Table of Contents

Section I: Market Overview

Section II: Enterprise SMMS Market Trends

Section III:Enterprise SMMS Platform Capabilities

Section IV: Choosing an SMMS Platform

View complete Table of Contents

"Enterprise Social Media Management Software" editorial team:

Consulting Editor:
Tamar Weinberg, Techipedia

Editor:
Claire Schoen, Search Marketing Now

Researcher/Writer:
Karen Burka

Companies Profiled

Adobe Social

Argyle Social

Attensity

Engage121

ExactTarget SocialEngage

Expion

Hearsay Social

Hootsuite Media, Inc.

Marketwired

Oracle SRM

Salesforce Marketing CloudOracle SRM

Shoutlet

SocialVolt

SocialWare

Spredfast

Sprinklr

Sprout Social

Syncapse

Thismoment

tracx

UberVu

Votigo

Wildfire Interactive

Companies that have downloaded this report:

1-800-Flowers
3M Company
American Greetings
AMN Healthcare
Applied Robotics, Inc.
Blitzlocal
Citrix
Conde Nast
Double AA Roofing
E&J Gallo Winery
FindLaw
General Motors
Google
Greenwich Associates
IBM

iCrossing
Meredith Corporation
Microsoft Brazil
MoreVisibility
NBCUniversal TV
Network Solutions
NVIDIA
Performance Auto
Pima Medical Institute
Rutgers University
Sony
The Home Depot
Time Inc
Upward Sports
VacationRoost
Var Vacations
William Raveis Real Estate

Enterprise Social Media Management Software 2013: A Marketer’s Guide

Introduction

Finding the appropriate social media management tool for your business can be a challenge. This buyer’s guide provides a framework for deciding if you need and EMMS solution, details the capabilities of the leading platforms, and compares offerings from leading vendors.

Editor’s Note: The following is an excerpt from "Enterprise Social Media Management Software". You can download the report here free.

The Pros and Cons of Using Social Media Management Software

Social Media Management Software (SMMS) platforms have become must-have toolsets as digital marketers and agencies recognize the impact that social conversations have on every part of the enterprise, from engineering and product development to marketing and sales.

The platforms being used range from freemium services to enterprise-wide solutions like that can cost tens of thousands of dollars per month. Many enterprises license more than one SMMS platform and use only the most robust features available from their vendors.

Benefits include:

Structured workflow management
Permissions and compliance tools that allow customers to monitor and control all social media content and campaigns emanating from the enterprise

Challenges include:

Enterprise SMMS platforms can be a significant investment, with larger organizations paying tens of thousands of dollars each month in licensing
Certain platforms can require considerable training and integration with existing technology systems and additional premium services to run them

Does Your Company Need Social Media Management Software?

Enterprises deciding whether or not to license a SMMS platform or to upgrade from their existing freemium platform need to first consider the following:

Do we have multiple social accounts and utilize multiple social channels, including Facebook, Twitter and blog publishing platforms such as WordPress?
Do we operate in a regulated industry, such as insurance or real estate, where a lack of compliance can result in legal or regulatory problems?
Do we rely on a sales network of local dealers, agents or franchisees that may be operating hundreds of Facebook pages or Twitter accounts not controlled by the corporate marketing department?

If the answer to one or more of these questions is "yes," it may be time to consider using a SMMS platform.

Assessing Internal Resources

Choosing an SMMS platform calls for the same evaluative steps involved in any software adoption:

Do we need it?
What capabilities do we need?
Do we have the internal resources to integrate and manage it effectively?
Does the investment make financial sense?

An important step in the decision process is to assess the enterprise’s internal resources. Social media has made its way into all aspects of most organizations, from the HR department to the marketing and PR departments. Before investing in a SMMS system, make sure you understand who and where you will be using the software. Know how many accounts exist, and where and which ones are critical to your social media strategy. Consider the following:

Do we have a social media strategy in place – or will we need social media consulting services as part of the SMMS package?
Do we have a social media staff in place that can handle the new software or will there be a need for training?
If so, who among them is best qualified to evaluate an SMMS platform?
Do we have an organizational plan to integrate the use of SMMS software into our social media strategy? If not, who will create the plan?
How will we define success?
Can we absorb the additional cost of the SMMS and still meet our business objectives?
How will we benchmark success?

Which Social Media Management Software is Right for Your Company?

It is equally important to evaluate the type of SMMS vendor that will provide the best fit for your organization’s unique and specific social marketing needs. For example, enterprises with skilled in-house social marketing practitioners and resources may prefer a platform which is built on a proprietary Social Markup Language (SML) and allows internal developers to build completely customized social content and applications.

Enterprises with fewer in-house skills and resources may be better served by a vendor which provide a plethora of social media consulting and program execution services.

Many SMMS vendors serve specific vertical markets by offering strengths such as regulatory and compliance monitoring of social media marketing content and campaigns, or a specific platform for enterprises with a large network of dealers, agents and franchisees.

Social Media Management Software Capabilities

Virtually all enterprise SMMS platforms available today offer a core set of social media tools and capabilities that focus on:

content creation, scheduling, publishing and moderation
collaboration, workflow and permissions
data analytics and reporting

The platforms begin to differentiate by offering additional capabilities, often requiring additional investment, that include but are not limited to:

sentiment analysis
vertical-specific compliance
marketing campaign automation
integration with legacy marketing and analytics platforms
strategic social media consulting services

The following section discusses some of the key considerations involved in choosing a SMMS platform.

Social Networks Supported

While Facebook still represents the lion’s share of social media traffic and brand pages, the majority of SMMS platforms are expanding the depth and breadth of social media networks they support. It is equally important to distinguish between a SMMS platform’s ability to publish to social networks versus its ability to listen to or monitor social media conversations.

Social Content Creation

The vast majority of SMMS platforms provide marketers with the ability to create customized social content for applications such as Facebook Pages, polls, or sweepstakes as well as to utilize pre-built application templates in which users drop in branding and specific promotional language. Some platforms allow users to design the template, lock certain content elements, and allow other elements to be customized by local or regional offices. Many platforms feature a centralized content library that allows users to pull pre-approved content pieces or assets for their specific campaigns or promotions.

Pricing

Virtually every SMMS platform licenses its technology on a software-as-a-service (SaaS) basis; the technology is hosted by the vendor and customers log into a web-based dashboard to utilize the system. Customers license the use of the technology on a monthly basis although the majority of vendors require an annual contract to be signed.

Pricing varies among vendors in terms of whether the licensing fees are charged by the user or seat, by the social media channel or page, or by the location, brand or department (also called a subaccount by some vendors). As such, pricing can range from $25 per user per month to several hundreds of thousands of dollars per month, depending upon the scope of the enterprise’s social media marketing programs.