Online Reputation and Buzz Monitoring 2012

Our Key Learning’sSunrise Seminar

2/12/2011

Five Key Trends

1. More companies are beginning to invest in monitoring, measuring and analysing the insights from social media channels.

2. Social analytics comes into focus as the industry matures.

3. Customer service becomes public through social media.

4. Quest to integrate different types of data.

5. Lack of social media governance holdsback companies.

Marketplace Saturation

The marketplace for buzz monitoring technology is becoming saturated with a large number of companies offering many different solutions.

There have been a number of acquisitions this year, and consolidation in the industry is expected to continue, particularly as companies are interested in integrating the insight from buzz monitoring solutions with other types of data. The merging/acquisition of social insight and CRM organisations to create a ‘Social CRM’ offering was a common theme last year.

Technology Usage

Benefits & ROI

• Improve Customer satisfaction.

• Risk management.

• Increase sales

• Reduce marketing spend.

• Identify gaps in the market.

• SEO benefits.

• Reduce internal costs.

• Sentiment analysis.

• Competitive intelligence.

• Market reaction.

• Product development support

• Customer service.

• Consumer analysis.

• Identify brand advocates.

Benefits ROI

Strengths & Weaknesses

Strengths

•Companies are much more aware of the benefits of listening online and buzz monitoring platforms are an essential part of the social media toolset.

•The level of spending on online reputation monitoring software is steadily increasing.

•Focus on social analytics is increasing.

•Multitude of case studies prevalent highlighting how reputation monitoring software can mitigate the threat of an online crisis.

•Real time monitoring provides actionable insights for companies to improve products/services.

•Consumers are increasingly expecting real-time replies from businesses.

•It is now increasingly recognised that social media has consequences across all business functions.

Weaknesses

•No regulatory body for the online reputation monitoring industry.

•Many tools are limited in their scope (e.g. Sarcasm).

•The market is saturated.

•Many companies only offer sentiment analysis in one language, which results in large companies being unable to justify investment.

•Proving ROI to companies can still be problematic, as there is no one standard and many tools may use different metrics.

•Many companies still do not understand the benefits of social media.

•Although many companies are monitoring, they may not have the understanding to turn the insights into action.

Opportunities & Threats

Opportunities

•Social media is maturing and is becoming an established part of the marketing mix.

•Increased demand for specialist social analytics services, particularly in sectors where legal issues are fundamental to the business (e.g. Pharmaceuticals).

•Prevalent case studies opportunities for suppliers to communicate benefits.

•A dominant player in the industry has not yet emerged.

•More companies are looking for complete business intelligence solutions that integrate social media insights with other channels.

•More and more companies are seeking social media consultancy as a greater emphasis is placed on how to use the data.

•Wealth of opportunities for suppliers to offer specialist services (e.g. Multilingual sentiment analysis).

•Social CRM is a huge area of growth, and there are opportunities for partnership with CRM companies to garner actionable insights and justify investment.

Threats

•Lack of regulation means companies are not held accountable for the claims they make.

•Lack of standard measurement technique make comparison of suppliers difficult.

•Lack of senior management understanding may prevent companies from investing in the right tools.

•Privacy is a significant threat.

•Free tools are a threat to suppliers.

•Many companies now have a presence on social networks, but may not have the right organisational culture to effect change within their company and make use of the insights generated from reputation monitoring tools.

Further Information

• Comprehensive profiles of 15 companies offering reputation and buzz monitoring technology and tools.

• Types of suppliers and how to choose the right one (dashboard only Vs monitoring service suppliers).

• A tips and pitfalls guide to aid the supplier selection process.

• Information on cost and pricing models.