Universal Information Services

Posts for Social Media Tracking

At Universal I take calls, emails and tweets all the time asking about our news monitoring and media analysis services. When I think in terms of #samerules and #newtools, it strikes me that almost no two clients have the exact same need. Sure, many of our clients need TV clips and press clippings, or their media exposure analyzed, but rarely do they need their information in the exact same manner as another client.

I originally set out to provide a primer on the various news monitoring services like Critical Mention and Cision, as well as other News Data Service affiliates like Utah News Clips. An overview of what each news tracking, media measurement, or even media contacts platform provides would be helpful to clients. But seriously, who is going to read a blog post that runs 10 pages long? What I've presented below are the three main types of vendors to consider when discerning which news monitoring and media analysis service is best for your organization.

1. Free solutions: In this category you find search engines with basic functionality for storing some keywords and returning results to you. Free services like Google News Alerts or Bing act as search agents informing you of some of the news you want to hear. The most recent studies indicate these free services contain about 30% of the published or broadcast news in the United States. If you just need some information, and aren't picky about the specific media outlets that ran the story, these free services can be a great tool. You can track a lot of news for free. For organizations that need more comprehensive media monitoring, or media measurement beyond basic quantitative metrics, the paid monitoring services are essential.

2. Paid solutions: The most comprehensive services come in two flavors. You have the monitoring services that provide all the online tools you need, plus true customer service to support special needs and ad hoc requests. Companies like Universal Information Services or Cision fall into this category. Then you have the SaaS companies like Critical Mention and TVEyes. SaaS vendors provide a login to their platform where you perform the work yourself.

Comprehensive services that offer service and support generally have the following benefits over their SaaS competitors.
Backsearching for ad hoc orders
Support staff to handle questions and special requests
Crisis management contacts to assist with after hours needs
The ability customize your service package to specifically fit your needs

SaaS services are very good at:
Providing a single platform for reviewing and editing TV clips
Offering competitive pricing, although options and features are reduced
Delivering a nice looking interface to their platform.

3. Executive Summary Services This category represents the newest breed of news monitoring services. The goal of these services is to filter through the entire information sphere, pulling only the most strategic news stories as defined by the client. In a sense, this type of news monitoring cuts through the noise for the client so they don't have to filter their own results. In constructing our Executive Reports we still look at virtually all media outlets for print, broadcast, web and social media stories, but then select only the news that is most critical to our client. Although Executive Summary services come at a premium over the "all you can eat" models, the time and resources saved by the client can make up for that additional cost.

Our most recent analysis shows that most prospects are looking for flexibility, options, and the ability to modify orders with the help of support staff. However, not all users need that kind of help. In the end, you need to decide what your real needs are and what vendor can fulfill them now, or evolve with you in the future. If I can answer any questions, please leave a comment. I'm listening.

At Universal Information Services our national news monitoring and media analysis efforts have evolved to a point where our client prospects are mostly found through inbound systems. In other words, with the growing use of #newtools from social media platforms, the need for us to interrupt/disrupt our prospective clients is greatly reduced.

Many resources have illuminated this shift away from outbound marketing, but essentially the #newtools (Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Linkedin, Groupon, etc.) now let any organization that must routinely generate new clients, attract those clients to them rather than hunt them down and interrupt them with a marketing pitch. Mix in Google Analytics, and you have an amazing way to analyze your effectiveness for inbound marketing. Whether you call it "interruption marketing" or "disruption selling", it is a much harder sell than allowing prospects to find you when they are looking for what you have.

If you look at the economics of maintaining a staff of national sales people, how many calls and follow-ups do they have to make in order to bring one new customer to you? We both know the answer here, and that number is somewhere around a "boat-load". Figure in salaries, support staff, CRM costs, other consumables, and the expense in finding a new client is very high. But, if you can decrease the number of outbound marketers you employ, and convert those people devoted customer service representatives, you'll find that your ROI is much greater when focused on retention of clients and in selling additional services to those happy clients.

Allowing low, fixed-cost social media tools to funnel leads to your inbound marketing staff means your team is working with those who are already predisposed to want what you are selling. Equally important to this inverse marketing path, is the #samerules concept that clients want to have an enjoyable experience when working with their vendors. From the beginning of the sales cycle you now have a pleasant relationship instead of one that starts with disrupting your client's day.

Outbound marketing (interruption/disruption) has become a mostly adversarial encounter as we are all trained to initially say, "No!", when approached by a salesperson. In some cases the salesperson gets lucky and can warm the prospect up to what they are selling. But this conversion is the rare occasion for any service. The excessive abuse by the bad apples of telemarketing and direct marketing has inoculated everyone against the cold call. But if that cold call is now a warm call, and is initiated by the end user and not the marketer, you have a very potent sales mechanism.

Here are several resources that can help you make the jump from disruption marketing...the #newtools of social media.
Rick Burnes, Inbound Marketing & the Next Phase of Marketing on the Web
Brian Halligan, Inbound Marketing vs. Outbound Marketing
Lee Odden, 22 Social Media Marketing Management Tools

I love the idea that I don't have to deploy a force of clever sales people charged with penetrating the natural defenses of our future clients. It's much more enjoyable to be viewed as a solution to a prospects need when THEY contact us. We do still identify and proactively approach organizations that clearly need our services, but now we can be much more selective and increase our probability of winning that business.

The costly, shotgun approach of disruption marketing is dieing, but certainly is not dead. We'd love to hear your opinion on inbound vs. outbound marketing. What #newtools have you found that increase your ROI for marketing and sales?

Todd Murphy
Vice President
Universal Information Services
http://universal-info.com

Comments (2)

Yep, another blog about customer experience. If you're like me, you're probably thinking, "Seen it, read it, know it...I get it." I'm going to keep this short and sweet, but underscore the fact that the points you might think you're competing on have nothing to do with what will make you a great company.

First, almost every service or product now has scads of competitors. For example, I'd hate to be in the "social media tool" industry right now (damn, I think we are). Just yesterday I read a blog about "220 Indispensable Social Media Tools". Ok, how do you go about differentiating yourself when 219 of them are SaaS systems? The reality is you do it either through a massive sales program (hire the college grads, pay only commission, and pump that service), or you be the ONE company that does it with an exceptional customer experience. Price, user interface, fancy charts and graphs...everyone has those. You need to be different. You need to stand out. You need to offer a customer experience that tells all who inquire, "We are the company you want to use."

Universal Information Services uses the far-from-unique approach of "take care of the customer first, and the cash will follow". Many companies like DELL Computers have ingrained this notion of outstanding customer experience within their organization. Backup 11 years to this Fast Company article and you'll see we're really talking about the #samerules applying to the #newtools of Customer Experience. With our Media Analysis and Social Network Mapping we don't just give you access to data, we interpret the results for you. The difference between a tool and a service, in my experience, is that a service delivers what you need, in a form you can digest, without requiring gobs of your own time to analyze and figure it out. We call this "reading the tea leaves".

PR professionals and business communicators still only have 24 hours in the day. Our job is to do the work they pay us for so they can focus on their mission critical activities. These professionals were not hired to measure stories, maintain a database of metrics, input earned media hits, AND THEN interpret what that means. That is the service they buy from Universal Information Services...and we go over the top to make sure their experience is great.

What is it you do for your customers or clients? From their perspective, are your clients having a great experience when working with you? If not, they'll find the company that does make their experience great. Customer Experience is truly the piece you are competing on with your peers...It is the one thing that can make you different.

For another perspective on Customer Experience, check out Marc Meyer's blog, "The Customer Experience Revisited". Please tell us your unique perspective on the customer experience. Your comments are important to us.

Welcome to our first ravings related to news, information consumption, social media, tools of dissemination, and how all this is impacted by Human Nature. Universal Information Services has created this blog to illuminate ideas related to the intersection of communication fundamentals and new channels of information distribution. Basically, our media analysis and position as a news monitoring service has led us to the conclusion that the fundamental rules of public relations communications has not changed, only the tools we have at our disposal are new (#SameRules #NewTools).

We’ve even chosen to hash tag these two phrases to underscore the importance that social media has on media engagement, media placement, and public perception. It is true, social media has greatly enhanced our methods of communication. But be careful, professional communication by any mode has not fundamentally changed. Therefore our blog will feature postings related to two areas of public relations and communications. We'll also focus on issues related to news monitoring, media analysis, social network influence. From press clipping to TV news clips to web monitoring, our broad spectrum of news monitoring and media analysis experience opens a wide door for discussion.

First, the fundamentals of writing style and the need for compelling content are not new. If you can’t write, spell, structure a sentence, or convey compelling ideas, it does not matter what channel you use to communicate, your audience will remain small and ephemeral. The same basic rules of communication survive today and are only slightly modified to match each medium (print, broadcast, web, social).

Second, how you harness the enormous power of the new tools like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Foursquare is a testament to your ability to apply your skills across the #NewTools. You should be thinking “in addition to” rather than “instead of”. Human nature, as well as common sense, dictates that one should meet their target audience through whatever communication tool they prefer. For this reason all of us need to stop referring to social media as something outside of mainstream media. Never has a new medium supplanted an older medium. Newspapers did not kill discussion, radio did not kill newspapers, television did not kill radio, the Web did not kill television, and social media will not kill any of the aforementioned mediums. The communication pie only expands while dividing into smaller pieces for each medium…growth instead of replacement.

I’m sure some will hold on to the false notion that there has been a complete shift in the communication paradigm. I hope to receive comments that the world has changed as we know it and we will forever be changed. These comments will help prove that no matter what our technical mode of discourse may be, human nature controls how we communicate…and that is fundamentally unchanged.

I am not a writer. You will see an overabundance of commas in my postings and I may not always structure my sentences correctly. Yes, you may correct me if you want, but in the end it is the ideas I’m hoping to spark interest with, not my writing prowess.

#SameRules #NewTools represents an extension of the media research we do here at Universal. This blog is for the “engaged community”. This does not mean only those who are social media savvy, but anyone who understands that humans create content and humans consume information. Those who fail to consider human nature when creating tools are doomed to repeat history by creating solutions that are DOA. There will be little acceptance of their #NewTool because they have chosen to ignore the importance of the #SameRules.

Future topics include: Niche content and The Long Tail, The Importance of Compelling Content, and an answer to the “Who Cares” question (ROI).

The conference season has been in full swing over the past 30 days, as if it ever really slows down, and we have three great reasons you should make conference attendance a regular part of your business and new media education.

First, if you at all have a passion for your job or what you are pursuing, then continuing education must be a part of that path you follow to success. Nearly every industry, and variation within industries, has some form of a meeting where you can learn new tricks, rub elbows with peers, and hear from experts in your field. My news monitoring and media analysis industry has no less than five opportunities per year. I can attend PRSA, IABC, NDS, and even Rotary conferences...and many others. All of these opportunities allow you to further yourself in your position. Whether CEO or intern, gaining new perspectives is an essential part of fully realizing your potential. Here are a few resources I use to find helpful conferences in my areas of interest.

http://mashable.com/category/events/

http://www.prsa.org/Conferences/

http://www.bigomaha.com/ (don’t let the name fool you, this may be the most important conference you ever attend)

Second, if your success depends on your own creativity, then attending industry meetings and conferences allows you to get outside of your own head. At Universal Information Services my primary role is to envision, create, and deploy new services for our clients. I have implemented all of Universal’s TV and Radio monitoring, media analysis, and web monitoring services…but only through the insight I’ve gained from my pears throughout the industry. Developing services in a vacuum can be a dangerous path to believing all that you dream up is of great value to others. Interacting with competitive and cooperative peers exposes you to ideas that help keep your own mind in check and accelerates your own development.

Third, the ability to connect the dots may be the greatest benefit to attending conferences. I refer to connecting the dots as the ability to hear new ideas at meetings and conferences, but hearing them in a way that connects with a seemingly unrelated concept you may have rattling around in your head. This is critical to innovation. I use The Action Method, developed by Scott Belsky’s mind at Behance, to help me manage my ideas and visions This should be mandatory training for anyone with a creative thought.

Leave your comments on what conferences you have found the most beneficial. I’m always looking for better ways to get outside my head and connect the dots. Many of these fun ideas are found in our new site.

Next post: Number 1 Reason to Skip A Conference