Thanks for the note. I agree with you, there is certainly a change management process at play here and free tools are very helpful at showcasing the value of social media monitoring information when organizations start looking into social marketing. And I also agree that a transition to more sophisticated tools is not a leap anymore, though it largely depends on the overall goals and objectives that organizations are setting as part of their social media strategy. But even in the long run I think a hybrid approach of both paid and free tools probably yields a more effective solution (in terms of completeness of results and acceptance within organizations).

-Alex

Good, pragmatic advice, which is something that people need to embrace, in general, when it comes to social media. One of the interesting things about the social media monitoring market is the free tools, and how they provide users with an easy entry point. As their needs grow and become more sophisticated, the transition to paid services is not as much of a leap.

cheers, Mark

Mark Evans
Director of Communications
Sysomos Inc.

This post was mentioned on Twitter by alexpoulos: 7 Steps to Selecting a Social Media Monitoring Tool http://bit.ly/bPIsmi...

Thanks for the note. I especially appreciate your point on how to have social media monitoring information be utilized by all potential stakeholders in the company at their appropriate level. Given that it’s not an one-off initiative, organizations need to seriously consider and embrace social media participation at a much more integral level and across a number of functions (always towards specific goals and objectives). However, I can say that a number of companies that we are working with and that were initially skeptical of social media involvement, after being presented with findings and insights from even a one-month long but well-planned listening campaign, they have now become enthusiastic about participating and, even more importantly, seem to clearly understand how their participation can impact their business goals.

Cheers,

-Alex

Thanks for a thoughtful and methodical approach to this. Couldn’t agree with you more that a critical initial step is understanding what you’re hoping social media monitoring can help you with, whether it’s gathering industry or competitive intellience, uncovering all the mentions online for your client, or finding new places to engage your community. Any solution you choose has to help you meet your specific goals.

Weaving those goals into the obvious things like your budget, your resources (monitoring still requires human involvement after all), and how you’ll flow information to other stakeholders in your company is important, too.

Appreciate your sharing a well thought out perspective.

Cheers,
Amber Naslund
Director of Community, Radian6
@ambercadabra