Select the Right Social Media Management PlatformRein in social media with a best-of-breed management platform.Selecting and deploying a dedicated suite for social media listening and engagement is no easy task: it’s a crowded market and vendors offer a dizzying array of capabilities. This research will help Application Managers and Directors drill down into the features and functionality their organizations need most, and select the right platform for social media management.Social Media Management Platforms (SMMPs) reduce complexity and increase the results of enterprise social media initiatives. 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. Marketing, Sales, customer Service, Public Relations, and Human Resources can all benefit from using an SMMP.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.The market for SMMPs is maturing fast, with monitoring and management feature sets converging. CRM vendors have also begun to enter the fray with their own social offerings.The social media management market represents a distinct segment of the overall Customer Relationship Management (CRM) ecosystem. Best-of-breed suite capabilities still outstrip those found in more traditional CRM suites, although suite vendors are moving quickly to catch up.There are a wide number of vendors in the market, from those that create comprehensive suites to pure-play vendors of point solutions.Having a formal request-for-proposal document with codified requirements for your SMMP is essential to selecting the right vendor.A diligent analysis of vendor capabilities, in light of your RFP requirements, must be conducted. Shortlisted vendors should go through a rigorous demonstration process, specified by a vendor demo script.

http://www.infotech.com/research/ss/vendor-landscape-social-media-management-platforms