By: Cosmin Ghiurau
Social Media monitoring is emerging as a ‘must-have’ for any Social Media initiative for a product or service. The need to analyze the metrics of success or improvements is critical to adjust the messaging for the Social Media initiative.
In Social Media it is very important to identify the ‘Social Evangelist’ for the [...]
By: Cosmin Ghiurau
Social Media monitoring is emerging as a ‘must-have’ for any Social Media initiative for a product or service. The need to analyze the metrics of success or improvements is critical to adjust the messaging for the Social Media initiative.
In Social Media it is very important to identify the ‘Social Evangelist’ for the message of the company. This evangelist can be a person or a group of people who have a Social Communication policy set in place to correctly share the message on behalf of the company. This responsibility cannot be quarantined to a specific department. Typically, someone who is responsible for communications within a company makes a good evangelist. However, it should not be limited to just that. A successful social evangelist for a company is one that is very passionate about the goods and/or services a company provides and seeks to increase the company voice in the social media sphere.
One of the main benefits of monitoring Social Media is the ability to react and be proactive toward the messaging that a company receives within the social sphere. Having an ‘always on’ approach to a company allows near immediate reaction to sentiments that can range from positive, neutral, and negative. By responding to these sentiments it allows better management of them before the impact of social media strikes.
Currently, there are multiple types of social monitoring tools ranging from free to paid services. The following two examples are excellent recommendations for a ‘freemium’ tool and a paid service.
1. (Free) Confluence Evaluator (http://confluencelabs.com ) – This free tool instantly gives a score to an individual or a company based on the social media conversations and influence around the keyword. Keywords are given a score based on the highest possible person or company during that given day.
2. (Freemium) Techirgy SM2 ( http://www.techrigy.com/ )- SM2 is a social media monitoring and analysis solution designed for PR and marketing professionals. With SM2 you can track conversations, reviews and positive/negative sentiment for your brands, clients, competitors and partners across the eco-system called social media: blogs, wikis, micro-blogs like Twitter, social networks, embedded video and more - in real time.
3. (Paid) Radian6 ( http://www.radian6.com/cms/solution ) - Radian6 software is quick and easy. The user simply sets up topics using keywords. Keywords could include names of brands, companies, products, competitors, issues, campaigns, spokespeople, executives or anything else that requires monitoring.
Once setup is complete, the solution automatically collects and tracks content for the topic. It monitors all forms of social media including blogs, top video sharing and social networking sites, forums, opinion and review sites, image sharing sites, micro-blogging sites, online mainstream media and other sites as they become available.
Twollow.com – This tool allows a user to input up to 5 keywords specific to a niche that one is trying to target. This is done by selecting the amount of people one wishes to follow per day based on a keyword, twollow will then automatically follow people. If twollow is set to follow 15 new people per day for all 5 keywords that is a total of 75 new targeted users per day.
Twannabe.com - Once one has identified a few key people in a niche, twannabe allows a user to input a key twitter username that will then automatically all people that the key twitter user is following. This allows you to follow those people. This way it ensures that there is an organic growth of like-minded twitter users therefore increasing the chance of that person following back.
Tweetlater – Send automated Direct Messages when someone follows an account and then one follows the user back instantly! In this way the community is growing and your account is following like-minded individuals while all on an automated process!
Tweepular.com – Perhaps the best tool to continue to grow your network on Twitter is the service called Tweepular. This service allows one to refine the audience. Tweepular will continue to suggest new users based on their ‘Build your Tweepularity” feature.
Tracking your following – As your followers begin to grow automatically and organically, tracking tools come in handy to further refine your profile to be attractive to other twitter users to follow you. Tools such as Tweetstats.com and Tweepletwak.com help monitor your twitter statistics.
