SNW - Jan 13 - Need to measure your presence in social media, but don't know where to start?
Meltwater Buzz has to be one of the best kept secrets on the web. This service is really every social media guru's playground. They cover over 270 million different social media sources (which include Twitter, blogs, Facebook, forums, etc), so if your company is being mentioned online, they will find it. They store up to 100,000 mentions for you, so you can definitely get a feel for what is being said about you or your company (both positive and negative). You are able to sort the data (mentions) in any way you want. A few of the filters include geographically, popularity, and keywords. If you are visual person, you are able to use keyword clouds filter. This will show you what words are used most to describe your company, and the more a word is used, the bigger it gets in the cloud. In a glance, you can see what words are used most to describe you or your company. You are also able to review the mentions of your site in either a data set or as a graph (or both) which allows you to reviews your mentions in the manner you are most comfortable with. If you need to send a certain mention to someone else, they have made it quite easy to do so with just a couple of clicks. If you are having any issues with the software, you have access to 24/7 support who will help walk you through your problem.
How much does a comprehensive tracking program like this cost? Well, that is the downfall of this software. For a one year license, the price is $13,000 and allows you 3 users/profiles. If you are just a small company looking to use this, you are able to track your competitors. However, I do see the price tag being cost prohibitive.
Monitoring your customers’ opinions is a long and trying process. It usually requires several programs (such as Tweet Beep, Google Blog Search, etc.) and requires constant monitoring. Meltwater Buzz removes all of the hassle and makes it much easier to comb through all of the data that is out there. If you are a company looking to engage your customers, this is great software. It makes listening and engaging child’s play if you can get past the price tag. - Lisa Martin
This post also appears at the SNC Forums.
