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Posts Tagged ‘measurement’

The Now Of Social Communication [Infographic]

You’ve already heard a lot this week about the evolution of our company. Our CEO, Michael Nowlan, wrote about what this change means and our COO, Jim Delaney, wrote about how these changes reflect a changing landscape for our customers and how we’re here to help you. Well, today we thought instead of telling you more, we’d actually show you.

Below we put together an infographic that shows how certain industries and business functions have changed over the years. Things like PR, marketing, customer service and reputation management have changed significantly just in the past 10 years alone. In order to help you do these things better, we as a company had to evolve as well to grow with you.

Take a look at the infographic to see how the industry used to operate (Then) and how our Marketwired suite of products, powered by Sysomos, can help you do your job better today and make smarter decisions for the future (Now).

We’ve evolved from a wire company to a wired company and we want to help you do the same.

By Sheldon Levine - April 5th, 2013 - No Comments »
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Posted in Announcements

Product Updates: Influencer Bio Searches, Google+ Fan Pages and More

Today we have some great product updates and a big announcement

In our continued pursuit of excellence here at Sysomos we have some exciting developments to share with you today. As usual with these emails, we have some great updates to both the MAP and Heartbeat software that we think you’re really going to enjoy. But first, we have something even more exciting to tell you about…

Sysomos is now officially a Twitter Certified Partner!

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Being a part of the Twitter Certified Partner Program solidifies the benefit we provide in helping businesses learn and act upon what their customers are saying on Twitter. Being part of this program allows us to take full advantage of the Twitter platform and innovate to solve business needs. Essentially this means that our products will be constantly improving to make sure you are getting the best possible information and insights from Twitter to do your job better.

 

And now, here’s our latest round of product updates:

  

Twitter Trends

With brands always looking for ways to benefit from real-time marketing, it’s important for them to know what’s going on and what people are talking about at all times. That’s why we’ve added a new section to both MAP and Heartbeat that shows you what is currently trending on Twitter. These trending topics can be viewed on a worldwide basis, by country or even as specific as major cities around the world. So whether you’re a global, national or local business, you can see what the people who matter to you are talking about.

In MAP, this feature can be found in the left-hand column of the dashboard. In Heartbeat you can find it on the right-hand column of the Twitter tab.

Updated Tutorial Videos

As part of a continued commitment to our clients, you will notice updates to the Help section of both Heartbeat and MAP. In the Heartbeat Help section you can find 11 new tutorial videos and 5 new downloadable cheat sheets. In MAP there are 11 new tutorial videos and 2 new downloadable cheat sheets. The look and layout of the help section in Heartbeat and training section in MAP has also changed to make it easier for you to find the information you are looking for. Continue to watch for more updates in the coming weeks!
 

Twitter Influencer Bio Search

Not everyone talks a lot about their work or interests on Twitter, but that doesn’t mean they’re not influential to others about those things. With our new Twitter Bio Search you can now search directly in people’s bios for ways they describe themselves.  The Bio Search also allows you to look for people with certain numbers of followers and apply country filters to your search. So now, you can find moms from Toronto with more than 500 followers, but less than 1000. Or you can find dentists in Chicago with over 5000 followers.

 

Analyze A Google+ Fan Page

With Google+ being the latest social network to get its feet underneath it, it’s important to know what’s happening with your company’s page. Now you can link your Google+ Fan Page directly into your Heartbeat so you can always know exactly what is going on. Just like Facebook and LinkedIn pages in Heartbeat, the addition of Google+ will show you the latest activity on your page, a buzzgraph of what’s being said and the overall sentiment of the page. If you’d like to attach your Google+ Fan Page to your Heartbeat, your account manager would be more than happy to help you do so.

Edit Email Alerts

We’ve made it easier to edit your email alerts that come from Heartbeat. The importance of things that you monitor can sometimes change from not important to very important, or from very important to not so important, so your update frequencies will need to change as well. Rather than starting from scratch on the alert, we’ve made it easy to go in and edit how and when you receive them. Simply go into the Email Subscriptions tab in your Settings and you can quickly change the settings to any of your email alerts.

New User Roles

As social media teams expand within companies, we’ve discovered a greater need for different roles and what they can do in Heartbeat. Because of this we’ve added two new roles that you can assign to people on your team; Supervisor and Director. These are in addition to the roles that already exist; User, Manager and Administrator. These changes can be made in the Manage Users section of Settings.

By Sheldon Levine - March 6th, 2013 - No Comments »
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Posted in Announcements, Features, Social Media

Product Updates: We Tell You The Best Time To Tweet and More

The year may almost be over, but we’re not slowing down.  We have a ton of new features for MAP and Heartbeat that we’ve recently added and are excited to share with you. A lot of these features make your social media data easier to access, view, understand and, of course, give you insights into your online communities.Some of these new features include a way to see when the best time to reach your Twitter followers, quick access to data around spikes in conversations, and aggregated data for companies using multiple Heartbeats. Just keep reading to learn more about these and other exciting updates.
   Best Time To Tweet
Over the years, multiple studies have been done to show when Twitter users are most active. We even released some statistics around this a few years ago. The problem with these stats is that they’re a generalization of the entire Twitterverse, but may not necessarily be true of your specific Twitter audience. As of right now, we have a solution to that problem for you.

Now in both MAP and Heartbeat you can see when a specific Twitter account’s followers are most active. This chart looks at when the account’s followers tweet and colour codes the activity by date and hour. The darker blue a square is, the more activity is happening in that hour. This will give brands the knowledge to know when their communities are most engaged on Twitter, which is likely the best time to tweet to them. The chart will also show you averages for weekdays and weekends.

The Best Time To Tweet chart can be found under the Twitter User Details tab in MAP and the Analyze tab of Twitter Engagement Central.
Highlights of Activity Spikes from Popularity Charts
We’ve made it easier to see what’s causing an activity spike in MAP’s Popularity Charts. Previously, you would highlight an activity spike to narrow in on specific dates and spike, then refine your entire query to look at data from the spike. Now, when you highlight an activity spike in the chart, highlights of that spike appear underneath.

When you highlight an activity spike, we now show you a word cloud and buzzgraph to show you highlights of the conversation causing the spike. As well, the highlights section shows you demographic data about who’s talking to cause the spike.

See More Data Around the Most Retweeted Tweets
Have you ever wanted to know more about who’s retweeting popular tweets? Well, MAP now gives you a way to see more data around the people retweeting. Under the Most Retweeted Twitter tab, hover over a specific popular retweet and you’ll now see options to click on more information about the Reach of the tweet in question and the Demographics of the retweeters.

Analyze A LinkedIn Page
MAP now gives you the ability to analyze the activity on any companies LinkedIn page. This could be your page, a competitors, or any company you might be interested in knowing more about. Simply put in the company’s LinkedIn page’s URL and click analyze.

MAP will then bring up information around what’s happening on that page. You’ll see information around how many people follow that page, number of posts, number of likes for posts, product information and recommendations, latest updates, a word cloud of the activity on the page and sentiment.

New CSV Formatting
Content search CSV exports will be updated to a new enhanced format on Friday, November30th. Currently, different media sources each have their own format for content CSV exports. With this update, a single unified format will be used across all sources when exporting search content. New CSVs will also include local time in addition to EST timestamps.

If you are not ready for the new CSVs, you can temporarily switch back to the existing format by navigating to the Settings page. The current format will be available till Jan 31, 2013 for compatibility before being retired.

 

New Activity Summaries for Click-Throughs on Charts
On the Heartbeat dashboard we give you a high view of all the information that you can find as you make your way through the platform. But sometimes you want that information even faster. We heard you ask, and have now made all the charts in the dashboard clickable to take you to a summary page for that specific information.

For example, if you notice a spike in Twitter activity for a certain day on your dashboard, simply click on that spike in the activity summary and you’ll be transported to a summary page for that information. The summary page will show you a 24-hour breakdown of the Twitter activity on that day. You will also find other Sysomos leading analytics, such as sentiment and text analytics, for the specific data you’re looking at on the summary page.

More Aggregated Data for Heartbeat Enterprise View
Some of the larger brands that we work with require more than one Heartbeat to keep track of all their data. That was why earlier this year we released Heartbeat Enterprise View. As of today, it’s now easier to see all the information you need from these multiple Heartbeats together in one place.

First, we have updated the Enterprise View measure page. You can now compare your Heartbeats side-by-side to see how different aspects of your social business are stacking up. In addition to this, we’ve also given you the ability to see the information from multiple Heartbeats combined.

Second, we have added advanced filtering to the Enterprise View measure tab. This means that you can get very specific with the aggregated data that you’re looking at. For example, you can now look at the data from multiple Heartbeats together, but only in the USA and all data but not Twitter.

Lastly, we’ve also updated the email updates for Enterprise view. You can now get email updates sent to you that compare your multiple Heartbeats, or see all the data combined right in your inbox.

If you are already a Sysomos subscriber and want to learn more about any of these updates, please don’t hesitate to contact your account reps.

And if you’re not a Sysomos subscriber but would like to learn about these and other features of MAP and Heartbeat, please feel free to contact us.

By Sheldon Levine - November 27th, 2012 - 2 Comments »
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Posted in Features, Social Media, Technology

Measure for Social Media Success

Social media is not an easy game to play. It’s a challenge to create a strategy and then tactically execute on it, but one of the big ingredients for success is measurement.

Surprisingly, it is something that is still too overlooked by some.

The obvious question is: why is measurement still seen as an afterthought?

I think the answer is simple. A lot of energy is spent building a campaign and building an audience. While this is important, these campaigns can fail to have the expected impact without measurable goals.

Key performance indicators (KPI) coupled with the proper plan will reveal the success or failure of any campaign or endeavour.

Of course, an important element within the measurement mix is the sentiment. A campaign can easily reach billions of people, so it’s vital to know not only know what is being said but the sentiment that underlies it.

You could make a good argument that measurement is the most vital area to spend resources on; both people and monetary. Some might argue about it, but what can’t be argued is that without measurement, you could unwisely spend a lot of time and money.

Bottom line: Measurement should be discussed at the beginning of any planning session or brainstorm.

I think the first question that needs to be asked is does your brand or agency measure effectively?

 

 

 

 

 

By Mark Evans - September 12th, 2012 - No Comments »
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Posted in Social Media

What Are Your Most Important Social Metrics?

How do companies measure their success with social media? What are the best metrics to use?

It would be great if there was an easy answer but the reality is measurement is not a one-size-fits-all proposition. It means each company could have a different set of metrics to assess the performance of their social media programs.

So how do companies select the right metrics? It really depends on its goals and objectives, which, of course, could vary.

Some companies, for example, will be focused on attracting more sales. As a result, the most important metrics could be Web site traffic that generate sales or leads. Other companies may be looking to improve their customer service or solicit feedback to support new product development. This would put the spotlight on metrics such as engagement, conversations and ideas.

The most important consideration is establishing goals and the most relevant metrics when a social media strategic and tactical plan is being created. This provides a benchmark that can be measured against going forward.

For companies that have already embraced social media, they need to examine whether the metrics being used are relevant (if they are, in fact, using metrics) or whether a new set of metrics have to be established.

Once a company has decided on metrics, it becomes important to measure against them on a regular basis. This will, hopefully, provide a company with a good indication of what’s happening, or it will show that maybe the wrong metrics are being used or a new set of metrics needs to be developed to reflect a change in a company’s strategic direction.

By Mark Evans - July 8th, 2011 - 1 Comment »
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Posted in Social Media

Why Measurement Matters

I was giving a presentation recently to a large consumer products company that is looking at overhauling its approach to digital marketing. Part of the discussion was reloading on its social media strategy.

What surprised me was how often I mentioned the need to monitor and measure activity. It didn’t seem like a conscious thing but it was more a reflection of the importance – at least to me – of keeping a close eye on what’s happening. After nearly two years working for Sysomos, it’s obvious that I’ve embraced social media monitoring and measurement as a corporate must-have.

At the same time, companies are becoming increasingly serious about monitoring and measurement. It’s no longer good enough to just do social media; companies need ways to benchmark their social media efforts against the money being spent so they can know the return on investment.

Social media ROI has been thrust into the spotlight this year because the novelty of social media is starting to wear off. Like any corporate activity, social media needs to justify its existence and operating expenses.

Companies have to continually measure social media ROI so they can decide whether the unit is operating well and if it makes sense to expand as social media becomes more popular.

Today in Toronto, measurement and monitoring will be thrust into the spotlight with a one-day conference called Measurement Matters, whose speakers include Sysomos’ community director, Sheldon Levine.

The freshly-minted conference reflects how measurement is becoming more important, and there is a demand for more insight and information about what’s involved and what’s over the horizon.

By Mark Evans - September 28th, 2010 - No Comments »
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Posted in Social Media

Please Join Us For #smmeasure

I’m pleased to announce that starting this Thursday, July 29th, Sysomos will be co-hosting a chat with Marketwire called #smmeasure. Every week at noon (EST) we want to discuss everything to do with social media measurement.

I hope that you will participate in this chat where everyone can share their ideas, experiences, and personal and best practices in this area. In a world where we are still learning, our best tool is to share information with each other. That’s why I’m very excited to hear some of your thoughts and share some of my own.

Here are the official details:

Who: Nick Shin, social media specialist, Marketwire
Sheldon Levine, community manager, Sysomos

What:  social media measurement Twitter chat focusing on social media and analytics.

When: Weekly one-hour chats every Thursday

9:00 am PST
11:00 am CST
12:00 pm EST

Why: To initiate ongoing discussions about social media and analytics surrounding it. Hopefully, we’ll all learn a thing or two.

Hashtag: #smmeasure

This week’s topic:

  1. Most important elements to measure in social media
  2. Tools to measure social media

How to participate:

  • Use hashtag #smmeasure.  I recommend using Tweetchat or Tweetgrid.
  • Tweet @smmeasure for topics or questions you’d like discussed or answered.  We’ll take these into consideration for our next chat session!
  • Please tell a friend to tell a friend.

Can’t wait to chat,

Sheldon

By Sheldon Levine - July 28th, 2010 - 2 Comments »
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Posted in Announcements, Events, Social Media, Tips & Help

Measuring Success Starts With Determining Goals

I saw a tweet recently from someone asking how to measure social media success. The insinuation seemed to be that “success” should be a scientific formula based on variables such as the number of blog comments, RSS subscribers, links, retweets, Facebook friends, Diggs, etc.

While all of the above are certainly solid metrics to demonstrate social media activity, they’re just one approach to measuring success – and one that may not even come into play for some companies.

The most important thing in measuring social media success is figuring out your goals and what success looks like.

For some companies, success is straightforward: more sales or, at least, more leads. For others, success is a stronger brand, better customer service or having an equal presence as competitors. And for others, success is feedback and suggestions to improve their products and services.

In other words, success means different things to different companies.

Once a company figures out what success looks like and how it meets their strategic goals, it can begin to use social media as a communications, marketing or sales medium.

As important, it can measure on a regular basis, how its social media programs are faring based on its pre-determined objectives.

At the end of the day, companies can enjoy success without having higher sales, better customer service or valuable feedback from consumers if success doesn’t take into account any of these variables.

How you measure success is a key part of the strategic planning process; the sooner it’s figured out, the sooner you can determine whether your social media efforts or working or not.

By Mark Evans - April 13th, 2010 - No Comments »
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Posted in Social Media

Growing Interest in Social Media Measurement

As social media becomes a more integral part of how company’s communicate, market and sell their products, it is becoming increasingly important to effectively measure and monitor what’s happening within the social media landscape – be it blogs, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Flickr, as well as traditional media.

So, it’s not surprising to see a poll by MarketingProfs show that 78% of respondents plan to enhance their social media measurement over the next six months, while only 18% indicate it will stay the same. The poll also found that 47% of respondents believe social media measuring is important, while 36% say it is somewhat important.

In terms of the challenges facing companies when it comes to social media monitoring and measurement, the biggest issue cited is “dedicated resources” (30%), followed by “don’t know what to measure” (25%) and “social media measurement isn’t primarily about ROI” (20%).

Given we’re in the social media analytics and monitoring business, it’s encouraging to see that companies have a growing interest in getting insight and information about the conversations taking place. Our services, MAP (social media analytics) and Heartbeat (social media monitoring), continue to see very solid traction from companies that need powerful, user-friendly tool to monitor, measure, assess and engage.

By Mark Evans - August 19th, 2009 - No Comments »
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Posted in Social Media

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