All posts by Jackie Kmetz

Top 5 Challenges of Social Data Integration, Part 3

Posted by on February 22, 2012

Today’s companies understand the importance of listening to their customers and value social media’s role in the listening process.  But blending social data into the mix of business data you are already managing is nearly impossible if the data is not consistent, clean and formatted in a way that allows you to slice, dice and pivot on the aspects that are meaningful to you.   In our last post we looked at the two more challenges businesses face when looking at integrating social data into their current systems—the processing the volumes of data to make it useful and having the technical expertise and requirements to build and maintain the systems required to accomplish these tasks.  Let’s take a look at the next challenge. Read more…

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Top 5 Challenges of Social Data Integration, Part 2

Posted by on February 17, 2012

Transforming your company into a Social Enterprise to be as social as your customers are can reap huge rewards. But this change can come with some real challenges without the right tools and partners to help.  Enterprises looking to accomplish this on their own face some intense hurdles.  In our last post we looked at the first challenge businesses face when looking at integrating social data into their current systems—dealing with the enormous volume of information and how easily that deluge of data can overwhelm existing business systems.

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Top 5 Challenges of Social Data Integration, Part 1

Posted by on February 9, 2012

We’ve talked previously about the benefits of integrating social data with your systems of record to connect social data to your CRM and to marry traditional metrics like Web traffic and sales data to social discussions and activities.  Transforming your company into a Social Enterprise to be as social as your customers are can reap huge rewards. But this change can come with some real challenges without the right tools and partners to help.

Let’s take a look at five of the most notable challenges to integrating social media data into your business and how Visible® can help.

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Greatest Social Media Pitfall

Posted by on February 2, 2012

Social media data is a valuable source of enterprise-wide feedback for businesses that are savvy enough to leverage it. Social insights enable customer service teams to better serve customers, helps corporate communications spot crises and measure “buzz,” gives marketers a brand health barometer and competitive benchmarking index and allows researchers access to previously untapped consumer insights. Social data makes it possible for advertisers to optimize campaign messaging and track results, and gives sales organizations the ability to find their competitors’ unhappy customers, while identifying prospects in the market for their products.

However, social media data by itself is not nearly as instructive for taking action and driving results as it is when integrated into your business strategy and execution.   The real power and ROI of social data comes from marrying it with existing business systems, processes and data (e.g. CRM platforms, market research, point of sale (POS) systems).  Add in traditional media sources such as news feeds, television, satellite and mobile technologies, and with this holistic view you can see responses to your entire media ecosystem in one place. Combining social data with metrics such as Web analytics allows you to see the impact of your messaging and the resulting actions and conversions.

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Facebook Page Cheat Sheet

Posted by on January 20, 2012

Most of you have a Facebook page for your brand at this point.  Would it be handy to have a cheat sheet with all of those sizes and dimensions for quick reference when you need to update your profile picture, the timeline cover picture, custom tabs, ads, etc?  How big can the pictures you upload be?  How long can a video be?  How many characters can your title be?  Well now you have one!

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Olympics Get Proactive Issuing Social Media Guidelines

Posted by on January 13, 2012

The organizers of the London Olympics, scheduled for July 27th-August 12th, have made a smart move by issuing a set of Social Media Guidelines for everyone participating.  Considering the sheer volumes of folks involved and the instant visibility of good and bad events on a global scale this is a very well-thought out proactive move by the London Organising Committee.  In addition to the 13,500 troops that will be in force on guard duty, over 70,000 unpaid volunteers are expected to help run the London Olympic Games.

The guidelines have been issued to address security issues as well as to protect the commercial interests of sponsors.  According to the guidelines, volunteers are forbidden to disclose any information about their own personal role, their location or any information about athletes, celebrities or visiting dignitaries.  This includes posting any pictures, videos or statements about VIPs who may be visiting athletes “backstage” as well as any images of the back stage areas itself. Read more…

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Best Practices to Manage 6 Social Media Threats

Posted by on January 12, 2012

While social media has presented a new valuable and effective means of connecting with and learning about consumers it has also brought with it potential threats that organizations must prepare for and handle whether they are actively participating in social conversations or merely watching from the sidelines.

Previously, we discussed six social media threats that present real risks for enterprises. Now we will discuss best practices that you can implement to mitigate and even eliminate these threats when possible.  Of course it isn’t reasonable to think you can plan for every situation that may arise, but by setting the stage ahead of time and taking the necessary precautions, you can minimize the impact should something occur.

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6 Social Media Threats You Need to Know About

Posted by on January 11, 2012

Social media is an incredibly powerful medium that enables companies to access unfiltered consumer feedback and engage with customers and potential customers all while they build their brands and provide valuable information. Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn are all commonly used platforms in this endeavor, but social media for enterprises isn’t all like-ing and friend-ing.

For organizations, the reality is that there are some real risks to using social media ranging from damaging the brand to exposing proprietary information. Here are six of the biggest social media threats you need to know about whether your company is an active participant or sits more on the sidelines.

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Top 7 Metrics for Tracking Social Media ROI

Posted by on January 3, 2012

Social media programs need to be monitored, measured and analyzed over time just like any other program in your company. Demonstrating ROI in social media, however, has often made people uncomfortable because social media measurement often requires enterprises to reconsider their definitions of ROI and then blend them with established measures. The efforts are well worth it and allow you to monitor progress, demonstrate success and discover opportunities to improve what you are doing in your online and even offline programs.

When establishing your metrics, remember social media is the vehicle, not the destination. Think of it like your business card. A business card merely represents potential. It’s impossible to accurately measure the ROI of a business card—just as you can’t measure the value of a Facebook fan. But that doesn’t mean we can’t apply measurement and value to the fan count. Put activity-based metrics in context:  Did the additional Likes also correlate to additional conversions? Use the ‘so what’ test to look at the metrics in relation to your business goals. So what are the key metrics you should be tracking? Here are the top seven metrics used to track social media ROI today: Read more…

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Finding the ROI in Social Media

Posted by on December 22, 2011

There’s no debating it; social media is hot.  It’s still growing at a phenomenal rate and the dollar figures associated with it are just as impressive.  Forrester Research predicts Interactive marketing spending in the US will more than triple over the next five years, reaching $61 billion by 2012 and spending on social media alone will grow to $6.9 billion as marketers understand how to use and measure this channel.  All of this momentum brings to light a universal challenge that executives, marketers and social teams face today—measuring their Social Media ROI.  Like all aspects of business, social media needs to be measured and analyzed so that you can evaluate it in relation to other programs and improve on it over time.

Before launching a social media program, it’s essential to clarify success metrics and goals.  While much of ROI focus is on the goal of making direct conversions, it is important to emphasize that social media is primarily about building new relationships, generating word of mouth marketing, and strengthening brand loyalty with your customers.  Read more…

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