Social Media Listening #3 - Increased investment in online reputation monitoring tools

1. The level of spending in online reputation monitoring tools is steadily increasing, although companies often use a mix of paid-for and free tools.
   Pam McBride, Product Marketing Manager for Sysomos, said:
   “As companies and organisations become more comfortable with social media and begin to appreciate its benefits, we are seeing a greater willingness to spend budgets on monitoring tools.”
   
   An increased focus on research services means that more companies are looking at investing in social listening tools. Businesses are becoming more sophisticated in their approach to social media and there is greater demand for the right tools and techniques, as Warren Sukernek, VP of Social Insights at Alterian, suggests:
   “We’re seeing increased investment in analytics and research services. Customers are becoming more sophisticated and are implementing more comprehensive social intelligence projects. They want to gain more insights and actionable information out of their monitoring activities; they know that there is gold in their mountain of social media data and they want help in discovering it.”
   
   Tim Shier, Managing Director of BrandsEye said:
   “There has been a dramatic increase in overall spend. This is largely a consequence of both the market becoming far better educated in this space but also due to the growth of social networking and the overall impact of digital for brands.”
   
   Beyond simply looking at mentions and discussion of the brand online, companies are interested in understanding who their most influential customers are, and how conversation impacts on conversion and the propensity to purchase. Businesses are also keen to understand how to foster long-term customer loyalty by building stronger relationships with these key influencers. Mark Redgrave, Founder and CEO of OpenAmplify, said:
   “The past 12 months has seen even more clients focus on insight. The growth of social media has created a huge increase in conversation volumes. Costs to monitor those conversations have increased in-line, and the ROI equation is more important than ever. Clients realise that there is literally no point listening if you can’t discover real insights from the data.
   “So clients are rightfully demanding more. They want to go beyond the mention. They want to know what people are actually discussing, how people feel about their products, which brand attributes are front of mind of the consumer, and what actions people are considering. The value is in these actionable insights.”