Many people tend to think of using social media monitoring to either affirm positive conversations, or turn around negative ones.

But there is a middle layer that companies are beginning to focus on: the “white space.”

The “white space,” as Blake Cahill calls it, is neutral comments within social media. These comments neither disparage a brand, nor compliment it. They may just mention the brand or its products.

Blake Cahill

Such innocuous comments account for between 65 percent and 80 percent of all social media conversations, according to Cahill, SVP of Marketing for Visible Technologies, a social media management vendor that is able to parse sentiment within conversations.

Increasingly, brands are starting to mine these neutral conversations to see if they might be able to spark passion and interest, and gain brand advocates.

Once you have gotten through the positive and negative comments, “there is still a huge number of conversations that are just white space,” Cahill said during a phone conversation to promote the company’s newest TruCast product version. “It represents an opportunity – you might be able to move them into your camp.”

“Moving them” begins with listening, followed by bringing them into the conversation in some manner.  Microsoft, for example, uses TruCast to pinpoint conversations among IT folks who may be on the fence about switching to the company’s upcoming Windows 7 OS, due out for the enterprise in August. Microsoft has a small team that engages and provides links to relevant information on Microsoft web sites (this case study will be featured in an upcoming MarketingProfs.com special report).

Regarding TruCast’s new version (2.8), the main capability involves geo-mapping, or targeting English-language conversations in different countries or regions. Cahill said this is valuable for big brands that want to monitor the differences in conversations and perceptions in different markets.

For more information, read the press release.

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Learn How Businesses Are Using Twitter to Further Their Marketing Objectives

Ever wondered how businesses are actually using Twitter to drive their marketing objectives?

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After reading the package, you’ll have a great understanding of how you can use Twitter for your business. One of my favorite case studies is how Red Door Interactive uses Twitter to drive in-store traffic on behalf of Souplantation, a salad buffet restaurant chain. Another is 12for12K, a social media charity, which cleverly uses Twitter to help a number of great and worthwhile causes.

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Enjoy.

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