Scott SimsSocial media is advantageous for all departments within an organization. From sales and customer support to public relations and business development, all departments can obtain valuable information from social media.
However, the full value of this information won’t be discovered by simply creating social media accounts. The information has to be collected, analyzed and evaluated before it truly becomes of value. The good news? A well-designed SMMP is designed to do just that.
A Social Media Management Platform (SMMP) tunes into the social media environment by doing three things:
- Listening
- Analyzing
- Engaging
An effective SMMP contains several necessary features within each of these components. Here are the essential features you should look for when evaluating a SMMP.
Listening Features
Listening features give an insight into what’s being said and who’s saying it. A good SMMP will include options to not only monitor your own social media channels, but also to target what’s popular with the rest of your audience.
- All-In-One View of Social Media Channels – An all-in-one view gives a snapshot of all your social media platforms. The ability to see what they’re doing at any given moment gives you a high level pulse on your audience.
- Keyword Monitoring – Target and track keywords to gain insight into what’s being said.
- Instant Notifications – Receive notifications that allow you to quickly respond to posts, comments, trends, mentions and tweets.
- In-Depth, Real-Time Data – Get current perspectives from both online sources and traditional media outlets (i.e., print, radio, television).
- Language Support – Get support for a variety of languages to stay relevant to all your users.
- Identify Influencers – Learn who the top influencers are and react accordingly. After all, 3% of adult users create 80% of the content.3
- Audience Locator – Pinpoint where your users are located and learn how you can best address their concerns and interests.
Analytical Features
The analytical features are crucial for tracking your brand and your competition. They allow you to monitor activity with detailed reports, as well as identify potential problems before they cause too much trouble.
- Track Brand Mentions – Find out who is mentioning your brand, and what they are saying about it.
- Identify Potential Crises – Before small problems become big problems, identify and address potential crises that could cause trouble.
- Learn Your Competition – Recognize your strengths and weaknesses, and address them accordingly to claim higher market share and profit margins.
- Campaign Tracker – Set goals for your social media campaign and keep track of progress.
- Reports – Utilize analytic reports to identify specific information about your users: demographics, online behavior, online purchasing information and more.
Engagement Features
Engagement features keep your day-to-day tasks simple. These features allows you to schedule, read, and respond to posts all within your SMMP.
- Scheduled Posts – Schedule posts to be published in the future, allowing writers to prepare in advance.
- In-Platform Response – Read and respond to comments within the platform to stay engaged with your audience.
- Collaboration and Workflow – Within the platform, assign tasks like ‘message-response’ to team members according to expertise and availability.
Selecting the right SMMP can be confusing, and the learning curve is often significant. A well-designed tool can change the way you or your organization handles social media. The wrong social media tool can mean missed opportunities and zero ROI. With an SMMP that includes all of these important features, you can greatly strengthen your social media strategy, and save yourself time and money in the process.
Original article was published on the Buzzlogix Social Media Blog.
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