How to track and measure Social Media

Social bookmarking sites such as Delicious, Stumbleupon, Digg, Diigo help you get the desired traffic. Social media is a new phenomenon and businesses need to use the right tools to get accurate results. The first step is to understand what you need to track and what is your goal. Some businesses may want to track only a particular campaign on a specific channel, or the number of people sharing the website, or the number of positive comments etc.

Google Analytics helps to track the website data, traffic, rankings, visitors, and traffic sources...Specific events and campaigns can be tracked for social media. Websites like Bit.ly help to track the number of clicks that the particular page has received. As a part of marketing activities, general engagement metrics should be made a part of the monitoring process. Gauging unique visitors, time spent on the site, frequency of visits, conversions etc help to measure the success of marketing efforts.

There is no single tool that helps to get the information you need. You need to gather the information and aggregate the results. Google page rank, Alexa rankings, Technorati, are some of the sites that help you track social media activities. It is an art to understand web analytics and requires the expertise of professionals to study it. Also one needs to analyze the data and use it to engage with the audience in a better way. To get the desired results, businesses need to revamp the way their social media process operates. A goal needs to be established with regard to connecting with customers online, and what needs to be communicated to the customers. One must assess if people are listening and if they are,what is it that gets them hooked. Let customers participate and engage with them on a personal level. See what gets traffic and use it to your advantage. Not all these measurements are appropriate...Getting the revenue or profit data from the client before and after the marketing campaign is an easy way to analyze what needs to be done next and the areas of improvement.

Source: Mashable

Social Media trends for 2010

In 2010, Social Media will become more popular, more mobile and more exclusive. Niche networking sites will be a trend leading to exclusive users following you or being on your friend list. Connecting with people who share common interests, hobbies, and having professional associations will give people a purpose to have you on their friend list. Sites that focus on particular interests such as photography, writing, music, or based on demographics that is, age, gender, occupation etc. will gain popularity. This will help to lessen the clutter and will bring in more value. It will also make it easier for marketers and advertisers to target their messages and audience.

In countries like India, going mobile will be the greatest advantage for social media enthusiasts. Picture this - There are more than 65 million active users currently accessing Facebook through their mobile devices and that number grows daily. MySpace estimates that 50% of its Website traffic will be mobile within 24 months. All the major social media sites have mobile versions of their Websites. Another reason for organizations to go mobile is the ban on social media sites by organizations. This will see a rise in the percentage of smartphones that will get people to use social media and its advantages will only increase.

The convergence of social media and ecommerce will reach greater heights with companies like Zappos receiving more accolades. Zappos is a classic example of a company using social media to showcase its culture to the outside world. Zappos CEO, Tony Hsieh, tweets more about his philosophies of life rather than business. Dell is another successful brand that has optimized social media for business. There are several interesting aspects of how Dell uses social media to leverage its business. They have an active presence in every social media channel and have used this as an opportunity to connect with millions of customers.

Online reputation management is another aspect that will see growth. ORM deals with monitoring the reputation of a brand online, dealing with negative comments and protecting your brand via social media channels. Monitoring, repairing and managing are the three steps that companies need to work on for online reputation management.

Google Friend Connect lets users to connect with friends on different websites. Google reports over 5 million sites using friend connect while Facebook Connect has around 15,000. Google SearchWiki is nothing but social media search. SearchWiki allows anyone with a Google account to change the order of search results and make notes about each result in Google. This will help to improve core search results. And will help to rank websites in the future.

The channels that will be widely used across businesses are microblogging sites such as Twitter. The biggest advantage of Twitter is that it lets you network with people in your industry, there is a lot of freedom and space for carrying on conversations. Helps you get the desired traffic and views to your blog. Twitter is in fact a central point for social media activities.

Source: Businessweek
Techcrunch

Importance of Social Media Marketing

Many people want to promote their business via social media? Why? It has various benefits to begin with. Thanks to the number of channels, social media helps reach out to lot of people at once, leads to better search engine rankings, everybody can use social media...there are no barriers, helps one get closer to customers and respond to their needs, increases brand awareness, influences brand reputation, generates leads, and increases sales online among others. Here's a look at some of the social media tools:

Blogs provide an excellent platform to voice one's thoughts and opinions on everything under the sun. Great that people can now listen to what you say, counter it and also give feedback and suggestions. Many bloggers today post just a blog post or two and then promote it actively on other social media channels. Posting a link of your blog post on Twitter and Facebook lets many people read it who otherwise wouldn't have. This is because, most of us like to spend time on Facebook rather than look for content elsewhere. It also helps to get the much needed traffic for your blog.

Social media helps your content to be published in various channels. Bookmarking content, videos, and images on Stumbleupon, Digg, Delicious, and Diigo gets you the desired traffic. The more people bookmark the particular link, the more it is read and trusted. Having a presence in social networking sites such as Facebook help to engage with customers directly (which can be debated) - Giving announcements of product offerings, upcoming deals, and having a fan base that signifies the strength and value of the brand. Microblogging sites such as Twitter lets one 'tweet' their thoughts in 140 characters or less. It lets one articulate content in fewer words thus reaching the goal of people reading or viewing your tweet.

Video and photo sharing sites such as Youtube, Flickr, Photbucket are an audio-visual medium, making the content more interesting and enjoyable. But it is more of a one-way conversation. This depends on the strength of the video or image. For instance, a Michael Jackson video has great chances of having comments that lead to a conversation. Professional networking sites such as LinkedIn help to reach a network of professionals in your domain leading to valuable discussions and exchange of information. Also your queries are answered with genuine people from the field, leading to knowledge sharing.

There are many more like forums, QnA sites, document sharing sites etc. In short, social media marketing is the new age marketing. It helps small businesses see the light of the day and lets the already established ones have a stronger foothold. It's not as easy as it sounds. It is a gradual process and needs expertise and patience if you want to see the fruits of your results.

Social Media and consumer behavior

Consumers are influenced by the Lux ad featuring AbhiAsh, which leads to an action. That is, it urges many of the girls to run to the supermarket down the lane and get their hands on the new Lux. Why? Recall value is greater with television being a visual medium and Lux and Aishwarya go a long way, making it easier for consumers to associate with the brand. This is not surprising for a brand which is a household name in India. There are certain products that consumers seek information about and want much more than a commercial featuring a top ambassador. Many top brands are now using social media to reach out to customers directly leading to greater exchange of information over the internet. For instance, top brands have a presence on the microblogging site Twitter. Tony Hsieh the chief executive of the online shoe store Zappos shares details of his life with 7,200 “followers”. Things he does – gives away a pair of Zappos shoes to his followers, rewards one new Twitter follower a trip to Las vegas for two to visit Zappos HQ and a lunch with the man himself.

Social media tools impact purchase decisions but do they result in purchase behavior? Consumers do use the company website to learn about the products and services that it has to offer. With the onset of social media, brands are now using this opportunity to talk to customers more often. This is still at an initial stage in India but not so in United States where social media is a major part of their life. Study shows that 70% of consumers in U.S. have used social media websites and nearly 49% made a purchase decision based on the information gathered. Social media enables to exchange information with a brand representative which gives value and credibility.

The best example of a brand using the social media as a platform to connect with customers in India is 'Sunsilk Gang of Girls'. Members here discuss hair care, career, entertainment, celebrity chats... The videos of Vodafone's ZooZoo ad campaign received more than a million views in the first two weeks of its launch.

Social media experts believe it is more than just a fad. Companies are already setting up research departments to study consumer actions. With enormous amount of data available, researchers are studying patterns of human interaction in virtual space to predict what they will buy or use.

Source: Gauravnomics
Docstoc

Social Media adoption by Indian businesses

Rajesh Lalwani, the Managing Director of Scenario Consulting Private Limited, in an interview talks about the current state of Indian businesses and its move towards social media. (Have used the points from his interview with due permission) Also check his popular blog at 'Rajesh @ Blogworks'.

Indian businesses prefer mainstream media and do not want to take the risk of testing the waters of Social Media. Why? Traditional media tools such as the print media (newspapers, magazines), and electronic media (T.V. Radio) have greater reach. They reach out to many people at once which help to establish the message that the sender (the businesses) wants to deliver. The chances of recall are higher which adds to the overall image of the brand. How many of you remember the full page ad of the new Yahoo! In 'The Times of India'? And how many remember the pop up ad in any website you last visited? The chances are very less or bleak... On one hand we have the urge to do new things and follow the social media strategies adopted by a Dell or Satrbucks. On the other hand, we need to fight our biggest hurdle – Internet penetration. The current penetration is only 5-7%

Social media, is an engagement tool which involves building conversations/collaborations and understanding what people are saying. In India, social media has been used as a tool to engage with the employees. Most businesses maintain their own blog which helps them reach out to customers. This builds a relationship of trust. Customers know you as a company and can relate to what you say. And then there are social media channels such as social networking sites (Facebook, Orkut, Friendster), professional networking sites (LinkedIn) , microblogging sites such as Twitter, video sharing sites (Youtube) etc which brands are using to reach out to more customers. This is a gradual process and the results happen only over a period of time. These channels help to get feedback instantly and many brands have used this as an opportunity that brings about the co-creation of a product.

Helping clients plan and choose a social media strategy is vital. It's not about letting clients have a presence on say Twitter but it is about Twitter adding value to the business of a client. India has about 350 million mobile connections. The best way to use this is to make it internet-friendly. There will be a sea change in the way businesses operate and use social media. Brands will engage with customers directly, resolve customer queries and complaints, will take in feedback and suggestions among others.
Companies must prove that the implementation of social media has had a significant impact on the company's growth as a whole.

Source: Digital Media Across Asia

Social Media = Interaction

The heading says it all doesn't it? The Social Media concept survives on that high level of interaction. You are never alone with social media. Its like the different kinds of light that changes the shape of you're shadow. Conversation is what we look for. Why? To share experience and to learn from the experienced.

Creativity, imagination and taking a step back to understand what YOU as a human being can give to others is what people look for in the whole journey of life. What better way than the social media channel. Its how you look at things at the end of the day.

Make friends via Social Media

There has been a change in the way the world makes friends. Thanks to social media and web 2.0! Notice how your parents made those very few special friends. They made friends with the girl/boy down the lane, or people they met during school and college. And they mastered the art of making friends with ease. (My mom's closest friends are the ones she met in college...) With the coming of social media and technological advancement, we accept and reject friend requests instantly!

Social networking sites such as Orkut and Facebook are a hit with Indian youngsters. These sites put you on cloud nine, when you see the number of friend requests that come your way. (Many have met their school friends and have arranged reunions. Thanks to Orkut and Facebook!) It also annoys you and brings in a whole lot of competition among friends and relatives! (Facebook poke, hit, slap...and the friend requests on Orkut “Hey am so on and so...can we be friends??) Have you realized that you are posting on people's wall with whom you have just exchanged greetings during college days! What an irony!
Microblogging sites such as Twitter lets one 'follow' and 'unfollow' people. Tweeting thoughts in140 characters or less is an art that youngsters are getting hooked to.

Also friends exchange images frequently over social networking sites such as Facebook which lets you' tag' friends. Does it invoke feelings of jealousy? The updates on Facebook profiles have often made your day but have broken the hearts of your friends and relatives. (A Facebook update showing you are on a 15 day trip to Egypt will not go down too well with your relatives!)

Communication has changed over the years and the fact that social media is here to stay makes it all the more challenging. It is a two-way medium with messages being exchanged faster than ever before but all you psychology students out there are interested in the body language and the personality of an individual rather than updates and posts. There are a majority of people who get out of their boredom managing Internet relationships. Consider, for example, how people you know often seem different online displaying sides of their personalities you have never seen before. Do you see some of your friends show a different side of their personality? Are they aggressive? Are they saying things that they would not otherwise? Do they seem new to you? Welcome to the whole new world of making friends online!


Source: Online.wsj