Monitoring & Measuring the Social World

While generating unique and engaging social media programs is important, the analysis, monitoring and measurement that takes place throughout the campaign is essential. As mentioned in the class notes, social web monitoring is basically using search engine technologies to list to what is being said about an organization on the social web.  Since the complete explosion of social media and its wide use within organizations throughout the globe, there has been a large increase in the options for social monitoring, 

including ones that will fit a variety of budgets from paid to free.

The below is a short synopsis of some of the social monitoring tools that can be used to measure and track social media, both paid and free.

Lithium

Lithium is a paid social media monitoring service that organizations can get for about $1,500 each month. It analyzes social media content from Twitter, blogs, mainstream news, photo and video sharing sites, forums and comments. One of the reasons Lithium is a great monitoring site to consider is that it’s searching ability give organizations access to millions of social media resources, therefore helping to ensure that no discussions go unnoticed. Tapping into this large network leaves less room for error. Another reason Lithium is useful is because of its automated sentiment, which shows the real-time tone and sentiment of social mentions. Finally, Lithium also has a feature called Quotes, which allows you to see what your customers are saying about your brand, allowing you to see any red flags/negative comments early on so the organization can respond immediately.

Social Mention (Free)

Social mention is a free social monitoring service that conducts social media searches and analysis, working similarly to Google Alerts.  This service is great because it takes content from a variety of sources and creates a single stream of information. It actually monitors and measures what is being said about your company in more than 100 social media venues, giving you quite good coverage of the social world for free. Another component I like about this service is that you can receive instant notifications of conversations happening across all of the venues. Again, knowing earlier can help diffuse a negative situation.

Social.Media.Tracking (Free)

This social media tool is mainly focused on Facebook, but I still think this would be valuable for an organization. Depending on the intensity of an organizations social strategy (some might use 10 social platforms, while others might only use one, being Facebook), they might only be using one social media platform (more than likely Facebook or Twitter). Social Media Tracking is very useful because it tracks the performance of Facebook pages in a competitive environment. For free, you are able to compare the performance of your facebook page to two competitors. I also think Social Media Tracking is a great option if the budget is tight, but you are looking for some basic measurement platforms.

Addict-o-matic (Free)

This tool helps organizations search the web for the latest news, blog posts, videos and images. It is fairly straightforward and easy to use. While it does not have analytics tools, what it can do is create individual pages based on the attest buzz on any topic. This is helpful for the user because it allows you to keep one topic in one area and go back to it constantly for updates. You can also keep track of headlines so you know what people are talking about, which might influence what your organization decides to discuss. This platform also has access to some of the top blogs and news sources, which is helpful to know that you are getting the best results for your organization.

While the paid tools do provide an organization with more analysis, I think that determining what will work best is completely individual and based upon the organization. There are great analytics tools available that will allow users to track a variety of information at a low cost or for free. I’m also sure there are more of these tools in the works, so in no time, my list of tools is sure to change. 

Tassimo and The Recall

This week we were asked to discuss an issue that an organization is dealing with and how they are using/could use social media to work through it.

Tassimo recently recalled a specific brewer and T Discs because during the brewing process, the brewer would spew hot water on to the user, which happened on a number of occassions, including a younger child. Tassimo acted very quickly to rectify the matter. They released a recall website which contained all of the information that consumers would need, including the specific appliance/unit numbers that were affected.

I was particularly impressed with their use of social media to spread the word. On Facebook they have over 130,000 fans and Tassimo communicated the recall to their fans with complete transparency. They were openly discussing the recall on Facebook, providing customers with next steps and where they could go to get a refund. Their quick action and open transparency ensured they would not lose the trust they had built with their fan and customer base. They discussed the recall on Twitter as well, where they have over 4,500 followers, interacting reactively and proactively with the community.

This case study I came across does a great job as showing how Tassimo has succeeded in the past in using social media as well and I found this very insightful. It appears from the research I've done, that they have a good, strategic plan for their social media out reach, but also know how to use social media to effectively communicate with their customers in the time of a crisis.

A job well done, Tassimo!

My Fascination With Pinterest Continues....

I found another article on Mashable about the growth of Pinterest and how it is believed it is Changing Website Design Forever. In the article they mention the design of the site is set up like "window shopping" or "sticky notes", saying that  it makes the user feel like they are creating something on their own. While I think the phrase changing website design forever is a bit much, I agree that perhaps it is a format we'll see popping up more and more often.

Here are a few other examples of websites that are following a similar design format:

Scrolldit has adopted the blocking feel of Pinterest.

Quora, which is a Q&A site has recently launched Quora Boards where users can create boards, add content and people can follow them.

Managing the Social Web Community

Due to my own personal work experience I understand the value and need for a community manager within any organization’s social strategy. After being enlightened this week by going further in depth as to their specific roles and how the role is seen within the organization, I even more see this as a much needed area.

In the article Twelve Best Practices for Online Customer Communities , the author says  that active community management is essential. Going further, he notes, “Communities are indeed self-organizing, but like community of any kind they require active administration, management, and moderation or the community will devolve into a least common denominator environment where abuse, spam, neglect, inactivity, and poor behavior of a few go unaddressed and drive away productive participants.”

Boy Neil wrote a post Wanted: More Community Managers . In it he discusses the necessity for community managers and also how they should follow the four principles of dialogue:
Based on many other readings, I gather that for social communities to thrive, users need to want to be a part of them. There has to be something driving them, a relationship, something reciprocal that they will receive in return. The community manager needs to be there to facilitate discussion, while also understanding when to let conversations happen organically and just view from afar (I believe this would be the suspending and respecting principles).  In other instances there are cases where the community manager will need to intervene to ensure conversation topics remain in line with the communities’ policies.

“Social media are about interaction and relationship: A social media focused program cannot therefore fundamentally be about the creation of social ‘objects’. It has to have at its center a commitment to reciprocal exchange, which starts from the four principles of dialogue  introduced in William Isaacs’ book Dialogue and the Art of Thinking Together, they are listening, suspending, respecting…then voicing.”

Delving deeper into this discussion, I’ve looked at two Canadian companies which exemplify effective community management.

Shoppers Drug Mart

Shoppers Drug Mart uses social media in a very effective manner. Looking at their Facebook  page, Shoppers has 241,462 fans across Canada and 7,122 Twitter followers. Facebook is used as a great way to interact with Shoppers consumers, allowing for open lines of discussion. From the Facebook wall you can see that customers use the platform to ask questions and interact with other Shoppers fans across Canada. Fans are also able to interact with the Shoppers Drug Mart website with new links being posted, as well as access to new product launches, information and upcoming promotions. While the conversation does flow organically it is evident that the community manager does a great job at facilitating discussion when necessary and is also quick to reply, which are both essential components of effective community management.   

WestJet

Another Canadian company that does a great job at managing social communities is WestJet. A few years ago I had the chance to listen to a discussion panel about social media (I suppose this was during the time when it was still considered to be “emerging”) and there was a representative there from WestJet discussing their online social communities. I researched more into their communities and they are managed in a very interesting way. WestJet has 194,478 fans on Facebook and 126,100 followers on Twitter who they interact with a lot, in some instances generating the conversation, but in many instances responding back to fans. One of the components I think is great, and helps facilitate the relationship building aspect of social communities, is that no matter who responds to a customer they sign off with their name. I think this is a nice touch and makes the company seem more real and tangible, as opposed to strongly corporate.

WestJet also hosts a fun initiative each Wednesday for their fans called “Winglet Wednesdays” where users (Facebook and Twitter as well, which has 126,100 followers) can interact with the Facebook and Twitter pages to post pictures of the WestJet wings from the flights they are on.  It is basically just a fun way for fans to interact with the company in the social space.

Another reason I think WestJet is a great example of effective online community management is because you can see how much their flyers/followers/fans rely on them in the social space. I recall a comment the WestJet representative made about their loyal customer following, and how they come to them directly, on their social platforms, when they have an issue with a flight, such as a delay, to get all of the information needed. This demonstrates that they have built a strong rapport and trust within their community and I think it is very impressive they have maintained it.

What do you think of these companies? Do you find you interact with brands more on Facebook or Twitter? I’m interested to know…

A Whole New World - Life Beyond Facebook and Twitter

This week's learning took my knowledge into a realm I very much was not familiar with. Foursquare and Facebook places I know a bit about, but have never participated, let alone the other tools including discovery engines, QR codes and AR. Add on to this how they relate to public relations and could be integrated into a campaign, I had some serious research to do.

For me, choosing one, singular learning from the week is difficult because I learned to much, so I'm going to go through a few key points of my learnings:

Learnings from participating in a location-based service - Similar to one of the articles we read this week here, I have my hesitations about participating in a location based service from a safety perspective. While I did learn this can be done anonymously, I'm not sure this is something I would continue to use personally, but I do see value in it from a PR perspective (read on for more on this).

Location-Based Serivces - My biggest learning about LBS is that there is a huge potential for influencers to become a part of PR campaigns to reach specific demographics. The more people that follow these influencers and who see where they are checking in to, can create a lot of buzz about a campaign.

QR Codes - QR Codes allow for instantaneous access to information and is also very useful if there is a visual or video component to the campaign, allowing users to interact. QR codes are also a great way to track information about who is buying specific products and certain demographics.

Discovery Engines - They key learning here (and I have never heard of these before) is the amount of up to date and trending information that can be found instantly. I think there is a great opportunity for PR campaigns to go viral using sponsored articles/videos or it can also happen organically if the campaign is great enough.

Augmented Reality - While I understand this is expensive, AR has the potentially to add a great new dimension to PR campaigns. From the research that I've done, it appears that are being used a bit more extensively in some industries, including fashion and there are of course others that still need to catch on, but I see great potential in AR, especially in helping a campaign go viral.

In my exploration of this unknown world of QR Codes, AR and Discovery Engines, I came across some great examples of PR campaigns that have used these platforms to cream successful campaigns.

Catch a Choo

Fashion forward shoe brand Jimmy Choo used location based service Foursquare for a launch campaign in 2010. The campaign was created to launch the expansion of Jimmy Choo into sport footwear and took place in London, England. The concept was such that one pair of new Jimmy Choo trainers would check in on Foursquare at various store locations and followers would have to get to physically get to the location first in order to win a pair of new Jimmy Choo shoes. I thought this was a really unique and innovative way to launch a new line of footwear. Not only did it incorporate many forms of social platforms (Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare), but it as very successful in driving foot traffic to stores. Once customers were in store and someone had already won the shoes, there was potential for purchase by the consumer, which would result in increased sales of the new trainers.

GM Chevy Cruz and Volt

The article 30 Social Media Predictions From 30 Social Media Pros is from January of 2011, mentions that companies and clients will be looking for more and ore social media opportunities that can be measured and provide data. QR Codes was one of their examples because of the way they allow brands to track information, including which demographics and numbers of users. A great example of uses of QR codes and LBS for PR is a case study I found about Chevy. In an effort to build brand awareness and engagement of the Chevy Volt and Cruze at the SXSW festival they first used Gowalla to see how consumers would interact with the brand via LBS. When festival goers, who were subscribed to Gowalla, landed in Austin Texas, they received a welcome message from Chevy and some were randomly offered a free ride from the airport to their hotel in a Chevy car. I thought this was an interesting way that demonstrated how sponsored messages can be utilized for a LBS. In addition to this, once at the festival, Chevy attached QR codes onto pre-production models of the Cruze and Volt. When scanned by a phone, the QR Codes launched a micro-site full of information about the key vehicle features of both cars. 

The initiative was very effective and through the tracking they were able to do from the use of the QR codes, they recorded that there were 370 scans of the QR codes and blog posts, tweets and other articles mentioning Chevy's use of QR Codes at SXSW, resulted in 1,680,230 impressions. The buzz about the Volt and Cruz also resulted in over 13,000 tweeted mentions in the nine days of the festival.

Harry Potter Video Game & Augmented Reality

I came across a really unique use of augmented reality to get gamers excited about the launch of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Part 2 video game. You can read about it here, but in short, as an incentive to get gamers to purchase the game, developers created an AR component that would allow buyers of the new video game to go to the website for the video game, hold the cover to a webcam and Lord Voldemort would come to live. Additionally, those who have part 1 of the video game could hold both covers up to the web cam to see Harry Potter and Lorde Voldemort begin battling. Quite a unique concept that was sure to get the attention of gamers around the world. For a sneakpeak at what the experience looked like, check out this video from YouTube and you can also access the gaming website where the AR is available here.

What are your thoughts on life beyond Facebook and Twitter? Do you think it is just a phase? For me, I will continue to follow these platforms and their evolution and would love to utilize one or some of them for a future campaign.

Interest in Pinterest

Pinterest is very new to me. A friend told me about it in December and I tried it as soon as I got home and quickly became enthralled with the content and inspiration I was finding on the site. Similar to my initial reaction when I joined Twitter a few years ago, I thought to myself that I understood the social component from an everyday discussion standpoint, but didn't quite know how businesses would participate. Only a few years later and those companies who don't have Twitter are the odd men out.

Last week we had a discussion question about how businesses could use Pinterest to engage with customers, so I know this is a little late, but while reading through my blog roll, I came across a very interesting article about the exponential growth of Pinterest of late here and wanted to share.

The number of users increased by 400% from September to December 2011 and just in the month of December alone they has 7.51 million unique visitors to the website.

From what I've read, it still seems quite uncertain as to how successful Pinterest will be for businesses in terms of actually driving traffic to stores and purchases, but there are some business in where I think it could work. The article mentions the Pinterest accounts for HGTV, Nordstrom and West Elm and all of these businesses have one major thing in common - they are very visual. Design, art and fashion are all very visual and built from inspiration. For an interior design company, Pinterest would post images of work they've done in the hopes of getting followers interested in their business services, or post some of their favourite products that would only be available at their stores.

I could also see Pinterest working successfully for cosmetic brands and fashion brands, not only for posting new collections, but making the creative process more available to consumers - breaking down the lines of what use to be a secret or proprietary in the planning process, but is now made available through social media outlets. For now, I'm using Pinterest specifically to inspire upcoming wedding plans, but I'm going to be on the look out to see how Pinterest continues to develop within the retail space.

Blogger Education

In my drive to learn and take in as much information as possible about social media and PR, here are some of the bloggers that I've been/started following to help make sense of this crazy world of social media.

Communication Conversations - The blog's creator Arik has interesting and informative posts and if you read his bio, he was named one of the top 50 PR people to follow (interesting list if you're looking to follow more PR professionals on Twitter!).

Dave Jones - Our classmate Pilar introduced me to Dave Jones' blog. Dave actually came into one of my classes at Ryerson to speak and I found him fascinating, so I'm glad to have found and started reading his blog. Thank you, Pilar.

Forbes Social Media - There are a lot of tips on this blog and a lot of current and up to date information. The focus is more on social media, but greatly helps my education in the social media.

Jeff Bullas - If you're new to Twitter, this blog provides a great run down of how to get started and how you can use it. He also has a lot of thought provoking posts, which I enjoy!

Mashable - I'v followed this website for a long time now and find it an incredibly valuable resource. This blog basically taught me how to use Twitter. I also like how they have the "Trending Stories" right at the top, so I know if I only have a bit of time to catch up on the new, everything I need to know is there.

New York Times - This section of the New York Tims ha an area called the "App Index", which allows me to easily locate all of the articles on mobile apps that are focus on communication and social media. I have found this to be very useful to keep informed on what's new and coming.

PR Daily - I have been reading this website for about a year now and I also subscribe to their daily emails. They have some really insightful information about public relations in general and a lot of information on social media and writing.

Social Media Examiner - This is a new website I just started following and they have a lot of great information, but what I like most are the case studies they have here, which shows real business examples of social PR campaigns.

Social Media Explorer - I've really enjoyed exploring this website. Their articles are easy to find and broken down by specific categories. They also have section on marketing/digital marketing, which I find really interesting too. What helped most was their start guide, to help me find articles that were useful for me.

Veritas Communications Touchdowns & Fumbles - This blog can be pretty funny sometimes, but I also really like the case study component, showing what works and doesn't work for certain companies and campaigns.

Have I missed any of the major websites? I would love to hear feedback if I have!