The first step when considering social analytics is to establish a listening strategy.

In social media, listening acts as a guide through the ever-changing and interesting world of the blogosphere.

Why? Because listening is an ongoing process that is necessary to keep a strategy fresh and competitive. It enables decision-makers to find and better understand opportunities and stakeholders.

So, exactly how do you go about listening?

#1: Determine your target audience

Once an organization has determined whom to target, it’s critical to understand where to engage them online. A common misperception is that all social networks are the same and therefore everyone is on the same platform.

For example, according to Anderson Analytics, Generation Z (13- to 14-year-old) social network users were more likely to use MySpace than Facebook; only 9% used Twitter and none were active on LinkedIn. If your company is targeting Generation Z on Twitter, you’re listening in the wrong place.

An example of an organization successfully targeting and engaging an audience is Seton Hall University. In an effort to increase their revenue and student enrollment, Seton Hall marketers decided to target prospective students using Facebook to build relationships.

They launched the Class of 2014 Facebook page and tagged custom Class of 2014 tabs, making it possible to identify any www.shu.edu visitors who had also interacted with Facebook. Using social analytics and reporting, marketers then examined the behavior of these visitors.

SHU 2014 Facebook page.

The Seton Hall staff began responding to prospective students’ requests for help, from orientation to deposit status to placement tests to housing. Soon, “declarations” (posts where prospective students announce a decision such as major, orientation date or interest in a club or sport) had risen to 47% of all posts.

SHU 2014 Facebook page sample engagement.

The data showed that visitors who interacted heavily with the Class of 2014 pages demonstrated a high level of engagement with the university website as well.

For example, they were more likely to request information and fill out applications than other visitors. The data collected revealed that Facebook was not only important to Seton Hall, but was critical to the following year’s enrollment.

By midsummer (two months before classes were to begin), tuition deposits for the class of 2014 were 25% higher than the previous year at the same time. Moreover, enrollment was tracking at 13% ahead of the previous year’s class.

Audience and location are foundations for a listening strategy; thus, step one is to know who your audience is and where to find them.

#2: Identify the influencers

A research report from Meteor Solutions found that the type of people who follow or friend you are more important than the numbers.

On average, approximately 1% of a site’s audience generates 20% of all its traffic through sharing of the brand’s content or site links with others.

This was backed by a Forrester Research report that showed a minority (about 6% of people) generates 80% of the impressions, and roughly 13% of the online adults generate 80% of the influence posts.

This is where social analytics come into play. Through social analytics, an organization can determine which individuals are sharing content and links and their sentiment about it.

Facebook and Twitter are likely places that influencers and target audiences frequent, but are just the tip of the iceberg.

For example, if you were tracking a Java programmer, Java blogs and community forums would provide a stronger platform for listening.

Another example, RTL Nederland (an entertainment company in the Netherlands) is using analytics to help interpret audience (tippers) feedback from a variety of social data sources for reality television programs, including “X Factor” and “So You Think You Can Dance.”

RTL Netherland's X Factor Twitter page.

RTL Nederland is able to better understand audience needs and preferences by analyzing blog posts, Twitter feeds, Facebook posts and more. They’ve been able to make real-time changes to the programming, such as choice of candidates, music and the judging panel. This has led to increased viewer satisfaction and ratings.

Finding these like-minded souls is important for success, but can require some digging. In the end though, it’s worth the effort. Determining influencers will make all the difference in a listening strategy and ultimately, a social business agenda.

Analytics tools can paint that picture by analyzing and interpreting vast quantities of data—customer demographics, product-purchase histories, Internet experiences and online transactions—turning information into insight and developing conclusive, fact-based strategies to gain that competitive edge.

#3: Know the keywords and trends

Determine the topics that are important to your business and identify them as potential keywords. Then through listening, establish if that is the language your audience is interested in.

For example, “cost cutting” would seem like a viable term to use during a recession; however, as a result of listening, it’s clear that “cost reduction” is actually the preferred term.

If you’re in the wireless telecommunications industry, you would investigate dropped call, 3G, mobile apps, smartphone, data plan and so forth. Keywords should reflect what’s important to your business.

Though it seems like a simple thing, refining the listening approach to get exactly what you want and constantly searching for new keywords and noting keyword trends can help to better reach a key audience.

Telecom provider XO Communications is using state-of-the-art business analytics tools to predict customer behavior and proactively reach out to customers most likely to go elsewhere.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KOn0Qn0lgA

#4: Form a social business strategy

An organization’s social business strategy should address the goals and approach the company will take.

Relevancy and reputation management should be part of the goals.

How many times are you mentioned? In what context? By what audience? You can influence this by listening to the things your audience cares about and relating to their needs.

Secondly, how do you set up your organization to both listen to and brainstorm changes based off of the listening feedback?

One solution is to establish a virtual task force for sharing information learned.

For example, within IBM we have an informal Social Media Council with representatives from across business functions who gather to share best practices, comments and sentiment.

Another choice is to have a formal group whose mission is to listen and then respond to information across an organization.

In closing…

Social analytics starts with listening. The future is all about hearing what your business ecosystem (customers, business partners, constituencies, employees, etc.) has to say and collaborating internally and externally to meet their expectations.

Listening is not just a discipline. It is an embodiment of a social business strategy to address the mass volume of data every company faces today and offer a means for evaluating this information to drive business results.

What do you think? What is your company using for a listening strategy? Leave your questions and comments in the box below.

As marketers, we often look for the next big tool to differentiate ourselves. But did you know the most powerful content-creative tool was invented long before social media? It doesn’t involve keeping a Kodak Zi8 in your pocket, either. And you don’t need a fancy new Twitter strategy or some snazzy FBML.

The most powerful content tool is also the oldest. It’s the tool that brought us some of the most compelling moments in history—from fallen leaders to pop-culture confessions. It’s the tool that made Oprah arguably one of the most powerful brands on the planet. And the same one that Barbara Walters used to reach the most influential people of our time.

Your Content Advantage: The Interview

Yes, the interview. Powerful interviews create timeless content. Yet when it comes to blogging, we neglect to use our most powerful weapons. Master blog interview tactics and your content will surely make an impact—in any situation.

Interview-based content is valuable to your readers and more likely to be shared.

Famous rocker Glenn Danzig once said, “unfortunately, I have to say, one out of every 100 interviews I do, I get a real journalist.” So whether you write for yourself, your boss, a client or an industry analyst, leave the impression of a professional. Blog interviewing is a must-learn tactic.

Interviews can be recrafted into unique blog posts. The trick is asking the right questions.

Here are 11 lines of questioning you can use to extract great material:

#1: Informational Post

Q: What are the three biggest benefits to your target audience and why?

Many writers mistakenly focus on whiz-bang features, measures or accomplishments, but readers often have difficulty relating to these. By focusing on benefits, you push the interview subject to think outside of features and bells and whistles. Benefits are far more persuasive than features, and they are well-received by a larger audience.

#2: The Numbered List

Q: What are the [insert #] top questions asked by your [customers, readers, followers]? What are [#] more?

By using a two-part question, you force the subject to rank the priority of each item—space is limited. The second part of the question allows you to open it up, but you’ll know the items that really matter in your subject’s mind. Prioritized lists are important because many readers judge the value of your post by the first few items.

Numbered list posts often gain broad reach via social media. The two-part approach brings the reader in more effectively.

#3: The Mini Case Study

Q: Tell me about a day in your life—before and after the solution you chose.

By asking the subject to speak about his or her life, in personal rather than business terms, you’ll better extract how quality of life or work was improved. This leads to deeper and more unique follow-up questions and a strong emotional connection to your audience.

Ford continues to deliver a more “human” approach with case studies, making them more compelling blog posts for a larger audience.

#4: Link or Resource Round-Ups

Q: If you had a list of ‘best-kept secrets’ [websites, books, coaches] you’d recommend, which would you include and why?

By asking for resources outside the mainstream, you’re likely to get a round-up that’s far more unique than other round-up blogs that mention the same mainstream thing.

#5: Expert Guide

Q: What tips can you recommend that you’d only share with a close friend (and everyone reading this blog)?

This line of questioning will force the subject to think outside the box. The subject benefits because he or she becomes even more of an expert, while your readers will be all but guaranteed unique content.

#6: Common Pitfalls or Problems

Q: What are three hard-to-spot pitfalls that are critical to avoid?

Even people who have moderate knowledge of a topic know about obvious pitfalls. Focusing on the most difficult hurdles to spot will make you a hero in the eyes of the people you save.

#7: Predictions or Trends

Q: Looking out 3 to 5 years, beyond the obvious trends, what do you think will be the next big change in your industry?

If you focus more than a year or two in the future, you’ll push your subject to stay away from the obvious. Example: If you’re a marketer, you don’t get much value from your subject telling you that social media will be huge next year.

By focusing beyond the near future, blog posts are more likely to offer unique, rather than trending, insights. This means original content, more links and broader reach.

#8: Response to Another Blog or Current Event

Q: When you first read that [article, blog post, comic, etc.], what was your gut reaction

This phrasing gives the subject psychological permission to tell you his or her honest opinion and not necessarily the prepared one.

#9: Inspirational Post or Client Story

Q: What are three things you’ve told yourself that kept you going during your darkest hour?

This question immediately turns the interview subject from an interviewee into a coach and sage. You’ll be surprised at how this single powerful question can literally transform an entire interview.

Building an emotional hook early in the post inspired readers to continue reading and likely share the story with others.

#10: Personal Profile or Biographical Q&A

Q: What are three life memories you recall most frequently and why?

The memories we recall most are often the ones that have had the biggest impact on our lives. You’ll likely learn a lot about your subject by following this line of questioning.

Asking questions that make your subject a storyteller reveals his or her real voice and creates a more compelling storyline.

#11: Product, Service or Book Review

Q: What was the most difficult thing you decided to exclude from this review and what was your reasoning?

This question opens the interview subject up to a discussion about some of the things that may have been important but were not included for a variety of reasons. External factors like time, space, politics or other issues often don’t let reviewers include everything they’d like.

These eleven questions can help you craft great content for your blog. By interviewing, you’ll generate content that gives you tremendous reach.

I’d like to hear from you. What other lines of questioning have you used to enhance your blogging? Feel free to add your own in the comments below.

David Armano recently published his social media predictions for 2010 on the Harvard Business Blog.  Here’s a detailed analysis on whether his predictions will likely come true.

Trend #1: Social Media Networks Become Exclusive

Armano predicts we’ll begin to see more exclusivity of networks as users focus more on specific niche content.  Indeed, research supports the prediction that people will be willing to pay for access to specialty networking groups.  Payment models by their very nature will exclude many spammers and create higher-quality networks.

“The bottom line is that users are willing to pay for social network content as long as sites cater to specific market niches as opposed to broader, mainstream audiences,” according to eMarketer.

Trend #2: Corporations Scale Social Media Efforts

Armano predicts corporations will begin to incorporate social media initiatives on a larger scale, moving beyond their one-off marketing experiments and general communication activity.

Research also supports this prediction.  For example, 94% of companies sponsoring online communities plan to increase their social networking support as well as engage with other social media tools, according to the 2009 Tribalization of Business Study by Deloitte.

Trend #3: Social Media for Business Becomes… Fun

Armano predicts businesses will focus more on adding entertainment to their social media efforts to incentivize user activity.

There’s plenty of data to support this trend:

Games rank #1 in top-performing mobile applications, followed by social networking apps, according to a recent report by Distimo. Games and networking are often closely related in many social media environments (I see this often on Facebook fan pages).

Here’s a great example of a mainstream company taking advantage of this emerging trend:  Volkswagen recently went 100% mobile for their GTI launch and created a virtual game via the Apple App Store.  It includes a chance to compete to win one of six limited-edition 2010 GTIs.  This is a great example of social media “game” marketing—and relates to trend #5.

Word of Facebook caution! Companies that plan on running contests on Facebook need to proceed with caution. Facebook just announced that brands, advertisers, and marketers that want to run contests or sweepstakes on its platform have to go through an approval process first. And it could get pricey.  For more information, check out this post by Mari Smith.

Trend #4: Social Media Policies Become Standard for Businesses

Armano predicts in the coming months, your company will release the “rules of engagement” for social media activity. These will be social media guidelines.

Here’s some data to support this trend:

• 40% of companies actively block employee access to social media for any purpose and only 26% of companies actually encourage social media use to further business objectives, according to a report by Russell Herder.
• 54% of chief information officers (CIOs) do not allow employees to visit social networking sites for any reason while they’re at work, according to a similar study by Robert Half Technology.
• 19% of businesses permit social media use for business purposes only and 16% permit social media activity for limited personal use, according to the same study by Robert Half Technology.

Dave Willmer, executive director of Robert Half Technology, points out, “Professionals should let common sense prevail when using Facebook and similar sites—even outside of business hours.  Regrettable posts can be a career liability.”<

Trend #5: Mobile Becomes a Social Media Lifeline

According to Armano, with the banning of social media activity increasing in the workplace and smartphone sales on the rise, the social networking addiction will be carried over to mobile devices.

Here’s some research to support this trend:

• AT&T’s mobile data traffic increased 4,932% over the last three years and over 1 billion “heavy mobile data users” are predicted by 2013, according to a presentation given by Morgan Stanley’s Economy Internet Trends.
• 46% of users younger than 35 prefer to engage in all things social media via a mobile device,according to a Gadgetology study.
• 20% of all bloggers report updating their blog from a mobile device, according to Technorati’s recent State of the Blogosphere report.

Trend #6:  Social Networks Reduce Users’ Reliance on Email

Armano predicts sharing of content will be sent via social networking sites instead of via traditional email.

Here’s data to support this trend:

• 32% of Gen Y consumers share promotional offers with members inside a social network, according to a report titled Participatory Network Marketing Methodology.
• 34% of marketers feel integrating social media and email marketing is one of the most important email marketing initiatives, according to a study by Universal McCann.
• 81.5% of social network users (those who use the Internet at least every other day) say messaging friends is the top activity when visiting social media sites, also reported by Universal McCann.

Here I’ve highlighted the studies and articles that support Armano’s conclusions.  The research seems to affirm his predictions.

Do you agree with these predictions? Are there any you predict won’t surface as trends in 2010? What other trends would you add to the mix?  Please leave your comments below.

#1: Social Media Engagement Big Challenge for Many Businesses (Deloitte)

Survey results from a recent Deloitte study (2009 Tribalization of Business Study), point to some key challenges that organizations are facing as they move toward integrating online communities into their social media strategy.

Here are the top three areas respondents identified as obstacles:

• Keeping visitors engaged:  30%
• Getting people to join:  24%
• Encouraging return visits to the online community:  21%

In addition, the majority of respondents agreed that the following are key business outcomes for their online communities:

• Increase word-of-mouth:  38%
• Increase customer loyalty:  34%
• Increase brand awareness:  30%

#2: Social Media Used as a Discovery Tool by 18% of Online Population (Nielson)

With the recent integration of Twitter and Facebook with Microsoft’s Bing, there is no doubt that social media has become a top player in the world of search.  A recent study by Nielson Company examined the relationship between social media and user search options.  The report compared social sites to search engines and portals like Yahoo! Of those surveyed, 18% reported social media sites as core to finding new information.

Jon Gibs, VP Media Analytics, reports, “While still a smaller percentage than those who use search engines or portals like Yahoo! or MSN, it is a significant figure. And as social media usage continues to increase I can only expect this figure to grow.”

It is speculated that the amount of information on the web, especially on social sites, contributes to the increase in content discovery on these sites.  The report goes into much more detail and is worth a read.

#3: Businesses Slow to Incorporate Social Media Into Practice

Although numerous recent reports show how businesses plan to incorporate social media into their 2010 marketing mix, a recent study by BIA/Kelsey reports that many small- to medium-sized businesses are slow to incorporate the strategies into their plans today.

When asked about their current social media experiences, results showed many businesses are slow to adopt social media:

• Have used Twitter to market in the last 12 months:  9%
• Have used social sites in the past 12 months:  23%
• Have incorporated video into their website: 16%

In addition, according to the survey results, adoption of social media by small- and medium-sized business is more prevalent among younger businesses:

• Businesses 3 years or younger: 16% report using Twitter
• Businesses 11+ years:  2% report using Twitter

What are your thoughts? What effect, if any, do the constant changes and shifts in social media have on your overall marketing strategy?