The Price of Knowledge: Free vs. Paid Monitoring Tools

The Price of Knowledge: Free vs. Paid Monitoring Tools Brad Little BuzzMetrics, EMEA

Preview
Logical conclusions, based on my experiences
Will try not to cover what others will today
I actually know how these
things work – warts and all
(or at least like to think I do)
Page

Page This would confuse anyone Twitter: 364 Twitter: 1,392 Twitter: 706 Twitter: 22,365 Twitter data from twellow 8/11/09

Why are there so many approaches?
There are so many different objectives
Different tools for different objectives
There is no one type of ‘Social Media’ (nor ‘Traditional Media’)
Different investment levels drive various approaches
It is the ability to listen in this way, not WOM that is new
Do companies actually want to get to know their customers or what they want?
Remember the 360˚ view of the customer or building a consumer centric organization?
Page

What is out there? Strength Weakness Partial View Limited Scope Reduced Speed & Cost Using Tools Accuracy From 1-3 Page Source: The Forrester Wave: Listening Platforms, Q1 2009 1) DIY 2) Free Tools 3) Software 4) Analyst 5) Consultant Accessible & Free Free Analysis Lots of Content Fast Quality & Expertise Relationships & Actionability

What are the steps involved?
Harvesting or gathering?
What data to include?
How is the data prepared and cleaned?
Insights
Recommendation
Strategy
Engaging
Technology or researchers?
Local teams?
Keywords or logic?
Markets or languages?

What is actually being measured?
“ Oh, and can we please have the tech support phone number somewhere on the product just in case. Dyson does that and it’s how I know that the company believes and stands behinds its products.”
www.crunchgear.com 09/11/09 Matt Burns
“ Dyson has figured out how to remove the single working element of the fans we all know and love and replace it with a bill for $250. As the video shows, it’s a clever feat on the technical side. From a practical standpoint, however, it seems dumb. There will undoubtedly be some people who buy one – it is sort of pretty in a “Deep Space 9″ kind of way, but there’s something fundamentally silly about paying that much for a pseudo-fan just to avoid “buffeting.”
helltotheno.org 20/10 /09
Page

How do the features differ?
How searches are performed (keywords, classifiers, and other)
saving reports workflow word clouds
automated sentiment scoring (and manual overrides)
association mapping APIs mapping connections
external data data aggregation internal data
and features about how to slice and compare data
It would take more than one full-time person to actually compare these
Unfortunately, the tools are locked in a ‘feature war’
This distracts the marketplace from focusing on the best aspects
The tools will continue to commoditise and differentiation will remain in data quality and breadth, services provided, & experience
Page

What are (most) of these tools trying to do?
Breadth of coverage - so you don’t miss important conversations
Relevant and clean information - to save time
Help manage process - so you save time and maximise effectiveness
Customisation - so you can take control
Liberate content - so you can uncover what you need without restrictions
Support – so you can get more value and realise the other benefits listed
Page

Who is more influential?
Person A
1,000 twitter followers
10 mentions of your brand last week
100 links to their blog post about your brand
Daily activity on blogs, forums, and twitter
Person B
500 twitter followers
5 mentions of your brand last week
50 links to their blog post about your brand
Weekly activity on blogs, forums, and twitter
Page Prediction: Measuring advocacy will be the metric, not influence Answer: Neither (or both) – you have to read what they wrote!

A few fun questions...
Hold on Brad, can't we get this stuff for free?
Google search shows more results than your tool – is your tool missing conversations?
Is the best way to see which provider has the most robust data to have each run a search for something and see who has more buzz?
A trial is a very good way to compare services, right?
Page

Social Media Process
Research
Monitor
Track effectiveness
Identify Threats
Powered by Listening
Enabled by good data input
Delivers actionability
Engage
Listening & Learning to improve execution

When unlocking value, please remember
All data is not created equal
Dashboards have their strengths, but aren't the answers to every need
Combine research methodologies (Listening & Asking)
Active client participation is key
Actionable insights occur when tools (technology) combine with good local market researchers (people)
Page

That buzz is up over 5X is a fact (not an insight) Page

Final Recommendations
Determine who the stakeholders are and who will use it
Outline what you want to get out of it and what you may want to do with it
Look under the bonnet
Understand difference between monitoring, researching, & strategy
Remember Listen, Learn, and then Engage
An event, issue, launch, or specific (anything) tends to produce more interesting research
Final thought: WOM & SM are people based
Page

Thank You! Brad Little @bradleyjlittle BuzzMetrics, EMEA [email_address]

http://www.culture-buzz.fr	23
http://www.slideshare.net	21
http://www.culture-buzz.com	12
http://www.levidepoches.fr	11
http://levidepoches.blogs.com	7
http://www.vanksen.fr	4
http://www.levidepoches.blogs.com	1
http://digitalshowcase.posterous.com	1

The Price of Knowledge: Free vs. Paid Monitoring Tools

by Our Social Times on Nov 19, 2009

Accessibility

Categories

Tags

Upload Details

Usage Rights

8 Embeds 80

Statistics

The Price of Knowledge: Free vs. Paid Monitoring Tools — Presentation Transcript