Enterprise Social Media Management Software 2014

A Digital Marketing Depot Research Report

M A R K E T I N T E L L I G E N C E R E P O R T :

Enterprise Social Media Management Software 2014:A Marketer’s Guide

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M A R K E T I N T E L L I G E N C E R E P O R T:

Enterprise Social Media Management Software 2014: A Marketer’s Guide

Table of ContentsScope and Methodology .............................................................................................................2Enterprise SMMS Market Overview ...........................................................................................3

Table 1: Growth in dedicated social media team size, 2011 vs. 2013 ...............................3Market consolidation includes acquisition as well as liquidation ...........................................4Table 2: Significant SMMS market activity, 2013-2014 ...........................................................5Point solutions used in conjunction with SMMS platforms ....................................................5

Table 3: Selected social marketing point solutions ............................................................6Enterprise SMMS Market Trends ................................................................................................7

Trend #1: Increasing emphasis on social media analytics ......................................................7Trend #2: Multi-platform usage spurs mobile optimization of social media marketing messages .................................................................................................................................7Trend #3: The growing dominance of images and video in social content ...........................8

Table 4: Top ten social media websites, week ended 4/14/2014 ......................................8Enterprise SMMS Platform Capabilities .....................................................................................8

Listening/sentiment tools ........................................................................................................9Open or flexible APIs ..............................................................................................................9Mobile optimization ..............................................................................................................10Marketing campaign automation ..........................................................................................10Pricing and annual contracts .................................................................................................10Strategic consulting services .................................................................................................10

Table 5: Selected enterprise SMMS platform capabilities ................................................11Choosing an Enterprise SMMS Platform ..................................................................................12

The benefits of using enterprise SMMS tools .......................................................................12Recommended steps to making an informed purchase ......................................................12Step One: Do you need an enterprise SMMS platform? .....................................................12Step Two: Identify and contact appropriate vendors ...........................................................13Step Three: Scheduling the demo ........................................................................................13Step Four: Check references, negotiate a contract ..............................................................15

Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................16Vendor Profiles ...........................................................................................................................17

Adobe Social .........................................................................................................................17Attensity ................................................................................................................................20Engage121 ............................................................................................................................22Expion ....................................................................................................................................25Hearsay Social .......................................................................................................................27HootSuite ..............................................................................................................................29Manalto .................................................................................................................................32Marketwired (Sysomos) .........................................................................................................34Oracle Social Cloud ..............................................................................................................36Salesforce ExactTarget Marketing Cloud ..............................................................................38Shoutlet .................................................................................................................................41Spredfast ...............................................................................................................................43Sprinklr ...................................................................................................................................45Sprout Social .........................................................................................................................48Tracx ......................................................................................................................................51Votigo ....................................................................................................................................53

Resources ....................................................................................................................................55




Scope and MethodologyThis report examines the market for enterprise social media management software (SMMS) and the considerations involved in implementing SMMS platforms. This report answers the following questions:

• What trends are driving the adoption of enterprise SMMS platforms?• Who are the leading players in enterprise SMMS platforms?• What capabilities do enterprise SMMS platforms provide?• Does my company need an SMMS platform?• How much do SMMS platforms cost?

The report uses the following definition of SMMS from Altimeter Group: a software tool that uses business rules and approved employees and partners to manage multiple social media accounts such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and YouTube. This system contains features such as governance, workflow, intelligence, and integration capabilities across the enterprise.

Our focus is on leading enterprise SMMS vendors providing a package of multichannel capabilities, available on a software-as-a-service (SaaS) basis. Social analytics, listening, collaboration, and other single-function tools or point solutions that perform only one of these tasks or provide other capabilities are beyond the scope of this report.

Our purpose is to look at SMMS platforms for large enterprises managing multiple social media accounts and channels across disparate locations – with a particular eye toward how they are managing and integrating a growing number of social marketing channels. This report is not a directory of all available solutions nor a recommendation or endorsement of any SMMS platform or company.

This report was last published in May 2013; it has been updated to include developing market trends, and new vendor profiles and product updates. Third Door Media conducted numerous in-depth interviews with leading vendors and industry experts. Interviews took place in March and April 2014. These, in addition to third-party research, form the basis for this report.

Editorial Advisor: Michelle Stinson Ross, Social Marketing Manager, Offers.com Research/Writer: Brian Kelly, Principal, Candlewood Creative Editors: Karen Burka, Senior Research Consultant; Claire Schoen, VP, Marketing Services, Third Door Media

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Enterprise SMMS Market OverviewDemand for enterprise social media management software (SMMS) continues to grow as digital marketers seek more sophisticated social media publishing capabilities to capture the rise in video content and the explosion in use of mobile devices. Nearly half, or 47% of social strategists surveyed by Altimeter Group plan to increase spending on SMMS systems. Marketers are more focused on analytics and reporting proficiencies to more accurately measure the return on their SMMS investments. SMMS platforms targeting the enterprise must be able to manage social media marketing initiatives across a distributed enterprise, diverse social networks, and multiple-sized screens.

Social media marketing has become an enterprise-wide endeavor. Organizations with more than 100,000 employees now report an average of 49 full-time employees supporting social media, compared to just 20 in 2010, according to Altimeter Group’s The State of Social Business 2013. The report also found that the number of employees comprising dedicated social media teams has grown from 11 in 2011 to nearly 16 full-time employees in 2013 (see Table 1).

Organizations with more than 100,000 employees now report an average of 49 full-time employees supporting social media, compared to just 20 in 2010

Source: The State of Social Business 2013, The Altimeter Group

Table 1: Growth in dedicated social media team size, 2011 vs. 2013

For distributed enterprises that sell products through large networks of local retailers, dealers, agents, and franchises, controlling brand identities and social marketing messages at the local level has become a critical concern. Virtually all of the leading SMMS platforms provide sophisticated workflow tools and permission hierarchies to enable large enterprises to control, manage, and monitor how local social marketing is conducted.

Demonstrating the ROI value of social media marketing is both a priority and a challenge for social media marketers. Almost half, or 48% of social media marketers plan to create metrics that demonstrate the value of social media, according to The State of Social Business 2013 report. Achieving this goal, however, is difficult given the proliferation of significant social networks and the lack of standardized metrics across them. For example, how does the value of a Facebook like compare to a Twitter retweet? How do you measure engagement, particularly when you are comparing fans, followers, likes, pins, and shares?

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4

Education/training manager

Social analyst

Social strategist

Business unit liaison

Web developer

Social media manager

Community manager

Content strategiest

2013 Average 2011 Average




Beyond measuring the value of the engagement itself, marketers are now looking at the value of the messaging contained within the engagement.

Both enterprise SMMS vendors and social media networks are developing solutions to this issue. LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ have launched certified marketing developer programs to standardize data sharing with selected SMMS vendors. Several SMMS vendors are launching proprietary metrics that qualify social media engagement and identify key influencers and users.

Beyond measuring the value of the engagement itself, marketers are now looking at the value of the messaging contained within the engagement. For example, what is the value of a share with a positive recommendation vs. a neutral share?

The Return on a Share Report released by Share This and the Paley Center for Media in April 2014 looked at this question, and concluded that the value of an excellent online share is a 9.5% boost over a neutral share in the categories it examined. Online sharing outperformed both consumer ratings and reviews in purchase decisions, and carried the same value as a personal recommendation, according to the study.

Adobe’s Social Intelligence Report for Q4 2013, which looked at aggregated data from retail, media, entertainment, and travel websites, reported that revenue per visit (RPV) for leading social networks is increasing. The results showed that the value of Facebook referrals increased 72% over a twelve-month period, while the value of Twitter referrals increased 131%.

Such findings suggest there is considerable market opportunity for enterprise SMMS platforms that can parse the value of different social media interactions, and for social media marketers looking for the right tools to justify their investments to management.

Market consolidation includes acquisition as well as liquidation

The SMMS market continues to consolidate rapidly, as large enterprise technology providers that moved into the market in 2012 and 2013 impact the ability of smaller, independent companies to compete. Oracle, Google, Salesforce, and Adobe all made significant SMMS acquisitions in 2012, integrating previous market leaders such as Buddy Media, Wildfire, and Vitrue into multi-product software suites.

Independent vendors have taken several routes to compete against these large technology enterprises (see Table 2). Spredfast raised $32.5 million in venture funding in January 2014, then acquired social marketing tool Mass Relevance in April 2014 for an undisclosed sum. HootSuite attracted $165 million in venture funding in August 2013; five months later the company bought competitor UberVU. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Other SMMS vendors were not as fortunate. Argyle Social, Syncapse, and Google Wildfire all ceased operations in 2014. Argyle management cited the vast resources of companies such as Oracle as a factor in determining the company’s fate. Google shuttered Wildfire in March 2014, announcing that it would only support the platform’s existing customers for one year. Industry experts suggest that Wildfire could not compete going forward due to its lack of reporting and analytical depth required by today’s more demanding social media marketers.

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In addition to comprehensive SMMS platforms, there are dozens of social marketing point solutions that offer a range of specific tools from app content development to social monitoring, customer service, and audience analytics.

Point solutions used in conjunction with SMMS platforms

In addition to comprehensive SMMS platforms, there are dozens of social marketing point solutions that offer a range of specific tools from app content development to social monitoring, customer service, and audience analytics. These tools play an important role in the market as large digital marketers look for best-of-breed solutions to work in conjunction with their enterprise platforms, and small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) seek affordable options to manage social marketing tasks. Table 3 presents just a sampling of the tools that are currently available.

Source: Third Door Media


Table 2: Significant SMMS market activity, 2013-2014

Argyle Social

Sprinklr

HootSuite

Syncapse

Spredfast

Google Wildfire

Salesforce

Tracx

Vendor

April 2014

April 2014

Feb 2013 – Apr 2014

August 2013

January 2014

September 2013

January 2014

April 2014

March 2014

July 2013

March 2014

Date

Ceased operations Supported customers for 45 days

Acquired social intelligence provider Dachis GroupRaised $72.5M in three rounds of venture funding

Price not disclosed

Provided by ICONIQ Capital, Battery Ventures, and Intel Capital

Raised $165M in venture funding

Acquired SMMS uberVU

Provided by Insight Venture Partners, Accel Partners, and OMERS VenturesPrice not disclosed

Acquired by search engine LookSmart

Assets acquired and liquidated

Raised $32.5M in venture funding

Acquired Mass Relevance

Provided by OpenView Venture Partners and Lead Edge Capital Combined companies will operate under the Spredfast brand

Closed operations Supporting customers for one year

Purchased ExactTarget $2.5 billion price included Pardot and Co-Tweet

Raised $3.5M in venture funding

Provided by Flybridge Capital and Revel Partners

Activity Details





Table 3: Selected social marketing point solutions

Social Analytics/Intelligence

Social Monitoring/Listening

Social Customer Service

Social Prospecting

Social/Mobile Apps

Social Commerce

Social Apps/Promotions

Social Marketing Task

InfegyMarketShareMoontoastNetBaseNetworked InsightsSimply MeasuredSocial FlowTopsy

BrandwatchCrimson HexagonMeltwater BuzzMutualMindVisible Technologies

ConverSocialLithiumSocialOptomizer

Fliptop

Friend2FriendMomentFeedHeyo

Bazaarvoice

BadgevilleFan AppzOfferpopShopkickShopigniterStruttaTigerlilyWoobox

Tool

www.infegy.comwww.marketshare.comwww.moontoast.comwww.netbase.comwww.networkedinsights.comwww.simplymeasured.comwww.socialflow.comwww.topsy.com

www.brandwatch.comwww.crimsonhexagon.comwww.meltwater.comwww.mutualmind.comwww.visibletechnologies.com

www.conversocial.comwww.lithium.comhttp://socialoptimizr.com

www.fliptop.com

www.friend2friend.comwww.momentfeed.comhttps://heyo.com/

www.bazaarvoice.com

www.badgeville.comwww.fanappz.comwww.offerpop.comwww.shopkick.comwww.shopigniter.comwww.strutta.comwww.tigerlilyapps.comhttp://www.woobox.com/

URL

http://infegy.com/

http://www.marketshare.com/

http://www.moontoast.com/

http://www.netbase.com/

http://www.networkedinsights.com/

http://simplymeasured.com/

http://www.socialflow.com/

http://topsy.com/

http://www.brandwatch.com/

http://www.crimsonhexagon.com/

http://www.meltwater.com/

http://www.mutualmind.com/

http://www.visibletechnologies.com/

http://www.conversocial.com/

http://www.lithium.com/

http://socialoptimizr.com

http://www.fliptop.com/

http://www.friend2friend.com/

http://momentfeed.com/

https://heyo.com/

http://www.bazaarvoice.com/

http://badgeville.com/

http://fanappz.com/

http://www.offerpop.com/

http://www.shopkick.com/

http://www.shopigniter.com/

http://www.strutta.com/

http://www.tigerlilyapps.com/

http://www.woobox.com/




The biggest challenge facing all players in social media marketing – from the networks to the vendors to the brand marketers – is how to manage and act upon the consumer data collected through social media.

Enterprise SMMS Market TrendsA number of significant trends are impacting the enterprise SMMS market, including:

1. Increasing emphasis on social media analytics.2. Multi-platform usage spurs mobile optimization of social media marketing messages. 3. The growing dominance of images and video in social content.

The following sections discuss each of these trends in more depth.

Trend #1: Increasing emphasis on social media analytics

The biggest challenge facing all players in social media marketing – from the networks to the vendors to the brand marketers – is how to manage and act upon the consumer data collected through social media. With an overwhelming amount of demographic and behavioral data available, social media marketers are focusing more on reaching their target audience – rather than simply the biggest audience.

Twitter announced in January 2014 that analytics would be available for brands that use Twitter Cards to make Tweets more engaging by displaying rich media. Analytics for Twitter Cards provide both aggregate metrics (i.e., total tweets, retweets, impressions, and clicks) as well as more granular information including top links, influencers, and card type performers.

The social network’s advertising API has been available for about a year and began with five beta partners (HootSuite, Adobe, Salesforce, TBG Digital, and Shift). The partner list expanded to 31 companies by April 2014, allowing additional ad tools to become certified. Twitter gives SMB advertisers access to the same advanced dashboard as larger advertisers, allowing them to target ads more closely.

In April 2014, Facebook announced the Facebook Audience Network, allowing mobile developers to pick the appropriate ad formats that work for their apps and letting the more than one million Facebook advertisers better target ads for particular apps, both on and off the Facebook network.

These products reflect a shift towards a more targeted approach to social media marketing. In response, enterprise SMMS platforms are providing more in-depth analysis of social media data to accurately track multiple social metrics in real-time, from tweets and likes to influencers and content sentiment to operational KPIs such as average response times. These types of analytical and tracking capabilities can improve customer service and predict future buying patterns, as well as streamline internal communication and increase productivity.

Trend #2: Multi-platform usage spurs mobile optimization of social media marketing messages

Multi-platform users -- people who use both mobile and desktop devices -- became the majority of the digital population in 2013. By the end of the year, 56% of digital media consumers were multi-platform, according to comScore.

Nearly two-thirds of all social media users say they use social media at least once daily via their desktop computer, according to Nielsen. Almost half, or 47% of smartphone owners say they use social media at least once daily. Pinterest tripled its unique users on smartphone apps in 2013.




Virtually all SMMS providers offer responsively designed content that is optimized for mobile users.

comScore further reports that virtually all of the growth in internet use over the past three years has come from smartphones and tablets, which are responsible for almost doubling the amount of time Americans spend online. The increase has created a unique opportunity for digital marketers; Nielsen reports that more than four in five (87%) smartphone and tablet owners use their mobile devices for shopping. With consumers sharing reviews and commenting on retail experiences and purchases through social media, mobile commerce is providing brands with new consumer touch points.

SMMS platform vendors are responding to client demand to reach this explosive mobile audience. Virtually all SMMS providers offer responsively designed content that is optimized for mobile users. Most vendors have made mobile content development and access a key part of their product roadmaps. Several enterprise platforms are built on HTML 5, which enables a more engaging mobile experience with multimedia elements.

Trend #3: The growing dominance of images and video in social content

Social media is increasingly becoming a visual channel. In 2013, posts with images were up 10%, while posts with links, text, or video were down, according to Adobe’s Social Intelligence Report for Q4 2013. Engagement rate for links, text, and video posts all decreased; posts with images produce a 650% higher engagement rate than regular text posts, according to the report.

comScore Video Metrix® reports that 187.8 million Americans watched 46.6 billion online content videos in March 2014 with Google Sites (led by YouTube) generating the highest number at 11.1 billion video views. Google Sites also had the highest average engagement among the top ten properties – which included Facebook and Yahoo! Sites. More importantly for social media marketers, video ads accounted for nearly 40% of all video viewed.

Both Facebook and Twitter have updated their user interfaces to emphasize larger visual images – including ads, pictures, and icons. Twitter users now have the ability to tag other Twitter users in photos, fundamentally changing the text-based network to one that is more visually oriented. In May 2014, Facebook announced it would be rolling out new video metrics for Pages, including average duration of the video view and audience retention.

Facebook and YouTube dominate the social media market in terms of number of weekly visits, according to Hitwise’s April 14, 2014 analysis of leading social media sites (see Table 4).

58.1%24.2%

2.3%1.6% 1.1%

0.9% 0.8% 0.6%

8.9% Facebook

YouTube

Twi�er

Google+

Yahoo! Answers

Pinterest

Linkedin

Instagram

All Others

Source: Hitwise USA Pty Ltd.

Table 4: Top ten social media websites, week ended 4/14/2014




A platform’s Application Programming Interface (API) is a source code-based specification that allows other software systems to communicate with it.

As social media has become more integrated into multichannel marketing campaigns, social campaigns are being launched in tandem with paid advertising that drives social users to landing pages with a call to action or conversion opportunity. Compelling, unique video content is increasingly the lure that hooks the user. In response, a number of SMMS platform providers have increased the sophistication and types of content creation tools available to customers, including video and photo gallery plug-ins and gadgets, as well as Instagram modules.

Enterprise SMMS Platform CapabilitiesVirtually all enterprise SMMS platforms available today offer a core set of social media tools and capabilities that focus on:

• Content creation, scheduling, publishing, and moderation; • Social engagement;• Data analytics and reporting; and• Structured collaboration and workflow management tools.

The platforms begin to differentiate by offering more advanced capabilities, often requiring additional investment, that include but are not limited to:

• Social listening and sentiment analysis; • Vertical-specific compliance tools that allow customers to monitor local or regional social

marketing campaigns;• Integration with legacy marketing and analytics platforms; • Marketing campaign automation; and • Strategic social media consulting services.

The following section discusses some of these capabilities and the key considerations involved in choosing an enterprise SMMS platform (see Table 5).

Listening/sentiment tools

Measuring qualitative social data, i.e., the sentiment or tone of social content, has been difficult in the past, and was considered an advanced feature that few platforms offered to customers. However, more enterprise platforms either have organically developed or acquired social listening tools to provide this functionality. Many of these tools use keyword filtering or natural language processing (NLP) to determine whether user content is positive, negative, or neutral.

Open or flexible APIs

A platform’s Application Programming Interface (API) is a source code-based specification that allows other software systems to communicate with it. Open APIs provide more seamless integration with customers’ existing CRM, web analytics, and email platforms. Many marketers are seeking this type of integration to eliminate data silos within the enterprise and to create a more holistic approach to customer relationship marketing as well as a better understanding of the impact of social media on other marketing initiatives.




Enterprise SMMS platforms are a significant investment, with typical customers spending tens of thousands of dollars each month in licensing fees.

Mobile optimization

The majority of SMMS providers profiled in this report have made mobile content development and access a key part of their product roadmaps, and also insure that all promotions run from their platforms are mobile responsive. Several enterprise platforms are built on HTML 5 to deliver engaging mobile campaigns complete with multimedia elements. In addition, several vendors enable business users to access their platform tools on mobile devices either through an app or embedded capabilities.

Marketing campaign automation

C-suite pressure to show a return on social investments has led more marketers to increase their demand for integrated dashboards that allow them to link social data and analytics to actual campaign execution. Several enterprise SMMS platforms are enabling this approach with campaign management tools that use social data to feed campaigns.

Pricing and annual contracts

Enterprise SMMS platforms are a significant investment, with typical customers spending tens of thousands of dollars each month in licensing fees. Virtually every SMMS platform licenses its technology on a software-as-a-service (SaaS) basis; the technology is hosted by the vendor and customers log into a web-based dashboard to utilize the system. Customers license the use of the technology on a monthly basis. Licensing fees can be charged by the number of users or seats; by the volume of social media networks or pages tracked; and by the number of locations, brands, or departments on the system. More detailed pricing information for the SMMS vendors profiled in this report can be found in the Vendor Profiles section beginning on page 17.

About half of the vendors profiled in this report require annual contracts; some do not disclose whether or not they do. Volume discounts may also be available for larger enterprises that enroll or register more users or locations on the platform.

Strategic consulting services

Many SMMS vendors offer a range of add-on social media consulting services designed to help educate customers in the strategy, execution, and analysis of their social media efforts. The value of these services varies according to the internal resources, skills, and needs of the enterprise.

Premium priced engineering services may also apply for custom integrations with existing legacy systems.




Table 5: Selected enterprise SMMS platform capabilities

Engage121

HootSuite

Hearsay Social

Adobe Social

Oracle Social Cloud

Salesforce Marketing Cloud

Sprinklr

Shoutlet

Sprout Social

Spredfast

Tracx

Votigo

Expion

Manalto

Marketwired

Attensity

8 $30,0004 4

8 ND8 4

8 ND4(included)

ND

4(add-on)

ND4 4

4 Pricing begins at $2,000/user/

month

4 4

4

4

ND

$150,000

4

4

8

8

4

8

4

8

8

$300,000

ND

$100,000-plus for multiple brands

ND

$25,000

4(included)

8

4

8

8

4

8

8

8

ND

444

444

444

444

48 (certified

partners only)

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

8 $100,0008 8

8 ND8 8

8 ND8 ND

8 ND8 ND

484

484

444

444

VendorMarketing campaign

automation

Average annual enterprise pricing

Strategic consulting services2

Annual Contract Required

Built-inlistening or

sentiment toolsOpen APIs

Mobile optimization1

ND=not disclosed1Mobile optimization category includes SMMS optimized for mobile delivery to social media user or mobile usage by enterprise users; either integrated or through an add-on app.2Unless otherwise indicated, not included in base pricing.Source: Third Door Media




Understanding your current marketing processes, knowing how to measure success, and being able to identify where you are looking for improvements, are all critical pieces of the SMMS platform decision-making process.

Choosing an Enterprise SMMS PlatformThe benefits of using enterprise SMMS tools

With hundreds of social media accounts to manage and millions of social conversations to monitor, social media marketing has become increasingly complicated and time-consuming. Using an SMMS platform can improve efficiency, compliance, and productivity. More specifically, automating social marketing through an enterprise platform can provide the following benefits:

•Many tools, one interface. The integration of tasks, reporting, and user permissions offers substantial benefits to enterprise-level social marketing operations, compared to using single-function point solutions.

•More efficient management of global operations. Enterprise SMMS tools are built to provide disparate departments and locations with the ability to manage social marketing campaigns, while also providing controls to ensure brand and regulatory compliance.

•Automated reporting to provide data in near real time. Many enterprise SMMS tools offer highly customized reporting capabilities that are widget- and wizard-driven to make reporting easy and fast.

Recommended steps to making an informed purchase

Understanding your current marketing processes, knowing how to measure success, and being able to identify where you are looking for improvements, are all critical pieces of the SMMS platform decision-making process. The following section outlines four steps to help your organization begin that process and choose the platform that is the right fit for your business needs and goals.

Step One: Do you need an enterprise SMMS platform?

Deciding whether or not your company needs an enterprise-level SMMS platform calls for the same evaluative steps involved in any software adoption, including a comprehensive self-assessment of your organization’s business needs, staff capabilities, management support, and financial resources. Use the following questions as a guideline to determine the answers.

1. Do we have multiple social accounts and utilize multiple social channels, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and blog publishing platforms such as WordPress?

2. Do we operate in a regulated industry, such as insurance or real estate, where a lack of compliance can result in legal or regulatory consequences?

3. Do we rely on a sales network of local dealers, agents or franchisees that may be operating hundreds of Facebook pages or Twitter accounts not controlled by the corporate marketing department?

4. Do we have a social media strategy – or will we need social media consulting services as part of the SMMS package?

5. Do we have a social media staff in place that can handle the new software or will there be a need for training?

6. Who among our staff is best qualified to evaluate an SMMS platform?




Once you have determined that an enterprise SMMS platform makes sense for your business, spend time researching individual vendors and their capabilities.

7. Do we have an organizational plan to integrate the use of SMMS software into our social media strategy? If not, who will create the plan?

8. Can we absorb the additional cost of the SMMS system and still meet our business objectives?

9. Have we set KPIs and do we know how we will define success?

Step Two: Identify and contact appropriate vendors

Once you have determined that an enterprise SMMS platform makes sense for your business, spend time researching individual vendors and their capabilities. Make a list of all the social marketing capabilities you currently have, those that you would like to have, and those that you can’t live without. This last category is critical, and will help you avoid making a costly mistake.

Take your list of capabilities and then do some research. The “Resources” section at the back of this report includes a list of blogs, reports, and industry research that will help. (Many of the vendors profiled in this report also provide white papers and interactive tools that are useful.)

It is equally important to evaluate the type of SMMS vendor that will provide the best fit for your enterprise’s unique and specific social marketing needs. Many SMMS vendors serve specific vertical markets, such as the heavily regulated financial services or healthcare industries, or cater to enterprises with large networks of dealers, agents, and franchisees. Other vendors have particular strengths in app and promotion creation, engagement analytics, or robust reporting.

Once you’ve done the necessary research, narrow your list down to those vendors that meet your criteria. Submit your list of the social media marketing capabilities you’ve identified, and set a timeframe for them to reply. Whether or not you choose to do this in a formal RFI/RFP process is an individual preference, however be sure to give the same list of capabilities to each vendor to facilitate comparison. The most effective RFPs only request relevant information and provide ample information about your business and its social media marketing needs. It should reflect high-level strategic goals and KPIs. For example, mention your company’s most important KPIs and how you will evaluate the success of your social media marketing campaigns. Include details about timelines and the existing digital technology you have deployed.

When written properly, an RFP will facilitate the sales process and ensure that everyone involved on both sides come to a shared understanding of the purpose, requirements, scope, and structure of the intended purchase. From the RFP responses, you should be able to narrow your list down to three or four platforms that you’ll want to demo.

Step Three: Scheduling the demo

Set up demos with your short list of vendors within a relatively short timeframe after receiving the RFP responses, to help make relevant comparisons. Make sure that all potential internal users are on the demo call, and pay attention to the following:

• How easy is the tool to use?• Does the vendor seem to understand our business and our marketing needs?• Are they showing us our “must-have” features?




Two critical roles of reporting for any organization are first, the ability to demonstrate progress or change over time (i.e., more website traffic driven by social media); and secondly, the ability for the analytics to trigger a marketing action.

Other questions to ask each vendor include:

1. Do you have access to all current and relevant social media APIs? LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and others have launched certified marketing developer programs to standardize data sharing with selected SMMS vendors. With open API access to social networks, the platform can provide a stronger foundation of analytics and reporting.

2. How capable is your platform in tracking the continuing shift to mobile? The mobile social user is an ongoing phenomenon and your organization needs to shift messaging along with the shift to more personal devices. Can the platform report on mobile engagement? And compare mobile versus desktop usage?

3. Can you filter by different dimensions? It may be important to filter data by various dimensions, such as time range, language, geography, and demographics. The more choices you have in filters, the more accurate your measurement and reporting will be.

4. How frequently do you provide real-time alerts? Social media users communicate in real time and require real-time responses. If customer service is a priority for your company, then you’ll want the opportunity to address customer questions or confusion as soon as it’s discovered.

5. Can multiple users in different offices collaborate? If you run a global business with numerous local offices, you want to have the ability to coordinate your posts across different regions. In addition, you’ll want to have a workflow structure in place that provides strong hierarchy for approving and monitoring local contact in remote offices.

6. Can the system integrate with other applications? For sales-driven organizations, social media marketing holds great promise of moving customers down the sales funnel into legitimate sales opportunities. Ask whether the platform has an open API, and if not, how it integrates with existing CRM, marketing automation, and web analytics platforms.

7. What kind of reporting capabilities does the platform provide? Two critical roles of reporting for any organization are first, the ability to demonstrate progress or change over time (i.e., more website traffic driven by social media); and secondly, the ability for the analytics to trigger a marketing action.

8. How well does your tool track brand engagement in images? As more consumers shift from communicating through text to communicating through images, social marketers need the tools to “read” those messages. Can the platform tell you how often images posted to Instagram show your products in a positive light? Are there images and videos posted by consumers that show their disappointment in your brand or product? It is important for enterprises to be aware of the growing need to understand visual sentiment.

9. How do you define your social metrics? It is clear that a like, Tweet or pin have different value to different enterprises. More SMMS vendors are providing proprietary metrics that measure things like share of voice and user engagement. Find out how they define them.

10. How much will this cost and what kind of service is included? There are many different SaaS-based pricing models in this field, including per user, per location, and per channel. Whatever the pricing model, ensure that the pricing is reasonable and will remain consistent. At the same time, service after the sale is critical. Does the vendor have a help desk? Will you have a dedicated account manager or representative who will be responsible for working to resolve issues quickly and satisfactorily?




Before deciding on a particular vendor, take the time to speak with one or two customer references, preferably someone in a business similar to yours.

11. What enhancements have been released in the past year? What’s in the development pipeline? The SMMS market is evolving and constantly changing. Ask for a track record of what improvements have been made in the past year to better understand how the platform will continue to be upgraded.

12. Can you provide three case studies where a problem had been identified, solved, and a measured ROI resulted? The vendor should be able to show you, during the demo call, an example of how a particular problem was identified and resolved, based on a real case study. Even better would be for the vendor to have a contact name for follow-up, to serve as a reference. What’s important is that the vendor can show you – not tell you – and then refer you to someone for more detailed followup.

Step Four: Check references, negotiate a contract

Before deciding on a particular vendor, take the time to speak with one or two customer references, preferably someone in a business similar to yours. The SMMS vendor should be able to supply you with several references. Make sure that the person you’ve been referred to is someone who is a primary user of the solution. Consider asking these basic questions:

• Why did you move to an enterprise SMMS platform?• Why did you select this tool over others?• Has this tool lived up to your expectations?• How long did the system take to implement?• Are you also using additional tools for monitoring, analytics, or promotions?• Were there any surprises that you wish you’d known about beforehand?• Where have you seen the most success? The biggest challenges?• How are you measuring your own success?• How easy was the set-up process and how long? Did the vendor help?• How responsive is customer service?• Has there been any down time?• What do you wish they did differently?• Would you recommend this platform?

Although not all vendors require an annual contract, many do. Once you’ve selected a vendor, be sure to get in writing a list of what technology and support are covered in the contract. Ask about what kinds of additional fees might come up. Are there charges for custom integrations, if so, how much? What is the hourly charge for engineering services, and is there a minimum? What partner organizations are available to install and integrate the tool? What will it cost if you need to train a new hire mid-year? What is the “out” clause? Obtaining the answers up front – and having them in writing – will ensure fewer surprises or additional costs down the road.




ConclusionSocial media marketing has become a necessity for business growth and customer engagement. With hundreds of social media accounts to manage and millions of social conversations to monitor, social media marketing has become increasingly complicated and time-consuming. Using an SMMS platform can improve efficiency, compliance, and productivity.

Before investing in an SMMS platform it is critical to understand your current marketing processes, identify where you are looking for improvements, and how you will measure success.

Social media analytics and reporting capabilities have become an enormous factor in SMMS purchase decisions for many enterprises, as they seek technology partners that can provide strong data storage, integration, analytics, and reporting capabilities. The choice you make will depend upon finding the enterprise SMMS platform that provides the best fit for your enterprise’s unique and specific social marketing needs. n


Vendor Profiles



Adobe Social 345 Park Avenue San Jose, CA 95110-2704(T) 408-536-6000www.adobe.com/social

Target Customer

• Enterprises in the retail, ecommerce, media, entertainment, automotive, and travel/hospitality industries

Key Customers

CBS LocalCox Media GroupGuess?SafewayScripps NetworksSears

Key Executives

Brad Rencher, SVP, Digital Marketing Bill Ingram, VP, Product Development (Adobe Analytics and Adobe Social)David Bieselin, Senior Director, Engineering, Adobe SocialCraig Stoe, Director of Social Product Management

Company Background

• Adobe Systems was founded in December 1982• Acquired Efficient Frontier in January 2012

Became part of the Adobe Digital Marketing Suite, which was subsequently rebranded in October 2012 as the Adobe Marketing Cloud offering the following six products:Adobe SocialAdobe Analytics (includes SiteCatalyst)Adobe Target (formerly Test & Target)Experience Manager (includes Adobe CQ and Scene7 capabilities)Media Optimizer (includes former Efficient Frontier ad campaign management capabilities)Adobe Campaign (formerly Neolane)

• More than 40 worldwide offices in North America, Europe, Asia, South America, the Middle East, and Africa

Product Overview

• One of six standalone solutions in the Adobe Marketing Cloud.• Utilizes social content creation and existing Adobe Analytics tools to enable social

publishing, engagement, listening, measurement, and reporting.

http://www.adobe.com/solutions/social-marketing.html



Vendor Profiles



Product DetailsSocial Networks Supported

• Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, and Sina Weibo.

Social Publishing Tools

• Users can publish and schedule posts to multiple social platforms and branded profile pages.

Content Calendar enables day, week, and month view into scheduled and previously published content. Users can edit or update posts from within the Content Calendar.

• Drag-and-drop application template enables creation of custom contests, sweepstakes, galleries, polls, and other interactive applications.

Users can target specific audience segments based on platform parameters such as gender, location, age, industry, etc.

• Integrated with Analytics solution to allow users to tag each post and collect attribution data to analyze post performance.

Workflow Capabilities

• Granular permissions hierarchy in which rules can be set at the individual level to create, edit, moderate, or post content.

• Rights and access can be set for local offices or departments by central group or administrator.

Monitoring and Sentiment Analysis

• Sentiment analysis provided through partnership with Clarabridge.

Available in nine languages.Included in license price.

• Content scored as positive, negative, or neutral.

• Sentiment can be manually adjusted

per account.• Influence level analyzed based on

who drives traffic and conversions to website.

• Proprietary emotion detector allows marketers to gain deeper insight into the intention behind each post.

• Advanced querying capabilities and Boolean logic enable marketers to filter social conversations across thousands of social platforms and blogs.

Measurement and Reporting

• Standard analytics include Facebook and Twitter Insight data as well as integrated web analytics data to measure social impact, including referral traffic, lead generation, and direct conversion from social activities.

• Visual reporting on likes, posts, shares, clickthroughs, and comment correlations.

Connects social post influence on website activity.Leverages historical post performance data to predict the likely engagement performance of branded posts on Facebook. Predicts potential likes, comments, and shares and provides recommended publishing time/date to optimize engagement.

Third-Party Integration

• Available through Adobe Genesis platform, which automates integration with add-on Adobe and external software products.

• API available through Adobe Analytics. All social data is made available in Adobe Analytics and can be transported via Analytics APIs.

Pricing and Support

• Pricing based on number of social profiles (brand pages or regions) as well seats (users)





Vendor Profiles



Product Details• Average annual enterprise pricing not

disclosed.• Annual contract required.• Implementation and integration with

existing Adobe Analytics report suites included.

• Dedicated social account manager, eight hours of training, and 24/7 email and phone support included.

• Add-on professional services focus on advanced analytics and reporting, listening-rule creation and implementation, global social roll-outs, and ad hoc design and moderation requirements.





Vendor Profiles



Attensity2479 E Bayshore Road, Suite 195Palo Alto, CA 94303 (T) 650-433-1700www.attensity.com

Target Customer

• Fortune 1000 enterprises in the telecommunications, financial service, e-commerce, consumer electronics, hospitality and retail industries

Key Customers

AT&TDeutsche TelekomeBay Lloyds Banking GroupNokiaWhirlpool

Key Executives

Howard Lau, Chairman and CEOThomas Dreikauss, Managing Director, EMEA Frank Brown, CFOMartin Onofrio, CROTommy Hawkins, VP, Development

Company Overview

• Founded in 1999• June 2013 HootSuite partnership integrated Hootsuite’s social media management

system with Attensity’s automated social customer service solution• Partnered with Collaborate.org in July 2013 to add geo-spatial data visualization

platform to core product• Additional offices in Salt Lake City, Belgium, Germany, and the U.K.

Product Overview

• Focus on engagement, monitoring, analytics, and reporting of multichannel customer conversations through four tools:

Pipeline Command CenterAnalyzeRespond

• Owns nine patents in natural language processing to surface insights from text around sentiment, purchase intent, churn, complaints, and competitive threats.

• Offers on-premise and SaaS (hosted, and cloud) solutions with mobile functionality for smartphone and tablet devices.

http://www.attensity.com/home/



Vendor Profiles



Product Details

Attensity2479 E Bayshore Road, Suite 195Palo Alto, CA 94303 (T) 650-433-1700www.attensity.com

Social Networks Supported

• Buzilla, Facebook, Gnip, Google+, LinkedIn, Reddit, Sprinn3r, Twitter, YouTube, blogs and forums.


• Respond provides message development and publishing based on content, source, and current agent volumes to auto-assign messages to the right teams.

Twitter Certified Product Platform.Auto-swap out of Twitter handles based on loads.Multichannel integration allows agents to respond on Twitter, move to email or direct message, and return to Twitter.

• Customizable suggested responses and automated answers/templates allow agents to “ask an expert” without leaving the application.


• Workflow and business-rule engine allows customers to organize team permission structure and route customer communications in real time to the right agent or internal expert.

• Ability to create a ticket and track interactions across multiple channels.

• Add-on compliance module monitors and manages outgoing posts for adherence to corporate and regulatory policies.

Review queues, as well as response auditing and tracking available. Internal metrics include time to resolution and message volume handled by agent.

Monitoring and Sentiment Analytics

• Command Center, Pipeline and Analyze provide real-time social monitoring and trending analysis.

Pipeline enables intelligent topic filtering to identify Klout scores, key influencers, geocodes, etc.Analyze enables an understanding of multi-channel consumer conversations.

• Social data collected from over 150 million sources, including Twitter, Facebook, blogs, forums, and online review sites.

• Customers can correlate social insights with email, surveys, chat, agent/field notes, warranties, and claims.


• Over 100 out-of-the-box reports and dashboards for sentiment, compliments and complaints, geo-demographics (age, gender, country), customer profiles, key influencers, net promoter score, themes, and ratings.

• Sends early warnings and alerts when topics hit a certain threshold or identify geographically based issues like cable or cell phone outages, purchasing trends, and advertising analysis.

• Schedules and routes customer communications and dashboards to stakeholders by CSV, PDF or Portable SWF options including HTML and PPT by quarter, month, week, hour, and minutes.


• Information can be outputted to business intelligence and reporting repositories, such as Aster Data, EMC Greenplum, BusinessObjects, Cognos, and more.

Pricing and Support

• Offers both SaaS-based and on-premise solutions.

• 24/7 customer support available online, through email, telephone, website, and in-person support reps.

• Add-on education services provide a full training program that includes in-person, on-site classroom, and CBT.




Vendor Profiles



Engage121 20 Glover Avenue, 2nd FloorNorwalk, CT 06850(T) 888-607-9101www.engage121.com

Target Customer

• Global enterprises with sales channel/dealer/agent/franchisee networks that want to leverage their social networks nationally or globally

Key Customers

Anheuser BuschBacardi MartiniTGI FridaysBen & Jerry’s MotorolaPhilips

Key Executives

Jon Victor, President and CEOKurt Strumpf, Chief Technology OfficerPaul Rector, Chief Revenue OfficerMark D’Andrea, SVP, Marketing

Company Overview

• Founded in 1998 as ENR Services, a PR and communications software platform• Rebranded as Engage121 in June 2010, and launched flagship SMMS application in

September 2010• Created content development, management, and professional services team in 2013

to support client need for fresh, new, topical content

Product Overview

• Provides enterprise and local social marketing applications – monitoring, engagement, publishing, Facebook app development, analytics, and reporting – to organizations with extensive franchise, agent, and dealer networks.

• Added focus on “Local Hot Content” in 2013, providing a localized multi-industry daily content feed built from a proprietary algorithm.

http://www.engage121.com/



Vendor Profiles




• 25-plus social media networks and publishing tools including Blogger, Facebook, Flicker, Foursquare, Google+, Hyves, Instagram, LinkedIn, Ning, Tumblr, Twitter, Vimeo, Wordpress.com and .org, Yelp, and YouTube.


• Daily hot content for local topical content.

• APPlanner and events content.• User-generated content published

using Facebook apps.


• Connect121 internal dialogue system allows corporate users to approve tasks, manage pending posts, and provide updates to team members.

• Planner supports end to-end content creation process with internal and third-party agency teams.

• Permissions can be set to allow local stores or branches to approve content from corporate headquarters before that content is distributed to area followers.


• Monitors 50-plus customer ratings and reviews sites, including Amazon, BestBuy, Edmunds Review, Epinions, Hotels.com, Newegg, and Yahoo! Shopping.

• Explore social media monitoring tool identifies prospects and manages customer inquiries.

• Search results programmatically scored for sentiment, categorized into user-defined data clusters (i.e., positive or negative), and directed to user-defined data clusters for direct response or engagement.


• Evaluate module provides DIY charting across several dozen standard metrics:

Reach: buzz, buzz compare, direct reach, true reach, fans, and followers (by selected handles, rank, following ratio, and retweets).Engagement: by tag, fanlet results, Foursquare check-ins, friend interactions, link tracking, system tags, user-created tags, web stats, Facebook Insights, and YouTube Insights.Outcomes: sentiment and share of voice.Activity: my posts or selected posts.

• Analytics module provides the following dashboards to monitor:

Customer care engagement.Campaigns – real time overview of campaign performance.Outlet or store social performance.Competitor benchmarking.Twitter audience demographics.Facebook insights.Users can export charts, graphs, and data from the application to offline reports, as well as export charts, graphs, and data into offline analysis programs.


• Provides out-of-the box integration with analytics programs including Google Analytics, Clarabridge, PicMonkey, Social Flow, Traackr, Shutterstock, Eventbrite, Bit.ly, Adobe Analytics, and Webtrends.

Pricing and Support

• Offers Enterprise, Corporate, and Local editions.

• Pricing starts at $1,500 per corporate seat and $25 per local seat.

• Average annual corporate spend is $30,000.





Vendor Profiles



Product Details• Annual contract is required.• Client services team handles customer

orientation and program goal setting. • Training is provided through a series of

webinars for both corporate and local users.

• Consulting services are limited and available upon request.





Vendor Profiles



Expion900 Ridgefield Drive, #85Raleigh, NC 27609(T) 919-747-8402www.expion.com

Target Customer

• Fortune 1000 companies in the CPG, retail, entertainment, media, and hospitality industries

Key Customers

Clinique Coca-Cola Global Mattel H&R Block IBM USA Networks

Key Executives

Peter Heffring, CEOTim Grant, COOBryan Weiner, ChairmanAlbert Chou, Chief Innovation Officer

Company Background

• Founded in January 2010• Additional offices in New York, Chicago, Calgary, and London.

Product Overview

• Designed to manage social marketing and analytics across global teams and countries.

• Content is developed by any team and pushed out to all employees for deployment and sharing.

http://www.expion.com/



Vendor Profiles




• Facebook, Foursquare, Google+, Instagram, LinkedIn, Sina Weibo, Twitter, and YouTube.


• User-generated content can be developed into libraries, which are then made available for sharing.

• A browser plug-in allows users to share pre-approved content directly to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+.


• Customized permission hierarchy for publishing, moderation, and asset management based on role, objective, or other needs.

UI experience customized by access role.

• 40 drag-and-drop widgets to create custom home screens for each access role.

• Hides individual filters and tabs for restricted user groups to simplify access and efficiencies.


• Real-time alerts deploy when negative reviews or customer feedback is detected.

• Geo-based monitoring available.• Alerts also triggered when engagement

metrics meet pre-set client requirements.


• 500-plus metrics from Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, review sites, blogs, and news sites tracked and displayed in real-time.

• Dashboards pull multiple real-time social streams into one location.

Formula builder tool creates customized, white-label metrics.Facebook competitive monitoring allows customers to benchmark social efforts to competitors.

• Automated, infographic-style reports can be exported as PDF and emailed according to permission-based rules.

Widgets can be exported as CSV, JPEG, PNG, and more.


• Custom data sources can be integrated into Expion’s dashboards and used in combination with their internal data sources.

Pricing and Support

• Pricing based on number of profiles (i.e. brands or locations).

• Annual minimum spend of $100,000.

Expion900 Ridgefield Drive, #85Raleigh, NC 27609(T) 919-747-8402www.expion.com




Vendor Profiles



Hearsay Social 185 Berry St., Suite 3800San Francisco, CA 94107(T) 888-990-3777www.hearsaysocial.com

Target Customer

• Global financial services enterprises with extensive agent/advisor/sales networks that rely on relationship-based sales

Key Customers

AXA Equitable Farmers InsuranceNorthwestern MutualState FarmRaymond JamesWedbush Securities

Key Executives

Clara Shih, CEO and FounderSteve Garrity, CTO and FounderMichael Lock, President and COOMark Gilbert, VP, ProductGary Liu, VP, Marketing

Company Overview

• Founded in 2009• Raised $51 million from Sequoia Capital, New Enterprise Associates, and private

investors in three rounds of funding

Product Overview

• Positioned as a social business platform that allows financial advisors and insurance agents to use social media to safely enhance their customer relationships.

• Strong compliance structure provides custom approval workflow with supervision and retention across all devices.

http://hearsaysocial.com/



Vendor Profiles



Product Details

Hearsay Social 185 Berry St., Suite 3800San Francisco, CA 94107(T) 888-990-3777www.hearsaysocial.com


• Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube.


• Centralized CMS enables corporate users to manage and review thousands of locally created pages.

• Corporate content can be pushed to advisors and agents for one-click customization, publishing, and scheduling.

Includes social campaigns that consist of a series of posts and ads that roll out over a period of time.


• Administrative access and workflows are customizable based on organizational hierarchies, roles, and entitlements.

• Corporate administrators control message archiving, keyword flagging, and filtering and permissions.


• Social Signals tool notifies local users (i.e., financial agents or advisors) of important events in the lives of their social connections, including marriage, the birth of a baby, a new job, or new home.


• Features 24 standard reports that monitor content activity and engagement, reach and audience growth, and lead generation.

• Generates unlimited customized reports that roll up at the local, regional, and/or national level.

A full-time data analytics team is available to develop more customized reports.

• Offers dynamic hierarchies that report data automatically to the client’s internal hierarchies via LDAP as well as automatically updates hierarchies to match any organizational changes.

• Three sets of dashboards are included:Corporate or brand marketing (CMO);Legal and compliance officers; andLocal sales users (i.e., insurance agents or financial advisors).

• Tracks enterprise platform adoption rates by geographic region to allow clients to evaluate internal use.


• Out-of-the box integration with content archiving and analytics platforms such as LiveOffice and Symantec.

• Enterprise APIs provide integration with CRMs including Salesforce.

• Plug-ins available to open ID and SSO standards for single sign on.

Pricing and Support

• Undisclosed pricing structure based on number of seats and locations.

• Customer Success organization provides training, product support, and strategic services (included in the base price).




Vendor Profiles



HootSuite 5 East 8th AvenueVancouver, BCV5T 1R6 Canada@hootsuite www.hootsuite.com

Target Customer

• Enterprises, SMBs, and agencies that represent brands in the higher education, technology, financial services, retail, entertainment, and government sectors

Key Customers

HBOIKEAOrange TelecomSony MusicVirgin Group Ltd.World Wildlife Fund (WWF)

Key Executives

Ryan Holmes, CEOSteve Johnson, CROJames Rumble, CFOAjai Sehgal, CTO

Company Background

• Founded in November 2008• Raised $165 million in venture funding in August 2013 from Insight Venture Partners,

Accel Partners, and existing investor OMERS Ventures• Numerous acquisitions since March 2010 include:

Social intelligence platform uberVU (January 2014)Social media management tool Seesmic (September 2012)Location-based marketing tool Geotoko (October 2011)Twitter analytics tools TwapperKeeper and What the Trend (September 2011)Browser add-ons Twitter Bar (April 2011)Android app developer Swift App (March 2010)

Product Overview

• A global platform that covers 175-plus countries and 16 languages. • Solution Partner Program allows agencies to offer the platform to clients.• uberVU analytics capabilities available as either a standalone product or an

integrated platform app.




Vendor Profiles




• Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, Foursquare, and WordPress.

International social networks Tencent Weibo, VK.com, Orkut, Xing, and Renren.

• HootSuite App Directory offers integration with over 90 social network apps including Instagram, YouTube, Tumblr, Salesforce, Zendesk, MailChimp and Yammer.


• Create, approve, schedule, geo-target, and set privacy options for all content assets.

• RSS feeds can be used for automated publishing.

• Hootlet extension enables content sharing between the web and multiple social networks.


• Secure Profiles require all content to be manually reviewed before being published or scheduled.

• Users can be organized by team, department or project.

Permissions applied to view, edit, or publish content to specific social networks across teams or to individuals.Users can apply a “review-required” permission for content coming from specific users.

• Assignments feature routes incoming social messages to specific users for attention and follow up.

• Conversations feature allows real-time social media collaboration within the HootSuite dashboard.


• uberVU’s social listening tools are

available as both a standalone tool or integrated within the HootSuite platform.

• Monitors Twitter lists, Facebook feeds, LinkedIn industry conversations, and Google+ circles.

• Users can search publicly available social updates and posts with keywords, @mentions, and hashtags.

• Search results can be filtered by keyword, sender location, language, and Klout score.


• Includes 40-plus analytics modules to build customized reports.

• Proprietary ow.ly URL shortener provides end-to-end link tracking.


• App Directory is included with enterprise license and offers integration with analytics and marketing automation tools such as Socialcast, Yammer, Webtrends, Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics, Zendesk, Get Satisfaction, and Marketo.

• Offers compliance integration to support social media activity in regulated industries through partnerships with Nexgate and OpenQ.

Pricing and Support

• Enterprise pricing available upon request.

• Annual contract required for enterprise level product.

Includes unlimited social profiles, and access to enhanced analytics, integration, compliance, and security.Tier One support included in Enterprise accounts offers a dedicated account manager, personalized account set-up, HootSuite University, professional





Vendor Profiles



Product Detailstraining, and custom invoicing.HootSuite University is an online support portal, which provides online education on social media strategy and thought leadership, as well as platform training, testing and certification.





Vendor Profiles



Manalto1507 7th Street, Suite 207Santa Monica CA 90401(T) 310-266-8874www.manalto.com

Target Customer

• Multi-location brands across a wide range of industries

Key Customers

Does not release client information

Key Executives

Anthony Owen, President/ Founder Patrick Fong, CTOMegan Owen, CMO

Company Overview

• Originally founded in 2011 as Australian-based business addressing social media management needs of multi-site, multi-brand organizations

• Established U.S.-based business in December 2013 to serve global customer base

Product Overview

• Positioned as SMMS for single and multi-site organizations needing to integrate social media into their core operational and marketing activities.

• Uses responsive design to optimize for desktop, tablet, and mobile devices. • Scalable, cloud-based software with built-in security and control measures.

http://www.manalto.com/



Vendor Profiles




• Facebook and Twitter.• Planned release for Google+, LinkedIn,

Pinterest, YouTube, Foursquare, Slideshare, Tumblr, and Instagram during 2014.


• Features drag-and-drop editor with widgets (text, image, maps, iframe, Twitter and Facebook fees, polling, and competitions).

• Integrates existing ecommerce infrastructure.

• Centralized asset library to store and share approved branded assets and content.


• Granular user permissions based on role or task.

Permissions can be assigned at the single user or group levels.Clients can structure permissions to mirror the existing corporate and marketing structure through geographic filters. Internal and external user collaboration security available.

• Single sign-on with the ability to view social accounts as per assigned permissions.


• Integrated with supported networks standard analytics.

• Aggregates analytics from multiple social media profiles into a single head office view.


• Built-in auditing and tracking to view and monitor user updates and posts across networks.


• Planned for 2014. Pricing and Support

• Flat fee enterprise pricing based on number of locations or units.

• Self-service pricing ranges from $30-$300/month.

• No annual contract required.• 30-day free trial available.• Enterprise support includes account

managers.• 24/7 online support available to all

clients.

Manalto1507 7th Street, Suite 207Santa Monica CA 90401(T) 310-266-8874www.manalto.com




Vendor Profiles



Marketwired (Sysomos)25 York Street, Suite 900Toronto, OntarioM5J 2V5(T) 866-483-3338

U.S. Headquarters100 N. Sepulveda Boulevard, Suite 325El Segundo, CA 90245(T) 800-774-9473

www.marketwired.comwww.sysomos.com

Target Customer

• SMBs to enterprises and agencies in a wide range of industries

Key Customers

Coca-ColaCBSInterbrandMarriotUPSWaggener Edstrom

Key Executives

Jim Delaney, CEO, MarketwiredStephen Devito, CFOAdnan Ahmed, CSOStu Ogawa EVP, Product and Technology

Company Overview

• PR content and distribution service Marketwire founded in October 1983Majority owned by Toronto-based OMERS Private Equity

• Acquired social intelligence and analytics platform Sysomos in July 2010• Rebranded the combined companies as Marketwired in April 2013• Announced a strategic technology partnership in April 2014 with Clarabridge to

integrate Clarabridge’s customer experience management solution into Marketwired• More than 20 additional offices in Canada, the U.S., South America, Asia, and the

U.K.

Product Overview

• PR distribution and social media engagement, monitoring, and analytics platform.• Social media management capabilities centered in two Sysomos-powered tools:

Marketwired MAP (Media Analysis Platform); a social research and analytics solution.Marketwired Heartbeat, a real-time social media monitoring and engagement platform.

http://www.marketwired.com/


http://www.sysomos.com/


Vendor Profiles




• Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.


• Available through three tools:Heartbeat: Enables users to schedule posts, respond to tweets and blog posts, and update Facebook and Twitter accounts.Facebook Central: Automatic moderation and email notifications for new posts and comments.Engagement Central: Links management of Twitter accounts and Facebook fan pages in a single interface. Users can send messages, track conversations, manage approvals, and follow/unfollow Twitter accounts.

• A Twitter Certified Partner.


• Workflow management tools included in Heartbeat, Facebook Central, and Engagement Central identify, assign, and distribute social media content development, posting, and moderation responsibilities to individuals or departments.

• Workflow processes can be created for sales, customer service, campaign management, product development, or crisis control.

• Mobile Heartbeat dashboard added in November 2013 to add increased capabilities for mobile Heartbeat users.


• Collects 16 million-plus posts every hour, from blogs, forums, news sites, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Flickr, LinkedIn, and numerous other social network services.

Two-year database of social

conversations includes more than 100 billion posts, tweets, mentions, and videos.

• Automated sentiment engine analyzes and scores multi-lingual content as positive, negative, or neutral.

• Identifies influencers by industry, demographics, and geography.

• Industry benchmarking by brand, competitor, and keyword.


• Two types of reports available:Competitive Intelligence: Benchmarks social media presence against two or more competitors including total mentions, conversation drivers and trends, comparison of brands, companies, people.Brand Mention Trends: Tracks mentions across supported networks and blogs by country or network, influencer ID, sentiment analysis and conversation themes.

• Report analysis provided by Marketwired staff and delivered either weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annually.

White labeling available for agencies.Delivered in PPT or PDF formats.


• Offers four APIs for data; charts, trends and sentiment; engagement and workflow; and analytics to facilitate access to social media data, as well as existing customer CRM systems.

• Integrates with Google Analytics for side-by-side web visitor and social metrics

Pricing and Support

• Pricing and support information not available.

Marketwired (Sysomos)25 York Street, Suite 900Toronto, OntarioM5J 2V5(T) 866-483-3338

U.S. Headquarters100 N. Sepulveda Boulevard, Suite 325El Segundo, CA 90245(T) 800-774-9473

www.marketwired.comwww.sysomos.com


http://www.sysomos.com/



Vendor Profiles



Oracle Social Cloud500 Oracle ParkwayRedwood Shores, CA 94065(T) 800-392-2999www.oracle.com/us/solutions/social/overview/index.html

Target Customer

• Enterprises and agencies

Key Customers

GMLEGOMcDonald’sHusqvarnaNBC Sports GroupKohl’s

Key Executives, Oracle Social Cloud

Meg Bear, Group Vice President Reggie Bradford, SVP, Product Strategy, OracleErika Brookes, VP, Product StrategyTara Roberts, VP, Product ManagementMike Strutton, VP, Product Management

Company Overview (Oracle Corporate)

• Founded in 1977• Made three significant social media management acquisitions in 2012

Vitrue (May)Collective Intellect (June)Involver in (July)

• Oracle Social Cloud launched Oracle Social Relationship Management (SRM) in March 2013, a result of the rapid integration of the three acquisitions into a single social media management platform.

Product Overview

• Oracle Social Cloud includes three main products – Social Engagement & Monitoring Cloud (SE&M), Social Marketing Cloud (SM), and Social Network (SN) – and the services that allow marketers to centrally create, publish, moderate, manage, measure, and report in real time across multiple social campaigns and platforms.

• SRM is the unified SE&M and SM products. SRM has an open API-based paid social media strategy through a Paid Media Partnership program. Partners include Kenshoo, Nanigans, and SHIFT.

http://www.oracle.com/us/solutions/social/overview/index.html




Vendor Profiles



Product Details

Oracle Social Cloud500 Oracle ParkwayRedwood Shores, CA 94065(T) 800-392-2999www.oracle.com/us/solutions/social/overview/index.html


• Facebook, Google+, Twitter, and YouTube.

• Localized UIs in 31 languages; advanced listening in multiple languages, including Chinese, Spanish and Portuguese; and support for international social networks including Sina Weibo, Baidu, Reclameaqui, and Vostu.


• Includes the social publishing and monitoring tools previously available as Vitrue.

• Content management platform includes 55 apps (polls, quizzes, coupons, Instagram modules, and video/YouTube gadgets), as well as drag-and-drop page creation.

• Landing pages feed into marketing automation platform Oracle Eloqua


• Users can set up, track, and manage required actions; collaborate with co-workers; and schedule content across channels.

• Role-based security features include internal and external users such as agency staff.


• Access to more than 700 million daily social messages.

• KPI dashboard detects social signals and analyzes sentiment.

• Influencer indicators and tracking.• Signals are automatically categorized

(positive, neutral, negative) and routed.• Unique LSA (Latent Semantic Analysis)

+ Keyword + Boolean, combined with a proprietary algorithm, for contextual, more precise listening.

• Advanced listening available in 11-plus languages.


• 200-plus metrics available.• Content tracked at the campaign and

post levels. • Advanced, visual dashboards for ease

of understanding and reporting.• Drill-down capabilities inside analytics

dashboards for more precise metrics. • Oracle SRM Mobile available for users

to access SRM via mobile devices.


• Out-of-the-box integration with Oracle applications including Eloqua, Siebel, RightNow, ATG (ecommerce), Fusion CRM, and Oracle CRM.

• Built-in integration with Oracle Platform Services, including Oracle Java Cloud Service and Oracle Database Cloud Service, enabling marketing teams to integrate social with their custom Web pages, landing pages, and marketing tools.

• Third-party integrations available through certified Oracle partner network.

Pricing and Support

• Offers four package options -- Essential, Select, Advanced, and Elite -- via monthly subscription starting at less than $5,000.

• Platform installation, training, and phone-based support included in pricing.

• Add-on Oracle Premier Support provides 24/7 technical assistance and product updates.

• Oracle Social Cloud provides add-on consultation services for social media strategy, brand management, digital marketing, and social engagement.





Vendor Profiles



Salesforce ExactTarget Marketing Cloud20 N Meridian StreetIndianapolis, IN 46204(T) 866-362-4538www.salesforce.com/marketing-cloud/overview/

Target Customer

• Large enterprises in the healthcare, financial services, high tech, manufacturing, retail, and travel and transportation industries

Key Executives

Scott Dorsey, CEO, Salesforce ExactTarget Marketing CloudScott McCorkle, President, Technology and Strategy, Salesforce ExactTarget Marketing CloudMarcel LeBrun, SVP, Products, Salesforce ExactTarget Marketing CloudMichael Lazerow, CMO, Salesforce ExactTarget Marketing Cloud

Key Customers

American Red CrossCiscoFordGEJetBlueUnilever

Company Overview

• Founded in 1999 and went public in June 2004• Acquired social media monitoring platform Radian6 in March 2011• In June 2012, purchased social media marketing platform Buddy Media

Launched Salesforce Marketing Cloud in September 2012 with the combined social media management capabilities of Buddy Media and Radian6

• Acquired global digital marketing provider ExactTarget in July 2013

Product Overview

• Integrates ExactTarget’s digital marketing apps and platform with Salesforce’s social marketing products – Buddy Media, Radian6, and Social.com.

http://www.salesforce.com/marketing-cloud/overview/




Vendor Profiles




• Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter, and YouTube in the U.S.

• International networks Sina Weibo, Tencent, and VK.com.


• Customizable content allows users to target posts using demographic data for tailored experiences across global channels.

• Users can publish the same content from social channels to brand blogs, forums, or microsites through Open Web coverage.

• Content management system includes over 60 social apps pre-built for social, mobile, and web experiences.

• Automatically routes leads to Salesforce.

• Manages multiple social accounts from a single workspace to publish content as one-offs or en masse.

• SocialPages™ publishes content to Facebook fan pages without IT or design support.


• Permission rules defined at the corporate level and across departments to designate viewing, editing, moderating, and posting hierarchies.

Definitions can include social network, department, region, country, or language.

• Teams can tag, classify, assign, and share insights on posts of interest or concern, and track and capture all responses and outcomes.

• Assignment tag allows users to assign a post to a specific team member for follow up.

Users can set priority levels and add notes, post and source tags before assigning it.


• Monitors one billion-plus sources from Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, blogs, news, and more. Route social media posts to any user across your organization for insight or follow-up.

• Social Insights add-on tool uses social analytic partners to provide sentiment, advanced demographics, intent, and more.

• Social Hub provides a process automation engine for socially connected organizations.

• Radian6 API connects social data to legacy applications and services.

Optimized for mobile use.


• Users can create multiple, custom dashboards via a library of drag-and-drop widgets.

Third-Party Integrations

• Out-of-the-box integration with Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics, and Webtrends.

• Seamless integration with Salesforce platforms including Service Cloud and Sales Cloud.

• Social Insights add-on program provides integration with analytics software such as Klout, OpenAmplify, and OpenCalais.

• Open API and SDK to facilitate data export and integration into third-party systems, or the development of custom applications.

Pricing and Support

• Enterprise pricing begins at $1,500 per month.

Average annual enterprise pricing not disclosed.

• Social.com pricing is based on






Vendor Profiles



Product Detailspercentage of total social ad spend made through the application.

• Standard support plan includes online training and resources, and two-day response time.

• Premium-priced support includes 24/7 phone and online support and one-hour response time.

Unlimited online training and customizable training templates.Dedicated support staff to review programs and recommend best practices.






Vendor Profiles



Shoutlet 1 Erdman Place, Suite 102Madison, WI 53717(T) 608-833-0088www.shoutlet.com

Target Customer

• Enterprises and large agencies

Key Customers

Best BuyFour Seasons Hotels & ResortsMitsubishiKohlerNASCARShutterfly

Key Executives

Mark Herrington, CEOAaron Everson, President and CSO Teresa Caro, SVP, Industry SolutionsGreg Gerik, VP, Product Marketing

Company Overview

• Launched January 2010• Raised $24.2 million in three rounds of funding• Additional offices in New York; Chicago; San Francisco; Atlanta; London; Milwaukee;

and South Jordan, Utah

Product Overview

• Positioned as an enterprise social relationship platform designed to measure social return, integrate social data into the business, and scale social across the enterprise.

Core feature is Shoutlet Profiles, a customer affinity database used to optimize marketing across channels.

http://www.shoutlet.com/



Vendor Profiles




• Facebook, Foursquare, Google+, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube; as well as social sites driven by RSS feeds.


• Social Canvas tool provides drag-and-drop social, landing page, and microsite publishing from multimedia content libraries.

Includes video and rotating image apps, as well as Pinterest plug-ins.

• Social Switchboard tool enables campaigns to be triggered by specified actions or metrics.


• Corporate account holders pre-approve content for lower level subaccounts (brands or locations).

Each subaccount has an additional three levels of permissions or roles to control content access and use.


• Rates content as positive or negative using a proprietary combination of natural language processing (NLP) and machine-learning techniques.

• Automatically tracks Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+, Flickr, and Reddit conversations, as well as blogs and online news sources.

• Provides publicly accessible Klout scores for each user who generates a search result on Twitter.


• 50-plus standard reports, including numbers of likes, fans, followers, and views.

• Facebook tab allows clients to promote specific products or pages then track user shares and conversions.

• Tagging system lets clients track third-party web analytics data.


• Open API provides drag-and-drop integration with CRM systems including Salesforce, email service providers (ESPs) such as BlueHornet, and web analytics platforms such as Google Analytics and Adobe Analytics.

Pricing and Support

• Corporate and enterprise pricing based on number of users and subaccounts.

Average annual corporate pricing is $80,000.Average annual enterprise pricing is $300,000-plus.

• Annual contract is required.• Strategic consulting services are

included.• Online training portal features videos

and user guides; 24/7 tech support is included.

Shoutlet 1 Erdman Place, Suite 102Madison, WI 53717(T) 608-833-0088www.shoutlet.com




Vendor Profiles



Spredfast 200 W. Cesar Chavez, Suite 600Austin, TX 78701(T) 512-538-0460www.spredfast.com

Target Customer

• Large enterprises with multiple brands and locations

Key Customers

AARPAT&T ChobaniGeneral Mills REIWhole Foods Market

Key Executives

Rod Favaron, President & CEO Jim Rudden, CMO Manish Mehta, Chief Product OfficerVirginia Miracle, Chief Customer Officer

Company Background

• Founded in March 2008• Raised $64.1 million in four funding rounds, including $32.5 million in January 2014

from LeadEdge Capital• Existing investors include Austin Ventures, InterWest Partners, and OpenView Venture

Partners• Announced merger with Mass Relevance in April 2014

Product Overview

• Caters to large, multi-location or multi-brand enterprises with a need to organize, audit, execute, and track social marketing content and campaigns by department, brand or geography.

• Combined Spredfast/Mass Relevance platform expands capabilities into owned digital properties, in-person venues (stadiums) and broadcast television.

http://www.spredfast.com/



Vendor Profiles




• Bazaarvoice, Blogger, Facebook, Flickr, Foursquare, Google+, LinkedIn, Lotus, Slideshare, WordPress, Twitter, and YouTube.

• Listening only for Pinterest.


• Users can create original content or choose assets from a central pre-approved content library.


• Customizable workflow settings allow clients to assign any number of approval groups throughout the content/campaign development process.

• Users can tag and assign content assets to other users and track response times.

• Built-in functionality allows tweets to be tagged as an open issue and delegated or escalated to the appropriate expert or department.


• Provides sentiment scores for individual comments, as well as aggregated data to evaluate conversations over variable timeframes.

• Further sentiment analysis available through partnerships with third-party listening tools such as Brandwatch and Crimson Hexagon.


• Insights provides multiple views into activities across all social networks and accounts, including a roll-up view of all social properties.

• Tracks aggregated metrics such as social activity (posts, tweets, retweets), reach (fans, followers, shares) and engagement (likes, comments).

45 configurable reports or widgets allow users to drill deeper into data, including measuring the top 10 content posts by audience or engagement, or best engagement days and times.

• Enables users to drill into individual accounts and messages, such as audience insights, engagement trends, and content analysis.

• Comparative analytics enable clients to perform side-by-side comparisons of accounts, initiatives, content labels, and more.

• Available to mobile users through the Spredfast iPhone application in the iTunes store.


• Open API and Partner Program enables integration with technologies including Brandwatch, Bazaarvoice, Kenshoo, Actiance, Bitly, Crimson Hexagon, Google Analytics, Klout, Omniture, Opal, Salesforce, and Symantec.

Pricing and Support

• Base platform fee with additional charges as users, brands, and modules increase.

• Average annual enterprise pricing ranges from $30,000 to $60,000 for a single brand or geography to $100,000-plus for multiple brands and locations.

• Annual contracts are not required, but encouraged for volume discounts.

• 24/7 customer support and standard training included.

• Additional cost for system configuration, training, and implementation services.

• Add-on strategic services, i.e. advanced analytics and content strategy development, also available.

• Add-on modules, i.e. Spredfast Performance Index or Social Application Builder, are also available.

Spredfast 200 W. Cesar Chavez, Suite 600Austin, TX 78701(T) 512-538-0460www.spredfast.com




Vendor Profiles



Sprinklr 29 W. 35th Street, 8th FloorNew York, NY, 10001(T) 917-933-7800www.sprinklr.com

Target Customer

• Enterprises in the financial services, retail, technology, and travel/hospitality industries

Key Customers

CiscoCitiIHG Intel MicrosoftVerizon

Key Executives

Ragy Thomas, CEOChris Lynch, CFOMurali Swaminathan, COO/CTOMichael Logan, VP, Sales

Company Overview

• Founded in September 2009• Raised $77.5 million from Tier 1 investors: Iconiq Capital, Intel Capital, and Battery

Ventures• Acquired Dachis Group in April 2014 for social media analytics, content optimization,

and employee advocacy features• A Twitter Certified Partner, Facebook Preferred Marketing Partner, LinkedIn Social

Media Management Partner, and Google+ Partner

Product Overview

• Social@Scale™ comprises 19 integrated modules for managing customer social media experiences across teams, functions, divisions, and locations.

Standard modules include Publishing and Planner, Social Asset Management (tagging, workflow, and analytics), Social Governance, and Social Automation.

• Tools include rules engine to manage workflow, tagging, routing, volume alerting, and emergency outbound shutoff; custom macros; and automated workflow.

New modules via Dachis Group acquisition include Brand Analytics, Content Lifecycle Optimization, Employee Advocacy, and Compliance Reporting.

• Paid social media services connect paid social media budgets with social messages to boost posts.

Associates paid social media with campaigns to determine paid, earned, owned contributions.Reporting on paid performance across all social network channels.

http://www.sprinklr.com/



Vendor Profiles




• U.S.-based: Facebook, Flickr, Foursquare, Google+, Instagram, LinkedIn, SlideShare, Tumblr, Twitter, WordPress, and YouTube.

• International: Renren, Sina Weibo, Tencent Weibo, QQ, and Vkontakte.


• Social Application Suite allows users to develop and deploy social applications including polls, surveys, and contests.

• Facebook tab management feature lets users target Facebook users by segments such as language or fan vs. non-fan, using centrally approved templates and permissions.

Geo-targeting is supported as well. Integrated Facebook pages automatically feed web analytics or CRM systems.

• Custom URL shortener and bit.ly links available.

• Social Asset Manager serves as content repository and maintains performance data at item level to facilitate discovery and dissemination to maximize impact and minimize cost.


• Governance controls at corporate, regional, and local levels.

• Manages multichannel social conversations, content, audiences, and campaigns across departments and functional teams.

• Automation Rules Engine to support message processing at scale.

• Message queuing, tiered approvals, and customizable workflows (automated and manual).

• All user profiles show internal and external messages, and conversations.

• Custom profile properties can be created to help clients map existing corporate taxonomy to social customers.


• Automated sentiment analysis through internally developed seven-layer Natural Language Processing (NLP) engine, which automatically detects and flags questions, complaints, and compliments through three types of analytics:

Influence Index: Algorithm that measures the impact of brand conversations with audiences. Engagement or Participation Index: Rates sentiment related to individual accounts. Quality Index: Assesses the type and frequency of user messaging.


• Hundreds of out-of-the-box metrics available as customizable widgets, offering views by campaign, channel, or message.

Report widgets exported into Excel in one click. Operational reporting metrics include average response time, allowing brands to connect social activity to key performance indicators such as SLAs and NPS.

• Users can create and share an unlimited number of dashboards.

Reports can be shared automatically on a prescheduled daily, weekly, or monthly basis.


• Open APIs support integration with analytics and CRM tools including Salesforce, IBM Digital Analytics, Google Analytics, and Adobe Analytics.

Data aggregation relationships with DataSift, GNIP, BoardReader, and NewsGator.Out-of-the-box integration with any customer RSS feeds.





Vendor Profiles



Product DetailsPricing and Support

• Average annual enterprise pricing is $150,000.

• Four-to-eight week average implementation time.

• Add-on strategic consulting services available.

Formalized services partnerships with firms including Accenture and Deloitte.





Vendor Profiles



Sprout Social131 S. Dearborn St., 10th FloorChicago, IL 60603(T) 866-878-3231http://sproutsocial.com

Target Customer

• SMBs, agencies, and enterprises in the retail, marketing, media, education, hospitality, healthcare, and technology industries

Key Customers

HyattNokiaSpotifyUPSZipcar

Key Executives

Justyn Howard, CEOAaron Rankin, CTOEric Christopher, SVP, Sales Andrew Caravella, VP, Marketing

Company Overview

• Founded in 2010• Received $11 million in two rounds of funding from New Enterprise Associates (NEA)

Lightbank

Product Overview

• Publishing, engagement and analytics platform focused on Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

• Mobile apps for iPhone, iPad, and Android with message scheduling and publishing, task and feed management, keywords searches, contact history access, and sent-message stats.

http://sproutsocial.com



Vendor Profiles




• Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, and Twitter


• Simultaneous posting to Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn.

Drafts feature saves incomplete posts and enables peer review.Short URLs (Bit.ly), photo attachments, Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ targeting offered through customized posts.Publishing queue available for automated, scheduled content delivery.

• ViralPost™ technology analyzes audience patterns to provide optimal times for content delivery.

• Content can be shared from the web app, mobile apps, Chrome extensions, a bookmarklet (a bookmark stored in a web browser that contains JavaScript commands to extend the browser’s functionality), and RSS readers.


• Smart Inbox creates a single stream for all brand social activity, including messages, actions, and alerts.

Users can assign tasks and route messages to other users.Live activity updates help prevent duplication of real-time collaboration efforts.

• Social media messages managed as customer support tickets, with tracking and resolution completed within the dashboard.

• Internal CRM archives the history of each social relationship, including contact information and notes.

• Access controls at the individual level

to provide “read only,” draft, and full publishing permissions.

• Flexible group structure supports all types of businesses.


• Messages from connected profiles shown in real-time in the Smart Inbox.

• Relevant brand keywords and mentions monitored in real-time.

Keywords tracked for products, brand mentions, topics and more.

• Trends report shows frequently mentioned Twitter topics, hashtags and influencers.


• Reporting at the group and profile levels.

• Tracks clicks, responses, and reach.Includes message performance for Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.

• Unlimited reporting and exporting, including PDF and CSV options.

White label reports customized with brand logos.

• Team and engagement reports include response rate and average response time.

• Competitive benchmarking offered for engagement and influence metrics.

• Reporting API to integrate social data from Sprout into other internal tools.


• Bidirectional integration with Salesforce.

• Helpdesk feature integrates with Zendesk and UserVoice.

• RSS integration with Feedly.• Google Analytics integration.





Vendor Profiles



Product DetailsPricing and Support

• Enterprise pricing starts at $1,500 for 10 users/month and includes advanced permissions and security, platform training and 24/7 support.

Average annual customer spend not available.No annual contract required.

• 30-day free trial available.• Product training and support included

with pricing.





Vendor Profiles



Tracx104 W. 27th Street, Third FloorNew York, NY 10001(T) 646-448-5310www.tracx.com

Target Customer

• Enterprises in the retail, financial, media, CPG, pharmaceutical, and technology industries

Key Customers

BMWKraftHuluPirelliSamsungSears

Key Executives

Eran Gilad, CEOPedro Laboy, CSOTodd Harrington, SVP, Marketing and Client ServicesAdi Kleiman, VP, Products

Company Overview

• Founded in 2010• 350-plus clients• Financially backed by Flybridge Capital Partners, Rutledge Partners, and Revel

Partners• Additional offices in London and Tel Aviv

Product Overview

• Positioned as a social enterprise platform built around big data.• Refines and analyzes social data to build a 360-degree view of activity around a

brand, product, or ecosystem.

http://www.tracx.com/



Vendor Profiles




• Facebook, Flickr, Foursquare, Google+, Instagram, LinkedIn, Places, Reddit, Twitter, Tumblr, and YouTube.

• Over 150 million blogs, 50,000 news sites, 200,000 forums, and 20,000 retail sites.


• Publishing module allows simultaneous posting to all supported social networks.

• Supports shortened URLs and rich media uploads.

• Message drafts allow for saving and reviewing ideas.


• Permission hierarchy includes view-only, view-and-edit, admin, company admin, and more.

• Flagged posts are sent to a unified inbox, assigned as tasks, and tracked to completion.

• Messages can be tagged to enable filtering options.


• Monitors complete conversation threads to detect keywords and brand mentions.

• Sentiment algorithms automatically assign a positive, negative, or neutral rating to all posts, with accuracy down to individual entities within a particular post.

Sentiment engine employs machine learning to improve classification automation over time.


• Measured data points include conversations, posts, interactions, and mentions.

• Data can be segmented by location, demographics, and psychographic insights.

• Multiple, customizable reporting templates are available including social overview, community overview, mention analysis, influencers, and engagement.

• Unlimited number of customizable dashboards can be built with a drag-and-drop widget.

• Reports can be exported as PDF, XLS, CSV, XML, and JSON files and set up for automated email delivery.


• Out-of-the-box integration with any system that has an API, including SugarCRM, Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics, and LivePerson Chat.

• Multiple APIs including data, streaming, and query.

Pricing and Support

• Annual contracts are required and start at $2,000/month.

• Flexible pricing models can be scaled according to product or company team.

• Account management services are offered for every contract.

Tracx104 W. 27th Street, Third FloorNew York, NY 10001(T) 646-448-5310www.tracx.com




Vendor Profiles



Votigo251 Lafayette Circle, Suite 330Lafayette, CA 94549(T) 800-519-1850www.votigo.com

Target Customer

• B2C enterprises in the retail, travel, hospitality, and media industries as well as large agencies

Key Customers

BETGoProLive Nation SharpieSony Online EntertainmentStarwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

Key Executives

Mike La Rotonda, Co-CEO and FounderJim Risner, Co-CEO and FounderManinder Singh, SVP, Technology

Company Overview

• Founded in 2006• Received $1.3 million in Series A funding from Headwaters Holdings and additional

angel investors in 2008

Product Overview

• Modular suite focused on publishing and app creation, particularly social media promotions, contests, and sweepstakes across social networks, mobile, and the web.

• A social CRM component tracks and nurtures contacts.

http://www.votigo.com/



Vendor Profiles




• Facebook, Google+, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter, Vine, and YouTube.

Supports over 40 languages.


• Social Conversation Manager allows users to build and post photo and video galleries, forms, surveys, and apps to Facebook pages.

• Contest and sweepstakes creation and management available for social networks, mobile, and websites.

• Social media updates can be scheduled in advance and targeted by location and language.


• Permissions available as “sub-accounts,” which can be used for teams, individuals, locations, branches, or franchises.

• Sub-account performance is tracked and available through exportable reports.


• Social Contacts tool monitors and manages multiple brands and channels.


• Tracks and measures engagement, shares, and contest entries across social channels.

• Individual posts can be evaluated for engagement.


• Multiple APIs to create custom integrations and applications.

Included in enterprise and premium promotion pricing.

• Add-on professional services to develop custom integrations for third-party systems such as CRM and email.

Pricing and Support

• Customized enterprise pricing based on number of users, pages, brands and/or locations.

• $25,000 average annual customer spend.

• Dedicated account and support managers included.

Votigo251 Lafayette Circle, Suite 330Lafayette, CA 94549(T) 800-519-1850www.votigo.com






ResourcesBlogs

The Web Strategist by Jeremiah Owyang. http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/home/ Techipedia by Tamar Weinberg. http://www.techipedia.com/

Websites

www.marketingland.comwww.searchengineland.com

Articles

“Exclusive: Argyle Social CEO Explains Why His Durham Startup Folded,” by Lauren K. Ohnesorge, Staff Writer, Triangle Business Journal. http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/blog/techflash/2014/04/exclusive-durham-based-argyle-social-ceo-tells-us.html?page=all“Facebook Rolls Out ‘Business Manager’ Tool for Marketers,” by Todd Wasserman, Mashable Business and Marketing Editor. http://mashable.com/2014/04/28/facebook-business-manager/ “How to Use Brand Ambassadors to Drive Social Media Success,” by Steve Olenski, Senior Creative Content Specialist, Responsys. http://marketingland.com/how-to-use-brand-ambassadors-to-drive-social-media-success-66669“Social Networks Generate Least Loyalty in 2014 Brand Keys Survey,” by Matt McGee, Editor-in-Chief, Marketing Land. http://marketingland.com/social-networks-generate-least-loyalty-2014-brand-keys-survey-73587 “Study: Positive Online Sharing Increases Purchase Intent By 9.5%,” by Greg Finn, Director of Marketing, Cypress North. http://marketingland.com/study-extremely-positive-online-shares-increase-purchase-intent-9-5-82124“Watch Out Twitter and Google Plus+, Facebook’s News Feed is Getting Smarter and Smarter,” by Anthony Wing Kosner, Contributor, Forbes. http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonykosner/2014/04/28/watch-out-twitter-and-google-facebooks-news-feed-is-getting-smarter-and-smarter/

Research Reports

The State of Social Business 2013: The Maturing of Social Media into Social Business, by Brian Solis and Charlene Li, with Jessica Groopman, Jaimy Szymanski, and Christine Tran. www.altimetergroup.com

Shiny Object or Digital Intelligence Hub? Evolution of the Enterprise Social Media Command Center, by Susan Etlinger with Andrew Jones And Charlene Li. www.altimetergroup.com

The Return On A Share Report, by Dr. Yan Chu, VP of Data Science and Matthew Wolfrom, VP of Marketing, Share This. http://sharethismoment.com/

US Digital Future in Focus 2014, comScore, https://www.comscore.com/Insights/Presentations_and_Whitepapers/2014/2014_US_Digital_Future_in_Focus

The Digital Consumer, February 2014, The Nielsen Company, http://www.nielsen.com/content/dam/corporate/us/en/reports-downloads/2014%20Reports/the-digital-consumer-report-feb-2014.pdf

http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/home/

http://www.techipedia.com/

www.marketingland.com

http://searchengineland.com

http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/blog/techflash/2014/04/exclusive-durham-based-argyle-social-ceo-tells-us.html?page=all

http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/blog/techflash/2014/04/exclusive-durham-based-argyle-social-ceo-tells-us.html?page=all

http://mashable.com/2014/04/28/facebook-business-manager/

http://marketingland.com/how-to-use-brand-ambassadors-to-drive-social-media-success-66669

http://marketingland.com/social-networks-generate-least-loyalty-2014-brand-keys-survey-73587

http://marketingland.com/study-extremely-positive-online-shares-increase-purchase-intent-9-5-82124

http://marketingland.com/study-extremely-positive-online-shares-increase-purchase-intent-9-5-82124

http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonykosner/2014/04/28/watch-out-twitter-and-google-facebooks-news-feed-is-getting-smarter-and-smarter/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonykosner/2014/04/28/watch-out-twitter-and-google-facebooks-news-feed-is-getting-smarter-and-smarter/

http://www.altimetergroup.com/

http://www.altimetergroup.com/

http://sharethismoment.com/

https://www.comscore.com/Insights/Presentations_and_Whitepapers/2014/2014_US_Digital_Future_in_Focus

https://www.comscore.com/Insights/Presentations_and_Whitepapers/2014/2014_US_Digital_Future_in_Focus

http://www.nielsen.com/content/dam/corporate/us/en/reports-downloads/2014%20Reports/the-digital-consumer-report-feb-2014.pdf

http://www.nielsen.com/content/dam/corporate/us/en/reports-downloads/2014%20Reports/the-digital-consumer-report-feb-2014.pdf

Documents

Enterprise Social Media Management Software 2014