Page 150 - Social Media Marketing

c h a p t e r 5 : ╇ S ocial T echnology and B usiness D ecisions╇ ■Figure€5.9╇â•C‰ onnecting Source and Social Graph

128 Tools like Alterian’s SM2, BuzzStream and Tweetdeck—none of which are
break-the-bank expensive—provide simple and straightforward ways to implement
these practices in your business or organization. For example, using the combination of
Tweetdeck (available free of charge) and BuzzStream (under $100/month) enables you
to actively monitor Twitter for mentions of your brand or a competitor’s and ascertain
the social influence of those talking about your products and services. This gives you
precisely the data you need to prioritize your actual response effort (which is decidedly
not free) given what is being said and who is saying it. This data translates directly
into meaningful key performance indicators (KPIs), too: The number of mentions on
Twitter, positives versus negatives, average influencer rankings, and mean response
time are all examples of KPIs that you can add into your existing dashboards.
Being able to prioritize your responses allows you to connect more deeply with
individual customers, be it a one-off interaction around a particularly delightful or
upsetting experience, or the development of a longer-term relationship with a signifi-
cantly influential individual within your customer base. If you’ve ever posted a favor-
able comment—or any comment, for that matter—about a brand, product or service,
think about what it would feel like if you were personally acknowledged by the brand
manager, for example, as a result. In general, people post because they have something
to say—and because they want to be recognized for having said it. In particular, when
people post positive comments they are expressions of appreciation for the experience
that led to the post. While a compliment to the person standing next to you is typically
answered with a response like “Thank You,” the sad fact is that most brand compli-
ments go unanswered. These are lost opportunities to understand what drove the com-
pliments and create a solid fan based on them.