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Info-Tech Research Group 1

Vendor Landscape Plus: Social Media Management Platforms (SMMP)Reign in social media by choosing a management platform that’s right for you.


Achieving social media business objectives can be a challenging task.Select the right Social Media Management Platform (SMMP) to dramatically boost the effectiveness and efficiency of social media initiatives.

Introduction

IT managers advising the business on how to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of social media campaigns.

IT professionals involved in evaluating, selecting, and deploying an SMMP.

Sales, marketing, and customer service professionals interested in how SMMPs can improve the outcomes of social media campaigns and interactions.

Understand the features and business benefits of using an SMMP to manage social media initiatives.

Determine functional requirements based on organizational needs.

Understand the current state of the SMMP market and evaluate and select an SMMP vendor that meets the organization’s requirements.

Implement and operate the selected platform.

This Research Is Designed For: This Research Will Help You:


Executive Summary

• Social Media Management Platforms (SMMPs) reduce the complexity and increase the results of enterprise social media. SMMPs integrate with a variety of different social media services, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube. The platforms offer a variety of tools for managing social media, including account management, in-band response and engagement, and social monitoring and analytics.

• The value proposition of SMMPs revolves around enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of social media. Using an SMMP to manage social media is considerably more cost-effective than ad-hoc (manual) management.

• IT must partner with other departments (e.g. marketing) to successfully evaluate, select and implement an SMMP. Before selecting an SMMP, the organization must have a solid overall strategy for leveraging social media in place.

• SMMPs have a variety of use cases. Prominent departments that can benefit from using an SMMP include marketing, sales, customer service, public relations, and human resources.

• The market for SMMPs is relatively immature, with no market consensus on standard features. CRM vendors have also begun to enter the fray with their own social offerings. The vendors that Info-Tech formally evaluated in this set include: Radian6, Sprout Social, Syncapse, Socialware, Cymfony, Visible Technologies, and Lithium.

• Radian6 and Syncapse were the only vendors to fall into the Champion category; however, other vendors also have strong feature sets and compelling individual use cases for certain organizations and the SMMP market is only emerging.

• Implement an SMMP by choosing a deployment model, identifying points of integration with CRM suites, establishing a maintenance model, training end users, and identifying a specialized individual in IT to serve as a resident SMMP expert.


The Info-Tech Social Media Research Agenda

Social Media Strategy

Select a Social Media Management Platform

Social Media Optimization

Consumers are rapidly adopting social media. Organizations that don’t keep pace will find themselves at a competitive disadvantage (particularly those serving end consumers and a younger, more connected clientele).

Build a comprehensive strategy for social media that adds social to the existing channel mix. Select the social media services that best complement your existing channel interaction strategies in marketing, sales, and customer service.

Refer to Info-Tech’s solution set, Leverage Social Media for Customer Interaction.

The proliferation of social media services has made actively managing social initiatives a challenging task. SMMPs empower managers with a variety of tools for effective (and efficient) use of enterprise social media.

Selecting an SMMP involves defining the organization’s functional requirements, creating a shortlist based on these requirements, formally evaluating vendor offerings, and choosing the platform that is best tailored to the organization’s unique circumstances.

This solution set addresses selecting an SMMP.

An organization’s social media strategy must constantly evolve to meet the changing needs of target stakeholders and consumers.

New social media services and the rise of mobile and location-based services necessitate that managers constantly fine-tune their social presence.

Social media marketing campaigns are now a part of any mature multi-channel marketing strategy and must be properly integrated alongside other campaign channels.

The solution set, Implement a Social Media Strategy will be released in the near future.

http://www.infotech.com/research/ss/leveraging-social-media-for-customer-interaction

http://www.infotech.com/research/ss/it-implement-a-social-media-strategy


SMMPs reduce complexity and increase the effectiveness of enterprise social media

• Social Media Management Platforms (SMMPs) are solutions (typically cloud-based) that offer a host of features for effectively monitoring the social cloud and managing your organization’s presence in the social cloud. SMMPs give businesses the tools they need to run social campaigns in a timely and cost-effective manner. SMMP functionality broadly falls into three categories: account & campaign management, in-band response, and social monitoring/analytics.

• The typical SMMP integrates with two or more social media services (e.g. Facebook, Twitter) via the services’ API or a dedicated connector. SMMPs are not simply a revised “interface layer” for a single social media service: they provide layers for advanced management and analytics across multiple services.

• The unique value of SMMPs comes from their ability to manage and track multiple social media services. Aggregating and managing data from multiple services gives businesses a much more holistic view of their organization’s social initiatives and reputation in the social cloud.

The increasing complexity of social media coupled with the rising importance of social channels has led to a market for formal management platforms. Organizations with an active presence in social media (i.e. multiple services or pages) should strongly consider selecting and deploying an SMMP.

Account & Campaign Management

In-Band Response

Social Monitoring/Analytics

SM

MP

End Users(e.g. marketing managers)

SMMPs mediate interactions between end users and the social cloud.


Failing to reign in social media initiatives leads to more work, uninformed decisions, and diminishing returns• The growth of social media services has made manually

updating pages and feeds an ineffective and time-consuming process. The challenge is magnified when multiple brands, product lines or geographic subsidiaries are involved. Use the advanced account management features of an

SMMP to reduce the amount of time spent updating social media services.

• Engaging customers through social channels can be a delicate task – high volumes of social content can easily overwhelm marketing and service representatives, leading to missed selling opportunities and unacceptable service windows. Use the in-band response capabilities of an SMMP to

create an orderly queue for social interactions.

• Consumer activity in the social cloud has been increasing exponentially. As the volume of content grows, separating the signal from the noise becomes increasingly difficult. Use the advanced social analytics of an SMMP to ensure

critical consumer insights are not overlooked.

:Ad-Hoc Management vs. SMMPs:

What’s the difference?

Social media initiatives are managed directly through the services themselves. For example, a marketing professional would log in to multiple corporate Twitter accounts to post the same content for a promotional campaign.

Ad-Hoc Social Media Management

Social media initiatives are managed through a third-party software platform. For example, a marketing professional would update all social account simultaneously with just a couple clicks. SMMPs also provide cross-service social analytics – highly valuable for decision makers!

Social Media Management Platform

Effectively managing a social media campaign is not a straightforward exercise. If you have (or plan to have) a large social media footprint, now is the time to procure formal software tools for social media management. Continuing to manage social media in an ad-hoc manner is sapping time and money!


Cost/Benefit Scenario: A mid-sized consumer products company wins big by adopting an SMMP

The following example shows how an SMMP at a mid-sized consumer products firm brought in $36 000 a year.

Before: Manual Social Media Management After: Social Media Management Platform

Account management: a senior marketing manager

was responsible for updating all twenty of the firm’s

social media pages and feeds. This activity consumed

approximately 20% of her time. Her annual salary was

$80 000. Allocated cost: $16 000 per year.

In-band response: Customer Service Representatives

manually tracked service requests originating from

social channels. Due to the use of multiple Twitter

feeds, several customers were inadvertently ignored

and subsequently defected to competitors. Lost annual

revenue due to customer defections: $10 000.

Social analytics: analytics were conducted in a crude,

ad-hoc fashion using scant data available from the

services themselves. No useful insights were

discovered. Gains from social insights: $0.

Account management: centralized account controls

for rapidly managing several social media services

meant the amount of time spent updating social media

was cut 75%. Allocated cost savings: $12 000 per year.

In-band response: Using an SMMP provided

Customer Service Representatives with a console for

quickly and effectively responding to customer service

issues. Service window times were significantly

reduced, resulting in increased customer retention.

Revenue no longer lost due to defections: $10 000.

Social analytics: The product development group

used keyword-based monitoring to assist with

designing a successful new product. Social feedback

noticeably boosted sales. Gains from social insights:

$20 000

Cost of SMMP: $6000 per year.Ad-hoc management is costing this organization $26 000 a year.

The net annual benefit of adopting an SMMP is $36 000.


Go with an SMMP if your organization needs a heavy social presence. Stick with ad-hoc management if it doesn’t

Using an SMMP is definitively superior to ad-hoc social media management for those organizations with multiple brands and product portfolios (e.g. consumer packaged goods). Ad-hoc management is best for small organizations with an institutional client base who only need a “bare bones” social media presence.

The value proposition of acquiring an SMMP does not resonate the same for all organizations: in some cases, it is more cost effective to forego an SMMP and stick with ad-hoc social media management.

Follow these guidelines for determining if an SMMP is a natural fit for your organization.

Go with an SMMP if… Stick with ad-hoc management if…

• Regulatory compliance prohibits the use of social media in your organization.

• Your organization is focused on a small number of institutional clients with well-defined organizational buying behaviors.

• Your target market is antipathetic towards using social channels to interact with your organization.

• Your organization is in a market space where only a bare-bones social media presence is seen as a necessity (for example, only a basic informational Facebook page is maintained).

• Your organization already has a large social footprint: you manage multiple feeds/pages on three or more social media services.

• Your organization’s primary activity is B2C marketing; your target consumers are social media savvy.

• The volume of marketing, sales and service inquiries received over social channels has seen a sharp increase in the last 12 months.

• Your firm or industry is the topic of widespread discussion in the social cloud.


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Size of Organization

N = 34, Source: Info-Tech Research Group

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Small Large/EnterpriseMedium

0.430.450.41

There was no significant difference in the overall SMMP success between small,

medium and large/enterprise organizations

The degree of SMMP success is independent of the size of the

organization.

The overall social media management platform success was calculated by taking the average of the following items on a six-point scale (1 = Strongly Disagree to 6 = Strongly Agree):

• Our brand has been improved• Our sales have increased• Customer acquisition has been improved• Customer retention has been improved• Our cost-to-serve has been reduced• We have gained significant competitive intelligence• Social media risk (i.e. security risk) has been reduced

SMMPs are beneficial for companies of all sizes: don’t overlook an SMMP just because your organization is smaller

A common misconception around SMMPs is that they’re only beneficial for larger organizations – this tidbit of conventional wisdom is unfounded. Small organizations can also be well-positioned to successfully use SMMPs, provided the requisite conditions are in place (for example, an active

presence in social media or the need for advanced social analytics). A small manufacturing firm with an established brand portfolio or a small regional hospital are still ideally positioned for SMMP success.


IT has a valuable role to play in selecting &implementing an SMMP

• Selection and implementation of an SMMP must involve both IT and the business units. The business units must own the requirements but should do so with IT serving as a valuable advisor. IT is accountable for providing service, and should be the primary decision-maker for technical standards. It’s important for IT managers to understand the features, benefits and costs of an SMMP in order to properly assist business departments like marketing and PR.

• In order to help the platform run smoothly, IT should be involved with SMMP account control and administration (for example, executing access privileges).

• IT should design and conduct training sessions. A business analyst in the IT department should be intimately familiar with the SMMP to serve as a single point of contact for all issues related to the SMMP.

• IT should be responsible for setting up points of integration with existing CRM systems where applicable. IT should also assist with setting acceptable use policies around social media and the SMMP.

Related Research: Refer to Info-Tech’s ready-to-use Social Media Acceptable Use Policy.

Who should be responsible for what?

• The business ( e.g. marketing, sales, customer service) must create the overall strategy for using social media. This involves specifying the objectives and services to be used. IT should be involved with creating the strategy, but should not be driving it. A senior member of IT should sit as an advisor on the social media steering committee.

• IT should be actively involved with evaluating, selecting and deploying an SMMP. The business needs to specify functional requirements, but IT should be intimately involved in the selection process; IT’s knowledge of the finer technical details and its experience with other enterprise applications place it in a prime position to serve as a key selection stakeholder.

http://www.infotech.com/research/social-media-acceptable-use-policy


What’s in this Section: Sections:

Build a Strategy for Managing Social Media



Implement Social Media Management in Your Organization

• Overview of how to leverage social media for marketing, sales and customer service.

• How SMMPs integrate with multiple social media services to deliver superior business value.

• Details on SMMP features and functionality.

• Demonstration of various business use cases for SMMPs.


Before selecting an SMMP, start with the fundamentals:build a comprehensive strategy for enterprise social media

• Before an SMMP can be selected, the organization must have a strategy in place for enterprise social media. Implementing an SMMP before developing a social media strategy would be akin to buying a mattress without knowing the size of the bedframe.

• Social media is neither a fad nor a phenomenon, it is simply another tool in the business process. Social channels do not necessitate a radical departure from the organization’s existing customer interaction strategy. Rather, social media should be added to your channel mix and integrated within the existing CRM strategy.

• Social media allows organizations to form direct and indirect connections through the Friend-of-a-Friend (FOAF) model, which increases the credibility of the information in the eyes of the consumer.

• Social media enables organizations to share, connect, and engage consumers within an environment that they are confortable in. Having a social media presence is rapidly becoming a pre-requisite for successful business-to-consumer enterprises.

Why build a social media strategy?

For more information on developing a strategy for enterprise social media, please refer to Leveraging Social Media for Enhanced Customer Interaction

Important considerations for an enterprise social media strategy:

• Assess which social media opportunities exist for your organization.

• Consider the specific goals you want to achieve using social channels, and pick your services accordingly.

• Not all social media services (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) are equal. Consider which services will be most effective for goal achievement.

• Determine how social media will complement existing customer interaction goals.






Social media is big: Consumers are rapidly embracing social media services as their communication medium of choice• Social media services facilitate the creation and

dissemination of user-generated content.

• Consumers can access social media services from their computers, smartphones and video game consoles. This ease of access has further fuelled social media adoption.

• Adoption of social media began with younger consumers, but sustained growth is taking place across a range of demographic tiers, from young to old.

• Social media is displacing traditional e-channels, such as e-mail, as consumers’ preferred method of interacting with one another.

• Businesses need to understand that social media is an integral part of their customers’ lives, so when working in a B2C context, it is essential to have a social presence… or you’ll risk losing your competitive advantage.

Organizations must add social channels to the marketing, sales, and service mix or risk being leapfrogged by savvy competitors. Social channels are essential for B2C organizations: fish where the fish are!


The social cloud is a new point of interaction: integrate social channels alongside existing customer interaction channels• Instead of thinking of customers as an island, think of

them interacting with each other and with organizations in the social cloud. As a result, the social cloud itself becomes a point of interaction, not just individual customers.

• The social cloud is accessible with services like social networks (e.g. Facebook) and micro-blogs (Twitter).

• Previous lessons learned from the integration of Web 1.0 e-channels should be leveraged as organizations add the social media channel into their overall customer interaction framework:

Do not design exclusively around a single channel. Design hybrid-channel solutions that include social channels.

Balance customer segment goals and attributes, product and service goals and attributes, and channel capabilities.

Don’t believe that social channel integration will require an entire rebuild of your CRM strategy. Social channels are just new interaction channels that need to be integrated – as you’ve done in the past with Web 1.0 e-channels.


Understand the different types of social media services and how they link to social media strategy and SMMP selectionBefore adopting an SMMP, it’s important to understand the underlying services they manage. Social media services facilitate the creation and dissemination of user-generated content, and can be grouped according to their purpose and functionality:

• Social Networking: Social networking services use the “Friend-of-a-Friend” model to allow users to communicate with their personal networks. Users can share a wide variety of information and media with one another. Social networking sites include Facebook and LinkedIn.

• Blogging: Blogs are Websites that allow users to upload text and media entries, typically displayed in reverse-chronological order. Prominent blogging services include Blogger and WordPress.

• Micro-Blogging: Micro-blogging is similar to blogging, with the exception that written content is limited to a set number of characters. Twitter, the most popular service, allows users to post messages up to 140 characters.

• Social Multimedia: Social multimedia sites provide an easy way for users to upload and share multimedia content (i.e. pictures, video) with both their personal contacts as well as the wider community. YouTube is extremely popular for video sharing, while Flickr is popular for sharing photo albums.

In many cases, services do not fit discretely within each category. With minor exceptions, creating an account on a social media service is free, making use of these services extremely cost effective. If your organization makes extensive use of a particular service, ensure it is supported by your SMMP vendor.


Define your goals and select the social media services that will achieve your specific objectives

Proven Useful*

Potentially Useful

*Proven useful by Info-Tech statistical analysis carried out on a cross-section of real world implementations.

Different social media services are more effective than others for different goals. For example, YouTube is useful as an avenue for marketing campaigns, but it’s of substantially less use for sales functions like lead generation. The services you select while planning your social media strategy must reflect concrete goals.

Social media is invaluable for marketing, sales, and

customer service. Some social media services have a high degree of efficacy than others for certain functions.

Be sure to take this into account when developing a

social media strategy.

What areas are different social media services helpful in?


Assess which social media opportunities exist for your organization with Info-Tech’s tool

Use Info-Tech’s Social Media Opportunity Assessment Tool to determine, based on your unique criteria, where social media opportunities exist for your organization in marketing, sales, and service.

1. Remember that departmental goals will overlap; gaining customer insight is valuable to marketing sales and customer service.

2. The social media benefits you can expect to achieve will evolve as your processes mature.

3. Often, organizations jump into social media because they feel they have to. Use this assessment to identify early on what your drivers should be.

Info-Tech Insight

http://www.infotech.com/research/social-media-opportunity-assessment-tool


An explosion of social media services & functionality has made effectively managing social campaigns a complex task• Effectively managing social channels is an increasingly

complicated task. Proliferation of social media services and rapid end-user uptake has made launching social campaigns a challenge for both small and large organizations.

• Using multiple social media services can be a nightmare for account management (particularly when each brand or product line has its own set of social accounts).

• The volume of data generated by the social cloud has also created barriers for successfully responding in-band to social stakeholders, and for carrying out social analytics.

• There are two methods for managing social media: ad-hoc management and platform-based management.

◦ Ad-hoc social media management is accomplished using the built-in functionality and administrative controls of each social media service. It is appropriate for small organizations with a very limited scope for social media interaction, but poses difficulties once “critical mass” has been reached.

Ad-Hoc Management

Platform-Based Management

Managing social media is becoming increasingly difficult to do through ad-hoc methods, particularly for larger organizations and/or those with multiple brand portfolios. Ad-hoc management is best suited for small organizations with an institutional client base who only need a “bare bones” social media presence.

SMMP

Ad-hoc management results in a number of social media touch points. SMMPs serve as a single go-

to point for all social media initiatives.


Ad-hoc social media management results in manual, resource-intensive processes that are challenging to measure• Most organizations that have pursued social media initiatives have done so in an ad-hoc fashion rather than outlining a

formal strategy and deploying software solutions (such as an SMMP).

• Social media is often a component of Customer Relationship Management (CRM): Info-Tech’s research shows many organizations are handling CRM without a strategy in place, too.

• Social media management platforms reduce the resource intensive processes required for ongoing social media involvement and keep projects on track by providing reporting metrics.

Both social media and CRM are often being done without a defined strategy in place.

Many processes related to social media are being done manually, despite the existence of SMMPs.

Source: Info-Tech Survey, N=64

When we started our social media campaign it took 34 man hours a week. an SMMP that streamlines these efforts is absolutely an asset.

- Edie May, Johnson & Johnson Insurance Company


Social analytics vary: Balance requirements among monitoring goals and social presence/property management

Some firms only need social cloud monitoring, some need to manage their own social media properties and others will need to do both. Some vendors do both while other vendors excel in only one feature dimension. If you are NOT prepared to act on results from social cloud monitoring, then don’t “boil” the social cloud for no reason. You can always add cloud monitoring services later. Likewise, if you only need to monitor the cloud and have no or few of your own social properties, don’t buy advanced management and engagement features.

Social Monitoring

Segment your requirements around common SMMP vendor product design points. Current market capabilities vary between two primary feature categories: social cloud monitoring and

social presence and property management.

Social presence & property management enables:

• Monitor and manage discussions on your social properties (e.g. Twitter feeds, Facebook pages, YouTube channels)

• Execute marketing campaigns within your social properties

Social cloud monitoring enables:

• Brand and product monitoring• Reputation monitoring• Proactive identification of service

opportunities• Competitive intelligence

Social AnalyticsSocial analytics provide insights to both dimensions of social media monitoring.

Content-CentricCloud-Centric


SMMPs provide functionality for robust account management, in-band customer response, and social monitoring/analytics

• Features such as unified account management and in-band response capabilities boost the efficiency of social campaigns. These features reduce duplication of effort (for example, manually posting the same content to multiple services). Leverage account management functionality and in-band response to “do more with less.”

• Features such as comprehensive monitoring of the social cloud and advanced social analytics (i.e. sentiment analysis, trends and follower demographics) allow organizations to more effectively use social media. These features empower organizations with the information they need to make informed decisions around messaging and brand positioning. Use social analytics to zero in on your most important brand advocates.

SMMPs provide a suite of indispensible tools for organizations looking to strengthen the outcomes of social media campaigns and decrease time to results. SMMPs complement (but do not replace) an integrated strategy for enterprise social media. Identify areas of the strategic social media plan that can be augmented by the capabilities of an SMMP.

• Integrate and push content to multiple social media services

• Define and implement policies for privacy and security

Account/ Campaign

Management

• Track customer conversations and provide the ability to respond in-platform to social interactions

In-Band Response

• Monitor and analyze a variety of social media services: provide demographic analysis, frequency analysis, sentiment analysis and content-centric analysis.

Social Monitoring &

Analytics

Three Types of SMMP Functionality:The value proposition of SMMPs revolves around enhancing the effectiveness and

efficiency of social media initiatives.

I don’t want to pull up sixteen accounts, I want one dashboard that will allow me to manage multiple accounts, fast.

- PR Consultant


*Each bar represents a statistical estimate of the impact each factor has on the overall SMMP success

Refer to Appendix A for information on how the success score was calculated.

The features that have a statistically significant impact on the overall success of the SMMP are:

• Advanced social analytics• Centralized account controls• In-band response capabilities• Multiple social media service integration

The feature with the largest impact on the overall SMMP success was executing advanced social analytics

The more important executing advanced social analytics, the more successful the SMMP – take advantage of this functionality!

Take advantage of social analytics to realize the greatest value from an SMMP

Our research indicates successful organizations employ both social cloud monitoring as well as management of their own properties, with analytical tools to enhance both feature categories. But the market is segmented into vendors that do one

or the other well, with few vendors exceling at both. Larger organizations should be prepared to buy more than one product to satisfy all requirements. However, we expect feature convergence over the next 1-3 years, resulting in more more

comprehensive vendor offerings.


SMMPs equip front-line sales staff with the tools they need for effective social lead generation

• Content-centric social analytics allow sales staff to see click-through details for content posted on social networks. In many cases, these leads are warm and ready for immediate follow-up.

• For example: a software development firm uses an SMMP to post a whitepaper promoting its product to multiple social networks. The whitepaper is subsequently downloaded by a number of potential prospects. Content-centric analytics within the SMMP link the otherwise-anonymous downloads to named social media accounts. The leads are then assigned to specific account managers, who use existing CRM software and publicly available records to pinpoint contact information and follow-up in a timely manner.

• Organizations that intend to use their SMMP for sales purposes should ensure their vendor of choice offers integration with LinkedIn. LinkedIn is the “business formal” of social networks, and is the network with the greatest proven efficacy from a sales perspective.

Social media is on the rise in sales organizations. Savvy companies are using social channels at all points in the sales process, from prospecting to account management. Organizations using social channels for sales will want an SMMP to manage the volume of information and provide content-centric analytics.

• Increase the number of leads generated through social channels as a result of social sharing.

• Increase the quality of leads generated through social channels by examining influence scores.

• Increase prospecting efficiency by finding social leads faster.

• Keep account managers in touch with prospects and clients through social media.

Using an SMMP to assist the sales process can...


SMMPs allow marketers to hit all their birds with one stone

• Have a marketing manager jointly responsible for the selection of an SMMP to realize higher overall success. This will significantly improve customer acquisition approval , competitive intelligence, as well as the overall SMMP success.

• The marketing manager should be involved in fleshing out the business requirements of the SMMP, in order to select the most appropriate solution.

• Once selected, the SMMP has multiple benefits for marketing professionals. One pivotal benefit of SMMPs for marketing is the capability for centralized account management. Multiple social pages and feeds can be rapidly managed at pre-determined times, through an easy-to-use dashboard. delivered from one source,

• This functionality is especially pertinent for organizations with a wide geographic client base, as they can manage wide social media campaigns within multiple time zones, delivering their messaging appropriately. (i.e. contests, product launches, etc.)

Managing multiple social media accounts on an Ad-Hoc basis is time consuming and costing your organization money. Lower your costs and get the best results out of your social media campaigns by involving your marketing team in the SMMP selection process, and knowing their functional requirements.

Success Items

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Overall SMMP Success

Gained competitive intelligence

Customer acquisition improved

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0.33

0.49

Marketing Management Responsible - No

Marketing Management Responsible - Yes

Joint IT/Marketing partnerships for SMMPs increase overall success of the platform

N = 37, Source: Info-Tech Research Group


Leverage SMMPs to proactively identify & respond to customer service issues occurring in the social cloud

• SMMPs are an invaluable tool in customer service organizations. In-band response capabilities allow Customer Service Representatives to quickly and effectively address customer service issues – either reactively or proactively.

• Reactive customer service can be provided through SMMPs by providing response capabilities for private messages or public mentions (e.g. “@AcmeCo” on Twitter). Many SMMPs provide a queue of social media messages directed at the organization, and also give the ability to assign specific messages to an individual service representative or product expert. Responding to a high-volume of reactive social media requests can be time consuming without an SMMP.

• Proactive customer service uses the ability of SMMPs to monitor the social cloud for specific keywords in order to identify customers having issues. Forward-thinking companies actively monitor the social cloud for customer service opportunities, to protect and improve their image.

Proactive Resolution

Complaint

SMMP-enabledMonitorin

g

Customer receives service

Customer initiates process

Historically, customer service has been “reactive” (i.e. customer initiated) and solely between the customer and supplier. Social media forces proactive service interactions between customer, supplier, and the entire social cloud. Using an SMMP significantly improves reactive and proactive service.

Reactive service is customer-initiated.

SMMPs permit organizations to monitor the social cloud for service opportunities and

provide proactive service in-band.


SMMPs are indispensible for allowing PR managers to keep tabs on the firm and its brands

• Public relations is devoted to relationship management: as such, it is critical for savvy PR departments to have a social media presence.

• SMMPs empower PR professionals with the ability to track the sentiment of what is said about their organization. Leverage keyword searches and heuristic analysis to proactively mitigate threats and capitalize on positive opportunities. For example, sentiment analysis can be used to identify detractors making false claims over social channels. These claims can then be countered by the public relations team.

• Sentiment analysis can be especially important to the PR professional through change and crisis management situations. These tools allow an organization to track the flow of information, as well as the balance of positive and negative postings and their influence on others in the social cloud.

• Social analytics provided by SMMPs also serve as a goldmine for competitive intelligence about rival firms and their products.

They say that no publicity is bad publicity, however negative statements unaddressed can cause harm to an organization’s reputation. Use an SMMP to track what is being said about your organization; take advantage of response capabilities to quickly respond and mitigate PR risk.

• Take the pulse of public perception of your brands (and competitors).

• Mitigate negative comments being made and respond immediately.

• Identify industry and consumer thought leaders to follow on social networks.

Benefits of Sentiment Analysis for PR

Use sentiment analysis to monitor the social cloud.


SMMPs for recruiting is an emerging talent recruitment technique and will lead to stronger candidates• Social media is an indispensible tool for targeted recruiting and

engaging with prospective employees.

• Social media is taking over because it provides more direct connections between employer and applicant. It’s faster and more flexible than traditional e-channels.

• SMMPs should be deployed to the HR silo in order to provide a host of features that will aid with recruiting top-quality candidates. Account management functionality can dramatically reduce the amount of time HR managers spend synchronizing content between various social media services.

• In-band response capabilities flag relevant social conversations and allow HR managers to rapidly respond to prospective employee inquiries. Rapid response over social channels gives candidates a positive impression of the organization.

• Analytics give HR managers insight into hiring trends and the job market at large – sentiment analysis is useful for gauging not just candidate interests, but also anonymous employee engagement.

• Increase the size of the applicant pool by “fishing where the fish are.”

• Increase the quality of applicants by using monitoring to create targeted recruitment materials.

• Increase recruiting efficiency by having a well-managed, standing presence on popular social media sites – new recruiting campaigns require less “awareness generation” time.

• Allow HR/recruiters to be more in-touch with hiring trends via social analytics.

A social media campaign managed via SMMP can…

Social media increases the visibility of an organization’s job postings and brand. It connects firms with networks of qualified candidates. SMMP functionality compliments a social media recruiting strategy.


Incumbent CRM vendors are rapidly integrating social media with their solutions as they realize its potential value• Rapid adoption of social media by consumers has driven most

large vendors of CRM solutions to integrate social media functionality into their products.

• Some vendors (e.g. Oracle) natively support social channels, while others (e.g. Microsoft Dynamics CRM and SugarCRM) are dependant on third-party tools (e.g. InsideView) to enable social media functionality.

• While social media integration has been proceeding quickly, it is still a relatively new direction for most CRM vendors. As a result, integration hasn’t reached full maturity yet. This is an area where further development and refinement can be expected. For now, standalone SMMPs remain the dominant force for managing social campaigns.

Due to the rapid adoption of social media by incumbent CRM vendors, the market for pure-play social channel aggregators and managers will be smaller than the market for similar Web 1.0 services.

Info-Tech Insight

CR

M S

uite

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ith S

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The market landscape for social media solutions is split in two:Choose a standalone SMMP for social campaign execution

• The market for social media management platforms is still quite immature. The features offered by most SMMP vendors have only been around for the last two to three years. The market can be broadly segmented into two categories:

Standalone SMMP Vendors

Standalone SMMP vendors have arisen due to the proliferation of challenges associated with managing social media. Standalone SMMPs focus almost exclusively on social media, eschewing more traditional features found in CRM suites. Some standalone vendors do offer points-of-integration with existing CRM solutions (like Salesforce.com). Select a standalone vendor when the primary goals are social media campaign execution. This research is primarily focused on standalone vendors.

CRM/Marketing Automation Vendors with Social Integration

CRM vendors are also starting to get their feet wet in the social media space. Many CRM providers have realized that social channels are here to stay, and are integrating social media alongside more traditional features like customer databases and e-mail marketing. Select a CRM or Marketing Automation vendor with social integration when the primary goal is proactive customer service and/or integrating social media marketing campaigns into existing multi-channel marketing campaigns.

Social Media Management Platforms

Account/Campaign Management

In-Band Response

Social Monitoring & Analytics

Customer Relationship Management Suites

SMMP Functionality

Customer Databases

Marketing, Sales and

Service Campaign Automation

Account Management

In-Band Response

Social Analytics

Standalone SMMPs focus purely on social, with few (if any) traditional CRM features.

http://www.infotech.com/research/ss/it-design-a-customer-service-strategy-that-serves-the-social-customer

http://www.infotech.com/research/ss/it-design-a-customer-service-strategy-that-serves-the-social-customer


Free and “freemium” clients are a good way to get your feet wet with SMMP features, but don’t displace the paid vendors!

• Hootsuite is a web app and also an Adobe AIR and app that allows aggregation of multiple social media accounts from multiple services to be monitored from a single window.

• Additional social accounts can be added for a fee.

• Elementary analysis of social traffic is free and additional analytical tools are available for a fee.

• Mobile apps and an iPad app are available.

TweetDeck

• TweetDeck is another popular app available as an Adobe AIR app that allows aggregation of multiple social media accounts from multiple services to be monitored from a single window.

• Services are currently free, but Twitter recently purchased TweetDeck, so Twitter’s future plans for it have not been announced.

• Mobile apps and an iPad app are available.

• Cotweet is a subsidiary of online marketing powerhouse ExactTarget.

• Cotweet is a elegant social conversation manager with basic analytics.

• Standard Edition is free and Enterprise Edition with advanced features is available for a fee. The Enterprise Edition includes Salesforce.com integration.

• An iPhone app is available for the Enterprise Edition

Free and “freemium” social media monitoring and management tools can be a great way for a small business or department to gain experience in social media management before investing in more functional social media management platforms.


SMMP vendors price by topics and seats, so choose the solution that is most cost effective, based on overall needs

SMMPs aren’t priced in a black box. The majority of vendors offer paid monthly subscriptions (occasionally with an annual commitment) to cloud-based services based on two primary factors: topics and seats. Topics are the number of searches and/or social content pages that can be

managed simultaneously. Seats are the number of end-users who have access to the platform.

Topics (e.g. number of brands

being monitored)

Seats (e.g. number of end users

with platform access)

Total Monthly

Price

SCENARIO: A mid-sized consumer goods company wants to track and manage 10 of its brands, and offer platform access to 15 brand managers. The chosen SMMP vendor offers 5 brands per

user for $100/month.

10 Topics($100 for a bundle of 5, so

$200 for 10)15 Seats

$3000/month($200 x 15)







• Overview of the current market for Social Media Management Platforms.

• Examination of basic and advanced SMMP features.

• Rankings and evaluation of key vendors in the SMMP marketspace.

• Scenario-specific selection advice.

• RFP, demo script, and scoring templates.


Follow Info-Tech’s model for Selecting an SMMP

Determine business requirements

Determine evaluation criteria

Perform in-depth vendor review and

select a vendor

Before evaluating and selecting vendors, be sure to sit down with relevant stakeholders in the business (e.g. marketing, sales, customer service, etc.) to ascertain the necessary business

requirements the platform must meet. For example, if a marketing manager expresses interest in gathering market research or competitive intelligence, the complementary functional requirement is

the ability to execute advanced social monitoring and analytics.

Even if IT is leading the charge on SMMP selection, the process MUST involve ongoing consultation with different departmental stakeholders!


• The market is generally fragmented between two broad camps: SMMPs focused on social monitoring and analytics, and SMMPs focused on in-band response/engagement and social campaign management.

• Over the next two to three years, Info-Tech predicts that SMMP feature sets will converge significantly with more platforms performing social monitoring and analytics, response/engagement, and social campaign management equally well.

• Info-Tech also expects a significant amount of vendor consolidation in the near future – the market is not big enough to support the myriad of incumbent vendors.

• Integration with CRM platforms will continue to increase in importance (with CRM vendors themselves adding SMMP functionality) to enable 360-degree views of the customer.

Market Overview

• The SMMP market was created in response to the exploding popularity of social media and the realization that it can be harnessed for a wide variety of enterprise purposes (from consumer and competitive intelligence to marketing campaigns and customer service).

• As the number of social media services has expanded, and as the volume of content generated via social networks has ballooned, it became increasingly difficult to mine insights and manage social campaigns. A number of vendors (mostly start-ups but some incumbent players) began offering platforms that attempted to streamline and harness social media processes.

• The SMMP market is still relatively immature, with little market consolidation or even convergence on “standard” feature sets across platforms.

How it got here Where it’s going

As the market evolves, so do the features you need to evaluate. Pay close attention to the convergence between SMMP feature sets, as well as the absorption of SMMPs into the broader CRM ecosystem.


SMMP Criteria & Weighting Factors

15%

5%

30%

50%Features

Usability

Affordability

Architecture

50%

50%Product

Vendor

Vendor Evaluation

Vendor is committed to the space and has a future product and portfolio roadmap.Strategy

Vendor offers global coverage and is able to sell and provide post-sales support. Reach

Vendor is profitable, knowledgeable, and will be around for the long-term.Viability

Vendor channel strategy is appropriate and the channels themselves are strong. Channel

Product Evaluation

The solution’s dashboard and reporting tools are intuitive and easy to use.Usability

The delivery method of the solution aligns with what is expected within the space.Architecture

The five year TCO of the solution is economical.Affordability

The solution provides basic and advanced features/functionality.Features

10%

50%

30%10%

Viability

Channel

Strategy

Reach


The Info-Tech SMMP Landscape

Champions receive high scores for most evaluation criteria and offer excellent value. They have a strong market presence and are usually the trend setters for the industry.

Emerging players are newer vendors who are starting to gain a foothold in the marketplace. They balance product and vendor attributes, though score lower relative to market Champions.

Innovators have demonstrated innovative product strengths that act as their competitive advantage in appealing to niche segments of the market.

Market Pillars are established players with very strong vendor credentials, but with more average product scores.

For a complete description of Info-Tech’s Vendor Landscape methodology, see the Appendix.

Lithium

Visible Technologies

Cymfony

Syncapse

Socialware

Sprout Social

Radian6


Every vendor has its strengths & weaknesses;pick the one that works best for you

Product Vendor

Features Usability Price Viability Strategy Channel

Visible Technologies

Syncapse

Sprout Social

Socialware*

Cymfony*

Lithium

Radian6

ReachPlatformOverall Overall

* Vendor declined to provide pricing information.


What is a Value Score?

Info-Tech Value Score

Syncapse

7Lithium

9

75

VisibleSprout Social

96

Radian6 Cymfony*

84

Socialware*

100

17

Average Score: 55.3

The Value Score indexes each vendor’s product offering and business strength relative to their price point. It does not indicate vendor ranking.

Vendors that score high offer more bang for the buck (e.g. features, usability, stability, etc.) than the average vendor, while the inverse is true for those that score lower. Price-conscious enterprises may wish to give the Value Score more consideration than those who are more focused on specific vendor/product attributes.

On a relative basis, Sprout Social maintained the highest Info-Tech Value ScoreTM of the vendor group. Vendors were indexed against Sprout Social’s performance to provide a complete, relative view of their product offerings.

Sources:1. To calculate the Value Score for each vendor, the affordability raw score was backed out, the product scoring

reweighted, and the affordability score multiplied by the product of the Vendor and Product scores. * Vendor declined to provide pricing scenarios.

Champion

7


Most SMMPs offer a combination of basic features; use advanced features to further differentiate between platforms

If Basic Features are all you need from your social media management solution, the primary differentiator for the organization is price. Otherwise, dig deeper to find the best price to value for your needs.

The products assessed in this Vendor LandscapeTM meet the majority of the basic features; deficiencies in basic features were penalized during formal vendor scoring and evaluation.

Many of the vendors go above and beyond the outlined features, some even do so in multiple categories.

Basic Features What Does This Mean?

Compatibility with popular mobile browsers.Mobile Access

Ability to maintain a history of social interactions.

Archiving

Ability to interact with stakeholders over social channels using the platform itself.

In-Band Response

Robust management of multiple social media accounts across multiple services.

Centralized Account Controls

Basic monitoring and analysis: for example, frequency analysis and demographic analysis.

Social Analytics

Ability to track and monitor popular social channels, particularly Facebook and Twitter.

Social Channels

Social Archiving


API access for social media service integration.

Platform

What We Looked For


Beyond basic features, vendors were evaluated on their individual advanced feature offerings

Advanced Social Analytics

Advanced abilities such as sentiment analysis, influence analysis and/or content-centric analysis.

In-Band EngagementAbility to engage social stakeholders from an established contact list; ability to use analytics for engagement purposes.

Advanced Account and Campaign Management

Advanced management of social campaigns: for example, ability to quickly create custom tabs on Facebook Pages.

Advanced Archival of Social Interactions

Integration with third-party archival solutions.

Dedicated Mobile Applications

Dedicated mobile applications for one or more major mobile platforms (i.e. iOS, BlackBerry, Android).

PlatformAdvanced integration with social media services via dedicated connectors; integration with CRM suites.

What We Looked For

Social Channels Integration with social media services beyond simply the table stakes – for example, integration with LinkedIn and YouTube.

Features

Info-Tech scored each vendor’s features offering as a summation of their individual scores across the listed features. Vendors started with 0.5 for each category. If basic features were missing or deficient, points were subtracted (e.g. a rating of 0.3 assigned). If vendors offered advanced features on a given dimension, they were awarded additional points (e.g. 0.7). Final scores were normalized out of 10.

Advanced features scoring methodology:


Each vendor offers a different feature set;concentrate on what you need

Social Channels

Social Analytics

In-Band Engagement


Archiving

Mobile Applications

Platform

Radian6Sprout Social

SyncapseTNS

CymfonyVisible

TechnologiesLithiumSocialware

= advanced feature available

= basic feature available

= basic feature available but limited


Info-Tech Recommends:

Radian6 is the clear market leader in terms of breadth of SMMP functionality. Organizations looking to conduct analytics, respond to customers, and manage social campaigns should look at Radian6.

Product:Employees:

Headquarters:Website:

Founded:Presence:

Social Media Monitoring Software300+Fredericton, NBradian6.com2006NASDAQ: CRM: US(subsidiary of Salesforce.com)FY09 Revenue: $US1.03B (Salesforce)

Radian6 is a champion in the SMMP market; a robust platform backed by Salesforce that covers a range of features

Champion• Radian6 provides a full spectrum of social media management

functionality – account management, monitoring, analytics and in-band response/engagement.

• The firm was recently acquired by Salesforce.com.

Overview

• Relative to its competitors, Radian6 offers the most comprehensive feature set. This makes it a winner for organizations looking for one platform that “does it all.”

• Radian6 also provides basic integration with Salesforce.com’s CRM products, which will only deepen. This helps to build a 360-degree view of the customer.

Strengths

• While Radian6 is a jack-of-all trades, some of its more focused competitors provide greater depth on certain features.

• For example, organizations that are primarily interested in comprehensive social analytics (with little to no social engagement or campaign management) may want to look at other vendors.

Challenges

Priced between $50,000 to $100,000.



Syncapse is best suited to organizations primarily interested in monitoring their own properties (as opposed to the social cloud as a whole), or who use social media for executing marketing campaigns.Adding cloud monitoring would make them a significant threat to Radian6.

Product:Headquarters:

Website:Founded:

Syncapse PlatformToronto, ONsyncapse.com2007

Syncapse is an engagement focused platform, great for managing large scale social marketing campaigns

Champion• The Syncapse platform is strongly focused on customer

engagement and social campaign execution and management for large enterprises. The platform is especially content-centric, with strong in-band response capabilities.

Overview

• High integration with a variety of social channels, and utilizing multiple personas.

• Strong social presence and property management, ability to create content from within the platform and engage with consumers. Allows organizations to execute marketing campaigns from within the platform.

Strengths

• Lacking in social cloud monitoring capabilities, means limited opportunity for proactive monitoring and gaining competitive intelligence. Organizations requiring strong monitoring capabilities in addition to strong social engagement tools should consider pairing Syncapse with a vendor that excels at social monitoring.

Challenges

Priced between $50,000 to $100,000



Sprout Social is an innovator in the SMMP market. SMEs should definitely consider Sprout, given its relatively comprehensive feature set and inexpensive price point.

Product:Employees:


Founded:

Sprout Social Platform20Chicago, ILsproutsocial.com2009

Sprout Social provides small-to-medium enterprises with a host of features at a highly competitive price point

Innovator• Sprout Social is a new entrant to the SMMP market with a

strong focus on small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs).• Sprout offers features for account management, social

monitoring and analytics, and in-band engagement.

Overview

• Sprout Social does social customer engagement for small businesses very well.

• The platform has an easy-to-use, easy-to-understand interface with high-level dashboards that provide a snapshot of social activity and customer engagement.

• Sprout Social is priced competitively vis-à-vis other vendors.

Strengths

• Some monitoring features are absent, such as the ability to conduct cloud-wide sentiment analysis.

• There’s presently no dedicated mobile application (although iOS and Android support is on the company’s roadmap).

• Given the focus on SMEs and client engagement, Sprout may not be ideal for companies with compliance restrictions.

Challenges




Organizations needing social analytics covering a broad range of social channels should consider Lithium; companies needing strong social management and engagement can pass or combine with another vendor..

Product:Employees:


Founded:

Lithium Social Media Monitoring200+Emeryville, CAlithium.com2001

Lithium provides powerful and comprehensive analytics, but currently lags on social account management and engagement

Innovator• Lithium has traditionally been known for its e-community (i.e.

discussion forum) engagement products. It has recently branched into social media with its Social Media Monitoring suite, acquired from Scout Labs.

Overview

• Lithium demonstrated unrivalled ability to conduct cloud-wide monitoring and analysis.

• The breadth of social media services it monitors is impressive, making it ideal for organizations that wish to conduct social analytics on services beyond table-stakes like Facebook and Twitter. They’re strong with photo and video services.

Strengths

• Lithium’s Social Media Monitoring is not strong on centralized account management and in-band response/engagement.

• Integration with other Lithium products that provide response for traditional online communities and discussion boards is on its roadmap, but has not been deployed at this point. Existing Lithium customers will benefit strongly from this integration.

Challenges




As a category leader in social monitoring and analytics, Cymfony is often deployed alongside social media management-focused tools from other vendors; however, it needs to add or acquire social media management features of its own soon to battle Radian6.

Product:Employees:


Founded:

Maestro26 500 (Kantar Group)Burlington, MAcymfony.com1996

Cymfony: A pillar in social monitoring and analytics

Market Pillar• Established vendor experienced in monitoring brands and

reputations in all forms of online media.• Was an early vendor to make the leap to social media

monitoring.

Overview

• Strong focus on monitoring the social cloud, and analyzing results to produce a variety of social metrics.

• Targeted well towards large enterprise usage, they also have a well established reputation for working with agencies (e.g. Advertising, PR, Marketing).

• Highly scalable solution – supports large number of users.

Strengths

• Plays in the monitoring field, but not strong in managing a company’s own social properties or campaign execution through social properties.

Challenges

Vendor did not provide pricing information.



Visible Technologies’ platform is a great option for large enterprises that want to conduct comprehensive analyses of the social cloud. However, the platform will be too much for the average SME. Adding strong management and engagement tools will make them an easy Champion.

Product:Employees:


Founded:

Visible Intelligence Platform100Bellevue, WAvisibletechnologies.com2005

Visible Technologies provides data-intensive social analytics, but a lack of engagement tools means it’s not right for everyone

Market Pillar• Visible Technologies’ primary focus is on large enterprises,

and provides a comprehensive platform for monitoring the social cloud across a number of different dimensions.

Overview

• Strong ability to track and monitor multiple social channels and integrate with other systems. It allows organizations to track brand health, identify influencers, understand sentiment, and derive meaningful insights.

• High quality graphs and drill downs allow for clear presentation of analytics.

Strengths

• Small-to-medium enterprises will likely need to dedicate a specific resource for advanced data analysis.

• Outgoing engagement capabilities are minimal, possibly necessitating a second platform (though engagement capabilities are on the roadmap for summer 2011).

• An expensive solution comparative to other platforms.

Challenges




Socialware sets the early standard for social media management in a regulatory environment. Financial Services must include Socialware on their SMMP shortlist.

Product:Headquarters:

Website:Founded:

Insights, Compass and VoicesAustin, Tx.socialware.com2009

A strict focus on financial services makes Socialware the industry favorite, but less than ideal for other organizations

Emerging Player• Specializing in social media management for financial

services, with a strong focus on industry compliance and regulatory developments. Socialware, maintains a partnership with LIMRA.

Overview

• Greatest strength of the Socialware platform is its historical and archiving features. Especially important is their capability for integration with an organization’s existing e-mail archiving functionality.

• Central account management is another area where they excel, especially if security is a concern.

Strengths

• As a result of their strong focus on financial services, the platform is not ideal for other industries.

• Limited integration with social channels means that while the in-band capabilities are high, organizations with diverse social media goals may have to work outside of the platform.

Challenges

Vendor did not provide pricing information.


Radian6 has an impressive overall feature set, as well as the backing of CRM juggernaut SalesForce.com. Sprout is great for budget-conscious SMEs.

Radian6 has the most comprehensive feature offering, but other platforms (like Sprout and Syncapse) are contenders too

Require a platform that “does it all” with multiple capabilities

Require a platform that excels on social analytics (e.g. for consumer or brand insights)

Require a platform that excels for social campaign

management

1

23

Large Enterprise

Small-to-Medium Sized Enterprises

Require a platform that meets regulatory compliance

restrictions4


Marketers or PR professionals looking to mine insights from the social cloud will find the feature sets offered by Lithium, Visible Technologies, and Cymfony to be comprehensive & powerful.

Lithium, Visible Technologies, and Cymfony are the dominant platforms for conducting cloud-based social monitoring & analytics




management

1

23

Maximum number of services integrated

Depth of potential data mining

Ease-of-use


restrictions4


Advanced social account and campaign management tools, coupled with content-centric analysis puts vendors like Syncapse and Radian6 on the social campaign management shortlist.

Organizations looking to carry out social campaigns for marketing or PR should consider Syncapse and Radian6




management

1

23

In-depth campaign management

Campaign management with broader features


restrictions4


Socialware is the pre-eminent vendor for regulated industries. The firm currently focuses almost exclusively on the financial services vertical, but plans to branch into other “locked down” industries (e.g. healthcare) soon.

Socialware is designed around compliance requirements, specifically in financial services industries




management

1

23

Designed to be compliance-centric


restrictions4


The Info-Tech SMMP Vendor Shortlist Tool is designed to generate a customized shortlist of vendors based on your key priorities.

Identify leading solution candidates with the SMMP Vendor Shortlist Tool

• Overall Vendor vs. Product Weightings

• Product Criteria Weightings Features Usability Affordability Architecture

• Vendor Criteria Weightings Viability Strategy Reach Channel

This tool offers the ability to modify:

Tool TipCare more about the product than the vendor?Change the weightings!

Info-Tech’s shortlist will adapt to your organization’s priorities.

http://www.infotech.com/research/it-social-media-management-platform-vendor-shortlist-tool




Issue an RFP to ensure that the vendor fits your needs;not the other way around

Use Info-Tech’s SMMP RFP Template to conduct this critical step in your vendor selection process.

The Statement of Work Proposal Preparation Instructions Scope of Work Basic Feature Requirements Advanced Feature Requirements Sizing and Implementation Vendor Qualifications and References Budget and Estimated Pricing Vendor Certification

Info-Tech’s SMMP RFP Template is populated with critical elements including:

http://www.infotech.com/research/it-social-media-management-platform-rfp-template


Evaluate RFP Responses!The SMMP RFP Scoring Tool is pre-built with essential criteria complementing the SMMP RFP Template.

Use the tool to drive the procurement meeting with your procurement department

To get the most value out of the RFP process,use the RFP Scoring Tool

Use Info-Tech’sSMMP RFP Scoring Tool to:

A standard & transparent process for scoring individual vendor RFP responses will help ensure that internal team biases are minimized.

http://www.infotech.com/research/it-social-media-management-platform-rfp-scoring-tool

http://www.infotech.com/research/it-social-media-management-platform-rfp-template


The SMMP Vendor Demonstration Script outlines solution capabilities and processes around:

• Social media monitoring

• Social property monitoring

• Social campaign engagement

• Platform architecture

• Mobile access

Take charge of vendor finalist demos with a Vendor Demonstration Script

This tool is designed to provide vendors with a consistent set of instructions for key scenarios from the perspective of IT and departmental managers.

A product demo helps enterprise decision-makers better understand the capabilities & constraints of various solutions.

http://www.infotech.com/research/it-social-media-management-platform-demonstration-script







• Understand the framework for implementing an SMMP.

• Create points of integration between the SMMP and enterprise CRM platforms.

• Establish policies for ongoing platform maintenance

• Map deployment to organizational models

• Train for success: conduct end-user training on social channels and the chosen SMMP


Follow these steps for effective SMMP implementation

What to Consider…

Plan

Create RFP

Evaluate

Implement

Develop a strategy for customer interaction Develop a formal strategy for social media Determine business requirements

Translate into functional requirements Determine evaluation criteria

Evaluate vendors against criteria Shortlist vendors Perform in-depth vendor review

Integrate with existing CRM ecosystem (if applicable) Establish ongoing maintenance policies Map deployment to organizational models Train end-users Designate an SMMP subject matter expert

• Creating an overall social media strategy is the critical first step for implementing an SMMP.• Selecting an SMMP involves gathering business requirements, then translating those requirements into specific

selection criteria. Know exactly what your business needs are to ensure the right SMMP is selected.• Implement the platform with an eye toward creating business value: establish points of integration with the existing CRM

solution, establish ongoing maintenance policies, select the right deployment model, and train end users around role-based objectives.


Integrate SMMPs with CRM to strengthen the realization of social media goals

For companies that have not formally integrated social media with CRM, IT should develop the business case in conjunction with the applicable “business-side” partner (e.g. Marketing, Sales, Service, PR, etc.).

• Linking social media to existing customer relationship management solutions can improve information accuracy, reduce manual effort and provide more in-depth customer insights.

Organizations Info-Tech surveyed, which integrated their solutions, achieved more goals as a result.

• Several major CRM vendors are now offering products that integrate with popular social networking services (either natively or by providing support for third-party add-ons)

For example, Salesforce.com now allows for native integration with Twitter, while an add-on available for Oracle gathers real-time information about prospects by pulling their extended information from publicly available LinkedIn profiles.

• Some CRM vendors are acquiring established SMMPs outright

For example, Salesforce.com acquired Radian6 for their clients that have advanced social media requirements.


Establish points-of-integration between SMMPs & CRM suites to gain a “360 degree view” of the customer• Social media is a valuable tool from a standalone perspective,

but its power is considerably magnified when it’s paired with the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) suite.

• Many SMMPs offer native integration with CRM platforms. For example, Radian6 and Salesforce CRM. IT should identify and enable these connectors to strengthen the business value of the platform.

• New channels do not mean they stand alone and do not need to be integrated into the rest of the customer interaction architecture.

• Challenge SMMP vendors to demonstrate integration experience with both CRM vendors and multimedia queue vendors.

• Manual integration, adding resolved social inquiries yourself to a CRM system after closure, cannot scale given the rapid increase in customer inquiries originating in the social cloud. Integration with interaction management workflows is most desirable.

SMMPs are a necessary single-channel evolutionary step, just like there used to be e-mail-only and Web chat-only customer service options in the late 1990s. But they are temporary. SMMPs will eventually be subsumed into the larger CRM technology ecosystem. Only a few best-of-breed will survive in 10 years.

An example of how an SMMP linked via CRM can provide proactive service while contributing to sales and marketing.

These tools are enabling sales, and they help us serve our customers better. And anything that does that, is a good investment on our part.

- Chip Meyers, Sales Operation Manager, Insource


Establish a plan for ongoing platform maintenance

• Like other enterprise applications, the SMMP will require periodic upkeep. IT must develop and codify policies around ongoing platform maintenance.

• Platform maintenance should touch on the following areas:

◦ Account access and controls – periodically, access privileges for employees no longer with the organization should be purged.

◦ Platform security – cloud-based platforms will be automatically updated by the vendor to plug security holes, but on-premise solutions must be periodically updated to ensure that there are no gaps in security.

◦ Pruning of old or outdated material – pages (i.e. Facebook Groups, Events and Twitter feeds) that are no longer in use should be pruned. For example, a management console for an event that was held two years ago is unnecessary. Remove it from the platform (and the relevant service) to cut down on clutter (and reduce costs for “per-topic” priced platforms.)

Even cloud-based platforms like SMMPs require a certain degree of maintenance around account controls, security and content pruning. IT should assist the business units in carrying out periodic maintenance.

Social Media Management Platform

IT: SMMP Maintenance Checklist Account upkeep and pruning Security, privacy, and access Content upkeep and pruning


There are three primary models for SMMP deployment:the agency model uses the SMMP as a third-party offering

There are three models for deploying an SMMP: agency, centralized, and distributed

Agency Model• In the agency model of SMMP deployment, the

platform is managed on behalf of the organization by a third-party – typically a marketing or public relations agency.

• The agency serves as the primary touch point for the client organization: the client requests the types of market research it wants done, or the campaigns it wants managed. The agency uses its own SMMP(s) to execute the requests. Often, the SMMP’s results or dashboards will be rebranded by the agency.

• Pros: The agency model is useful when large portions of marketing, service or public relations are already being outsourced to a third party provider. Going with an agency also splits the cost of more expensive SMMPs over multiple clients, and limits deployment costs.

• Cons: The client organization has no direct control over the platform; going with an agency is not cost effective for firms with in-house marketing or PR capabilities.

• Advice: go with an agency-managed SMMP if you already use an agency for marketing or PR.

Agency (e.g. marketing or public relations agency)

Social Cloud SMMP

Client Organization

Marketing Sales Service

SMMP dashboards rebranded


Select the centralized deployment model when SMMP functionality rests in the hands of a single department

Centralized Model

Social Cloud

SMMP

Marketing Sales Service

In this example, marketing owns and manages a single SMMP

• In the centralized model, a single SMMP workspace is owned and operated predominantly by a single business unit or department. Unlike the agency model, the SMMP functionality is utilized in-house.

• Information from the SMMP may occasionally be shared with other departments, but normally the platform is used almost exclusively by a single group in the company. Marketing or public relations are usually the groups that maintain ownership of the SMMP in the centralized model (with selection and deployment assistance from the IT department).

• Pros: The centralized model provides small organizations with an in-house, dedicated SMMP without having to go through an agency. Having a single group own and manage the SMMP is considerably more cost-effective than having SMMPs licensed to multiple business units in a small company.

• Cons: If more and more departments start clamoring for control of SMMP resources, the centralized model will fail to meet the overall needs of the organization.

• Advice: small-to-medium enterprises with mid-sized topic or brand portfolios should use the centralized model.


Go with a distributed deployment if multiple business units require advanced SMMP functionality

Distributed Model

Social Cloud

Mar

ketin

g

Sal

es

Cus

tom

er

Ser

vice

Pub

lic

Rel

atio

nsSMMP SMMP SMMP SMMP

• In the distributed model, multiple SMMPs (sometimes from different vendors) or multiple SMMP workspaces (from a single vendor) are deployed to several groups (e.g. multiple departments or brand portfolios) in the organization.

• Pros: The distributed model is highly effective in large organizations with multiple departments or brands which each are interested in SMMP functionality. Having separate workspaces for each business group enables customizing workspaces to satisfy different goals of the different business groups.

• Cons: The cost of deploying multiple SMMPs or SMMP workspaces may be prohibitive for SMEs.

• Advice: go with the distributed model if your organization is large and has multiple relevant departments or product marketing groups, with differing social media goals.


Create an SMMP training matrix based on social media roles

PR Professionals

Marketing Brand, Product & Channel

Managers

Customer Service Reps

& Manager

Product Development &

Market Research

IT Application

Support

Account Management

Response & Engagement

Social Analytics & Data Mining

Marketing Campaign Execution

Mobile Access

Archiving

CRM Integration

IT must assist the business by creating and executing a role-based training program. an SMMP expert in IT should lead training sessions for targeted groups of end users, training them only on the functions they

require to perform their jobs.

Use the table below to help identify which roles should be trained on which SMMP features.


Assign a dedicated resource to serve as the resident expert on all facets of the SMMP

Integrate Within Existing Position

• An organization using an SMMP primarily for its basic analytic features or for social campaign management should designate a “SMMP expert” in the organization.

• Ideal candidates for this role include business analysts in IT or social media specialists in marketing or PR.

Hire A Full Time Resource

• The more complex the social media strategy and the greater the demand for sophisticated analytics, the more necessary it is to hire a full time BI specialist to manage the analytics capabilities of the SMMP.

• Platforms such as Visible Technologies and Lithium can benefit by having a BI specialist to assist in interpreting large amounts of data that can be captured through these platform.

• Select an individual who can understand the business needs of the organization (and who has hands-on social media experience) to become intimately familiar with the SMMP, and serve as the resident subject matter expert.

• For SMMPs, where the main goal is high-level social analytics of multiple brands (using a platform from a vendor like Visible Technologies), consider hiring a Business Intelligence (BI) Specialist. This individual can assist with selecting, blueprinting, gathering requirements, designing, and rolling out social analytics solutions through the chosen SMMP. As the amount of data generated through the SMMP increases in size and complexity, having an individual who can make sense of the data is a step in the right direction.

• The decision of whether to hire, or roll the SMMP responsibilities in with an existing position depends on your business goals, and the complexity of your organization’s social media efforts.

COMPLEXITY OF SOCIAL ANALYTIC NEEDS

For a full job description of the Business Intelligence (BI) Specialist refer to Job Description – Business Intelligence Specialist

http://www.infotech.com/research/business-intelligence-specialist


Recommendations

• Adopt an SMMP to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of enterprise social media initiatives (particularly if your organization operates in a predominantly B2C context).

• IT must be involved with assisting the business on evaluating, selecting, and implementing an SMMP.

• Develop a formal strategy for social media prior to deploying an SMMP.

• Establish business requirements, translate into functional requirements, and evaluate and select a vendor based on these needs.

• There are a number of vendors to choose from in the SMMP market space; your functional requirements will drive which vendor you select, as there is no clear “winner” for all organizational scenarios.

• After a vendor has been selected, establish points of integration with CRM solutions to enable a 360-degree view of the customer.

• Create a model for ongoing platform maintenance, and select a deployment model (i.e. agency, centralized, or distributed), which makes sense given the size and vertical of your organization.

• Train end users in a role-based manner, and assign someone in the organization to serve as the “resident expert” on the SMMP.


Appendix AScoring Methodology

Vendor Evaluation Methodology

Info-Tech Research Group’s Vendor Landscape market evaluations are a part of a larger program of vendor evaluations which includes Solution Sets that provide both Vendor Landscapes and broader Selection Advice.

From the domain experience of our analysts as well as through consultation with our clients, a vendor/product shortlist is established. Product briefings are requested from each of these vendors, asking for information on the company, products, technology, customers, partners, sales models and pricing.

Our analysts then score each vendor and product across a variety of categories, on a scale of 0-10 points. The raw scores for each vendor are then normalized to the other vendors’ scores to provide a sufficient degree of separation for a meaningful comparison. These scores are then weighted according to weighting factors that our analysts believe represent the weight that an average client should apply to each criteria. The weighted scores are then averaged for each of two high level categories: vendor score and product score. A plot of these two resulting scores is generated to place vendors in one of four categories: Champion, Innovator, Market Pillar, and Emerging Player.

For a more granular category by category comparison, analysts convert the individual scores (absolute, non-normalized) for each vendor/product in each evaluated category to a scale of zero to four whereby exceptional performance receives a score of four and poor performance receives a score of zero. These scores are represented with “Harvey Balls”, ranging from an open circle for a score of zero to a filled in circle for a score of four. Harvey Ball scores are indicative of absolute performance by category but are not an exact correlation to overall performance.

Individual scorecards are then sent to the vendors for factual review, and to ensure no information is under embargo. We will make corrections where factual errors exist (e.g. pricing, features, technical specifications). We will consider suggestions concerning benefits, functional quality, value, etc; however, these suggestions must be validated by feedback from our customers. We do not accept changes that are not corroborated by actual client experience or wording changes that are purely part of a vendor’s market messaging or positioning. Any resulting changes to final scores are then made as needed, before publishing the results to Info-Tech clients.

Vendor Landscapes are refreshed every 12 to 24 months, depending upon the dynamics of each individual market.

Value Index Ranking Methodology

Info-Tech Research Group’s Value Index is part of a larger program of vendor evaluations which includes Solution Sets that provide both Vendor Landscapes and broader Selection Advice.

The Value Index is an indexed ranking of value per dollar as determined by the raw scores given to each vendor by analysts. To perform the calculation, Affordability is removed from the Product score and the entire Product category is reweighted to represent the same proportions. The Product and Vendor scores are then summed, and multiplied by the Affordability raw score to come up with Value Score. Vendors are then indexed to the highest performing vendor by dividing their score into that of the highest scorer, resulting in an indexed ranking with a top score of 100 assigned to the leading vendor.

The Value Index calculation is then repeated on the raw score of each category against Affordability, creating a series of indexes for Features, Usability, Viability, Strategy and Support, with each being indexed against the highest score in that category. The results for each vendor are displayed in tandem with the average score in each category to provide an idea of over and under performance.

The Value Index, where applicable, is refreshed every 12 to 24 months, depending upon the dynamics of each individual market.


Pricing Scenario Methodology

• Pricing scenarios are based on a 36-month straight-line TCO of the following hypothetical SME scenario:

◦ Organization: Mid-sized consumer packaged goods firms

◦ Social Media Services: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, WordPress

◦ Number of Brands/Topics Being Monitored: Ten (10)

◦ Number of Seats: Fifteen (15)


SMMP Cost/Benefit Example Assumptions

• Cost/benefit assumption is based on a mid-sized consumer products organization with a broad-based social footprint (active presence on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube).

• The organization has one brand manager overseeing five different product lines (5 topics).

• Brand manager is compensated at US$80 000.

• Fifteen Customer Service Representatives

• Cost of the SMMP is $500 a month


Appendix BSMMP Survey Results














