Posts Tagged ‘blogs’
Wednesday, February 15th, 2012
 Looking back to the 1950s, the way Americans got their news was pretty simple – it was either their local newspaper or one of the three nightly newscasts.
Today, there are a myriad of ways to get news – online news sites, on one’s phone, cable television, blogs, and, still local newspapers and nightly newscasts. But with all these different choices, do people trust that each will get them the news fairly and accurately? Overall, the answer is yes. And online news sources are as trusted as local papers, which are the most trusted sources.
When we look at trust in general, majorities of Americans (between 60% and 73%) say they trust seven different media outlets to get them news fairly and accurately.
But the difference is in how much trust they have; while three-quarters of U.S. adults (73%) trust their local TV news, less than one-quarter (22%) have a lot of trust in it and half (51%) have some trust. Seven in ten Americans (69%) trust their local newspapers, but only 18% have a lot of trust.
These are some of the results of The Harris Poll of 2,016 adults surveyed online between January 16 and 23, 2012 by Harris Interactive.
Looking at some other media seven in ten Americans trust radio and Internet news and information sites (69% each) to get them news fairly and accurately, but for both, only 14% have a lot of trust while over half (55%) have some trust.
Just over three in five trust cable TV news (64%) and network TV news (61%) but, for both, only 15% say they have a lot of trust in them and three in five (60%) trust national newspapers, with 16% having a lot of trust.
Fair and unbiased news
While the different types of media are all looked at in a mostly positive light, there are some mixed results when we look at specific media outlets. Three in ten Americans say that ABC (63%), NBC (63%), CNN (61%), the Associated Press (59%), and PBS (59%) all give news that is fair and unbiased all the time or occasionally.
But, like with the media in general, the public leans towards occasionally, rather than all the time as three in five (28%) say PBS is fair and unbiased all the time, while just one in five says the same for the other four media outlets.
Over half of U.S. adults say FOX News, (54%), Yahoo News (53%), MSNBC (52%) and CNBC (52%) provide fair and unbiased news all the time or occasionally, and half say the same about The Wall Street Journal (50%) and Time (50%).
Just under half say The New York Times (48%) and Reuters (48%) provide news that is fair and unbiased; about two in five say the same about The Washington Post (42%), NPR (41%), Newsweek/The Daily Beast (39%) and one-third about the Huffington Post (33%).
But, it’s not that these on the lower end of the list are not trusted, it is, rather, that they are not as well known so many more Americans do not have an opinion of them one way or another.
Fox, Huff Post, MSNBC seen as less fair & unbiased
If we look at those who are seen as rarely or never giving news that is fair and unbiased, over one-third (36%) say that applies to FOX News, while three in ten say MSNBC (31%), Huffington Post (31%), CNBC (29%), The New York Times (29%), The Washington Post (29%), and Newsweek/The Daily Beast (29%).
In this election year, Americans will be getting their campaign information from these various media outlets. In that vein, it is interesting to note that out of the 17 different media outlets, Democrats are more likely than Republicans to think that 15 news providers are giving them news that is fair and unbiased. Republicans are only more likely than Democrats to think that about two news providers – FOX News (75% vs. 39%) and The Wall Street Journal (51% vs. 50%).
So What?
Like everything else, the media is a business that needs to make money and show investors profits. And, as the number of news outlets continues to grow, providers of information are increasingly out to one-up each other as the first with that information. The large number of news providers also means that the providers have to find new, and sometimes sensational, ways to get eyes and ears to their outlet.
| TABLE 1TRUST IN TYPES OF MEDIA
“How much trust do you have that each of the following will get you the news fairly and accurately?” |
| Base: All adults |
| |
TRUST
(NET) |
A lot of
trust |
Some
trust |
DO NOT
TRUST (NET) |
Not very
much trust |
No trust
at all |
Not
sure |
| % |
% |
% |
% |
% |
% |
% |
| Local TV News |
73 |
22 |
51 |
23 |
17 |
6 |
4 |
| Radio |
69 |
14 |
55 |
25 |
19 |
7 |
6 |
| Internet News and information sites |
69 |
14 |
55 |
26 |
19 |
7 |
5 |
| Local Newspapers |
69 |
18 |
51 |
27 |
19 |
8 |
4 |
| Cable TV News |
64 |
15 |
49 |
30 |
21 |
9 |
6 |
| Network TV News |
61 |
15 |
46 |
35 |
20 |
15 |
4 |
| National Newspapers |
60 |
16 |
45 |
34 |
22 |
12 |
6 |
| Note: Percentages may not add to 100% due to rounding; |
| TABLE 2TRUST IN TYPES OF MEDIA – BY PARTY AND GENERATION
“How much trust do you have that each of the following will get you the news fairly and accurately?”
Percent saying “A lot of trust/Some trust” |
| Base: All adults |
| |
TRUST
(NET) |
Generation |
Political Party |
Echo
Boomers
(18-35) |
Gen X
(36-47) |
Baby
Boomers
(48-66) |
Matures
(67+) |
Rep. |
Dem. |
Ind. |
| % |
% |
% |
% |
% |
% |
% |
% |
| Local TV News |
73 |
68 |
77 |
77 |
72 |
70 |
83 |
72 |
| Radio |
69 |
65 |
71 |
73 |
67 |
72 |
74 |
66 |
| Internet News and information sites |
69 |
66 |
68 |
73 |
66 |
66 |
78 |
6 |
| Local Newspapers |
69 |
67 |
70 |
72 |
63 |
62 |
82 |
67 |
| Cable TV News |
64 |
56 |
68 |
67 |
71 |
64 |
72 |
62 |
| Network TV News |
61 |
62 |
57 |
63 |
59 |
47 |
79 |
61 |
| National Newspapers |
60 |
64 |
58 |
61 |
52 |
46 |
77 |
60 |
| Note: Percentages may not add to 100% due to rounding; |
Tags: blogs, cable news, Daily Beast, Fox, Harris Poll, Huffington Post, local papers, MSNBC, Newsweek, NPR, NYTimes, Reuters, trust in news sources
Posted in Internet/New Media, Studies, surveys, reports, Tech Culture, TechLife | No Comments »
Monday, January 23rd, 2012
 Usage of the term “big data” has exploded online, according a Cutsomer Relationships Metrics study, but despite the buzz, a lack of workers with the skills needed analyze big data, it’s tough turning it into business action that drives results.
The study was conducted by analysts at Customer Relationship Metrics using Nielsen McKinsey’s NM Incite technology, which collects user-generated content from over 180 million sites worldwide, including blogs, message boards, usenet groups, Twitter, Facebook and Video/Image sites (e.g., Youtube, Flickr).
“Ironically, use of the term big data grew significantly in mid-2011 when McKinsey & Co. issued its seminal research report Big data: The next frontier for innovation, competition, and productivity. The report warned of a growing shortage of talent to leverage big data and make decisions based on data trends.”
Virtually unheard of at the beginning of 2010, big data has quickly become one of the hottest buzzwords in IT circles. In the past three months, big data was the topic of discussion over 20,000 times per month in the press, blogs, and social networks, as measured by NM Incite. See accompanying chart.
Big Data? Big Problems!
But here’s the rub: even world-class enterprises are struggling with getting real value from big data, solely because knowledgeable workers are in short supply: those with the skills necessary to analyze and understand what the data is saying; translate the data into real business action that drives bottom-line results; and communicate recommendations to senior executives.
Dr. Jodie Monger, founder and president of Customer Relationship Metrics, said, “Right now, big data is nothing more than a buzzword. Everyone in IT knows that the enterprise cannot afford to overlook the massive data sets they create. They know that these data sets contain a plethora of information that can help them better serve their customers. But nobody knows how to actually reach this Holy Grail.”
Dr. Monger continued, “Ironically, use of the term big data grew significantly in mid-2011 when McKinsey & Co. issued its seminal research report Big data: The next frontier for innovation, competition, and productivity. The report warned of a growing shortage of talent to leverage big data and make decisions based on data trends.”
Big Problems? Big Solution!
So enterprises are caught in a jam: they need to analyze and act on data trends, but don’t have people who can do the job. Increasingly, these enterprises are outsourcing the job to Customer Relationship Metrics.
Dr. Monger continued, “Customer Relationship Metrics serves many of the most recognizable consumer brands on the planet. We help these companies dig deep into their data, spotting trends that emerge from daily interactions with customers through call centers, email dialogues, chat functions, and social media interactions.”
By focusing on data embedded within real customer interactions, companies can easily identify those service issues which lead to the most customer dissatisfaction. Once these problems are fixed, reputation grows and customer satisfaction increases organically.
Dr. Monger added, “Analyzing big data can be overwhelming. But we make it simple for customers by pointing our solutions at the most meaningful data sets that can deliver the most significant customer service results in the quickest timeframe possible. We eliminate blind alleys and avoid time and resource vampires, while making big data solutions easy to implement.”
Big Data as a Managed Service
Customer Relationship Metrics is a SaaS-based end-to-end big data solution. It includes data integration, software, and analytics that can be up and running within 60 days.
Dr. Monger concluded, “Deployment is where big-data-based BI solutions break down most frequently. Custom solutions and complex software development timelines mean delays, cost overruns, and intense frustration across the chain of command. By structuring our solution as a managed service, we deliver real value from big data and business intelligence in an abbreviated timeframe, with no significant capital costs. That’s a win/win for all involved.”
Tags: big data big problem, big data is the new buzzword, blogs, Customer Relationships Metrics, facebook, Flickr, Jodie Monger, message boards, twitter, workers needed to understand big data, YouTube
Posted in Facebook, Internet/New Media, IT, LinkedIn, Studies, surveys, reports, Twitter, video | Comments Off
Monday, December 5th, 2011
 A new study from the Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs shows that content marketing is now responsible for 26% of total B2B marketing spending. In addition, 60% of marketers plan to increase content marketing budgets in 2012, with a full nine of 10 organizations surveyed now using content marketing.
The most popular content marketing tactics include articles (79%), social media (excluding blogs) (74%), blogs (65%), and eNewsletters (63%).
“One of the most interesting findings was what we term the ‘confidence gap,’ in which marketers use tactics but are unsure of how effective they are,” says Joe Pulizzi, Founder of the Content Marketing Institute and co-author of Managing Content Marketing.
“While uncertainty still exists, marketers are becoming increasingly more confident in the content marketing tactics they are using. This increase is especially notable with blogs, case studies, videos and webinars/webcasts.”
Other notable findings include:
- On average, B2B marketers employ eight different content marketing tactics to achieve their marketing goals.
- Every major social media channel is seeing increased adoption, often by 15-20%.
- 60% report that they plan to increase spending on content marketing over the next 12 months, compared to 51% in the previous study.
- Marketers, on average, spend over a quarter of their marketing budget on content marketing.
- Last year, only 55% of marketers used outsourcing in some capacity. This year, 62% of B2B marketers use a mix of insourced and outsourced content.
B2B Content Marketing: 2012 Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends is the second annual survey from the Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs about content marketing in the business-to-business (B2B) space to date. Over 1000 B2B marketers from diverse industries and a wide range of company sizes were surveyed in August 2011. The full content marketing research report can be found at the Content Marketing Institute.
Tags: 8 content marketing tactics employed by b2b, B2B content marketing, b2b marketers to increase content marketing spend 60 percent, blogs, case studies, social media, webcasts, webinars
Posted in Blogging, Facebook, Internet/New Media, LinkedIn, Marketing, social media, Studies, surveys, reports, Twitter | Comments Off
Monday, October 31st, 2011
The Internet and social media have fostered a new type of marketing communication: inbound, vs. the outbound traditional marketing via TV, billboards, and radio.
Technology – such as the ability to skim past TV ads, listen to ad-free radio, and even block online display pop-ups – increases the importance of inbound marketing.
The two-way communications of inbound marketing requires a company to earn a consumer’s attention with engaging content, whether blog posts, podcasts, Facebook interaction or tweets.
Here’s an infographic from Voltier Digital examining the two types of marketing:
Tags: blogs, Digg, direct mail, earn consumer attention, facebook, infographic on inbound vs. outbound marketing, infographics, Internet marketing, LinkedIn, social media marketing, TV ads, twitter, vlogs, Voltier Digital
Posted in Blogging, Facebook, infographic, Internet/New Media, Marketing, Mobile, smartphones, social media, Twitter | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, September 13th, 2011
 With the rise of unstructured data and increasing popularity of social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and blogs, eBusiness marketers must measure a growing number of sources of vital customer information. However, according to survey results from Cambridge, MA-based Endeca Technologies Inc., more than 61% of respondents admit they are currently making decisions based on half or less than half of data available to them.
Complicating matters, nearly half of the respondents report that they are still using multiple tools (at least three or more) to support business intelligence (BI) decisions, underscoring the need for data to be lifted from these separate silos and streamlined into a unified and easy-to-understand view.
Additional survey findings reveal:
- Nearly half of respondents say they are not currently incorporating unstructured data into analysis, but it is something they would like to do.
- 35% say they spend hours combining data from various data sources and over half say they would like to analyze all information in a single view.
- 48% of respondents say their analytics requirements change at least monthly, with 20% of respondents requirements changing daily or hourly.
- More than 40% of respondents cite that it often takes months to have their BI requests fulfilled or they often cannot get their requests fulfilled at all.
“eBusiness needs to move from a compartmentalized analysis of SEO, Web Analytics, marketing campaigns and other programs to a more integrated view of how customers are engaging in today’s increasingly multichannel environment,” said John Andrews, VP of Marketing and Product Management, eBusiness, Endeca.
“Marketers must have the ability to explore 100 percent of data, not just some of it – because it is impossible to know what data will be most relevant to them. Particularly in this era of big data, marketing teams need to be armed with the ability to not only capture, but quickly make sense of all data is that is available in order to gain competitive advantage.”
For more see: eBusiness analytics trends for 2011 and 2012
Tags: BI tools, blogs, business intelligence, Cambridge, ebusiness, emarketers missing more than half the data available, emarketing, Endeca, facebook, M&A, survey, twitter
Posted in Facebook, Marketing, social media, Studies, surveys, reports, Twitter | Comments Off
Friday, March 25th, 2011
 Trish Nettleship - Business Social Media and Online Community Lead, AT&T By Allan Maurer
After a few minutes of listening to Trish Nettleship, business social media and online community lead for AT&T, talk about the social media B2B space, you realize she has absorbed the best practices that have already evolved around this still new marketing space.
In 2009, when AT&T turned its social media eye to the B2B space Trish took on a much larger role in social media within the B2B marketing organization.
“We got pulled into social media,” says Nettleship. About a year and half ago, in her previous role at AT&T, she helped launch a Facebook page and Twitter channel for the company’s small business clients. At the time, she says, the attitude was, “There is a new tool out there, let’s try it.” It quickly grew bigger than anticipated, however. “We realized we would need to put more resources toward it,” she says.
So, since Nettleship was the only one with previous social media experience, she was chosen to lead a team that would develop and implement social media strategy.
Six months learning and listening
“I spent six months watching other brands and talking to other professionals,” says Nettleship. But B2B social marketing is so new that “A year and half ago, there were no case studies, no white papers. So it took six months to figure out what this is all about. Then we decided it was time to build a foundation.”
AT&T decided on a hub and spoke model. “We needed to hub to jump off of, and late last year, started a blog. We have an arsenal of folks in the product and sales teams working with us, our experts. We started the blog as a foundation for talking about where we are going.”
Use your experts.
That’s one of the best practices we hear about at TechMedia Internet-centric events, such as the upcoming Digital Summit at Atlanta’s Cobb Galleria May 16-17 where Nettleship is among dozens of participants addressing business issues in the digital realm.
By using AT&T’s experts on the blog, “We get them to extend that expertise and give folks access to their thinking,” says Nettleship. “Our customers don’t care about the latest phone. They want to know what it can do for their business.”
Other lessons Nettleship has learned: “It’s important to have a care team up and running to proactively monitor the social media conversations so you can help people in a proactive manner. Using social media is not free. It takes a lot of effort, care and feeding.” AT&T has such as care team which is 100 percent responsible for monitoring those conversations. Nettleship makes sure their efforts integrate with “everything we do.”
She says AT&T is “Staffing up quickly, bringing in contractors. We can’t bring on staff fast enough.”
Don’t wait until the stars align
If you’re still waiting to try out social media, she suggests that while everyone talks about listening to the social media conversations to understand what’s going on before doing it, “Don’t wait until the situation is perfect or you’ll never jump in. At some point you have to say, ‘I know enough about what my customers are interested in that I can start. And you’re going to learn. You can’t wait until the stars are aligned.”
She warns that “Anytime you go out there and engage with a brand, you’re going to have detractors. That happens whether you’re there or not. So you are better off to engage so you can respond in an open forum to those detractors. We’re all wary of having people say negative things about a brand, but it’s going to happen. Have a plan in place on how you’re going to deal with that.”
Nettleship says that it is important at social media conferences to present ideas that “Are actionable,” and that listeners take back to the office with them. At the Digital Summit in May, Nettleship says she plans to address the “Top ten things B2B Marketers Should Consider.”
Here’s one of those things. Lots of product managers may come to a social media director asking for a Facebook or Twitter page for their products. That’s the wrong place to start, says Nettleship.
Instead, she says, “Ask who you are trying to target. Are they on Twitter? Facebook? “Figure that out first, then decide what the right tools are. Don’t start with the tools.”
TechJournal South is a TechMedia company. TechMedia presents the annual conferences:
SoutheastVentureConference: www.seventure.org
Internet Summit: www.internetsummit.com
Digital East: www.digitaleast.com
Digital Summit: www.digitalsummit.com
Tags: AT&T, Atlanta, B2B social media, blogs, Digital Sumit, Events, facebook, Trish Nettleship, twitter
Posted in Business advice, Events, Facebook, Georgia, Internet/New Media, social media | Comments Off
Tuesday, February 15th, 2011
 By Allan Maurer
ATLANTA – Three major problems affect the ability of companies to generate new sales leads, says Greg Foster, co-founder of BrightWhistle. The new firm is intended to be “The sharp end of the stick in automated marketing,” Foster says.
This is Foster’s latest company. Foster is entrepreneur in residence at Chyrsalis Ventures. His experience includes founding or being part of the management team for three successful start-ups, and running corporate development for two public companies, including Turner Broadcasting.
He is on the board of the popular Internet satire site, The Onion, and Research Triangle-based StatSheet, which Foster says helped inspire founding of BrightWhistle because of its innovations in automation, and was a partner at Atlanta-based Noro-Moseley Partners.
BrightWhistle is one of 50 companies presenting to the more than 1,000 people expected at the fifth annual Southeast Venture Conference in Atlanta March 2-3. Foster tells us the company is in the process of raising a small round now that may close even before the event.
Generating really gualified leads
Founded in July last year, BrightWhistle started out when Foster and co-founder Chad Mallory started looking at ways to generate “Really well qualified leads” in a cost-effective way. “That’s the overarching question marketers deal with on a daily basis,” he says.
He sees three major problems with the way many marketers generate leads now. “Third-party lead generators are often pretty promiscuous,” he says. “They’ll sell a lead to you, to me and to three guys down the street. They’re also disloyal.”
By that he means that even if a company lands a prospect, the third-party lead generator might keep calling them to see if they’ll switch. Also, Foster adds, “There is not a lot of transparency on how their leads are created.”
The bolts come loose
The other approach: broad pay per click strategies with ads on Google and Facebook, has its own set of problems. “They may be able to build you a targeted ad, but they can’t put you somewhere with really compelling content once you click on the ad.”
Also, some digital marketers pay a lot of money to SEO consultants to push their corporate site up the ladder in natural rankings in Google, Bing and so on for certain key words or terms. Unfortunately, Foster notes, “No matter how hard you tighten the bolts down, they eventually come loose.”
He adds, “You may be getting good traffic and good conversions, but over time, they go down and you have to get the SEO consultant back in and pay him $500 an hour to get them back up.”
If money were no object…
So, Foster and his co-founder started asking people, “If money were no object, what kind of system would they create to help with all those issues?”
Foster says “We talked to a lot of different people and companies. They began with healthcare companies – which is BrightWhistle’s initial focus. “They have the greatest need for lead generation to find new patients.”
 Greg Foster Then, he says, “It dawned on us that if they had their druthers, they would want a system where they could create blogs that rank highly for natural search but would allow them to keep the leads generated exclusively for themselves.”
They would want the system flexible enough to take the same blog content and create customized landing pages for ads in Google or on Facebook. The increased relevancy of the pages they land on then produces increased conversion rates.
Already cashflow positive
They asked themselves, Foster says, “What if you could create multiple blogs, get them professionally written and published, manage all the SEO issues, and have the flexibility to create as many landing pages as desired, targeted at a very specific level – and all automated?
That’s the system BrightWhistle developed. “Essentially,” says Foster, “We’re taking something a digital marketer wouldn’t have time to do on their own and automating it.”
BrightWhistle doesn’t sell leads. It sells a software as a service platform, which users pay for based on the number of blogs or landing pages in the system at any given time.
“It’s time to insource lead generation,” he says.
BrightWhistle must be doing something right. The firm landed seven clients since November, but is taking a breather to raise money. “We’re already cashflow positive,” Foster says.
TechJournal South is a TechMedia company. TechMedia presents the annual conferences:
SoutheastVentureConference: www.seventure.org
Internet Summit: www.internetsummit.com
Digital East: www.digitaleast.com
Digital Summit: www.digitalsummit.com
Tags: Atlanta, blogs, Brightwhistle, Chysalis Ventures, Greg Foster, lead generation, Marketing, Noro Moseley Partners, pay per click, Southeast Venture Conference, The Onion
Posted in Events, Georgia, Internet/New Media, IT, Marketing | Comments Off
Thursday, August 26th, 2010
 Cammie Croft By Allan Maurer
WASHINGTON, DC – While the Obama Administration has taken its share of political heat, no one says it is not Internet and new media savvy. From helping establish the first New Media department at the White House to her current role as Department of Energy Senior Advisor and Director of New Media and Citizen Engagement, Cammie Croft has played a pivotal role in helping the administration create and shape its approach to new media communications.
Croft most recently served as the Deputy New Media Director at the White House. Prior to that, she was New Media Rapid Response Manager for the Obama for America campaign.
Croft is one of more than 50 Internet gurus, entrepreneurs, executives, venture capitalists and other stake holders participating in the first Digital East conference in Tysons Corner, VA, Oct. 18.
Just the beginning
Croft is already hard at work helping give the DOE some turf in the 21st century media landscape. On July 20, the DOE launched its blog and Twitter account. Its Director, Stephen Chu now has a Facebook page.
That’s just the beginning of Croft’s efforts to meet its three main goals, she tells us. Those goals are:
Amplifying the DOE’s announcements about its programs, activities and work; providing transparency and accessibility to the DOE’s work; and providing service to and engagement with citizens.
While Croft notes that the first thing she does every morning is look at the comments on the agency’s Facebook page, Twitter responses, new media email, and “Anyplace the public engages with us,” she says.
A different approach
She adds that while there are various ways of setting up online communications teams, such as having a Facebook manager or director of Twitter, she is taking a somewhat different approach.
The media specialists on her team, she explains, “Will focus on key subject areas,” rather than a person focusing on one communications channel and being responsible only for that each day. “So,” she says, “A number of people have that as part of their responsibilities. I think of it as online programming.”
But, Croft says, the DOE blog and social media presence is not all the agency needs.Currently, she points out, the DOE is a large entity with a variety or pre-existing web sites, online programs, Facebook accounts here, Twitter accounts there and Linkein somewhere else.
“We need to rebuild the entire web platform,” she says. “We need to do Web 1.0 really well before we can do Web 2.0 really well. So our first priority is to overhaul energy.gov to make it a better resource for the public.” That includes significant rebuilding of the front and back ends of the site, she notes.
How it helps
“We’re trying to set u a structure and best practices forum to elevate the quality across the agency, but in such a way as to foster innovation.”
One example of how social media helps the agency get its message across happened just recently, she says.
“We have an event with the Vice President regarding our weatherization program. So people have been asking questions about weatherization all this week on our blog and social networks. One person said she couldn’t afford weatherization. We let her know the program is for people just like her. That’s an example of responding to a Facebook comment and providing what she needed within a 24-hour time frame,” Croft says.
Tags: blogs, Cammie Croft, Department of Energy, Digital East, DOE, facebook, new media, twitter
Posted in Energy, Events, Government/Defense, Internet/New Media | Comments Off
Monday, March 8th, 2010
by Adam Rice, Co-Founder of Looxii
 Adam Rice, co-founder, Looxii ATLANTA – The stuff of social media is fundamentally qualitative. Its authors include customers, potential customers, employees, applicants, and spambots, and it comes from sources like YouTube, Twitter, and blogs. What is the best way for a business to make sense of an intimidating mass of tweets, photos, videos, posts and links?
When they want to measure more than their own site’s traffic (which isn’t often apparently), businesses and marketeers can turn to a variety of social media listening platforms that have proliferated over the past two years.
Needs vary from case to case, but there are established metrics that good social media listening platforms will deliver or at least enable users to obtain without too much effort:
Volume: call it mentions, call it word of mouth, call it raw qualitative data—this is the bulk number of social media mentions a search term receives. It’s the most easily quantifiable thing that comes out of social media listening.
Volume by source: measuring volume from multiple sources can help determine the breadth of your social media presence and identify where to improve your social media campaign’s efforts.
Trends: simple semantic parsing can let you know what people are talking about frequently in association with a search term.
Sentiment: you have volume, but is it good, bad, or irrelevant? Platforms that offer sentiment analysis usually charge based on the complexity of that analysis.
Metrics you need may vary
If you have idle interns or few enough mentions to wade through, human analysis can be less expensive and more thorough then automated text analysis. The New York Times offered a good overview of the growing field of sentiment analysis and the difficulty of parsing natural language.
These basics can be turned into numbers and percentages, but particular cases may require different metrics.
Ultimately it depends on the size and nature of your business and deciding what you want to get out of having a social media presence (marketing? PR? customer acquisition/service? all of the above?). Knowing your brand and being practical about social media will help you determine what’s best to measure.
To be clear, social media metrics aren’t direct indicators of ROI. If you have a well-planned strategy, your social media metrics should be tied to standard indicators of ROI (e.g. new transactions/customers, customer retention, customer service, sales, etc.). Doing so will help gauge the efficacy of a campaign and justify the cost of that campaign to executives.
For a more detailed take on social media and ROI see Olivier Blanchard’s “definitive Social Media ROI Presentation“ which is also featured in this equally insightful Mashable post.
Adam Rice is a co-founder of Looxii - @looxii, an Atlanta-based startup that makes social media simpler for businesses with its recently launched web-based listening platform.
This guest post is part of TechJournal South’s month long focus on analytics. For information on writing guest posts for TJS, contact editor Allan Maurer: allan at TechJournalSouth dot com.
Tags: analytics, Atlanta, blogs, Looxii, social media, twitter, Viewpoint, YouTube
Posted in Business advice, Columns, Georgia, Internet/New Media, Marketing, Viewpoint | Comments Off
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