We’ve
passed the point of organizations merely needing a presence on social
networks; it’s not nearly enough to simply have a Twitter account or
Facebook page – reaching your marketing goals requires true engagement,
mobile compatibility, responsiveness, smarter campaigns, and actionable
metrics. To optimize your online and mobile efforts, regardless of the
size of your business, you’ll need to employ social media marketing
platforms. There’s certainly no shortage of platforms at your disposal –
the question is which provide the most value and best tailored fit for
your needs. To make it simple, here are five social media marketing platforms that should be on your radar this year, depending on your organization’s size and goals:
North Social
North Social
is for quickly creating coupons, contests, and sweepstakes and then
publishing them across Facebook, Twitter, mobile, and the web. Its smart
link technology detects a user’s browser and optimizes accordingly – so
you can easily reach prospects on the web, phones and tablets at once.
In 2011 North Social was acquired by Maryland based Vocus, which has
added strength as well as new features like integrated email campaigns
and SEO tools that can help amplify promotions and convert users into
paying customers. Their large selection of low cost apps makes North
Social solid choice for small and medium sized businesses, as well as
design firms consultants and small agencies.
Sprout Social
Sprout Social
is a social media management and listening platform most loved for its
slick dashboard and messages view, which pulls in activity from all
networks into one stream. The platform also offers a summary for each
users’ social presence to identify meaningful connects that could
convert into loyal customers. Other key features include workflow
management, conversion history, and presentable, robust reporting. The
price tag is ideal for medium sized business owners.
Moontoast
Moontoast
offers a Social Activation Engine for social app templates and a Social
Analytics Suite to optimize the ROI of each campaign. Because Moontoast
focuses on building valuable relationships on social and incorporates
revenue into analytics, it’s a strong tool for marketers to demonstrate
the often-elusive ROI of social media.
Wildfire App
Wildfire
provides social media marketing tools for pages, messages, ads,
promotions, monitoring, and analytics. It isn’t the new kid on the kid
on the block, (now owned by Google) and that’s a good thing for brands
looking to explore Google +. Wildfire offers two types of products: a
Promotion Builder and a Social Marketing Suite. It's win for brands with
in house developers. Along with Vitrue (bought by Oracle) and Buddy
Media / Marketing Cloud (bought by Salesforce), Wildfire is a great tool
for large businesses looking to invest in more customized promotions.
SocialFlow
Socialflow
brings a big data solution to social media marketing. Their system
looks at social data (over 1 Terrabyte per day) and then crunches the
numbers in order to help brands time up their social posts to maximize
their desired response. The old saying is that Timing is everything…
well, with SocialFlow brands can use big data to optimize their
publishing strategy and generate a more effective response from their
social marketing investment. The cool part is that the process is highly
automated which helps add a layer of artificial intelligence to your
publishing frequency so that your social voice is well timed and well
received. SocialFlow is best for brands with a larger than average
social media presence.
I like all of these companies – but my personal favorite? North Social. Of course, they should be my favorite- they’re a client of my first company, Likeable Media.
No matter what platform you choose, in 2013, the real focus in social
media marketing should be on metrics, listening, and mobile. Make sure
you’re using the right tools for the job. What are YOUR favorite social
media listening, marketing and management platforms? Let me know in the
comments below!
