4 Social Media Tools for the Enterprise Level

So, once you decide which social media channel is right for you business, you have to find a way to measure the success of whatever it is you did with all those social media.

Well, just as social media can be used in all kinds of different ways, there are different tools out there to help you evaluate your social media efforts from different perspectives. Here’s an overview of the four most promising tools that I’ve used or demo’d in recent months.

Radian6 for Social Media Monitoring

Of all these tools, Radian6 offers the most extensive social media reporting, but that’s because this is all the tool does. The data can also be tailored for a variety of settings, including customer service, marketing, sales, and management.

With Radian6, users set-up monitoring campaigns according to branded or general keywords. This creates a “river of news” that includes every Tweet, blog post, or other social mention of those keywords. Users can then use a variety of parameters to package that data and export it around their needs.

Radian6 pricing varies according to the number of campaigns you’re monitoring and the volume of activity on those keywords. However, users can also set up any campaign for free for seven days to determine if its worth monitoring and how much it would cost to monitor it.

Update: Lauren Vargas from Radian6 left this comment elaborating on the platform’s features.

PostRank for Social Engagement

PostRank offers several services. The company is best known for offering an alternative a complement to Google’s PageRank by measuring off-site engagement. Essentially, PostRank helps publishers and PR folks measure the social impact of their content.

The way it works is that the PostRank algorithm assigns different values to different actions on the social web, such as Tweets, blogs or social bookmarks. The more effort that an action takes, the more it is worth in the eyes of the PostRank algorithm.

The PostRank of any piece of content helps publishers determine what kind of content to focus on (i.e. the most engaging), and PR agencies evaluate whether a piece of content actually resonated with the target audience.

Update: Melanie Baker from PostRank left this comment and elaborated on platform’s features. Edits above in italics.

Knowem for Reputation Management

KnowEm helps brands secure their name in the social media sphere. The platform also provides reporting on social media activity around branded usernames.

Depending on the package you choose, KnowEm will let you register your username on up to 300 social networks. Networks are also categories. Users can prioritize the kinds of communities that are most relevant to them.

The reporting function is like Google Alerts on steroids. In addition to tracking brand mentions, the software also trends those mentions in a way that helps users determine where in the world and on the web users are talking about their brand.

SocialTALK for Social Content Management

The SocialTALK suite of tools is geared for brands that produce and syndicate content across several different channels. SocialTALK also offers reporting on how that content performed in the social sphere.

SocialTALK provides an interface where content creators upload content for moderation. Once a moderator approves the content it can be syndicated to any number of outlets, such as company blogs, Facebook profiles and fan pages, and Twitter accounts.

After the content is syndicated, users can get reports on the comments, responses, likes, and shares that the content received. This helps publishers determine what kind of content worked best with what channel.

Do You Really Need Any of This?

If the goal of your social media activity is just to drive traffic, then Google Analytics can probably fill most of your reporting needs. But the real potential of the social web is that it exists in the cloud, away from your own site.

So if social media is a substantial part of your marketing, PR, or customer service strategies, you should probably consider some additional tools. Using something tailored to your needs and activity you can better determine what’s effective and how to invest your resources.

After all, the allure of social media for most business is its cost-effectiveness. Unlike media buys, so long as you have a competent in-house team, it doesn’t require any additional investment.

If your brand is actually investing employee time into social media you want to measure what’s working and what’s not so that your team isn’t wasting their time (and your money).

About CT Moore

A former Staff Editor here at Revenews.com, CT Moore is a recovering agency hack with over 7 years experience leveraging search and social media to help brands meet their business goals online. By day, he provides SEO and social content strategy to both SMBs and enterprise level companies in the tech, entertainment and travel industries, including Acquisio, Microsoft Canada, and Luxury Retreats. CT is also an accomplished blogger, podcaster, and conference speaker who educates groups and companies about how they can effectively leverage different online channels.

Website: http://www.gypsybandito.com

Twitter: gypsybandito