Nestle Brings In Tech-Savvy Experts To Monitor Reputation In Social Media

Food giant Nestle has brought on board a team of observers of online comments, who will track what people say about the company’s products on social media channels, in yet another move to tackle reputation issues emerging in the digital space in a more serious manner.The company, renowned for its Nescafe, Nestea and Kit Kat brands, is now determined to more closely watch conversations about the products it sells through its “Digital Acceleration Team”, which will take care of maintaining Nestle’s good name in the online space by concentrating on attempts to restrict potential damages and tame online critics. Each member of the team has taken a training course of eight months to learn how to perform its duties in something resembling a mini TV studio, according to an article produced by Reuters.

The company’s head of digital marketing and global media Pete Blackshaw explained in an interview for Reuters how the system works: when a negative comment pops up, the screens turn red. The members of the company’s Digital Acceleration Team are required to intervene when the post stirs up a great number of comments. Each team member is responsible for a particular topic and country of origin and engages with real-time responses, Blackshaw stated.

It’s in people’s nature to grumble at companies, but they used to do that at the bar or at the water cooler, Social Media Influence’s co-founder Bernhard Warner told the news agency. With the influx of digital technologies, consumers nowadays are enabled to speak out in the cyber space and reach as many people as possible, he said.