A presentation I gave at the Social Intelligence 2014 Conference in San Francisco.

1. Evaluating Social Media
Tools that Work for You
By TONY OBREGON
#socialintel2014
Twitter: @tonyobregon

2. A social media tool is whatever
makes your job easier.
An
App
Software as
a Service
Website
Online
Subscription
Social Network

3. Many Reasons for Using Social Tools
• Monitor online perceptions and enhance brand reputation online
• Engage key audiences such as customers, prospects, media, employees
• Support business units including sales, customer service, marketing
• Increase productivity (especially if you have a small team – do more
with less)
• Measure and analyze online campaigns and program activities
• Inform future strategies and set goals for your organization

4. Luckily, there is no shortage of social media tools.

5. Twitter 3rd Party Tools
Contributed to the Explosion
• Over 1 million Twitter apps in 2011
• Created by close to 750,000 developers
• A new app registered every 1.5 seconds
• Many of them started with TW!
Source: Twitter Blog, July 11, 2011

6. 3 Trends Impacting the
Social Media Tools Market Today

7. Trend #1: Market Consolidation
Tech Giant Entering the Market Smaller Vendors Joining Forces
Some Vendors Closing Shop
Mergers and acquisitions are shaping a new social media tools market.

8. Trend #2: “Social Business” is Here
SALES & BIZ DEV
CUSTOMER
SUPPORT
HUMAN
RESOURCES
PR/COMMS/
MARKETING
IT DEPARTMENT
More business units are depending on social media tools.

9. Trend #3: Multipurpose Tools
Cross-functional
Team-centric
Vendor-agnostic
Multi-channel
Trend #3 is a byproduct of trends #1 and #2 as vendors merge
tools and make them more useful to a wider variety of users.

10. Categories of Social Media Tools
Content PublishingSocial Monitoring
Channel Measurement Influencer Identification
A simplified look at four main areas of social media.

11. Category: Social Monitoring
Tools for capturing online conversations and analyzing what’s being said.
Email Alerts
Key Features to Assess:
Channels Included Automated Sentiment
Geography & Language
Metadata Analyzed
Authority Analysis

12. Category: Content Publishing
Rapid Response
Key Features to Assess:
Multi-channel Posting Auto Syndication
Mobile Device Support
Advanced Scheduling
Team Workflow
Tools for syndicating digital assets to a variety of online channels and networks.

13. Category: Channel Measurement
Post Data Details
Key Features to Assess:
Engagement Metrics
Data Collections
Keywords/Hashtags
Tools for aggregating social metrics across your channels on social networks.
Channels Included
Tool Integration

14. Category: Influencer Identification
Tools for finding and ranking the most authoritative experts in certain subjects.
Content Analyzed
Key Features to Assess:
International Scope
List Management
Authority Ranking
Manual Edits Reporting Options

15. Popular Social Media Tools & Vendors
Influencer
Identification
Channel
Measurement
Content
Publishing
Social
Monitoring

16. 4 Key Questions to Ask Yourself
1. What are total costs?
2. Will teams find this tool easy to use?
3. What kind of training/support do we get?
4. Do other tools integrate with this?

17. How Much Should I Budget
for Social Media Tools Per Year?
Source: KissMetrics, 2012
In 2012, survey said:
• 74% pay less than $1,200 a year
• 19% pay $6K - $60K a year
• 4% pay $60K - $120K a year
• 2% pay more than $120K a year
http://blog.kissmetrics.com/social-media-monitoring-tools/

18. Free Social Media Tools

19. Measurement of
Twitter Campaigns
• Analyzes last 50 mentions
of a hashtag or keyword
• Uses Boolean language
• Provides estimated reach
and exposure/impressions
• Ranks top contributors
• Lists each tweets with
details
• You can order a full report
of all tweets for only $20
www.tweetreach.com

20. Optimize & Manage
Twitter Accounts
• Add multiple accounts up
to 10K followers
• Details on who you follow
& those following you
• Filter your community by a
number of variables
• Create smart lists from
searches
• Get insights into best
times to tweet and
• Import email addresses to
boost your network
www.socialbro.com

21. Create Custom Tabs
on Facebook
• Build tabs on Facebook
for contests, coupons,
polls, fangates, etc.
• Completely free to
connect your other social
networks to your
Facebook page
• Easy to use interface
• Reporting capabilities
• Premium accounts are
based on number of fans
so pricing is very
reasonable
www.woobox.com

22. Identify Phony
Twitter Accounts
• Find out if an influencer has
bought followers
• Get percentage breakouts
of suspicious vs. inactive vs.
good followers
• It identifies suspicious
accounts for you for action
• Unlimited number of
searches
• Ability to share results with
your networks
www.socialbakers.com/twitter/fakefollowercheck/

23. Analyze Social
Media Channels
• Instant metrics that analyze
your social network activity
• Multiple reports for
Facebook and Twitter
• Almost every channel
covered including LinkedIn,
Pinterest, Vine & Instagram
• Ability to link Google
Analytics to get reports on
your website or blog
• Reports are colorful and
extremely insightful
http://simplymeasured.com/free-social-media-tools

24. For real user reviews of social media tools, check out TrustRadius
http://www.trustradius.com

25. The Right Tool for Someone Else…
May Be the Wrong Tool For You
Know What You Need
Before You Invest

26. THANK YOU
@tonyobregon