(This post is sponsored by SDL-SM2, a social-media analytical tool for small- and medium-sized businesses and small agencies.)
Tracking and measuring social media is no longer just a nice-to-have for businesses – it’s now a core essential of any modern marketing plan. And that’s true for giant multinational corporations as well as small businesses, agencies, researchers and even social-data hobbyists.
Yes, They Really Are Talking About You
If you’re new to social media monitoring, you might think no one’s talking about your business at all. But that’s probably not the case. More likely, they’re talking plenty, you just don’t know about it.
Fortunately, it’s easier than ever to listen in with SDL SM2, the entry-level, self-serve product offering from the SDL Social Intelligence Division. SDL SM2 offers automated sentiment analysis of more than 60 billion social conversations on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter as well as forums, blogs and wikis going back to 2007 – in your choice of more than 50 languages. It includes customizable and shareable real-time dashboards and the ability to segment the data with category rules. You can even export social media data into Excel or SPSS for further analysis.
Social media monitoring isn’t just an academic exercise. It’s all about helping you achieve your business goals: strengthening your brand, staying relevant to customers and driving revenue.
Monitoring social data is critical because it:
- Provides both current and historical information
- Can help predict consumers’ behavior
- Delivers pure, customer-generated feedback
- Offers unique insight into competitor activity and perceptions
- Produces deep understanding of customers – beyond their relationship to your brand
Where Does Social Media Monitoring Start?
Typically, identifying the Who and Where of social media conversations about your brand and market is a great place to start. The next step is to drill down into word associations and sentiment analysis: What words are people using to describe your products and services, and what are the values associated with those words? And to fully understand where your brand stands in the market, you need to know what people sareaying about your competitors.
What does all this mean in practical terms for your business? SDL SM2 makes it easier to identify your most likely prospects. By understanding where they spend time online and what they like to talk about, you can tailor your marketing to be more efficient and effective. And you can get this information without running expensive, intrusive and time-consuming surveys, questionnaires and focus groups.
SDL SM2 is available at affordable prices via credit card on flexible month-by-month payment terms with no long term commitment.
For more information on Social Media Platforms for Small Businesses, check out SDL’s Cheat Sheet Inforgraphic.
