Dynamic Business

Analytics and social media

To utilise social media effectively, it is vital for small businesses to monitor online conversations. This will give them an insight into what people are saying about their brand and allow them to engage with their audience.

There are a number of affordable options when it comes to tracking social media conversations. This can be done manually using search engines or the search functionality of commonly used tools such as Twitter. The upside of this approach is that it is free but bear in mind that it is a time consuming exercise and can be a drain on resources.

There are also tools on the market that will enable you to search across all social media forums to investigate the quality and sentiment of commentary around your brand. Some of these tools offer built-in workflows. These act as a social media hub, flagging relevant comments and referring them to the person best placed to respond. In this way you can automate the monitoring function, saving time and ensuring that nothing is missed.

Conclusion

Social media is an ideal tool for SMEs as it provides a cost-effective way to realise a number of businesses benefits. The key to making it work is effective planning. Don’t jump in and try to achieve everything at once, take time out to think realistically about what you would like to achieve and how much resources you are able to allocate.

A good rule of thumb is to start by listening. Monitor what people are saying about your brand, assess the sentiment and find out who the influencers are – positive and negative. Once you know how your brand is perceived, it will help you determine your social media goals. These could be anything from raising awareness of your brand to tackling negative perceptions or running promotions.

Once you have your objectives in place it is time to start engaging. Before you do, decide who will be responsible for social media outreach and set minimum engagement guidelines – once you are involved you need to maintain a presence!

One you have commenced your social media engagement, it is important to track the results. Continue monitoring conversations to find out whether your social media efforts are having an impact. This could be as easy as tracking the number of followers or fans that you have acquired or using a tracking tool to see whether the sentiment towards your brand has evolved. It is vital to measure against your pre-set goals and determine whether you need to step up or adjust your efforts.

These simple steps will help you to get involved in the world of social media and use it to progress your business objectives. Good luck!

–Mark Allison is Director, Australaisia, for Webtrends (www.webtrends.com.au). Webtrends help you turn the data generated by your website, blogs and online campaigns into understanding of your customers.