Recently, Ad Age mentioned that Chrysler Re-Signs Brandimentions to Keep Up With Blog Chatter. What is exciting about this for corporations is that a major auto manufacturer believes that buzz generated by social networks, blogs, message boards and online comments merits tracking.  More importantly, it is currently trackable by companies like Brandimentions, Nielsen BuzzMetrics and Cymfony.

As a company begins to explore the value of creating and maintaining a blog, it should also look at how to track and analyze what the online world is saying about them.  These consumers won’t just add comments to a blog.  They will do product reviews, participate in chat rooms, and add comments to message boards. To get a more complete picture of how a company is perceived, there must be some type of tracking mechanism.

At present, I haven’t researched how companies like Nielsen BuzzMetrics and Cymfony gather their data, but if it works as they claim, a company like Chrysler can start to see trends emerge well before they spend millions on expensive ad campaigns. It is also something for the corporate marketer to consider when planning to launch a blog.