Buzz monitoring: why are you doing this?

We at Ideal Interface have recently started some new work for a particular company to understand the blogosphere buzz about them. Whilst this may seem like a simple-enough request, what became clear was that unless clients understand and answer the initial question"why are you doing this?", they won't get the most from this work.

So... if you are a client, before your digital consultant asks, why not ask yourslef "why are you doing this?".

Note:
Just saying the generic response "We want to see what our customers are saying and writing about us online", is really repeating the brief. To get a fully answer, its best to understand what you will do with the information once you have it.

Here are some of the most likely/possible answers:

1. We want to quantify the amount of comments or mentions about us over time
2. We want to identify our prominent bloggers / influencers out there, with the aim of engaging with them
3. We want to quickly spot trends or identify issues and respond accordingly
4. We want to understand the general sentiment or tone of the buzz

Replies and further questions in response to these likely/possible answers to follow in subsequent postings.