Buzz Monitoring Tools
The marketplace is becoming crowded with Buzz Monitoring tools and services. Everyone knows the big players in the field (Nielsen and Cymfony primarily). A few, lesser known examples are listed below.
Before you go shopping for monitoring tools/services, you should understand the following:
1.) Many agencies provide monitoring services. Some have their own, proprietary tools but many simply white-label tools created by other companies. It is important to ask your agency about the tool they plan to use on your behalf and to understand its capabilities and limitations.
2.) Some monitoring tools designed for conventional media (for example, clipping services that have moved into the digital space) have added a “social” component to their offerings. However, many times the Social Media monitoring component is simply a white labeled integration of another company’s tool (like the ones listed below).
3.) Integrating Buzz Monitoring data with Web Analytics and other sources of data will give you the most actionable insights. Don’t assume that subscribing to a Buzz Monitoring service is all you need to measure Social Media!
4.) The current offerings on the market vary widely in terms of capabilities and functionality. A few issues to pay attention to:
- How does it handle spam? Spam can skew results significantly
- Does it include Sentiment Analysis (the sentiment of each record returned, i.e., positive, negative, neutral) and if so, how accurate is it? (You should have the opportunity to test this)
- Is data exportable?
- Are the most important sources of buzz for your brand really included in the results (check twice…this is why we develop custom neighborhoods)
For more information on Buzz Monitoring tools, contact the Serengeti team at 703-556-3390. We use our own, proprietary tools to develop custom neighborhoods for more targeted tracking, but many of our clients also use outside tools, like those listed below:
