First Priority for a SocialMedia StrategyA Brand Audit Using aSocial Media MonitoringTool

4th in the Social Media ROI Series

With Connie Bensen

Whitepaper

LLEETTrsquorsquoSS TTAALLKKSocial Media ROI

First Priority for a Social Media Strategy A Brand Audit Using a Social Media Monitoring Tool

copy 2010 Alterian All trademarks belong to their respective owners

The ROI of Listening to your Customersrsquo Needs

Executive Summary As marketers we assume a number of things We have our methodologies for brand building public relations and advertising We believethat we know our customer segments We know our target markets and their geographical locations And we have our ways of gatheringcompetitive insight The savvy marketers have realized that social media marketing requires more than just the presumed

A social media monitoring tool offers a distinctive edge to marketers and agencies who wish to be a step ahead of their competitorsListening is the first step in creating a social media strategy or campaign but how well are you listening It is very important to approachsocial media marketing with a complete set of information Only then can you create a strategy that is representative of what will be themost effective in meeting your business needs And yes it is also important to have metrics and be able to measure them for your businessobjectives

This white paper is the fourth in the Social Media ROI series Letrsquos Talk about how to conduct a brand audit using social media monitoringtools

Listening is the firststep in creating a socialmedia strategy or campaign

First Priority for a Social Media Strategy A Brand Audit Using a Social Media Monitoring Tool

copy 2010 Alterian All trademarks belong to their respective owners

The ROI of Listening to your Customersrsquo Needs

Executive Summary As marketers we assume a number of things We have our methodologies for brand building public relations and advertising We believethat we know our customer segments We know our target markets and their geographical locations And we have our ways of gatheringcompetitive insight The savvy marketers have realized that social media marketing requires more than just the presumed

A social media monitoring tool offers a distinctive edge to marketers and agencies who wish to be a step ahead of their competitorsListening is the first step in creating a social media strategy or campaign but how well are you listening It is very important to approachsocial media marketing with a complete set of information Only then can you create a strategy that is representative of what will be themost effective in meeting your business needs And yes it is also important to have metrics and be able to measure them for your businessobjectives

This white paper is the fourth in the Social Media ROI series Letrsquos Talk about how to conduct a brand audit using social media monitoringtools

Listening is the firststep in creating a socialmedia strategy or campaign

First Priority for a Social Media Strategy A Brand Audit Using a Social Media Monitoring Tool

copy 2010 Alterian All trademarks belong to their respective owners

The ROI of Listening to your Customersrsquo Needs

Cornerstone of Listening The social web is filled with conversations about your brand your competitors and industry topics Everyone is in agreement that listening isthe first step before you should join the conversation Groundswell by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff is an excellent resource that outlines thereasons why itrsquos important to listen A social media strategy requires more than just random listening with free tools on the social web andengaging without direction

A brand audit is the first step in social media monitoring and therefore an effective social media strategy The following diagram shows thenatural progression of application of social media monitoring over time as a company gains experience A brand audit of social mediachannels will identify the opportunities that exist and also point to areas where the brand is at risk

Every business endeavor should complete a comprehensive brand audit when considering the online world beyond their website A socialmedia monitoring tool offers the functionality to gather an overview of a brandrsquos presence as well as that of competitors A brand audit isimperative for achieving business objectives creating an effective strategy and identifying what to measure

Brand Audit Goals Using a social media monitoring tool for an online brand audit is an eye opening experience It can even be quite shocking if it is the firstexposure to conversations in the online world It is very important to set up searches that are broad enough in order to find information thatyou did not know you were looking for A brand audit should not only confirm what you know but it should also point to what you donrsquotknow Perhaps you have expanded your market to a new geographical region Wouldnrsquot it be nice to see that reflected in the onlineconversations Or conversely what if a brand audit proved to be an effective gap analysis showing consumers expressing a need for yourproduct in a specific geographical area

The primary purpose of a brand audit in social media is to provide direction for a social media campaign orengagement It is very tempting to just jump into creating a Twitter account or making a Facebook pageBut what is the justification for doing so A brand audit not only indicates reasons to participate but alsoidentifies where to do so online as well as offline

A social media monitoring tool provides in-depth information that will provide considerable insight into asocial media strategy In order to provide an idea of the capabilities that a tool offers here is a list of reportsthat are specific to Alterian SM2 ndash Alterianrsquos social media monitoring tool It is an overview of what theyrepresent and the insights they offer Click here to try the Freemium version of SM2

a Drilling into the spikes identifies trends and patterns

b It is the place to start because it is the easiest way to analyze large amounts of data

First Priority for a Social Media Strategy A Brand Audit Using a Social Media Monitoring Tool

copy 2010 Alterian All trademarks belong to their respective owners

The ROI of Listening to your Customersrsquo Needs

1Daily Volume Report charts the number of conversations over time

A brand audit indicatesdirection for the strategy

Purposes of a Brand Audit

a Identify which social networks are being utilized most by those discussing the productbrand and donrsquot forget the competitors

bNo conversations about the brand Then use industry terms in your search

The word cloud depicts the most frequently used words as larger

a Examine the words in the word cloud and remember that these are from consumer generated commentary Look for new ideas in the theme cloud for the brand as well as that for the competitors and industry terms

bDrill into the larger words in the word cloud and look for patterns in the individual results

First Priority for a Social Media Strategy A Brand Audit Using a Social Media Monitoring Tool

copy 2010 Alterian All trademarks belong to their respective owners

The ROI of Listening to your Customersrsquo Needs

2Share of Voice Report shows the distribution of the conversations across the social networks

3Themes Report is a word cloud that is created by analyzing all of the conversations

a As with the Themes Report this is another word cloud that provides direct insight into the consumersrsquo minds They indicate which terms and phrases are important to them

bThe author tag clouds show which terminology consumers are using It is beneficial to review them and ensure that these terms and phrases are being used in the marketing messages and SEO keywords

a Use the popularity chart to identify influencers Drill into the highest numbers to identify the influencers and brand advocates

bThe age and gender charts are helpful in identifying target markets It indicates the age or gender that your products appeal to

First Priority for a Social Media Strategy A Brand Audit Using a Social Media Monitoring Tool

copy 2010 Alterian All trademarks belong to their respective owners

The ROI of Listening to your Customersrsquo Needs

4Author Tags depict the words that people are most frequently tagging their content with in the hopes that others will search for it

5Demographics Report sorts the data by age gender and popularity

a This report is ideal for identifying the online communities where your consumers and potential customers are interacting Go join them

bTake a look at the Top Domains report for competitors It is a good idea to join those conversations too People always like choices

c The Top Domains report for industry terms identifies communities which may not be aware of your products and brand

First Priority for a Social Media Strategy A Brand Audit Using a Social Media Monitoring Tool

copy 2010 Alterian All trademarks belong to their respective owners

The ROI of Listening to your Customersrsquo Needs

6Top Domains shows the domains where the majority of the conversations are happening online

First Priority for a Social Media Strategy A Brand Audit Using a Social Media Monitoring Tool

copy 2010 Alterian All trademarks belong to their respective owners

The ROI of Listening to your Customersrsquo Needs

a Use this report to identify the influencers and advocates for your brand

b Identify those that are the most influential for the competitors and strategize on how to buildrelationships with them

The larger the pin the larger the volume of conversations Hover over any pin and itrsquos possible to see howmany results for each

a Review the pins and decide if this information confirms what you know or if there are some geographical areas that are surprising Drill into them

bDrill in the largest pins and review the specific conversations Taking a deeper dive into analyzing the demographic data of a certain geographical area can generate interesting insight

c The pins and the data behind them offer insight into where it would be effective to integrate offline events with your social media strategy

Next steps

7Top Authors Report shows the authors that are generating the most conversations

8Map Overlay identifies the physical sources of the conversations

First Priority for a Social Media Strategy A Brand Audit Using a Social Media Monitoring Tool

copy 2010 Alterian All trademarks belong to their respective owners

The ROI of Listening to your Customersrsquo Needs

a Review this report and consider if it is what you expected

bConsider this data with that from Map Overlay as you plan your social media strategy It may indicate that your strategy should include a more global approach And it may indicate if there is a need for localization of your products

The advantage of using a social media monitoring tool is that it is automatic and provides a high leveloverview

a For both reports it is important to drill into the negative results and note the sentiment Identify what the issues are and consider how to rectify them They could be related to product performance customer service brand reputation commentary on marketing and advertising etc

bThe positive results offer excellent opportunities to identify influencers and advocates as well as content and quotes for marketing

c Drilling into the most extreme positive and negative results provide feedback on advertising amp marketing efforts They will indicate if the messaging is connecting with the target audience Sifting through the results will also result in product development information

dUse Share of Voice to see the trending of sentiment over time This allows you to identify trends on a daily basis and drill in to isolate on the topic This is very important in monitoring for brand crisis

9Top Languages creates a list of the languages that consumers are using when creating their content

10 Brand References and Content Tone indicate the sentiment and tone around the conversations

First Priority for a Social Media Strategy A Brand Audit Using a Social Media Monitoring Tool

copy 2010 Alterian All trademarks belong to their respective owners

The ROI of Listening to your Customersrsquo Needs

The previous section outlines the vast amounts of insight that a professional social media monitoring toolprovides All of these can be considered as one works to identify the business objectives for a social mediacampaign It is imperative to carefully consider this information and decide which objectives the socialmedia strategy will meet The reports will directly influence the following decisions Which departmentsshould be reviewing the reports and responding appropriately

Marketingbull Clarify whether the messaging is connecting with customersbull Is it reaching the target audiencebull Are the word of mouth marketing efforts being achievedbull Are there opportunities for lead generationbull Generate more word of mouthbull Reduce market research costs

Customer Servicebull Are customers receiving responses in a timely mannerbull Are their needs being met satisfactorilybull What is their sentimentbull Reduce customer support costsbull Increase customer loyalty

A brand audit Identifiesbusiness objectives

First Priority for a Social Media Strategy A Brand Audit Using a Social Media Monitoring Tool

copy 2010 Alterian All trademarks belong to their respective owners

The ROI of Listening to your Customersrsquo Needs

Salesbull Build relationships with potential customersbull Contribute to building brand visibility bull Reduce customer acquisition costs

Product Developmentbull Gather ideas for productsbull Innovation - Improve new product success ratiosbull Bring outside ideas into organizationbull Competitive insightbull Reduce product development costs

Public Relationsbull Improve public relations effectivenessbull Build advocacy program Identify influencers and engage thembull Minimize brand crisesbull Establish thought leadership

In addition to providing considerable insight a brand audit provides direction on metrics

After identifying the business objectives for social media engagement it is very important to establish whatto measure and report The goals will provide direction of what reports to use and how the information willbe quantified

1This is a three step process Use the social media monitoring tool to benchmark where the brand visibility is at now Identify the reports that contribute to measuring the goals

2Create a report that will serve as a baseline

3Note where the brand is in regard to SEO performance

This report will be used as a comparative in the future to chart progress and the value of the social mediacampaign It will also provide the necessary data to calculate ROI

First Priority for a Social Media Strategy A Brand Audit Using a Social Media Monitoring Tool

copy 2010 Alterian All trademarks belong to their respective owners

The ROI of Listening to your Customersrsquo Needs

A brand audit defineswhat to measure

How to do a brand audit using Alterian SM2

1Set up searches (remember to keep them broad enough to find what you didnrsquot know you were looking for)

a Brand and product(s)b Competitorsc Industry terms

2Scrub the results a Remove the noise (unnecessary data)b Three step process ndash look for odd things and drill in

i Theme Chart ii Author Tag Cloudiii Domains

c Put the excluded words and the URLrsquos to ignore in the profiled Copy the profile and run the searches again

3Use Share of Voice Reporta Compare the brand against the competitors

i Click on Categories and choose the brand competitorsii Create the chart

b View the trending of sentiment over time for the brandi Filter to the brand in the orange filter barii Click on Categories iii Choose positive opinion and negative opinioniv View the graph at the bottom showing trend of sentiment over time

4Use Compare Dates Report for business developmenta View the brand performance overlaid against a competitor

i From the dropdown choose a brand and competitorii Choose the same date rangeiii Create the graph

b Interpretation ndash every result is an opportunityi If brand has more volume

1 They are ahead of competition2 The brand should engage more to get further ahead

ii If competitor has more volume1 The brand has a lot of work to do2 The brand needs to engage

iii If neither have many conversations1 Itrsquos an opportunity for the brand to engage 2 The brand can engage and get ahead

First Priority for a Social Media Strategy A Brand Audit Using a Social Media Monitoring Tool

copy 2010 Alterian All trademarks belong to their respective owners

The ROI of Listening to your Customersrsquo Needs

Conclusion

5Review the reports listed above in section 1 of Purposes of a Brand Audit for insight

6Create a report that offers insight on potential objectives to be accomplished in a social media strategy

a Include reports from SM2 such asi Daily Volume with events flaggedii Theme Chart identifies main topics that consumers are discussingiii Domains showing online presence of communitiesiv Map Overlay shows offline communitiesv Brand References and Tone

b An overview of SEO presence

A brand audit is essential for every social media engagement and the measurement of it Assessing abrands online presence without a social media monitoring tool would be very difficult A professional tooloffers the advantage of aggregating all of the information in one place and the ability to perform an in-depth analysis of the data in a variety of ways It provides the basis for determining the businessobjectives The tool also provides a basis for benchmarking the data and creating a reporting methodologyas the social media strategy is executed

First Priority for a Social Media Strategy A Brand Audit Using a Social Media Monitoring Tool

copy 2010 Alterian All trademarks belong to their respective owners

The ROI of Listening to your Customersrsquo Needs

1 Try the Freemium version of Alterian SM2 (a professional social media monitoring tool)

2 Explore resources on social media monitoring

3 Request a Little Book of Social Media Marketing on some BIG marketing topics

4 Read a client case study Pursuit uses brand audits to design creative campaigns

5 Email infoalteriancom or call

North America

+1 312 884 5321

UK amp Continental Europe

+44 (0) 1202 250003

Asia Pacific

+61 2 9968 2449

Next steps

First Priority for a Social Media Strategy A Brand Audit Using a Social Media Monitoring Tool

copy 2010 Alterian All trademarks belong to their respective owners

The ROI of Listening to your Customersrsquo Needs

About the ldquoLetrsquosTalkrdquo Series withConnie Bensen

Social Media marketing is providing a whole new dimension for brands to connect with consumers Thesocial web is a vast entity and every marketer needs a tool to harness the information in the most costeffective and efficient manner A social media monitoring tool offers the ability to maximize the digitalportion of your marketing budget in order to create execute measure and report on a social mediastrategy

The Lets Talk Series by Connie Bensen is a series of 10 whitepapers describing the variety of ways thatmarketers can increase the ROI of their marketing efforts Topics will include how to use a social mediamonitoring tool for SEO Lead Generation Social Media campaigns Customer Service CompetitiveInsight Corporate marketing PR and reputation management etc

Connie is the Director of Social Media and Community Strategy at Alterian which provides marketingsoftware to help brands engage with their customers She is a key voice amongst online CommunityManagers Her blog wwwconniebensencom is recognized as a leading resource for cultivating onlinecommunities providing best practices for this emerging role and it is listed in Forbescom as one of the 20Best Marketing and Social Media Blogs by Women

Alterianrsquos SM2 is a social media monitoring and analysis solution designed for PR andMarketing professionals SM2 helps you track conversations review positivenegativesentiment for your brand clients competitors and partners across social media channelssuch as blogs wikis micro-blogs social networks videophoto sharing sites and real-timealerts

Alterian (LSE ALN) empowers organizations to create relevant effective and engaging experiences withtheir audience that help build value and reinforce commitment to their brand through the use of theAlterian Integrated Marketing Platform Alterian drives the transformation of marketing andcommunications making it practical and cost-effective for companies to orchestrate multichannelengagement with the individual

Alterianrsquos unprecedented integration of analytics content and execution through industry leading toolssuch as the Dynamic Messenger email platform SM2 Social Media Monitoring platform and the awardwinning Content Management solutions enables companies to build integrated communication strategieswhich create a true picture of the individual

Alterian works with marketing services partners system integrators and agencies who recognize the needto plan and deliver coordinated customer engagement services in partnership with their clients For moreinformation about Alterian products within the Alterian Integrated Marketing Platform or Alterianrsquos PartnerNetwork visit wwwalteriancom or the Alterian blog at wwwengagingtimescom

About Alterian

SM2 Social MediaMonitoring (SMM)

Corporate and European Headquarters

T +44 (0) 117 970 3200

North American Headquarters

T +1 312 704 1700

Other Contacts

Website wwwalteriancom

Email infoalteriancom

Twitter Alterian_plc

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SlideShare wwwslidesharenetAlterian

iTunes Alterianrsquos Leadership Series

Blogs wwwEngagingTimescom

wwwTheMarketingMojocom

wwwConnieBensencom

E infoalteriancomW wwwalteriancom

copy Alterian 2010

White Paper