition Gets Uncomfortable

Here’s something that keeps marketing directors up at night: your subreddit becomes a public forum where competitors can monitor every move you make. Product announcements, customer pain points, feature requests, company direction—it’s all there for anyone to see.

Plus, there’s always the risk that discussions become dominated by complaints or that a vocal minority of unhappy customers makes your subreddit feel more like a complaint department than a community space.

We’ve learned to help clients think of their subreddit not as a private strategy session, but as a public forum that requires careful consideration of what gets discussed and how. It’s not about hiding information, but about being strategic about timing and presentation.

Making the Decision: Is It Right for You?

So, should you take the plunge? It depends on a few key factors:

Your audience: Do you have customers who are naturally community-minded and engaged? Are they the type who would genuinely want to help each other out?

Your resources: Can you commit to authentic, ongoing community management? This isn’t a side project—it needs dedicated attention.

Your stomach for transparency: Are you prepared to handle criticism publicly and professionally? Can you resist the urge to over-moderate when discussions get uncomfortable?

Your long-term vision: Are you in this for community building, or are you looking for quick marketing wins? Reddit communities are a marathon, not a sprint.

What We Tell Every Client

If you’re considering a company subreddit, ask yourself: “Are we prepared to show up consistently, authentically, and helpfully for at least two years before expecting significant returns?” If the answer is yes, and you have the resources to do it right, it can be transformative. And we, at Online Moderation, are always here to help.

But if you’re looking for a quick marketing win or you can’t commit to genuine community management, there are probably better places to invest your time and budget.

The companies with the most successful subreddits treat them less like marketing channels and more like customer advisory boards that happen to be public. They’re in it for the long haul, they listen more than they talk, and they understand that building a community is fundamentally about serving that community’s interests—not just their own.

That mindset shift makes all the difference between a thriving community and another abandoned corporate subreddit gathering digital dust.

The post Company Subreddits: Are They Worth It? Pros and Cons Explained appeared first on Online Moderation.

Is your business on TikTok? You need moderation- TODAY!

Kate Leighton — Tue, 01 Mar 2022 21:54:14 +0000

TikTok is growing – and if your company is using TikTok to reach potential customers or deliver a message to your community, you know about the growing need to manage the flow of comments coming into your TikTok account.

More than 85% of businesses are using video as a marketing tool. Today more businesses are realizing that they also need to be on TikTok, the hottest platform for instant visual gratification by viewers. Videos run from five to sixty seconds long, have brilliant filters, special effects, a music library, and a culture of almost anything goes – as long as it’s done well. TikTok users do not like to feel like they are being advertised to. A smart marketing strategy on TikTok will get you the leads you’re looking for while making you part of one of the most interesting and thriving communities online.

TikTok is Growing.

As of February 2022, the app has been downloaded more than 1.65 billion times with viewers opening the app more than eight times each day. The largest demographic is 18-24 years old, followed closely by 13-17 years. Clearly any place online that has that large of an audience in that age range needs to be closely moderated for the well-being of the users.

TikTok Moderation Generates Leads.

While videos and ads create interest, just like on Facebook and other platforms, there are consumer questions and customer service issues that need to be monitored. Online Moderation moderators are there to capture lead information and get it to the business, respond to inquiries, and handle the social customer service issues that inevitably arise. “Our clients have seen general questions posted on their social media posts turn into hot leads because our moderators have nurtured them and delivered them right to our clients’ inboxes.” says Mark Somol. “This doesn’t just happen. Our moderators are trained to recognize every situation, from lead generation to interventions during potential PR crises – and handle them accurately, efficiently and quickly. It’s why we’re considered the best in the business.”

How Online Moderation Can Help You.

TikTok Online Moderation Moderators:

Answer customer and potential customer inquiries
Handle customer support situations such as complaints
Nurture potential leads
Prevent bullying and social unwellness among viewers
Prevent potential PR crisis situations
Create the best customer experience possible by engaging with your TikTok audience

Savvy businesses now realize that advertising on TikTok and having a TikTok account to post regular content means the potential of thousands of viewers. Brand takeover ads, for example, are the first thing users see before they see any other content. Advertisers can link the ad to a landing page on their website where exclusive offers can be made.

Sponsored hashtag challenges allow businesses to sponsor a hashtag and advertise on the Discover page, again giving them the opportunity of increased engagement for their brand.

Native ads and branded lenses are also available for businesses to increase engagement and exposure for their brand.

Under every advertisement or TikTok video your business creates, there will be comments, questions and potential leads. Considering the culture of TikTok, it is important to make sure your comment section is moderated on a daily basis.

“We have seen comments on a relatively harmless business TikTok video start out fairly general, and turn into a storm of arguing and bullying.” says one of the Online Moderation TikTok moderators. “We’re there to shut down that negativity and protect the integrity and reputation of our clients, and to make sure that the purpose of their video stands out.”

The Importance of TikTok LIVE Moderation.

TikTok LIVE streams are taking off like wildfire! These sessions are amazing opportunities to connect with target audiences.

TikTok has added live-stream moderation tools to help those businesses who are recognizing the value of live streaming. So what does this moderation look like? Simply put, Online Moderation live moderators are available to be on duty during live broadcasts to manage the comments, remove trolls, and assist with customer service inquiries. TikTok LIVE allows creators to allow up to 20 moderators moderate live events. A live event may be anything from a debate, a lecture, or discussion, all the way up to celebrity interviews and concerts.

Take for example a company that may be doing a live demo on a home renovation using tools and techniques that would be of interest to consumers. During the live event trained moderators ensure unwanted comments and interactions are shut down quickly, while relevant questions are responded and potential valuable leads are nurtured and captured for the business.

A new setting in the LIVE launch screen allows hosts to turn off comments completely, avoiding all engagement, or add up to 200 words and terms into a keyword filter. One addition hosts and moderators alike will find valuable is the ability to add words to the filter while the live event is happening.

We could go on and on about this incredible platform but one thing is for certain – if your business is on TikTok you need to speak to the best team online. It’s time to talk to the team at Online Moderation about the moderation of your account.

The post Is your business on TikTok? You need moderation- TODAY! appeared first on Online Moderation.

2022 Trends in Social Media – The Year of Opportunity

Kate Leighton — Fri, 04 Feb 2022 21:54:26 +0000

2022 Trends in Social Media – The Year of Opportunity

The new year is in full swing and companies are adjusting to the new realities that have come to light in the last few years. So what does that mean for your business? The moderation experts at Online Moderation sat down to discuss the trends for 2022 that you need to know about.

It is clear that social media in 2022 will be the key customer acquisition and retention strategy. In fact, the Online Moderation team knows by experience that social customer service has been a growing trend in the past five years. “Our customers are changing,” says Mark Somol, CEO of Online Moderation. “Our strategists are seeing more inquiries into the engagement and management of customer reviews, customer service inquiries, and lead generation than ever before. These companies need leads. They need customers who are
happy. They need our services more than ever.”

As companies begin to focus more on social customer service, the skill those engaging with customers on social media platforms has to evolve. At Online Moderation our team of social customer service moderators are skilled in every social media platform from Twitter to Tik Tok. Understanding the way platforms perform, analytics, crisis management and escalation procedures and lead generating engagement is key.

The unique Online Moderation omnichannel approach to customer service on social media platforms has been recognized by a high satisfaction rate among clients. “We don’t rest,” says Mark Somol. “ Our team is constantly aware of the changing social landscape and demands customers put on our clients. At Online Moderation we have some of the highest level of standards in the industry. As a result we have had more word-of-mouth referrals to our company than ever before. Our leadership and agile approach to social media moderation and social customer support makes our clients’ work easier while providing results and peace of mind. We have clients that have literally been working with us for decades because they know the value of professional moderation.”

Engagement is Everything in 2022.

Monitoring your social media streams has always been important. Your customers -and trolls – are posting about your business. Connecting with your customers to create the ultimate personalized experience is critical to your business. In the past, driving traffic to your website was the goal. Today, as attention spans grow shorter and gratification needs are more immediate, engaging with customers and potential customers is more important than ever. Spending money on ads is important, of course, but engaging and connecting with your customers, asking their opinions, celebrating their accomplishments, and being part of their life will pay off in customer retention, return engagements, referrals and positive reviews.

Our team of social moderators is skilled in creating the best experience for your customers and leading them through the customer journey to create leads.

Application Support on the Rise.

According to Finances Online (www.financesonline.com) the COVID-19 pandemic has helped the smartphone app world explode. More people are relying on their smartphones than ever before. From shopping to financial apps.

Our team has experience in the moderation and management of customer service related comments and reviews in numerous apps including financial services. Understanding the sensitivity of customer expectations during software updates and outages is key. As the year goes on and more people rely on apps provided by their service providers and relied upon brands, the critical management of engagement on and about these platforms will continue to be important.

Goodbye to In-House and Bargain Basement Moderation.

Let’s face it, every business has a budget. Over the last year we have seen more businesses realize that true social customer service is far different than having an intern answer incoming emails from disgruntled customers. They are also realizing that the old saying is true – you get what you pay for. Proper, skilled, experience, and strict moderation protocols like those at Online Moderation are important. Turning to off-shore or bargain priced moderation services saves companies money, but it costs in terms of lost leads, poor moderation services, and potential PR crisis’ situation where less than skilled moderators representing your business do anything but serve your best interests.

At Online Moderation our training and expectations of our moderators is of the highest standards. Our moderators have years of experience, are trained to meet our standards, and are career focused individuals who take their job seriously. It is unfortunate to know that there are companies offering cheap moderating services with moderators who are paid per comment, unskilled, and unmanaged as they work through their clients’ customer base. At Online Moderation we begin by meeting with clients to determine their needs, understand their pain points and security concerns, and help them understand how we, based on our experience, can best serve them to meet their needs. We appoint a lead strategist who is available 24/7 to understand their customer’s journey and experience, understand their budget, and define the moderation strategy for their business. Nothing is at arm’s length. We are part of your team, and we are here to support your needs honestly, professionally, and consistently.

The Online Moderation team provides the strongest support in the industry, allowing your business to scale up or scale down on support as needed, without the staffing worries of an in-house team. And unlike an in-house team, our moderation team is available 24/7 including holidays.

Social Media Ad Management

According to Social Media Today, there has been a 92.3% year-over-year spike in social media ad spending. Posting paid ads across social media platforms helps brands reach a larger audience. Along with the Buy Now and Purchase Now click-throughs on ads, there is a strong opportunity to engage with potential customers, address customer concerns, and manage negativity and potential crisis’ within the comments section under the ad. Our social customer service team has proven success in managing comments and turning inquiries into leads for clients.

Building a strong brand reputation and strong relationships with customers is priceless. As ads appear in front of social media users, decisions to purchase are often influenced by the comments under the ads and the way the company itself interacts with their community.

Facebook Groups and Niche Interest Experiences

Facebook groups have proven to give customers the niche interest experience they’re looking for. From free groups to paid groups, this focused experience brings together customers who are seeking out like minded people to connect with across the globe, and gives businesses the chance to truly engage in a personalized way. From Facebook live events inviting customers to engage and connect with businesses and business leaders, through to the new live audio rooms, these niche groups will continue to grow in 2022.

Savvy businesses using Facebook groups recognize the need to have skilled moderators managing the space and ensuring the best customer experience and journey possible, while helping the businesses recognize trends, concerns, reputation issues, and potential leads.

24/7 Social Customer Service

Your customers are online at all times of the day – and night! When your business team and customer support team goes home at the end of the day, your customers are online reaching out to you. The Online Moderation team provides 24/7 support across all social media platforms. The trend for 2022 is to see a steady increase in the demand for quick, friendly, and effective 24/7 social customer support.

No matter how big or small your business is – if you are online you need professional social customer service and moderation services. Talk to the leaders in the industry – talk to Online Moderation.

The post 2022 Trends in Social Media – The Year of Opportunity appeared first on Online Moderation.

Top 3 Facebook Monitoring Mistakes of 2017

Robin Rose — Fri, 01 Dec 2017 03:46:43 +0000

By now, most businesses understand the important role social media monitoring plays in the improvement of their overall performance. As a result, many brands are using Facebook monitoring to track and analyze data in order to create and improve the customer experience.

As technology advances and social media monitoring tools are created and improved, businesses can dive deeper into customer conversations, analysis, and trends. However, even after realizing this potential, companies can still miss their mark, causing them to miss out on the power of Facebook monitoring as a customer engagement tool. It’s no secret that customer engagement is important for businesses. In fact, according to Bain and Company, “engaging with customers equals 40% more revenue per person.”

To give you a “leg up,” we’ve highlighted three big mistakes that we see brands make when it comes to their Facebook monitoring so that you can realize each and every opportunity to improve your customer engagement.

Facebook Monitoring: 3 Mistakes You Must Avoid

1. Missing Out on Trends, Opportunities, and Threats

Improving customer engagement starts with brands monitoring their customer conversations and figuring out their wants and needs. The benefit of social media monitoring tools is that they make the process of finding such conversations much easier.

However, one mistake that brands make is that they stick to searching “brand-specific” keywords. These are the keywords that are directly related and owned by a brand – such as brand name, slogan, and any other relevant keywords.

But the “real magic” happens when brands go one step beyond and monitor “category-specific” keywords. These are the keywords that are related to the industry in which the brand operates. These keywords will help reveal trends, opportunities, and threats present in the industry.

For example, the skincare company Kiehl’s could monitor keywords such as “purchasing skin-care online” to find industry trends that could aid in the improvement of their social media customer engagement strategy. In this example, if Kiehl’s discovers that their target audience prefers shopping online, they can work on engaging with their customers and guiding them to the website.

Avoid this mistake: Don’t get stuck on brand-specific keywords. Create and continuously update a list of “category-specific” keywords that will give you a “big picture” look at industry trends, threats, and opportunities on Facebook. Doing so will help you understand your customer’s wants and needs in greater depth and allow you to create better social media customer engagement strategies.

2. Missing the Mark

Customer engagement is about engaging and interacting with your customers. The faster your response time, the more likely that customers are going have positive thoughts towards your brand. In fact, according to the Forrester Research Centre, “77% of US online adults say that valuing their time is the most important thing a company can do to provide them with good service.” At the same time, a report from Global CX revealed that 35% of customers had a poor customer experience because of poor response times. The mistake that brands make is they don’t focus on the right conversations using the right team.

The right conversations can be found by searching for the right content. “Owned media” refers to content that was created solely by a brand. “Earned media” refers to content created by anyone but the brand itself. The mistake is when brands get caught up in monitoring their posts and campaigns on Facebook, focusing on vanity metrics such as the number of likes, shares, mentions, etc.

However, the truly valuable information can be found by monitoring “earned media,” which reveals content that the brand’s customers, competitors, and marketers are generating – such as questions, comments, and articles. This is where brands can find their audiences’ thoughts and opinions about their products, services, and customer experiences as well as answer their questions and dispel any misconceptions.

Avoid this mistake: There are over 2 billion monthly active users on Facebook and over 5 billion comments left on Facebook pages each month. That’s a lot of information to sort through and track in real-time! Luckily, social media monitoring apps make the process of organizing and tracking data much more straightforward. To utilize all this information, put together a social media monitoring team that will stay on top of the questions, comments, and concerns of your customers, competitors, and marketers. Furthermore, your staff should be responsible for reporting relevant information to upper management so that your entire team can work together to create an overall customer engagement strategy.

3. Focusing on Demographics Rather Than Psychographics

Facebook demographics include statistic such as “83% of women and 75% of men use Facebook” and “People Aged 18-29 are the most prevalent facebook users.” Facebook psychographics refer to the attitudes, opinions, and behaviors of your target audience.

The mistake made by brands that focus too much on demographics is that it puts their customers into a box. For example, let’s say that Trader Joe’s discovers that their key demographic is “female millennials living in Los Angeles,” and so they base all of their marketing and engagement strategies around this demographic. The mistake is that not all “female millennials living in Los Angeles” are going to have the same attitudes, opinions, and behaviors.

If Trader Joe’s was to focus on Facebook psychographics, they should monitor for more than “female millennials living in Los Angeles” and dive deeper into categories such as “female millennials living in Los Angeles who love trying new food products” or “female millennials living in Los Angeles who hate eating vegetarian food.” The words love and hate are italicized here because psychographics has to do with feelings.

Once Trader Joe’s finds conversations that these individuals are having, they’ll be able to create segmented marketing and social media campaigns that will receive high engagement rates because they focus on more specific interests.

Avoid this mistake: Go beyond demographics by monitoring which Facebook groups and pages your target audience is a part of and use this information to create more specific categories that can help improve your customer engagement on social media.

Conclusion

Facebook monitoring can be your best friend when it comes to customer engagement as long as you realize the full potential of your social media monitoring tools. Avoid the three mistakes discussed above, and you’ll be well on your way to discovering more about your customers’ wants and needs, which is key to improving your social media customer engagement!

Let OnlineModeration, Inc. help you with Facebook Monitoring

The post Top 3 Facebook Monitoring Mistakes of 2017 appeared first on Online Moderation.

What Facebook Monitoring can tell you about your customers

Robin Rose — Wed, 11 Oct 2017 19:16:23 +0000

Facebook has 2.01 billion monthly active users around the world as of Q2 2017.

According to a Pew Research national survey, 79% of adult internet users have used Facebook.

You can’t be on every social network, but with an average of over 1.2 billion active users per day, you better be sure that Facebook Moderation is a part of your social media strategy.

Facebook Monitoring can answer the 5 W’s

WHO are your customers?

What percentage of associates are men versus women? What are the age groupings of your connections? Facebook makes it easy to gather crucial demographics about your customers. Detailed demographic information is available from the Insights tab of your Facebook page and is invaluable intelligence to help your marketing team build more targeted campaigns.

What are your customers saying to each other and to their friends?

Getting a group of loyal customers together to discuss your brand and products openly can be a challenge, not to mention expensive. When people follow your brand on Facebook, they are essentially giving you the thumbs up and inviting you to connect with them. Tapping into your followers to ask their opinions on logos, brand look changes, products, and more, is not only valuable to you and available to you instantly, but your loyal customers will appreciate having the opportunity to be heard. Monitoring their responses to the changes in your products and services is feedback your marketing team needs to hear.

A great example of this kind of social listening in action is the case of Arby’s “Meat Mountain” campaign. Customers used social media to comment on a “Meat Mountain” campaign poster showing all different meats other than roast beef. Their customers mistakenly assumed this was a new sandwich and through social media expressed their desire to try it. As a result of social listening, Arby’s realized they had customer demand and created a new popular sandwich. “The next big thing” for you could also come from your customers on social media.

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Where are your connections from?

Domestic or foreign? East coast or Midwest? Do you know where your customers and prospects are from? Facebook insights can show you at a glance the number of people reached by city and country, as well as by language. Where consumers live affects their behavior based on a myriad of factors ranging from traditions, the type of food and drink they prefer, and even the climate they live it. All of these seemingly irrelevant elements have a major impact on how your brand is viewed in that geography.

Even within the United States, location can impact the type of advertisement or messaging that would be more favorably received. For example, urban and rural communities have different interests and opportunities. Learning where your Facebook connections are from, allows your marketing team to blend in the with the cultural norms of each community, increasing your likelihood of sales.

When did your customers have a good or bad experience?

Fact: News of bad customer service reaches more than twice as many ears as praise for a good service experience.(Source: White House Office of Consumer Affairs)

We all know people will tell their friends about poor customer service, and with social media they are telling hundreds, if not thousands at a time. Proper monitoring of your Facebook page for customer service issues and questions is critical and timeliness is crucial.

Customers may routinely ask questions on a company’s Facebook page, which could range from asking if there is parking in front of their store to how to return a faulty product. Besides answering posted questions, monitoring your followers’ discussions around your products and services gives you insights into the ‘temperature’ of your customer base at the time. Are they generally happy? Did they like the new product you released? Is there a lot of positive buzz or negative?

Knowing when your customers have a good or bad experience is key to taking advantage of your wins and minimizing your losses.

Why are your customers happy or unhappy?

Page stats, likes, views and shares are all valuable statistics to a point, but what is often overlooked is the narrative. What are your customers actually saying? Are they mentioning other companies or other brands they believe offer better services or products? What is the conversation they are sharing with their friends about YOU? Effective monitoring brings the conversations to the surface and, when you truly LISTEN to what your customers are saying, you can market to them accordingly.

And sometimes, a picture is worth a thousand words.

Use what you learn through Facebook Monitoring to improve your Customer Experience

Did you know that “67% of the buying process is complete before the buyer engages with the vendor” — Marketing Sherpa

Given this statistic, you can see how important it is to provide an awesome experience on your brands’ Facebook page. Positive interactions on your Facebook page can help prime your sales funnel, in addition to increasing customer satisfaction and building long-term loyalty.

Facebook Moderation is important.

From understanding the changing likes, needs, and trends of your target market to preventing social PR crisis’, Facebook monitoring when done correctly is a game changer. With the help of a professional monitoring game plan and skilled team you can turn this social community into one of your most valuable marketing assets.

Social media is happening in real-time. People are talking about products, brands, services and experiences right now as you read this. They may be talking about YOU.

Who? What? Where? When? Why?

Are you listening?

The post What Facebook Monitoring can tell you about your customers appeared first on Online Moderation.

Twitter Monitoring: Get the most out of your social listening strategy

Robin Rose — Mon, 02 Oct 2017 18:43:10 +0000

Twitter Monitoring: Get the most out of your social listening strategy

People love expressing their thoughts and opinions on Twitter. This includes their thoughts and opinions about your brand.

The platform is essentially a goldmine of consumer data with over 328 million monthly active users and over 500 million Tweets sent every day (Source: Omnicore, 2017 ). In other words, Twitter is the perfect platform for you to be monitoring and listening to your customers.

But how can you harness Twitter’s data to create or improve your social media listening strategy? Read on to find out!

4 Methods For Using Twitter Monitoring To Find Out More About Your Customers

1. Search Keywords

One method for finding out more about your customers on Twitter is to search for relevant keywords.

Relevant keywords include:

Your brand’s name
Your product’s name
Your competitor’s name
Buzzwords
Slogans
Your campaign or event names

By searching for these keywords, you can:

Find Common Questions: In today’s fast-paced social media-driven world, consumers want answers now. Using Twitter to search for consumers talking about your brand in real-time can help answer these questions as quickly as possible.
Find Trending Topics: Use Twitter to find out common keywords your customers are searching. This is a great method for finding out trends and influencers that interest your customers. You can then utilize this information and incorporate it into your next campaign. For example, you can reach out to a relevant influencer and ask them to participate in your next marketing camping.
Crisis Management: Use Twitter to intervene when a customer is bad mouthing your brand or if you made a mistake and need to do some serious damage control.

For example, Clayton Hove used Twitter to let Smart Car know what he thinks about their products.

However, thanks to social media listening and a bit of science, Smart Car was able to find Hove’s Tweet and reply with this witty response:

Pro Tip: People make mistakes! Search for misspelled keywords.

2.Use Hashtags

Hashtags work similarly to keywords in the sense that they can help you find common questions, comments, and topics that your target consumers are talking about or searching on Twitter. Hashtags, however, give brands the benefit of being able to create their own.

For example, Netflix created the hashtag #ASOUE and was able to find out what people are saying about their show ‘A Series of Unfortunate Events.’

Similar to Netflix, you can use your own hashtags or search other relevant hashtags to find out what customers are saying about your brand.

How to use Hashtags to find out more about your customers:

1.Branded Hashtag: Create a branded hashtag that is unique or specific to your brand. Nike’s #JustDoIt is an example of a branded hashtag that allows their customers to get creative with their posts and allows Nike to see who’s talking about their brand.

Pro Tip: People make mistakes! Also search for misspelled hashtags.

2.Trending Hashtags: Search for trending hashtags relevant to your industry. Use these hashtags in your posts to reach your target audience.

For example, musician Kristian Bush took advantage of the hashtag #MusicMonday by making a post on a Monday about music:

Product Hashtags: Use hashtags that are related to your product or service. If someone is specifically searching for your product or service on Twitter, and you just posted using your product’s hashtag, then you’ve got yourself a potential customer.

Pro Tip: Search your competitor’s hashtags to see how they are engaging with their customers.

Lifestyle hashtags: Similarly, search hashtags that are relevant to the lifestyle of your target consumer. For example, a yoga clothing company might search the hashtag #YogaEveryDamnDay.

Location Hashtags: Search location hashtags to find out what people think about your store in a certain area.

Event Hashtags: People love to post pictures after an event using the event hashtag. You can find out people’s thought and opinions about an event you hosted by searching the event hashtag.

2.Use URL Shorteners

URL shorteners are great for tracking website traffic or campaign results via Twitter. By using a URL shortener, you’ll be able to find out which customers are clicking your website or marketing campaign via Twitter and which Tweets are generating the most clicks.

For example, Star Wars uses a custom URL shortener to see how much traffic is being generated from their posts on Twitter about the newest season of Star Wars Rebels.

Furthermore, URL shorteners are great for:

Character Limits: Twitter has a 140 character limit which makes it difficult for brands to get their message in on one Tweet. Shorteners help remedy this problem by shortening links to take up fewer characters.

Customer URLs: The issue with using URL shorteners is that spammers love to use them to copy companies and spam their followers. Using a customized URL reduces spamming and security issues because users will be able to to see that it’s your brand’s URL.

Pro Tip: Twitter automatically shortens URLs to 22 characters. However, if you want to shorten your links even more and/or measure and track consumer behavior, then consider using third party URL shorteners such as Bitly or Goo.gl.

Bonus Pro Tip: Make sure all of your URL shorteners are up to date. Google will notice if your URL leads to an error page which can affect your SEO ranking.

4. Find the Best Social Listening Tools

The key to finding out the most about your customers is to monitor your Twitter 24/7. But because you can’t monitor all day and all night, you need to find a social listening tool that will do the work for you.

To find a social media listening tool that works for you:

1.Ask yourself: What do I need from my Twitter monitoring tool?

Do I need to track hashtags?
Do I need to find relevant influencers?
Do I need to track mentions?
Do I need all of the above?

Ask yourself: What is my budget?
Research your options. Find out what set-up and customer services each tool offers.
Thoroughly check the services that each tool offers. Maybe the tool can go above and beyond your objections.
Look at contract lengths. Determine how long you will need to use a social media monitoring tool.
Test and compare your favorite social media monitoring tools.

7.Purchase

Click here to see if Online Moderation is right for your Twitter Monitoring needs.

Final Thoughts

Every day there is more to discover about your customers on Twitter. If you start using these 4 Twitter monitoring methods today you can start improving your brand’s reputation, providing superior customer service, and much more!

Pro tip: Use Twitter in conjunction with Facebook and Instagram to see what your customers are saying about your brand on every platform!

How will you use Twitter in your social listening strategy?

The post Twitter Monitoring: Get the most out of your social listening strategy appeared first on Online Moderation.

6 Ways to Protect your Brand on Social Media

Robin Rose — Fri, 11 Aug 2017 19:05:25 +0000

We all know that Social Media has changed the way people create, find, and represent brands online. No longer optional, social media for business offers enormous opportunities. Navigating the online world, however, can be tricky. Almost daily, we hear about another public relations nightmare. Let’s look at 6 of the best ways to avoid becoming the latest victim and in the process, you’re very likely to increase the trust and respect of your followers.

1) Continually monitor social channels

Legendary Baseball Hall of Famer and Yankees catcher Yogi Berra once said, “You can observe a lot by watching.” The humor aside, there’s a lot of truth in that statement.

Ongoing conversations about your business and your competitors are happening on your social channels every day. By monitoring these exchanges, you can observe the habits, behavior, and feedback of your constituents. This is a great yardstick for measuring your relationships, while also revealing opportunities and highlighting failures.

Acquiring new insights may not happen overnight, but will be well worth the investment. Use Social Media Listening as a way to better engage with customers, deal with support issues, and look out for sensitive or inappropriate content. You’ll learn as you go and have the ability to gain powerful insights into your customers, competitors, and industry experts.

2) Respond to all comments and complaints – not just the positive ones

What people say can be good or bad, but that alone doesn’t determine your social media success. The way your company listens, engages and responds to social media posts, will dictate the impact on your brand’s reputation.

Customer Engagement is key. Responding and participating in conversations with your customers and advocates help you build brand loyalty. By responding to all posts, not just the positive ones, you have the opportunity to turn a negative experience into a positive one. Take for example Jet Blue’s crisis when a Valentine’s Day ice storm closed all the eastern seaboard airports, forcing JetBlue to cancel 1,000 flights. Stranded customers took their frustration out online. Instead of blaming mother nature, CEO David Neeleman wrote a public apology, introduced a customer’s bill of rights, and offered monetary compensation. That year, JetBlue won first place in J.D. Powers North America Airline satisfaction survey.

By listening to what people are saying and making it a point to empathize with your customers and express concern, you will show everyone else that your brand is trustworthy. Lower the risk of losing customers and increase the odds of acquiring new ones, when the next storm hits, literally or figuratively.

3) Make sure you have a Social Media policy

You need to have a defined policy and procedures for your brand channels. By establishing clear guidelines and expectations, you can lower your risk of legal issues and help protect your brand. A good Social Media policy should take into consideration:

Company culture
Brand guidelines
Roles & Responsibilities
Process
Laws & regulations (copyright, industry regulations)

By creating and publicizing a social media policy, you ensure that everyone’s working from the same playbook and that you’re ready to act.

4) Educate and train your employees on your Social Media Policy

It is not enough to just have a social media policy. You need to put some time and effort into training your employees on what it says. Not only will you mitigate risk, but training employees on best practices around the use of social networks can have much further reaching benefits. Studies have repeatedly shown that by training employees on social media usage, companies can reach wider audiences, build better brand awareness, increase sales, help recruitment efforts, and increase employee engagement.

5) Conduct a social media brand inventory

Conduct a social media brand inventory to see what’s out there about your company. Start with a simple search on your company’s name on google and other popular social media sites. This can help reveal how your being represented.

Next, evaluate your social media profiles. Are they meeting your brand standards? Your brand should be immediately recognizable across all your social media profiles. When there’s a disconnect, it’s difficult for customers and followers to determine which profiles are official, or if they’re even following the right company. Consistency is crucial.

6) Search for rogue or duplicate pages

Rogue sites can damage your reputation and confuse search engines, which don’t know which pages are real. Rogue Sites may include:

Counterfeit Accounts – These accounts look virtually identical to corporate pages, set-up with the purpose of diverting traffic, selling counterfeit goods, or falsely endorsing a business to generate leads and sales.
Phishing Accounts – Like counterfeit accounts they look identical to corporate pages. Their intent is to get customers, suppliers, and even employees to enter information or click links that lead to hacked devices and breached networks.
Customer Community Account – created by brand enthusiasts who admire a company, but don’t necessarily comply with brand, messaging, and style guidelines.

It’s important to identify rogue sites before they can impact your brand.

According to a study on brand fraud by Proofpoint, almost 20% of the social media accounts associated with 10 top brand names in Q2 of 2016 were fraudulent. You don’t want to be another statistic.

Protect your brand on Social Media

Make Brand Protection a priority for your business. Social media engagement has tangible benefits, which is why more and more companies are connecting with their followers. But, beware the pitfalls.

It can take years to build a good reputation, but only seconds to damage it.

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