CustomScoop

Reputation Vampires

2009-10-29T21:02:05Z

Sometimes, the need to monitor from a reputation management perspective hits really close to home. We recommend clients use our service to closely monitor their mentions online to alert them to any potential problems or negative posts, and of course we use the system ourselves.

At CustomScoop, we're very proud of the work we do and are accustomed to coming across accolades more often than complaints. When we do see the occasional complaint, it's something we'll look at objectively, to see if there's a way we can improve. We realize we can't make everyone happy all the time, and that's fine--it's how we learn, refine, and improve our products and services.

On very rare occasions, there are the Reputation Vampires. They suck the life out of your day.

Today we came across a very negative complaint, where someone purporting to be a customer said that we failed to deliver on a job to remove posts from blogs made by a former employee.

We can certainly see how we would be unable to meet his expectations in this -- it isn't a service that CustomScoop provides. We're an online media monitoring, measurement, and analysis firm, not a reputation repair firm. Clearly, the person leveling the complaint is at best confusing us with another firm--at worst? Let your imagination run wild.

It's one thing to know that you shouldn't chase every rabbit. But it can be difficult to heed that advice when someone levels a completely unfounded accusation at you. It's even worse when you see that unfounded accusation on page one of your Google results. You want to ask the site to take the fraudulent accusation down, and that's a natural--but in this era, futile--response. (As to the typical corporate response, we're New Englanders and too cheap to call our lawyers. That doesn't work either anyways.)

We tell clients all the time that it is important to have an active monitoring program, and that it's incredibly useful to have a blog in place to use to correct the record and respond when needed. Check and check. We'll continue to focus on what we do best: providing timely, accurate, online monitoring to our clients.

And, once more, with feeling: we do not offer reputation repair services!

CustomScoop's New & Improved Analytic Charts

2009-10-29T17:49:52Z

As the leaves continue to dazzle us here in New England with their vibrant colors, our Dev Team has added some great new enhancements to our Analytic Charts within our ClipIQ Media Monitoring solution for you to dazzle your customers with brilliant charts & graphs.

Within ClipIQ, we have an Advanced Analytics Wizard that allows our Customers to create their own analytical charts to be used for media measurement, competitive analysis, key performance indicators, etc. It is a great way to have a visual representation of the data in their account and create stunning graphs for their reports. Our Customers have always loved this feature of our product, and based on their feedback, we've made it even better!

Some of the features we've added include a more user friendly interface, depth control for 3D charts, the ability to add Custom Titles, control over Tick Mark Intervals, creation of Custom Chart Sizes and the ability to Reorder Criteria. As a bonus, we also added the ability to create Area Charts. We just rolled out the feature this week and so far, the overall Customer response has been fantastic!

But don't take our word for it, try it out for yourself. We offer a no obligation 14 day free trial of our ClipIQ Media Monitoring solution. Simply click here and try it out for yourself.

CustomScoop Sponsors Maine Public Relations Council Annual Conference

2009-10-02T20:43:22Z

Mark your calendar! CustomScoop is proud to once again be a sponsor of the Maine Public Relations Council's Annual Conference. This year's conference will be held on October 15, 2009 at the Wyndham Hotel in South Portland. They have a great line-up of speakers, including Peter Shankman of HARO fame!

This is a great local event and is always a lot of fun. I know I'm looking forward to seeing everyone at the event. For more information, please visit the Maine Public Relations Council website.

Go Beyond Positive, Negative & Neutral

2009-10-02T19:52:45Z

One of my favorite unsung features in our Media Monitoring product ClipIQ is our Ratings Manager. We built the Ratings Managers from the feedback we received from our customers who wanted a more flexible solution when they were rating their clips. Instead of the basic, "Positive, Negative & Neutral", they wanted something more flexible and more powerful. For the basic needs of some customers, the default of "Positive, Negative & Neutral" is enough. But, for those power users who want to customize not only the Rating Name, but also the color, well, the Rating Manager is the tool for you!

Our Ratings Manager allows for complete customization of name and color. You can pick your color off a color palette, or for the true techies, you can even enter the "Hex" color code of the color you want. Very cool stuff!

And, as you would expect, the color choices you made in your Ratings Manager flow through to the Analytical Charts you create:

This is just one of the many features found within our ClipIQ Media Monitoring solution. If you want to learn more about this feature or want to just test drive the product, we offer a no obligation 14 Day Free Trial.

Simply click here and start your free trial today!

Change is in the Air

2009-10-01T20:57:00Z

Today, I am stepping up to the role of Chairman of CustomScoop and giving up my day-to-day responsibilities as CEO.

I have been involved with leading CustomScoop ever since I co-founded the company in 2000, so this is certainly a change. However, I will continue to be involved as a shareholder and as Chairman. While I won't direct the company's daily activities, I will remain a part of setting the overall vision and providing strategic guidance and advice.

Truth be told, my role in starting more than a half dozen other companies during the past decade has often led to prolonged absences on my part from daily CustomScoop management, so this isn't something entirely new.

We are fortunate to have an extremely talented team in place at CustomScoop, led by Executive Vice President Steve Bracy, Vice President of Professional Services Jen Zingsheim, and Director of Technology Dave Underwood. They will continue to deliver innovative, quality products with outstanding customer service.

For those of you interested in my next move, I encourage you to check out the post on my personal blog where I explain that I am joining DCI Group, a Washington, DC public affairs firm as Chief Digital Officer.

Make Your Clips Come to You

2009-08-14T13:46:09Z

I admit it. I can be lazy sometimes. Plus I get distracted by tasks that crop up.

But I always want to know as quickly as possible when someone mentions me or my brand online or in traditional media. Part of that's ego, but mostly it's good business. If I can respond quickly to feedback -- positive or negative -- it gives me a leg up and helps my reputation and CustomScoop's reputation.

Of course, I regularly check in to my CustomScoop ClipIQ account for this kind of information, but I also have email alerts set up to come to me virtually instantly when this sort of important intelligence gets uncovered.

I do that through the "Email Alert" tab in the product that lets me set up an unlimited amount of customized email alerts. These are all based on the Clip Reports that I discussed in an earlier post that enables me to segment clips by pretty much any criteria I can think of.

For my purposes, I have configured email alerts for mentions of me and CustomScoop, but I have also set up reports focused on Competitors and Industry News that come to me early each morning to help me digest the current environment as I get my day started.

You may also notice that I have a daily email come to me with Twitter posts from across the spectrum of topics in my account. I like to get that in the early evening because I will often try to sift through that backlog while watching a game on TV at home.

The bottom line is that I make the information I need come to me when it best suits me. Sure, I can login and get access whenever I want, but there's something comforting about knowing that my own product is keeping a watch out for me and letting me know instantly when I don't want to overlook something important.

Slicing and Dicing Clips with Saved Reports

2009-08-12T13:34:07Z

One of the things I have found with CustomScoop over the years is that we find so much information that we really need to find ways to slice and dice the data to get the most out of it in the least amount of time. That's even more true now that we have introduced Feed Keywords to help mine data from other search engines, monitoring providers, or any other source that produces and RSS feed.

Fortunately, we have some nice tools that have been created or enhanced over the past few months to help me do just that. The cornerstone of this effort is the Clip Reports tab that allows me to access a set of standard clip reports as well as the ability to create saved reports using virtually any criteria I can imagine.

Here's what the Clip Reports tab shows:

You can see that there are plenty of options for looking at data from a variety of standard views, including segmenting newspapers vs. broadcast vs. online. Or zeroing in on a specific language or country.

But the part I use most is the Custom Clip Report section that enables me to create customized reports based on my own needs. You can see that some of my reports include "Ego Clips" (you have to know when you get mentioned on a blog or in the media, right?), plus others to track coverage of our company and brands, as well as our competitors and industry. I also have saved reports to track discussion of our resellers and other business partners, as well as one to keep an eye on companies that we might have some synergy with down the road.

You may be able to tell from the screen shot above that all of the reports can be viewed in the primary ClipIQ reporting dashboard interface, but they can also be easily printed, downloaded in PDF form, exported to a spreadsheet for further custom manipulation of the data, or delivered as an RSS feed for you to consume in a feed reader or custom application.

I can also schedule these reports to be delivered to me via email as new clips arrive or on a scheduled daily or weekly basis. That gives me tremendous flexibility in consuming the information in the way that it suits me best and gives me some good options for sharing data internally with my colleagues.

In a future post, I'll discuss the email scheduling capability more because it has capability that goes beyond simply sharing these saved reports, as it also will deliver charts & graphs and other reports.

Feel free to check out the Clip Reports tab for yourself in your own account. Don't have an account? Sign up for a free trial of CustomScoop ClipIQ today and see what I'm talking about.

CustomScoop "Sucks In" Search Results and RSS Feeds

2009-08-11T14:29:54Z

There are days when I really enjoy eating my own dog food, as they say. Today is one of them. We recently added functionality to the CustomScoop ClipIQ product to enable it to consume RSS feeds of the user's choice and integrate it with the data gathered from our proprietary search technology.

That means our entire suite of tools can be used not only for the data we have always provided, but also news and blog posts from wherever they can be found online. You can now import all of the posts from an important industry blog, for example. Or you can take in an RSS feed from one of the many blog search engines out there. Heck, you can even take an RSS feed in from another monitoring vendor so that you have one-stop shopping for all of your important clip data.

CustomScoop even dedupes the results from your RSS feeds and your customized ClipIQ data so you don't have to wade through multiple copies of the same clip/post as you do when you use most feed readers.

I find this immensely useful as I try to wade through huge piles of information every day to stay on top of the latest trends and ideas, as well as mentions of CustomScoop, our partners, our industry, and even competitors. Previously, I had to manage multiple RSS feeds to go along with the proprietary data we create. This makes my life so much simpler and my effort so much more effective. (When I write stuff like this, I can't help but feel like that guy from the Hair Club for Men commercial from way back when where he said something like "I'm not just the founder of the company, I'm also a customer!")

How does it work?

You have two options. Using our new Feed Keyword Manager, you simply check off which popular search providers you'd like to integrate (we have set up several already with more on the way). Then enter your search terms in one easy to use set of boxes (no need to know the search syntax for each provider -- we take care of all of that behind the scenes). Click "Add" and presto you are now searching beyond the already robust CustomScoop source database to help ensure you don't miss a beat.

If you prefer to use an RSS feed provider that we don't already have custom configured, simply open up the RSS Manager to add in the RSS links directly. This is how you would take in all of the posts from a publication like Media Bullseye, for instance. Or import a feed from another search engine or a different clipping provider. And we know some of you are the kind of experts who just like to use the most geeky approach possible. Whatever the reason, the functionality is there at your fingertips.

Check it out for yourself today in your own CustomScoop ClipIQ account.

Don't have CustomScoop ClipIQ yet? Try out a free trial of the service for yourself.

What Our Customers Say About CustomScoop

2009-08-05T20:02:43Z

We just wrapped up our Summer 2009 Customer Survey and are combing through the results. I thought I'd take a moment to share some of the comments I'm proudest about, as well as some of the feedback that will lead to future product enhancements.

First, a sampling of quotes from our customers about our service:

"It captures articles in small newspapers that have information of value"
"The product is great, but the customer service is amazing ... If I ever have a problem it is solved within hours if not minutes"
"a clear concise summary of news hits"
"It finds just what I want"
"It presents all the media I need in one neat package every morning"
"I like the fact that all of the clippings are grouped into categories by the name they are found ... this is very helpful"
"Easy way to review and process a lot of different information. OUTSTANDING customer service"
"Finds clips from foreign sources that would otherwise be difficult to locate"
"It is very user friendly"
"I like the web interface, spreadsheet, and the customer service"
"I can send the boss an email each morning about the stories generated then quantitative reports at the end of the month (or whenever asked)"

Kudos go out to the entire team here for making so many customers so happy. And, of course, thanks to all of the customers who took the time to share their feedback -- the level of participation was phenomenal!

Of course, we got lots of helpful feedback and suggestions, too. In the coming weeks, you can expect to see a number of enhancements -- many of which are being developed or accelerated specifically because of this feedback. In particular, there will be a number of enhancements as it relates to the measurement and analysis functionality of the product.

Watch this space for announcements as we roll out some of those new features later this summer.

Choosing the Right Media Monitoring & Analysis Service

2009-04-24T17:50:51Z

Not surprisingly, I am often asked about the best solution for meeting someone's media monitoring and analysis needs. Of course, I am very biased in favor of CustomScoop, but I also recognize that some solutions may be better fits for certain individuals, organizations, and needs.

That's why I wrote a white paper on the subject. In it, I try to address some of the questions and dilemmas I most often see:

Can I get by with a free service like Google News or Google Blogsearch? Sometimes, that answer is yes. The paper explains this in more detail, but the most basic assessment must be the volume of search terms and clips that result. The fewer things you are searching for and the fewer clips it returns on a daily basis, the more likely you are to be able to get away with free. For instance, most solo bloggers just doing ego searches are better off using a free service than paying a company like mine.
If I need a professional service, how do I pick among all the monitoring services out there? You need to look very carefully at your needs and make sure that the service you select has the tools and information you need to be effective. At the same time, you want to make sure you aren't paying for too many bells and whistles that you won't be taking advantage of. Ultimately, it will all come down to your comfort level with the solution and the people behind it.
Should I go it alone on analysis or use a service? Like the free vs. paid monitoring question, the issue of using DIY tools provided by your clipping service versus paying for specific analysis largely comes down to volume. Is your time better spent compiling reports or doing something else while you pay a vendor to analyze coverage? Of course, there are other considerations as well, including third party validation and resource efficiency.
What about automated sentiment analysis? A number of companies provide the ability to "automatically" rate clips as positive, negative, or neutral based on computer analysis. This can be a great time saver -- if you are willing to sacrifice a bit on accuracy.
When is expert human analysis the right answer? If you want daily digests of just the key information and/or regular reports with careful, detailed analysis of trends, a professional analysis service may be your best bet. As good as comptuers are at organizing raw data (and even applying some sentiment scoring), there really is no substitute for people. That comes at a cost, so you will need to decide whether or not the media intelligence provided and the time savings offered justifies the expense.

The white paper, titled "Choosing the Right Media Monitoring and Analysis Solution," goes into much greater detail on these and other points to help you evaluate your options for effectively and efficiently tracking traditional and social media.

CustomScoop Helps PR & Marketing Pros Choose the Right Media Monitoring & Analysis Solution

2009-04-24T14:13:32Z

White Paper Explores the Role of Free & Paid Monitoring, Automated Sentiment, and Expert Human Analysis

CustomScoop, a leader in customizable media monitoring and analysis services, announced the availability of a free white paper entitled, "Choosing the Right Media Monitoring and Analysis Solution." Intended for public relations and marketing professionals who currently monitor news and blogs for their organization, this paper explores the advantages of different types of solutions, including free ones.

"As an entrepreneur, I hate spending one penny more than I have to in order to get the results I need. That's why I wrote this whitepaper to help people decide which media monitoring and analysis solution is right for them. It covers full-service, DIY, and even free options," said Chip Griffin, CEO of CustomScoop.

The white paper will teach readers how to:

Determine whether a free media monitoring solution, like Google News or Google Blogsearch, might be a viable option;
Evaluate paid subscription monitoring services based on needed capabilities; and
Assess automated sentiment analysis versus professional reports written by experts.

A free copy of the white paper can be downloaded at: www.customscoop.com/resources/whitepapers.cfm

Social Media Breakfast NH #2 - Great Event

2009-03-27T21:26:26Z

This morning I attended the 2nd Social Media Breakfast NH. It was my first Social Media Breakfast, and I thoroughly enjoyed it, it was a great event! Social Media Enabler Extraordinaire, Leslie Poston (@geechee_girl) did a fabulous job in organizing the event and bringing in high quality presenters and attendees. Nice work Leslie!

While all the presenters were good, to me the highlight was Martin Murray from Public Service of New Hampshire. He talked about how they used Twitter during the power outages in December 2008 to deliver messages and answer questions from customers while the electricity was out in New Hampshire. It was a great way for them to reach thousands of people and deliver near real time updates. Martin also shared how PSNH is using Flickr and YouTube as additional social media tools to reach their customers. Nice work PSNH!!

I was also impressed with the other attendees at the event, and the time we had to network was great. It was invigorating and exciting to hear how so many different New Hampshire companies are integrating Social Media into their businesses. It also confirms our commitment at CustomScoop to continue expanding our coverage of monitoring social media for our customers. We were proud to be the sponsor of the Social Media Breakfast NH and look forward to the next event. Hopefully, we'll see you there too!

Ps. If you want to see the slides and audio from the event, click here.

CustomScoop Sponsors Social Media Breakfast NH

2009-03-24T14:19:34Z

CustomScoop a leader in customizable media monitoring and analysis services, is pleased to announce it will be one of the sponsors of the second Social Media Breakfast NH, to be held on Friday, March 27 at Rick's Pond View in Kingston, NH.

CustomScoop is proud to be a participant and a sponsor of the second Social Media Breakfast NH. This session will be all about topics related to Government 2.0. Featured speakers for the event include PSNH's Martin Murray, who will discuss how PSNH used Twitter to communicate during the devastating ice storm of December 2008 and Boston Police Department's John Daley will talk about the use of Twitter by the Boston Police Department to keep the citizens of Boston informed of traffic rerouting and other time sensitive notifications.

"This is a great event and we are more than happy to join as sponsors. We will continue to help out the Social Media Breakfast NH in any way we can," says Steve Bracy, Executive Vice President of CustomScoop.

Anyone who has the desire to learn is welcome and invited to join the NH Social Media Breakfast. The event will be held March 27th at Rick's Pond View at 92 Route 125 in Kingston, NH, from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.

CustomScoop Speaks at Social Media Breakfast NH

2009-02-16T15:31:45Z

CustomScoop, a leader in customizable media monitoring and analysis services, is pleased to announce that Jennifer Zingsheim, VP of Products & Services at CustomScoop, will be one of the speakers of the first Social Media Breakfast NH, to be held on Friday, February 20 at Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester, NH.

The focus of the first Social Media Breakfast NH will be all about Building Bridges and Jennifer Zingsheim will be discussing building the bridges between old media and new media. It is a topic that is especially relevant to Zingsheim through the services that CustomScoop provides to its customers in the monitoring and analysis of both traditional media and social media. CustomScoop is excited to be a participating speaker in the first Social Media Breakfast NH event.

"We're glad to have the opportunity to support Social Media Breakfast NH in any way we can. We see this as a great way to give back to our local community by sharing our expertise with others in the state," says Steve Bracy, Executive Vice President of CustomScoop.

Anyone who has the desire to learn is welcome and invited to join the NH Social Media Breakfast. The event will be held February 20th at the Hospitality Center Ballroom, Southern New Hampshire University, 2500 N. River Road, Manchester, NH from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.

CustomScoop Introduces Winter 2009 Release of ClipIQ Media Monitoring

2009-01-20T15:07:29Z

Focus on Improving the Customer Experience with more features and interface enhancements

CustomScoop, a leader in customizable media monitoring and analysis services, is pleased to announce the official release of CustomScoop ClipIQ Winter 2009. This is the latest release of the software as a service offering from CustomScoop, designed to help clients monitor and analyze both traditional media and social media over the Internet.

This new version of ClipIQ Media Monitoring includes the addition of more than 20 new standard charts and graphs, interface improvements to make analytics easier than ever, and access to our customer care team through Live Chat.

"This latest version is the result of listening to our customers and providing them with the tools they requested to make their jobs easier and make better decisions by producing higher quality analytics," says Steve Bracy, Executive Vice President of CustomScoop. "In addition to the features of the product, we wanted to make sure we were more accessible to our clients when they were using the system, so we added Live Chat to our product and the response from our clients have been phenomenal. They love that they can reach our experts with just a click of a button. Software as a service doesn't work if you don't have the service to back it up!"

CustomScoop offers a free trial for its services so that clients can see for themselves all the great new features that are now available in the Winter 2009 release of ClipIQ. Simply visit the website http://www.customscoop.com/freetrial to give the product a test drive.