But that is only half the battle.  Participation is a key piece to the whole social networking thing.  However as with any marketing channel, you need to be able to track your progress and determine if social media is an avenue where your attention needs to be.  It is true, social media is not for everybody, but for those who use social media you need to monitor your presence and effectiveness of using this avenue.  There are a number of tools to do just that, tools you can leverage to monitor your social media activity.

We thought that we would compile a short list of such tools to help, if anything, at least make you aware that there are a number of tools out there that your company can use to monitor your social media efforts.  For the record, we are not endorsing these tools, we just wanted to make mention of them to allow you to become aware of them and possibly conduct your own research to determine which tools are best suited for your needs.

5 Tools for Monitoring Social Media

Of course, as with any list, there are going to be some omissions here.  Well we would like to hear about them.  Leave a comment or drop us a line and let us know of any social media monitoring tools that you fell should have made our list.  With that we present five tools to consider when looking to monitor your social media activity.

1. Radian6 – you have no doubt heard of Radian6 as they are one of e big players when it comes to social media marketing.  With notable clients that include: Dell, Microsoft, Pepsi, Kodak, GE, UPS, Southwest Airlines, and MTV, Radian6 deals with some of the most success businesses today are leveraging social media.  Radian6 monitors everything from location to sentiment and providing real-time data on a dashboard widget. They recently began integrating data from WebTrends web analytics, and SalesForce.com CRM information. These guys can do it all.

2. Buzzlogic – if you have heard of Radian6, then you must have also heard about Buzzlogic.  Their client list is as impressive with the likes of WalMart, Starbucks, Microsoft, American Express, and CBS to name a few.  Focusing on what they refer to as “conversational media”, Buzzlogic’s platform layers in third-party audience measurement and intent data to create a perfect storm of ready-to-buy shoppers seeking product guidance from trusted sources.   Everything from product feedback and readership stats, Buzzlogic can help you monitor where the “buzz” is and where your company needs to be.

3. Listen Logic – ok so this might be one that you haven’t heard of.  Listen Logic too have some notable clients which include ING Direct, Red Robin, SI Commerce and Big Brothers and Big Sisters.  Using proprietary parallel computing, machine learning, natural language processing (NLP), and semantic search technologies, Listen Logic provides an enterprise-class social media listening platform that gives you insights into your brand and industry.  Their “listening solutions” help businesses identify things such as perceived characteristics of their brand and their competitors as well as identifying the most effective venues for engaging with consumers.

4. Trackur – more concerned about your online reputation?  Or perhaps you are a little more cost-conscious, then Trackur might be what the doctor ordered.  With over 16,000 clients including Travel Zoo and Fly.com, Trackur is an online reputation & social media monitoring tool designed to assist you in tracking what is said about you on the internet. Trackur scans hundreds of millions of web pages–including news, blogs, video, images, and forums–and lets you know if it discovers anything that matches the keywords that interest you.  Prices range from a mere $18/month to $300/month.  Developed by reputation management and SEO expert Andy Beal, this is a great little tools for monitoring your social media presence.

5. Sysomos – based in Toronto, Canada, Sysomos boast yet another impressive list of clients including Nokia, Philips, HSBC, and Sony Ericsson.  Their flagship product is MAP (Media Analysis Platform) which is a real-time interactive social media monitoring tool that features the ability to track automated sentiment, key influencer activity and geography and demographics.  From data collection to data analysis, Sysomos provides instant access to all social media conversations from blogs, social networks and micro-blogging services to forums, video sites and media sources.

Again, we’re not endorsing these products,  we just wanted to draw some attention to the fact that there are a number of great tools out there for monitoring your social media activity on the Web.


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