A recent article from InformationWeek states that – social media measurement and social media metrics are becoming paramount to interacting with your consumer audience.

This conclusion was reinforced last week, following the purchase of social media solutions specialist Radian6 by enterprise cloud computing company, Salesforce.com.

The sale is a crucial marker of the growing importance and emphasis being placed on social media consulting and the development of tools vital for social media development.

There aren’t many companies considered to be a Radian6 competitor in the sphere of monitoring social media marketing services. Social2B would like to change that. Social2B has teamed up with an up and coming metric and measurement competitor, Social Report.

Social Report allows clients to get a much more granular picture of their social media presence. Most tools out there are using a broad scope to measure and often leave out important nuances that Social Report brings to the table.

Social media metrics allow you to assess and evaluate consumer feedback, allowing you to better gauge what your consumer is thinking.  However, brands are looking for a smarter tool. They want a tool that measures sentiment as well as the typical click through numbers.

Brands are looking for a social media consultant to utilize the proper metrics tools and tell them where their target audience hangs out. Tools like Social Report can monitor these target social communities on each and every social media platform.

Social Report is one of the leading social media platform monitoring tools in this field.  Social Report monitors not just how users are reacting to your product or content, it also tracks user-generated content about your product.  The social media value chain has never been so quantifiable! B2B social media marketing is becoming easier and easier, thanks to social media development tools like Social Report.

Behind all successful social media marketing campaigns is a smart metrics tool.  Social Report can give users the power to monitor over 200 million blogs, networks, forums, sites and reviews to build a fine-tuned profile of their consumer and their likes and dislikes, as well as hot conversations and customer reviews of newly emerged consumer products.  In the long-run, these tangible results delivered through easy to process charts and graphs pave the way for cost-effective, better focused social media marketing campaigns.

For social media marketing services that focus not just on a consumer group but on the individual consumer, there’s the pioneering JitterJam.  Here the individual really is in the driving seat; JitterJam creates a unique profile for each person.  In this way, the individual can choose and determine the level of engagement they want to have with a particular product, almost like a social media index. The monitoring this allows for is highly attuned to your audience, meaning the right social media advertising and information is transmitted to the right consumer.  In turn, engaging in the right ways with the right people ensures a more fruitful and beneficial customer relationship can be fostered.  And what does that spell: M-O-N-E-T-I-Z-A-T-I-O-N, or social finance, if you prefer.

B2C and B2B social media marketing monitoring is where most brands find that they are lacking. Brands are coming up short when it comes to gathering real, tangible metrics data for their company. Make the most of your social media platform campaigns by making sure you’re using the right tool to get the most detailed information possible.

By Marina Shapiro

‘Out with the old, and in with the new.’  The industry of Social Media Marketing is maturing and we are predicting a new dawn for the Social Media revolution. So, what will it mean to be ‘social’ in 2011?  What aspects of Social Media will be integral to the way businesses develop and grow?  How will this impact the technology? Who will ‘win’ at Social Media this year? We’ve compiled top 11 predictions for the world of ‘social’ in 2011.

1. “…next year is really going to be about paring down to the essentials based on proven successes and strong metrics.” http://mashable.com/2010/12/21/small-business-predictions/ 2. “Outsourcing social media such as blogs, writing e-mails, answering customer service inquiries, writing web copy, social media, ghostwritten blogs, tweets. People don’t always have the availability to write, tweet, research and post their own content.” http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/2011-big-ideas-for-small-businesses-0835/ 3. “All signs are pointing toward a multicultural Web. By 2015, a billion people in BRIC countries [Brazil, Russia, India and China] will be using PCs. Thus, 2011 will mark the year that businesses either adapt to these changes or get left woefully behind.” http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/2011-big-ideas-for-small-businesses-0835/ 4. “If you don’t have a mobile version of your site today, you are already behind.” http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/1934793/21-social-media-predictions-trends-2011 5. “B2B companies will catch up to B2C companies in using social media.”           http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/1934793/21-social-media-predictions-trends-2011 6. “The Rise of the Marketing Technologist – Marketers for the last few years have been closet techno geeks and it’s time for them to rise up – companies need digitally fluent marketers who can apply technologies to help make marketing more measurable and scientific. Then we can really change the dynamic from marketing as a cost center to marketing as a profit center!” http://socialmediatoday.com/pauldunay/250079/11-b2b-marketing-predictions-2011 7. “Marketing and sales alignment continues to be the #1 issue impeding marketing’s ability to be perceived as a major driver of B2B business value.” http://www.b2bmarketinginsider.com/strategy/b2b-marketing-predictions-for-2011 8. “Consumers’ increasing concerns over noise and privacy will decrease the relatively open access marketers have enjoyed in social channels. The easiest tactics will be the least effective, forcing marketers to bring the same kind of creativity, audience differentiation, and strategy that they bring in other channels. www.forrester.com/rb/Research/2011_now_social_media_marketing_gets_tough/q/id/57771/t/2?cm_mmc=Forrester-_-Blogs-_-Related%20Research-_-5583 9. “Social media measurement will mature rapidly now that there is real money being spent by marketers in the social realm. http://marketingmeasurementtoday.blogspot.com/2011/01/predictions-for-social-media-metrics.html 10.  “Commerce happens in communities of interest — not social networks. First, I’d like to distinguish between a social network and a community of interest, though the terms are often used interchangeably. Social networks or, more aptly, social networking is how we connect with people.” http://adage.com/digitalnext/post?article_id=147897 11.  “In 2011, those brands that truly embrace “social content generation” will build themselves a kingdom. The connections between brand, art or skill and visual communications in a socially connected world can create powerfully authentic appeal for brands.”  http://www.fastcompany.com/1712634/2011-back-to-the-future So there you have it- the 11 ‘social’ pointers set to make big news in 2011.  All of which tell us that the future of Social Media is changing and evolving into a force that no business large or small can afford to ignore.   The future is bright. The future is Social (albeit a new hybrid of ‘social’). Are you ready for it?

By Alex Romanovich October 13th, 2009 Alex Romanovich is the Founder and CMO of Social2B ===== According to ENGAGEMENTdb’s recent “Ranking the Top 100 Global Brands” report on how deeply global brands are engaged in Social Marketing, big financial companies are not as much socially engaged as media, retail or technology companies of the same ranking. However, it does not mean that a financial brand cannot “socialize” itself. On the contrary, it shows that the financial services industry, often too closed, hindered by government regulations and by somewhat “conservative culture”, is getting more and more open to “socialization”. According to the same ENGAGEMENTdb’s report, even such giant conglomerates as Visa, ING, American Express, UBS, JP Morgan are, if not very active, are still quite responsive to the today’s demand of being social. Being most commonly engaged in six or fewer social channels, and having below-average engagement scores (as estimated by ENGAGEMENTdb), they have already started integrating social media into their marketing and customer communication strategy. Today many financial organizations (big and small) are launching B2B and B2C based social media initiatives depending on whether they want to attract interest and business from other financial institutions, or simply generate demand with consumers. In both cases social marketing can be extremely successful, provided the right approach has been chosen. With the help of Social Marketing B2C brands can solve such problems as:

• establishing newly found trust amongst a skeptical consumers base;
• making the right loan choices;
• allowing consumers to understand the perspective of the institutions;
• instilling fiscal responsibility and smarter spending habits;
• making stronger investment decisions;
• empowering consumers with tools for managing their assets;
• building community around common interests & brand affinities;
• understanding the broader context of financial culture and global market parity

For B2B brands this is a good opportunity to engage potential prospects, generate demand and leads by augmenting their marketing strategies with more interactive and conversational elements, allowing other businesses to listen, observe, engage, and participate. All in all, the art of being “social to the point” has in its basis deep understanding of the industry of the brand that should be promoted. Of course, a variety of means and solutions can be used within a Social Marketing campaign. But the challenge is to adjust those solutions to a particular brand. Trying to estimate opportunities of any social engagement in the particular industry requires  a necessity of a solid industry analysis. With correctly chosen and applied Social Marketing solutions, the financial services industry can engage in a powerful and proven way on both B2B and B2C levels. This becomes evident if we take a look at the recent success stories from Wells Fargo, H&R Block, Ernst & Young, Capital One, SmartyPig, American Express, Credit Mutuel, PENSCO, Equity Trust, Sterling Trust and some other financial brands, which have used social marketing incredibly well to not only create engagement but activate purchase intent. Wells Fargo Wells Fargo & Company, a diversified financial services company with operations around the world, providing retail, commercial and corporate banking services, sustains a high level of deep social engagement across multiple social media channels (including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc). However, the greatest case study to date is of what Wells Fargo has done with their blogs. They have 5 (!) different blogs, each designed for a certain category of readers – potential customers and businesses, existing clients, and just people. But the crown jewel of Well Fargo’s blogging activities is perhaps a virtual world called “Stagescoach Island Community”, a kind of a branded community which lets members learn and experience money management in the way of an interactive game. The blogs stand out for their live conversation and there are always people from inside and from outside to react to the conversation. H&R Block H&R Block, an American tax preparation company with over 22 million customers worldwide, has done quite a bit with blogs, virtual worlds, Facebook, and Social Media programs. However, they did most of ‘Twittering’ during tax time, when they quite successfully engaged in an online dialog by first monitoring keywords, and directly responding to members. Twitter during tax time was their most successfully implemented social media solution, because it was just to the point. It helped increase the company’s popularity, attract more customers as well as sustain trust. Ernst & Young Ernst & Young, one of the largest global providers of accounting services and one of the Big Four auditors, among marketing goals, also had definite objectives targeted at human resources. They engaged in social media to seek out new hires fresh out of college. For this purpose, they created a sponsored Facebook group where they have online dialogs with graduating students and even start the interview process online. This is a pretty smart solution, because Facebook is the right source to reach graduates and find appropriate candidates. So, in their case, Social Marketing is a good way to boost the company’s reputation as employer and find work force. SmartyPig SmartyPig is another story of big success, though different from the mentioned above examples. SmartyPig does not promote services; it promotes a product – free online banking application which helps users save money for particular goals. It seems that an online application cannot be more social than SmartyPig.  Users can invite friends and family to be a part of their saving process. Built on a Web 2.0 platform, SmartyPig impressively utilizes Facebook, widgets, social networking applications (including videos), Twitter and a specially designed community-powered support site.  Launched in 2008, Smarty Pig already has users in all 50 US states, over 4000 followers on Twitter and over 1900 fans in Facebook. Exactly for the reason that SmartyPig is so interactive, so informal and so engaging, it is such a big success. Each financial company, either big or small, which wants to go social, needs a social marketing campaign tailored to their particular brand. Whether you need to create a well branded community, or launch a series of blogs, or be actively engaged in social networking and present your brand in discussion forums – all efforts are distinct and individual. There is no way for a standard approach – however, there is always a necessity for a solid Social Marketing analysis and accurately selected marketing solutions.

By Kent Huffman.

June 15th, 2009

Kent Huffman is the CMO at BearCom Wireless. You can follow him on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/KentHuffman

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Twitter. It’s all the rage in the social media world these days. But how can you best leverage it for tangible business-to-business marketing purposes? One way is to build your own community within Twitter.

Several months ago, I became interested in Twitter when a colleague told me about his positive experiences with the popular social media tool and insisted that I check it out. After signing up for an account and reading a few tweets, I immediately saw its potential as a community development tool. Being a long-time B2B marketer, I decided to build a group of folks interested in marketing who could inspire and help each other grow professionally by sharing ideas and information. But I didn’t know exactly how to go about creating that community.

I ultimately decided to treat it as I would any other important marketing initiative—by first developing a well-defined strategy and a set of related tactics. Over the next couple of months, I created and then tweaked the strategy and honed the tactics through trial and error. I then boiled everything down to a seven-step process that I’m sharing with you here in hopes that you can use it to develop your own B2B community on Twitter.

Step One: Define Your Goals and Target Community

Before you launch your presence on Twitter, determine what specific goals and objectives you want to accomplish. Then parlay that into a methodical plan to build a community around that goal, including defining your target audience.

Step Two: Find and Follow Like-Minded Tweeters

Once you’ve set up a Twitter account, use www.Search.Twitter.com, www.Twellow.com, www.TweepSearch.com, www.TweetBeep.com, and similar tools to find other tweeters who share the same interests as you and would appear to make good members of your fledgling community. Then follow them.

Step Three: Read and Learn

For a week or two, read the tweets posted by those whom you are following and learn from them. Understand what their interests are and how they use Twitter to communicate with others. Note which tweets and tweeters are the most appealing to you and why.

Step Four: Create Effective, Compelling Tweets

When you’re ready to begin tweeting, first determine what topics you will write about. One of the most effective strategies is to position yourself as a subject matter expert in one or two areas. Make sure those topics directly relate to the community you’re trying to build. And take a thoughtful approach by writing clever, interesting tweets that are likely to be retweeted by others.

As is the case with pretty much everything on the Internet, content is king on Twitter. Build a strong foundation for your “Twitter brand” and give other tweeters a reason to follow you by adhering to these basic dos and don’ts when composing your tweets…

Do…

· Feature newsworthy items

· Divulge “inside information”

· Share original thoughts and ideas

· Participate in conversations

· Provide useful links

· Ask engaging questions

· Inject personality and humor

· Retweet when appropriate

Don’t…

· Discuss what you had for breakfast

· Tweet too frequently or infrequently

· Ignore questions or comments by other tweeters

· Try to promote your product or service in every tweet

Step Five: Develop Unique Content for Your Community

In addition to writing focused, compelling tweets, another important key to success in building a strong community on Twitter is to create special content that will be of interest to your followers. One of the most effective types of content enables the members of your community to easily find and interact with each other, such as lists of experts and leaders who tweet about subjects that directly pertain to your community. In my case, I developed a series of unique marketing-related lists:

· www.SystemicMarketing.com/top-cmos-on-twitter

· www.SystemicMarketing.com/top-marketing-book-authors-on-twitter

· www.SystemicMarketing.com/top-marketing-professors-on-twitter

Other types of content can be very effective as well, such as blog posts—where you can discuss specific subjects in more detail (such as the post you’re now reading)—and other online and offline resources related to your core topic(s).

By creating this content, you’re providing a forum for your community that enables its members to connect to others like them. As a result, you’ll develop a reputation as a knowledgeable facilitator who is more interested in giving than taking. That can be very powerful.

Step Six: Grow Relationships

As you expand your following on Twitter, you’ll naturally gravitate toward specific tweeters with whom you can most closely relate. Develop a closer relationship with them by publicly commenting on their tweets, retweeting them, and recommending them to your community, as well as privately engaging them in one-on-one conversations, both online and offline. Do whatever you can to help them without asking for anything in return.

Step Seven: Wash, Rinse, and Repeat

Once you’ve found your “Twitter rhythm,” continue to expand your community by growing your followers list, cleaning it up from time to time, and repeating steps two through six indefinitely. You’ll find that creating and participating in your community will be a very rewarding experience, not only for you, but everyone involved.

In the final analysis, building a B2B community on Twitter is about creating value in terms of content and relationships. Even more basic than that, it’s about giving, not taking. That’s really what will help keep your community healthy, active, and growing.

Read the Greenlight360 Case Study that describes how this process has been used to produce real, measurable results on Twitter.

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Kent Huffman is the CMO at BearCom Wireless. You can follow him on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/KentHuffman.

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