90 Percent And Counting

BY: Gary Duke [MDB EVP]

I came across a stat today that blew my mind: According to Jeff Jonas, IBM’s chief scientist, 90 percent of all the data that exists in the world today was created in just the past two years alone. 90 percent in 24 months, folks. That’s incredible when you consider that humankind has been publishing and sharing data for thousands of years now.

It also supports the need to move up, “Develop Social Media Analytics Program” on your to-do list, to get a handle on all the digital data that’s being published in cyberspace about your brand. This is no easy task, given the nascent nature of the social media measurement industry. There are no real industry standards of performance yet, and many marketers are still struggling with just learning the basic concepts of social media marketing, beyond putting up a Facebook page and tallying the number of “Likes” they have.

One company that is on the forefront of figuring it all out is Dell. As a brand that receives more than 26,000 social media mentions per day, Dell’s leadership team recognized the need for a sophisticated corporate-wide listening strategy. At the hub of it stands Dell’s Social Media Listening Command Center which monitors mentions of Dell around the globe in 11 languages. In addition to the command center, 5000 front-line Dell employees trained in social media tactics are monitoring and engaging with customers via social media as part of their job descriptions.

And Dell isn’t stopping there. The company is currently developing a “social radio” tool that will enable Dell’s 100,000+ employees to dial into conversations relevant to their own line of business or service group, creating an efficient means of coordinating social media communications with customers.

Dell’s listening capabilities are provided by Radian 6, one of the leading social media monitoring companies out there. But there are a number of other providers that should be considered when evaluating your own organization’s needs, and new options are coming online all the time.

Altimeter Group has published an excellent white paper which lays out a process for putting together a framework for social media analytics, customized for your organization’s DNA. The report includes a helpful self-assessment tool and checklist of questions to ask social media monitor companies that you are considering. You can find the report here.

Isn’t it time to get a grasp on the social media data that is being generated about your brand?