Monitoring our Social Media

Social media has become crucial for companies that intend to maintain a strong online presence and keep an updated track of what customers are saying about the business. Since there are so many channels through which to communicate and interact with your customers, finding the correct monitoring tool is one of the keys to a social media strategy success. Even if a company decided not to use social media actively, it does not mean they should not monitor their social media. (Especially because these tools may help simplify the various channels that can sometimes feel overwhelming.)

Today, it is possible to find in the market various monitoring tools that may be categorized into three different types. They all cross over in several ways, but it's useful to classify them in order to start understanding the universe of existing monitoring solutions.

Research & Data Monitoring Tools provide data for research and planning. They're usually less feature-rich than other kinds, but feature more reliable data, more sources and a longer retained history (examples include Nielsen Buzzmetrics, Linkfluence, and Brandwatch).

Monitoring & Reporting Tools are usually focused on real-time monitoring, primarily for PR or marketing purposes. They usually do not retain a long history and have worse data quality but they offer more user-friendly features for tracking conversations and producing reports (Radian6, Meltwater Buzz, and Synthesio).

Monitoring & Engagement Tools tend to focus on engagement. Usually, these solutions offer a poorer range of sources and quality of data, but they do provide a user-friendly way of engaging within leading networks (HootSuite, MarketMeSuite, and Conversocial).

It seems to be that there is a lot more than viral heat and socialmention for us to experiment online. Many are free. So, don’t stick with the first one you find. Try them all and choose the one that feels more useful to your particular business.