Using Free Tools To Monitor The Web:How To Collect Information That Aligns With Your Business Goals

Social Media SummitApril 30, 2009Mark Goren | PlantingSeeds.ca

TODAY’S AGENDA

• The different reasons to listen to online conversations

• Understanding the concept of RSS feeds and how to set up a RSS reader

• The importance of keyword selection

• Knowing where to listen to online conversations

• Preparing to respond and initiate online conversations when necessary

DEMONSTRATIONS

• RSS + newsreaders

• Twitter Search

• Other Twitter Tools: URL shorteners, BackTweets

• FriendFeed Search

• Comment tracking

WHAT IS SOCIAL MEDIA?

After 2/3 full days at this conference, what does social media mean to you?

REALLY, WHAT IS SOCIAL MEDIA?

• Certainly not the static web

• It’s a living, breathing series of conversations

• That travel from one site to another to another to another to another...

• And it’s people driven, not company driven

CHARACTERISTICS OF SOCIAL MEDIA

More specifically:

• User-generated content

• Not traditional media

• Grassroots and unregulated

• Super speedy

PLANTING SEEDS + SOCIAL MEDIA

Three ways to think about it:

1. You’re planting seeds across the web

2. You’re asking others to plant seeds on your behalf

3. People are planting seeds – good or bad – for you

“Being in social media doesn’t mean anything if you’re not listening.” – Sharon Hunter, my friend

SOCIAL MEDIA STARTS WITH MONITORING

1. Listening 2. Responding 3. Initiating

L R ITaking baby steps, getting comfortable, finding your way.

Listening, Responding, Initiating

LR IIt’s all one activity, an ongoing process, an approach to commit to

SOCIAL MEDIA STARTS WITH LISTENING

WHY MONITOR ONLINE CONVERSATIONS?

Who here is already monitoring?

WHY MONITOR ONLINE CONVERSATIONS?

1. To understand what people are thinking in near real-time

2. To gain insights you can apply to your branding and messaging

3. To plan your online communications strategy

4. To gain business intelligence

WHY MONITOR ONLINE CONVERSATIONS?

1. To understand what people are thinking in near real-time– Free focus group research– Gauge what people are thinking “right now”

2. To gain insights you can apply to your branding and messaging– Use insights to improve what you’re already doing– Offline + online

WHY MONITOR ONLINE CONVERSATIONS?

3. To plan your online communications strategy– To say, “Thanks!”– To say, “Ah, not quite”– To help others

4. To gain business intelligence– Generate leads– Learn about competitors, industry– Product development

WHY MONITOR ONLINE CONVERSATIONS?

Basically to change perceptions about your brand and humanize it

WHY MONITOR ONLINE CONVERSATIONS?

To think about:

• This is not a numbers game

• To create relationships, you have to read

• Conclusion: Be in it to learn, not to count

WHAT DO I DO WITH THIS INFORMATION?

Learn

Plan

Create

Adapt

WHAT TO LISTEN FOR

• The basics

Company name

Company URL

Campaign keywords

Public facing figures

Product names

Product URLs

Competitors

Critical issues

Source: http://www.thenewpr.com/wiki/pmwiki.php?pagename=WhatToMonitor.HomePage

WHERE TO MONITOR

• Blogs

Technorati

Google Blog Search

Bloglines

Blog Pulse

Ice Rocket

Comments

• News

Media mentions

News wires

Press release pickups

Google news search

• Social Networks

Twitter Search

FriendFeed Search

Wikipedia

SocialMention

Message Boards

WHERE TO MONITOR

General search engines

• Roll up your sleeves

• Set up “Alerts” (Demonstration coming up...)

• Read files, for example: PDFs

Remember, you are who Google says you are!

MONITORING TOOLS

WHERE TO START

1. Choose your keywords

2. RSS + Newsreaders

3. Expand your tool box

1. Choose your keywords

– Define listening objectives

– Keyword strategy development

– Trial and error

– Adjust and listen

WHERE TO START

2. RSS + Newsreader (or Google Alerts)

– Pull keyword search results into an aggregator

– Or have them sent by email

– Alerts that you choose

– You’re not visiting all these sites, they’re visiting you

• LET’S DEMONSTRATE!

WHERE TO START

WHERE TO START

3. Expand your tool box

– Twitter Search

– Other Twitter Tools: URL shorteners, BackTweets

– FriendFeed Search

– Delicious

– SocialMention

– BoardTracker

THE MOVING CONVERSATION

You create a blog post

• A case where you’re listening, responding and initiating conversations

1. People comment on the post at your site

2. People link to your post on Twitter and Facebook

3. People link to your post on their blog

4. People bookmark your post on Delicious

5. People aggregate their content on FriendFeed

A PRACTICAL EXAMPLE

You create a blog post

1. People comment on the post at your site

– Moderation alerts– BackType/CoComment/Disqus

2. People link to your post on Twitter and Facebook

– Twitter Search– BackTweets– Status/posted links– Facebook fan page

3. People link to your post on their blog

– Keyword monitoring– Google Blog Search, Technorati, Social Mention...

A PRACTICAL EXAMPLE

You create a blog post

4. People bookmark your post on Delicious

– Subscribe directly on Delicious– Social reader

5. People aggregate their content on FriendFeed

– FriendFeed search

A PRACTICAL EXAMPLE

BUT REMEMBER, YOU’RE NOT THE ONLY ONE WRITING ABOUT YOUR BRAND

THAT’S WHY YOU HAVE TO LISTEN.

FINAL THOUGHTS

THE NEXT LEVEL OF MONITORING

• Why go with a paid service?

1. More in-depth analysis

2. Watch trends develop

3. Drill down to in learn even more about:

– The influencer– Overall sentiment

AGAIN, WHY MONITOR?

• Intelligence = power

• Know the good and bad

• Change perceptions, humanize

• Plan your response

• Plan how you’ll initiate

AGAIN, WHY MONITOR?

• Be in the game

• Next generation will only be on the web

MORE DEMONSTRATIONS?

PAID MONITORING?

QUESTIONS?

ABOUT MARK GOREN

Social Media Consultant

After 10 years working in marketing as a copywriter at several traditional advertising agencies, Mark turned his attention and creative thinking to the field of social network marketing, all so he can help businesses reach people on their terms.

Since starting his consultancy, Mark has helped launch a makeup brand at a national department store chain, been retained to develop, plan and brand a careers website for the Canadian trucking industry, and formed strategic partnerships with local agencies.

Clients he has worked with throughout his career include: Air Canada, Air Canada Technical Services, Michelin North America (Canada) + BFGoodrich Tires, Aeroplan, Alcatel, and The Gazette (Montreal’s English language daily newspaper). Non-profit work includes an award-winning campaign for The Youville Centre (Ottawa), Home Hospice (Toronto), The Old Brewery Mission (Montreal) and The Gazette Christmas Fund (Montreal).

Mark is also particularly proud to have contributed to the groundbreaking “The Age of Conversation”, an unprecedented book project that saw over 100 bloggers contribute one-page chapters related to conversational marketing. Proceeds from the book, which launched July 16, 2007, are earmarked for Variety, the children’s charity. To date, over US$11,000 has been raised. A second collaborative effort is due to be launched in September 2008.

In January 2008, Mark was invited to contribute to the MarketingProfs Daily Fix blog, the world’s fifth leading marketing blog, joining industry luminaries from all different marketing disciplines.

ABOUT MARK GOREN

Mark can be reached:

• By phone: 514-969-1725

• By email: mark@transmissionmarketing.ca

• On LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/markgoren

• On Twitter: http://twitter.com/markgoren

• On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/people/Mark_Goren/565765090

• On Skype: TransmissionCC

• On MSN: mark.goren@hotmail.com

You can also read + comment on Mark’s blog:

http://plantingsseds.ca

Or even subscribe: http://feeds.feedburner.com/planting_seeds