“Big-Picture” of Multi-Channel Social Measurement

Facebook’s “Insights” tab or Twitter’s “Activity Dashboard,” are few examples how the social networks are gradually accepting the importance of measurement for the social marketers. However, majority of the marketers struggle to get the “Big-Picture” of their social media data analysis. To get the view of their social landscape, often they find it challenging to standardize the metrics or analyzing the data in context. To conclude with the deeper insight of any complex social media data, there are few fundamental rules for multi-channel measurement.

The list of social networks that are relevant to marketers is long and diverse. One of the biggest problems that marketers face with multi-channel analysis is having access to all of their data across all platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google+, etc.

Most of the social media analyst measure and report on Facebook and Twitter. However, to get the big-picture, you should analyze at least six networks. This breadth of reporting equates to a lot of time and energy in compiling the data and filtering out the noise. The data aggregation process is about balance, gathering as much context as possible and put it in the most simple and practical format possible.

Putting metrics from various channels in context is crucial to understanding social performance and gaining useful, tactical insights. The problem is that the growth in number of social channels makes it hard to consolidate and standardize reporting. The key to putting this massive amount of data in context is standardization. By standardizing terminologies around similar metrics, you will be able to look at activity and engagement in a simple format and with full context. For example, instead of Facebook Fans and Pinterest or Twitter Followers, use a term like “Audience.”

Once you standardize your terminologies, focus on benchmarking the methodology. The most effective and commonly used benchmarking methods for social media marketers are: taking at-least three periods as an average and apples-to-apples comparison of these periods like pre-campaign performance measurement to the post-campaign monthly reports. Just average the last three months to benchmark the most recent efforts and you will get a solid rolling average. With this type of comparison, it makes the most sense to focus on rates and ratios. You should focus on measuring things like growth rate and engagement rate. This approach will allow you to normalize over time periods without worrying about the scale differences.

Data has become a central need for social media marketers. No longer are aggregate totals enough. Marketers need complete, practical measurement that allows them to review all of their activities. Multi-channel analysis is the key to this holistic approach while each puzzle piece is crucial. It’s the complete picture that helps social media marketers do their best work in terms of taking a corrective measure during a mass-media campaign.

Evolution of media monitoring as an integral part of PR strategy

It has always been difficult for large enterprises to track the exact picture of the effectiveness of their public relation and marketing campaigns. This requires specific skill sets to monitor and gather relevant information of the media coverage related to these campaigns.

Evolution of online media in different forms has made it more difficult as online media is more viral than traditional print media. Broadcast media also plays an important role in successful implementation of PR and marketing strategies designed by these big enterprises, which involve a big chunk of their investments. So, monitoring media coverage is more important than ever before. Enterprises must be confident that their PR campaigns are creating significant impact in the media. They need comprehensive information how they are being talked about by different forms of media and media influencers.

Media monitoring provides an easy to view and analyze dashboard that clearly shows the effectiveness of these PR campaigns. Media monitoring service providers research and aggregate the media coverage for a particular company, product, brand, event, industry, etc. and synthesize & analyze the relevant coverage. Then, they present the synopsis of the coverage to their clients in an easy, reader friendly format. Enterprises get educated about what's being said about their company, products, brands, etc, in the media. They learn about media perception of their competitors. They learn about the latest industry developments as portrayed by the media. They get an idea of the share of voice that they have in the media and this serves as a backdrop for them to fine tune their communications strategy.

It is always advisable to take a consolidated approach in handling different forms of media. Emergence of social media has made it more obvious for the enterprises to get the information real-time. Consolidated media measurement approach involves media monitoring, media audit, user-generated media monitoring, user-generated media audit, key-influencer analysis, industry trend analysis, company analysis, competitive analysis, audience analysis, etc. Service providers handle the huge volume of information by utilizing several media monitoring tools, online sources and some alert services. Involvement of skilled professionals in mining the relevant information, analyzing, presenting and summarizing it in an easy-to-understand report is very crucial. "Dashboard" view of media performance helps marketing and PR professionals to sharpen competitive edge and demonstrate return on their corporate communication investment. So, media monitoring and measurement has evolved as an integral part of enterprises' public relations campaign management process.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/public-relations-articles/evolution-of-media-monitoring-as-an-integral-part-of-pr-strategy-6391557.html

KOLs - today's pharma thought leaders

In today's volatile market scenario, listening and engaging Key Opinion Leaders or KOLs in your digital marketing plan is very crucial. In order to identify KOLs, there has to be a firm understanding of the issues and circumstances that make them key in the first place. Typically the opinion leader is held in high esteem by those who accept his or her opinions. KOLs are often regarded as the key to business success in Pharmaceutical/Healthcare industry. They are the agents who actively participate in discussions or forums in order to address drug-related issues or queries raised by people. Now, the question is “How do they influence your brand perception?”

KOLs may not necessarily be involved directly with your brand; however, they have the ability to build or destroy your brand image by influencing their followers. They are the people others are watching. Irrespective of the therapeutic field, the use of KOLs is a global phenomenon for business success. In pharmaceutical business research, KOL management and mapping play important role. Your KOL databases have to have the names who can easily tell what your research should focus and what are the target customers’ current needs. In terms of marketing & sales, KOLs act as a the leading indicator of therapy acceptance. Pharma companies generally connect with the KOLs early in the drug development process to provide advocacy activity and key marketing feedback.

To identify the KOLs, you need to know their key characteristics. Market Strategies International conducted a research study among a selected group of 100 national and regional KOLs and came out with the following key characteristics of a KOL:

• Regularly sought out by their colleagues for opinions or advice
• Speak often at regional or national conferences
• Have published articles in a major journal during the past two years
• Consider themselves early adopters of new treatments or procedures
• Help establish protocols for patient care

Identifying KOLs using social network analysis

Mostly medical practitioners use their local network to advice, opine and showcase their expertise. You can term it as a closed community that has the ability to influence millions of people. It needs a sophisticated algorithm that takes into account both the direct and indirect links in the network to identify the best influencers who really can create an impact on your consumers to build an opinion or a sentiment. If you have a strong community management model around your brand, these influencers will bring in more people to talk about your brand. Building an interacting model of communication and closely monitoring the conversation help to build strong brand perceptions which result in increase velocity of product adoption.

So, are you listening???

IDC report - optimistic on social vendors

IDC MarketScape has released its "Worldwide Pharmaceuticals Social Media Analytics 2012 Vendor Assessment" report. The report says that there is an increasing interest in social media software applications and profiles the vendors such as Brandwatch, Cognizant, Genpact Social and Digital Transformation Services, Indegene, ListenLogic, Meltwater, Radian6, Semantelli and Visible Technologies.

Congnizant has been recognized by IDC MarketScape as a leading vendor for pharmaceuticals social media analytics for the year 2012. As per the report, “Cognizant is highly focused on the pharmaceutical industry and is considered by its customers to have very high pharmaceutical industry expertise.”

Eric Newmark, Program Director of IDC Health Insights' Life Science Business Systems service, was quoted in the release, saying, “Many pharmaceutical companies are ramping up their investment in social media analytics as a large majority of consumers now go online to research their medical condition and treatment alternatives. The information they find, combined with their physicians’ opinion, is often the largest influencing factor on the prescription or treatment sought. Hence companies should understand what consumers are finding online and closely monitor its effect on their brand.”

This is very true. Social media has a measurable impact on PR and analytics. It also gives huge boost to brand recognition. However, many companies are still struggling to identify clear social attribution. Branding in this social media age is very crucial and challenging, where the biggies always need to keep an eye on the social media listening trend.

The findings of the IDC report will surely help the healthcare and pharmaceutical companies to choose the right analytics application and right vendors to analyze their social media brand perception.

“Adobe Social” - will it be a game changer?

Last week, Adobe entered the race of social media analytics by launching its first end-to-end social media marketing and analytics software suite “Adobe Social.”

AllFacebook, the “Unofficial Facebook Blog,” gives Adobe Social a strongly positive review. The blog recommends the product for its extremely user-friendly interface. It states, “Adobe Social’s ability to create and demonstrate business impact from social media will enable the social marketer to secure a seat at the planning table.”

Over the past decade, social media has become an unavoidable and integral part of business strategy. With Adobe Social, the company promises to move social media users “from social media intuition to marketing insight.”

“The ability of Adobe Social to reveal deeper connections across the social activities of our fans and manage key business results and hundreds of Facebook pages and Twitter profiles across a single platform is incredibly valuable,” states Gretchen Fox, VP Social Media, LiveNation, at Adobe Social’s official product overview.

The Tech Crunch blog also gives it a positive review by saying, “The other big selling point is the integration with other products in Adobe’s Digital Marketing Suite — as Adobe puts it, it’s breaking social advertising out of its silo.”

The social media analytics market is currently dominated by Radian 6, Cision, Vocus, etc. and will offer a fierce challenge to Adobe Social. It will be watchable in near future how Adobe Social will penetrate into this market segment and proves itself as a game changer.

Social CRM: why it is crucial?

Over the last one decade, social media has changed the definition of traditional CRM. Before, it was just a one way communication process. But emergence of social media and its maximum utility for CRM had made it a two-way communication channel. This evolved the concept of sCRM or Social CRM.

As per Paul Greenberg, “Social CRM is a philosophy and a business strategy, supported by a technology platform, business rules, workflow, processes and social characteristics, designed to engage the customer in a collaborative conversation in order to provide mutually beneficial value in a trusted and transparent business environment. It’s the company’s response to the customer’s ownership of the conversation.”

Why sCRM is crucial in terms of your brand perception? Because it is spontaneous…………….. If you do not engage a monitoring system or do not keep a close eye on the developments, you might loose your brand loyalty. At the same time, if you keep your customers engaged with your product/brand and you have a real-time tracking system of your brand’s performance, sCRM can create a win-win situation for you as well your customers.

sCRM is more than just engaging your customers or prospects to your product’s/brand’s microsites or Twitter/Facebook pages or building communities or blog pages. It is not only about social listening or creating a media buzz through your PR agencies. sCRM is a mix of all.

Say, you have engaged your customers through these channels. Now, the challenge is how do you monitor the activities. Is it through some enterprise listening software? Or, some third party service providers? Or self? Well, it is again a mix of all.

Now, the next challenge you might face is your customer’s identity in social media portals. Most often you face the issue of multiple identities of your customers. So, you should have a technology or a practice to integrate multiple identities (Identity Management).

sCRM is all about creating a collaborative environment, both internally and externally. The key to sCRM success is to understand the issues/challenges pertaining to your product or brand and solving them with customer engagement and interaction in a process-driven way.