The 5 W's of Business Social Intelligence

The five W’s are fundamentally a part of how companies and their brands must comprehensively look at social network information.  Companies must analyze, gaining weighted insight into what is happening within the social media eco-system for their brand.  Social media has dramatically changed how companies communicate, market and sell their products and service. It has also changed the dynamic relationship between companies and their customers.   


Now, customers can play a major role in what's being said publicly about your products and brand.  This is a great challenge, however I believe it is the best opportunity to engage with customers in new and different ways, building stronger, longer-lasting relationships and enhancing loyalty and great sales.

Who is doing the talking and what's their influence?

Quickly identify the key influencers and get detailed information about their gender, age industry, Klout rating and interests.  Key influencers can work with you for a win-win situation.  Remember, the influencers are talking about others at a 15-to-1 ratio over talking about themselves.  Are you?

What are people talking about and what are the key conversations?

Monitor (listen) to buzz and key conversations to see what is being said about your brand, service and products.  Then identify the major themes and issues that are raised about you within the social media landscape.  Engage in those conversations as needed to show you are involved in an authentic way.

Why are conversations happening and are they positive or negative?

Discover why those conversations are happening. See whether what's talked about is positive, negative or neutral and determine the impact on your brand and business.  Don’t wait until it escalates; listen often for the best results.

Where did these conversations occur?

Access geo-demographic information to see where and when around the world conversations are taking place - drill-down to the country or city, as well as the age demographic to gain relational insights.  

When did these conversations happen?

Analyze the activity to learn more about when these conversations happened - both historically and in real-time.  Then, compare and contrast buzz generated over time vs. efforts and time-lines associated with related buzz and awareness.

Using this intelligence, it is then important to take next steps utilizing Social Media Best Practices:

Listen:  The social media eco-system has a lot of white noise.  Utilize tools to overcome this challenge.  Identify and monitor the conversations on social networks, blogs, forums & communities, news sites, etc.  There are millions of conversations about your company, your brand and your products.  Listen in real-time for effective engagement.

Engage:  Now that you have heard those voices about your brand, identify key people, drilling into those conversations and understand who they are, what interests them and how their authority or relevance applies to your brand.  Engage key influencers and thought-leaders to build, nurture and manage those important relationships.  Using tools to automatically secure authority measurement and Klout scores, you can work with these influencers based on inbound links, social bookmarks and mentions, comments and other important activities.

Measure:  This is where you need the right tools.  Using real-time analytics, you can track and measure your campaigns, products, as well as brand reputation and sentiment.  Analyzing this data over time garnishes your metrics with context, benchmarking and comparisons with competitors.

Understand:  By listening, engaging and measuring, you gain valuable understanding into the intelligence (IQ and EQ) of where the conversations are taking place.  You can then determine the impact on your company’s brand and products, and if needed, make adjustments to align your communications, PR, marketing or sales plans.


Look forward to your comments and thoughts.




Twitter: @RikWalters

Five Ways You Can Grow Your Business Using Social Media

Social media and blogs must be a key part to you company marketing strategy.  Here are 5 ways they help grow your business and your brand's awareness:

1. Low Cost - Social media websites and tools are either free or available for a low cost.  You can get started in social media and blogging for very little or no money. Theese are among the most cost-effective methods of reaching your audience.  Like any marketing effort, you must formulate a plan of action and BE CONSISTENT.
2. Instant Inter-connectivity - Working with leading global brands, I know you get all kinds of feedback through the comments on blogs and other social media verticals.  Both blogs and social media can give you nearly instant market feedback - good and bad.  Also, people will leave reviews and other comments for you on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other layered SM sites. This insight is available to you right now, for no cost! 
3. Social media drives search results -  I read a recent survey which indicated blogs and social media make it more likely that your prospects will find you online when they search (see my blog from last week).  This is based on the new search model by both Google and Bing.  Over 90% of people searching online, begin their purchasing process in search engines.
4. Inbound Marketing -  Outbound marketing is telemarketing, direct mail, email blasts, Cable/TV and print ads - All the things that buyers are blocking out more and more.  Social media and blogs are essential inbound marketing tools.  Pull marketing and inbound marketing give you amazing information that is at your fingertips (Literally!).
5. It's all about LISTENING! - For blogs and social media, there is a distinct advantage to being accessible and listening in the social media online space. If you don't get involved in the conversations about your brand or business service, your competitors will.   Then you're fighting an uphill battle to become influential in these online conversations after the fact. 

Start now to claim the advantage against competitors and valuable insight into your marketing efforts, your brand's reputation with customers and hear what other have to say about you.

You must reach out to hear your customer...they will tell you what they want!

As always, please follow me on Twitter (@RikWalters) for daily insights and information.

Thanks for stopping by!

@RikWalters