While Social media monitoring tools are invaluable for helping with buzz tracking and for finding influencers, it’s important to take into  account the importance of human analysis.The results are not just about the quantitative metrics; it’s more nuanced than that and you need someone who can understand and interpret the data according to the needs of your business.

Click here to read the rest of post by FreshNetworks London which includes some great tools to find social media influencers.

My coaching clients and those who listen to me speak about social media have heard me say over and over again not to trust technology — ever. I caution people that although the delete button may appear to delete the information you’ve typed, it’s no guarantee no one will see it or for that matter that the information won’t be archived somewhere.  With that said,  I was very surprised recently how many posts I chose to delete when I upgraded to the new Facebook’s new timeline which is about to be imposed on everyone.

Timelines is just one of the many things announced in their F8 update and you’ll want to actively participate in.  I have many concerns, and just found a post which summarizes the problems and tells you how to protect yourself. It’s called 3 Fights to Expect When You Get the New Timeline.

Many of us know that social media marketing is an important part of a solid inbound marketing strategy. However, sometimes we need some backup when speaking with others who might still be struggling to understand how social media fits into the overall marketing mix. This post is for them — and you. Even if you are a veteran inbound marketer, these stats will get the gears in your head turning about the still limitless possibilities that the internet provides.

via 13 Mind-Bending Social Media Marketing Statistics.

Is social media marketing effective? That’s the question being asked as more and more businesses are investing in increasing amounts of social media marketing.  With no standard means of measurement, there’s a wide variety of goals and metrics used to define the ROI of social strategies. Fortunately, this enlightening infographic, developed by MDG Advertising, helps clear up the confusion by outlining the objectives, benefits and factors that affect the success of social media marketing.

Infographic by MDG Advertising

via Measuring Social Media ROI | How To Measure Social Media Success | Social Media Agency | MDG Advertising.

Already using Google+? Follow Mashable’s Pete Cashmore for the latest about the platform’s new features, tips and tricks as well as social media and technology updates.

Read the whole post via 7 Ways Google+ Users Are Getting More Out of Their Circles.

A short series of posts designed to help newbies understand some social media strategy behind the professional use of Twitter via Social Media Today.

Read the article… http://durhamregion.com/article/175808

Join the group… http://www.smpd.ca

Everything you do Twitter is out there for all to see, so you can have no excuse when the soup hits the fan.

via What is Your Tweet Volume Doing for Your Reputation? | Social Media Today.

Just read an interesting post on Mashable called Should You Outsource Your Social Media Efforts? which talks about how…

The costs for social media support can vary widely — some social media consultants charge a flat fee per month for an agreed-upon scope of work, while others charge by the hour, at rates varying from $50 to $100 or more per hour. Whatever the cost, the bar for success will be set much higher when you’re actually paying someone to do it. Make sure you’ve established some measurable goals to ensure that your social media spending is moving the needle for your business.

They speak to measuring ROI which has been a topic I’ve been researching these past few months, and love their suggestions as a starting point:

• Fan base growth:
  Hitting 1,000 fans or followers over a set period of time
• Customer acquisition:
  Getting 50 redemptions per campaign on social media offers
• Support of direct marketing:
  Adding 200 names to your e-mail database per month
• Engagement:
  Achieving 20% participation by your fan base (e.g. Facebook “likes” and comments)

How are YOU measuring social media ROI?

Loved this post by Oglivy “Time for Brands to Adopt a Comprehensive Social Media Strategy (and Why You Need One)“ which highlights three things a company needs to do to achieve the biggest impact possible with Social Media Campaigns:

1. Define their social brand — just how can they and should they participate in social media that is authentic to them. Not every company should put their 1,666 blogging employees in an aggregator like Microsoft.6 Not every brand should enlist women to tell men how they can score like Axe does via Facebook.
2. Decide how to move your organization to adopt social media best practices via an Enterprise Change Framework.
3. Establish a Marketing & Communications (Marcom) Social Media Engagement Framework outlining the best way for the organization to plan marcom programs.

If you need help getting more from your Social Media Campaign, please give me a call. It would be my pleasure to assist.