Social Media Monitoring

Over the next several weeks, I will be publishing a series of posts about the basics of social media. These aren’t in any specific order, but if followed they will help you to monitor and respond to your fans and followers effectively. The posts in this series will be:

• Do Not Delete
• Remember, You’re Talking to People
• What’s the Reason for Your Social Media Presence?
• Your Customers are Talking. Listen to Them!

Do Not Delete
You might be tempted to delete negative posts from your Twitter and Facebook feed, but don't do it! It might seem counter intuitive, especially if you have a plethora of negative...

Regardless of how long you’ve been using (or not using) a marketing automation tool, you should always be on the lookout for ways to improve your marketing efforts—whether it’s by implementing drip campaigns, exploring the wonders of dynamic content, or creating highly targeted email blasts for specific audiences. The point is, there are always new and exciting things to try, especially with all of the extra time that you free up by implementing an automation system in the first place.

But how do you know what the next step is?

The best way to make sure that you’re always progressing with your...

Is your brand on every social media platform under the sun yet mastering engagement in none?

The virtues of having a social media presence are blindingly obvious. After all, what brand wouldn’t want to connect with their customers, build brand reputation and ultimately increase sales? But all too often this desire to engage online gets side-tracked and you find yourself staring down the barrel of multiple social media profiles with no notifications. So how can you optimise your efforts on social media and increase engagement with fans and followers?

Let’s take a look at some best practice...

Whether you're an email, mobile, or social media marketer, there's a new piece of research from Motorola that you'll want to get your hands on ASAP. Their 4th Annual Media Engagement Barometer is billed as "a snapshot of the way that people around the world are interacting with media," and whether viewed on its own or in combination with another longitudinal survey like The Future of the Internet from the Pew Internet & American Life Project, the breadth of results are pretty impressive.

Upon perusing the report however, my attention immediately focused on page 49 in which Motorola shared...

Everything was going fine. You had set up your email marketing campaigns properly, all of your subscribers were double opt-in, you were sending emails on the right frequency, and your content was exactly what you had promised.

As far as you knew, people loved this stuff.....

But then, out of the blue, Gmail and the other ISPs started blocking your emails! But why? Why? Because those subscribers aren't interacting with your email anymore. They've become disinterested. They've become what are now known as 'the un-engaged.'

Just sending email to your subscribers isn't good enough

Just sending email...

It's that time of year again where interactive marketers (in addition to music fans and film buffs) head down to Austin, TX for South By Southwest. I love "South by" for its spontaneity, awesome networking, and exchanging of great ideas among my fellow interactive marketing peers.  

Just like in past years, we'll be painting Austin ORANGE in a variety of ways so you can connect with both our Mobile and Social teams! Here's how you can hang out with us down in Austin: 

Saturday March 9, All Day!

Mobile Saturday with UrbanAirship: Our own RJ Talyor, VP of Mobile Products, will be hanging out and...

Well, Twitter is! Twitter is entering the ecommerce space in a bid to become the next social media shopping cart, allowing users to purchase products by tweeting a special hashtag. Joining forces with American Express, users will now be able to purchase products from Amazon, Urban Zen, Sony, and Xbox 360.

How Does it Work?

1. Sync your eligible American Express Card with Twitter
2. Tweet special #hashtags and look for a response from @AmexSync with the confirmation #hashtag
3. Tweet the confirmation #hashtag within 15 minutes of the response from @AmexSync to confirm your purchase
4. Use your synced card for a...

The Super Bowl was slightly different than last year for the city of Indianapolis. IN 2012, we were the host city and millions around the world watched what has become America's largest sport event. With that said, New Orleans was an excellent host city and we were excited to track the social media experience of the Super Bowl once again. 

This year we asked our partner, Visible Technologies, to help us track the social media conversation relating to the Social Super Bowl. Visible is the leader in social media monitoring, analytics, and services for enterprises globally. They are an...

Experts predicted that one billion users would be on social networks by the end of 2012. 62% already use Twitter and Facebook for product questions, discovery and support.  Ask yourself: When you launch that email campaign, where do you think prospects will go to ask product questions? Your website? Yes. Your blog? Yes. Facebook and Twitter, Yes!  So, are you monitoring, responding, and leveraging those product inquires to drive more leads and purchases?

By the end of 2012, 80% of companies planned to use social media for customer service. These brands understand that a customer’s experience on...

ExactTarget is fortunate to serve some of the best brands in the world, and many of them understand how important it is to mine for customer preferences or brand advocates, improving the overall performance of their marketing campaigns. There are plenty of tools to help you do this, but the reality is, most brands are ignoring data that’s right underneath their noses!  I love this tweet from Olivier Blanchard @thebrandbuilder

"Only 59% of B2C companies use social media for market research. ‪http://bit.ly/UXXQP8  (No wonder SM isn't working for 41% of B2C companies.)"

ExactTarget partners with Vis...

This week, I'm presenting a series of posts that reveal some of the top things consumers want from marketers—backed by solid, statistical data—plus real, actionable recommendations to help you improve your cross-channel marketing program.

Check out Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 of this series, then read on for today's tip!

TIP #4: Consumers want to interact across multiple channels

Let’s face it—email, mobile, and media social belong together! Consumers don’t limit their interactions to one channel, and neither should your marketing.

According to our 2012 Channel Preference Survey:

• 91% of consumers...

In early 2010, a major auto manufacturer was faced with a massive recall—one that received heavy criticism and worldwide media attention. But rather than dodge the spotlight, they stepped into the middle of it, opening a dialogue and answering customers questions through social media outlets. In the end, the brand turned a crisis into an opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to their customers, products, and services.

When mistakes are made, proactively fielding the criticism that follows is imperative. We recommend making things right by leveraging all of your social media outlets to...

Let’s face it; the holidays can be a really stressful time. Last-minute shopping, decorating, traveling, cooking, hosting, and the coordination of everything that comes with making the season merry and bright... It all translates to increased pressure for brands to provide outstanding service to their sometimes-frazzled customers. In this 2-part post, ExactTarget client JetBlue provides their best advice for the holiday season.

The ATA estimates that 47 million passengers will travel during the winter holiday season (between December 13 and January 2) which directly follows a Thanksgiving...

This past weekend was advertised as one of the most exciting in all of college football: Championship Weekend. Championships were won, trophies handed out, bowl berths earned, and commentary of 140 characters was plentiful. There were six championship games, three overtimes, and a blowout of historic proportions. Today, we know who won on the field but let’s take a look at the off-the-field winners – more specifically, the Twitter winners (Twinners?).

In this 2-part post, we'll analyze the Twitter profiles of the 12 championship contenders and their respective leagues’ presence in the...

Manage Conversations Effectively in Twitter and Facebook: Part 3, Track and Adapt in Real Time

At Connections 2012, I hosted a panel featuring Joel Ballezza of Brooks Running and Allison Gonzalez of Carter’s. We spoke about the top three ways you can manage social conversations more effectively, using SocialEngage:

1. Staff for Success
2. Plan Ahead
3. Track and Adapt in Real Time (today's topic)

In case you missed it, this blog series will bring you up to speed on the best of the session, including attendee feedback. Leave your own tips in the comments section!

Tracking is the key both to measuring success...

At Connections 2012, I hosted a panel featuring Joel Ballezza of Brooks Running and Allison Gonzalez of Carter’s. We spoke about the top three ways you can manage social conversations more effectively, using SocialEngage:

1. Staff for Success
2. Plan Ahead
3. Track and Adapt in Real Time

In case you missed it, this blog series will bring you up to speed on the best of the session, including attendee feedback. Leave your own tips in the comments section!

Planning is critical to social media success. If you or your company first got involved in social media as a response to conversations your customers were...

At Connections 2012, I hosted a panel featuring Joel Ballezza of Brooks Running and Allison Gonzalez of Carter’s. We spoke about the top three ways you can manage social conversations more effectively, using SocialEngage:

1. Staff for Success
2. Plan Ahead
3. Track and Adapt in Real Time

In case you missed it, this blog series will bring you up to speed on the best of the session, including attendee feedback. Leave your own tips in the comments section!

The first, most important, step to take in order to be more effective when communicating with customers online is to make sure you have the right people on...

We believe social media engagement is crucial for brands - and just as important is listening and monitoring.   Elizabeth Morgan from Visible Technologies and I sat down for a quick chat. 

SM: So what exactly is Visible?
EM: Visible is the leader in social media monitoring, analytics, and services for enterprises globally. Visible’s technology and expertise helps businesses analyze social media conversations to better understand consumer preferences, market dynamics, competitive strengths and weaknesses, and other information critical to a company’s reputation and brands.
 

SM: We have a lot of...