Data brokers: what do they know?
From Who Are Data Brokers, and What Do They Know? [Infographic] @ socialtimes.com:
You know those companies that maintain massive databases of consumers and their behaviors -- and sell all that information to marketers? Perhaps you don't know them. They are supposed to be invisible. But they do have a significant impact on the effectiveness of marketing to consumers -- especially when it comes to online sales.
Acxiom, one of the biggestplayers in the field, uses a shopper recognition program that cross-references a customer's ZIP code or phone number with a name from a check or credit card to confirm shopper identities withing a 10 percent margin of error - without having to ask permission.
These are three primary types of sources:
Report: Social tools increase productivity
From Women Collaborating With Social Media More Than Men [Infographic] @ readwrite.com:
A new study from Ipsos commissioned by Microsoft found that 46% of respondents believed that their work was more productive using social media tools. Breaking that down by gender, 49% of men believe they get more work done using social media, with 44% of women making the same argument.
Also from the report:
Women tend to use social tools to communicate with colleagues and clients as well as to share and review document, while men tend to use social tools to grow their networks and research competitors.
Top required skills of the Community Manager: writing, customer relations
From 10 Key Stats of the Community Manager Space #CMAD @ web-strategist.com:
Altimeter Group conducted analysis of 30 global job descriptions of Community Managers to ascertain patterns on job requirements and skills.
Out of 30 Community Manager job descriptions, the most critical requested skills were writing ability (83%), customer relations in online channels in normal daily conditions (76%), and working with other departments (53%). Other critical skills included reporting, and providing feedback to product teams on innovations and improvements. A few of the requirements included passion/tact/clever people skills, as well as passion for the topic and vertical the CM was covering.
Why should CEOs be interested in social media?
According to a recent survey of employees by Brandfog, there are 6 main reasons:
Screenshot is taken from Infographic: Which CEOs Are More Social?.
The accompanying video is interesting too. Even with the presence that many Fortune 500 CEOs have, they have barely updated or engaged at all.
A marketer’s guide to paying attention to the social web
From How to Effectively Listen on the Social Web [Infographic] @ socialnomics.com:
Targeted social listening helps marketers identify new prospects through monitoring the actions and conversations of potential customers. This monitoring also brings an augmented level of understanding of existing customers based on their behaviors and motivations.
2 step guide:
- Identify relevant data and behaviors: develop a path to purchase by identifying actions that lead to sales.
- Invest in infrastructure: integrate your systems to maximize efficiency.
Lewis' infographic illustrates these 2 steps with the example of marathon runners looking to purchase new shoes.
Which infrastracture investments?
- Monitoring platforms: identify keywords and influential people to find conversations about your topics.
- Marketing automation: capture social profile for lead nurturing; send prompts to opt in for your newsletter, send coupons for purchase
- SMMS (Social Media Management System): schedule and syndicate posts
- CRM (Customer Relationship Management): record sale, continue to track social, sales and customer service activity.
Gartner: Social CRM Magic Quadrant
Hype continues to grow around social CRM. The current burst of merger and acquisition activity is illustrated by pardot's infograph on the Social CRM Arms Race between Oracle and Salesforce. Click on the image for the bigger version:
Last week Gartner published their Social CRM Magic Quadrant of social CRM vendors.
Gartner defines social CRM applications as being able to
- Encourage many-to-many participation with customers, prospects, selling partners and internal staff.
- Capture and share user-generated data and content.
- Cede control to the community by providing varying levels of autonomy and engagement levels.
- Demonstrate a mutual, balanced purpose for company and community use.
Leading to the benefits of successful social CRM strategies, which are, according to Gartner:
- Building trust
- Gaining customer insight
- Differentiating products or services
- Increasing sales
Social CRM: Slow adoption, but on the rise
From The State of Social Media Marketing Report: 7 Major Findings & In-Depth Analysis [.pdf] at awarenessnetworks.com:
Only 16% of marketers who responded to the survey are currently using a social CRM system, while another 21% plan to by this year’s end. Social CRMs, when adopted more widely, will be used to integrate social prospect and customer data with traditional sales and marketing data. This will provide the much-needed layer of insights that will help marketers be more effective and efficient in the social age. Socially mature brands are adopting social CRM at a higher rate; brands with a social marketing budget of over $100,000 have a social CRM adoption rate of 44%, with an additional 26% who plan to use such a system by the end of 2012.
For an overview of the market of social CRM, see also my slide deck from last week:
