Local Social Media listening tools evaluation

Local Listening Tools

Social Media Listening – hearing and
engaging with local online chatter

A Creston Communications Company

What is Social Listening?

There are conversations happening online all the
time. Conversations can be implicitly or explicitly
linked to a brand, product or organisation.

Tactical Social Listening common objectives -
• Identifying opportunities: people „in-market‟ to
engage with
• Reputation management: complaints or negative
mentions of your business to address
• Competitor monitoring: seeing what competitors
are offering, doing and saying to respond

More recently, social engagement also can be a key influencer for
SEO, and so in the future some services may need to provide that
A Creston Communications Company kind of insight too.

Social Listening priorities can* be different
for National and Local

National Listening

Trends, volume, and sentiment

Reputation management

Offers, deals and tactical promo

Conversation

Local Listening

*Not always, but often


Industry overview

“ the real power of location-based services will come from a
combination of analytics and advertising, when consumers
can be anonymously targeted through
social, geographic, physical and emotional indicators”

“the location-based analytics market in the US will reach the $9bn
in value by 2016”
ABI Research

As with Social Media Management Systems, there are several
players in the market with no clear leader. But the good news
is that there are lots of tools that suit different objectives and
budgets. We‟ve looked at some in detail.


General types of tools available

Different marketing objectives = different tool needs

Generally, Social listening tools can be classified as

• Type A: all about the „listening and insight‟
• High level sentiment analysis and demographic insight
• Type B: all about the „listening and engagement‟
• Funnels of detailed social interactions to review and
consider engagement tactics
• Type C: all about „automating the engagement‟
• Funnels of detailed social interactions to apply automatic
responses to (eg. Check in = voucher)
It‟s also worth noting that future listening could be motivated by the wish to measure
inbound links for SEO as a result of „social‟ activity

Our approach to evaluating Local Social
Listening Tools
Each tool has been investigated, wherever possible in
conjunction with demo‟s and information directly
from the supplier. Key areas evaluated are:

• Price
• Reliability: How long is data available for, and how relevant and
comprehensive is the data?

• Coverage: Which social properties are included in search results?
• Features: Special differentiating features.
• Reporting: Are there standard and bespoke reports? Are actions tracked
and can impact be measured?

• Engagement management: Can you use the tool to reach out
and talk to people, or are actions taken separately?


Tools evaluated as of October 2011

Needium
LocalResponse
Hootsuite
Soda.sh
ValueVine
Geotoko
MomentFeed (Location Engagement Analytics)


Type A: All about the listening and
insight


Brand Competitor
Keywords
Mentions Mentions

Soda.sh
Type A: all about the
„listening and insight‟

“Using artificial intelligence to generate leads, manage your brand, watch
the competition and look after your customers”

Tracking of opportunities
and actions in an in and
outbox structure

Tagging of issues to filter
potential common actions
Links to profiles

Soda.sh: Our verdict
Criteria SoDash
Price Based on number of ongoing searches and channels/accounts. Agencies
tend to start at £1000 a month for 20 ongoing searches and 3-5 accounts.
Reliability Data storage is generally negotiable with a fair use policy. Historical data
can be accessed depending on volume and length of time.

Coverage Directly interface with Twitter, Facebook and the Yahoo API (web including
blogs). Next release will deliver LinkedIn and YouTube, plus direct
integration with blogging platforms such as Wordpress and Blogspot.
Features Artificial intelligence optimises workflow automatically
Multilingual: will translate any message + can be localised
Can search by location (down to postcode) where the info is available.
Reporting Graphs to track metrics like sentiment and volume and quite a bit more.

Engagement Integrated with Twitter and Facebook for engagement through the
management dashboard. November 2011 release will allow direct engagement for
Wordpress/blogger blogs, Linkedin and YouTube.
Mainly best suited for B2C brands, at a national and international level – there is
less geographical or location based segmentation than we‟ve seen with other
products.


Valuevine

Valuevine helps multi-location organisations measure and manage insight
into customer experience, sentiment, trends.
There are TWO products offered by ValueVine

1. Social Footprint report: A report that searches social and local
directories for local brand mentions – eg will show a local Facebook
Page for a brand.
2. ValueVine: A dashboard that listens to social and local directories for
brand mentions, delivers insight contextualised by location and
history, and identifies specific customers / fans with influence or
specific views on your business.


Brand Competitor
Keywords
Mentions Mentions

ValueVine: Social Footprint report
Not really a „type‟

Results
contextualised with
industry statistics

Each individual icon
links to a page for a
location in the
relevant directory /
social service

Useful to
identify local
Place pages

Absence of
Google Maps
and Foursquare


Our verdict: ValueVine Social Footprint Report
Criteria Social Footprint report
Price Free
Reliability As data is a „once off‟ and highly summarised, reliability can‟t be
confirmed at this stage. However, the search appears to be
comprehensive and if anything the problem with the data is that
it is presented at an international level without segmentation.
Coverage Twitter, Facebook, Yahoo Local, Gowalla and other US online
directories (not Foursquare or Google Maps).
Features No additional features – it‟s quite simply a search engine
aggregating results from specific places and organising them.
Reporting No ongoing tracking available – snapshot data only
Interesting stats given to contextualise results – eg X brand
pages discovered, and “84% of consumers look for advice”
Engagement Not available – no engagement mechanisms
management
The Social Dashboard report can be useful for an international brand to understand
which local branches have created certain social profiles, but the lack of geo-
segmentation (even to a country level) means that there is a lot of „noise‟ in the results,
or entries from different countries that aren‟t relevant.

Brand Competitor
Keywords
Mentions Mentions

ValueVine: Dashboard
Type A + B: all about the
„listening and insight‟ with
engagement built in


Our verdict: ValueVine’s Dashboard
Criteria Valuevine’s Dashboard
Price Starts at $299 per month with no contract requirement
Reliability Solid data coverage displayed in demo.
Coverage All pages linked to a brand in some way - Not limited to
designated coverage areas (will automatically include new
services)
Features Excellent segmentation and comparison tools
Smart customer profiles (find a location‟s biggest voices)
Automated reporting can be set up to deliver reports to contacts.
Reporting Tracking of sentiment and volume over time, at each location and
compared across locations.
Engagement Engagement can be managed through the dashboard.
management
Specifically aimed at networks of any scale, this product is targeted at a central social
management/control model rather than individual businesses as part of a network.
However, because the service offers multiple users and automated reporting the
centralised approach can be inclusive of locations with little work.
If, as with many social strategies, the actual engagement happens at a local level, this
A Creston Communications Company useful for engagement and more a pure „monitoring‟ tool.
tool may be less

Brand Competitor
Keywords
Mentions Mentions

MomentFeed’s Location Engagement
Type A: all about the „listening and
Analytics platform (beta) insight‟ with potential engagement and
future automation of campaigns
Brands can monitor and manage customer engagement data for
hundreds or thousands of locations from multiple LBS sources in
one place.
Stream of interactions,
searchable.

Continuing comparable
stats against historic data

Detailed check in stats
per location, plus
aggregated data from
duplicate ‘places’

Coming soon:
Identify most loyal customers
Repeat visits vs unique visits
Competitor analysis
Custom reporting
Campaign management


Our verdict: MomentFeed’s Location
Engagement Analytics platform (beta)

Criteria MomentFeed
Price The base price for the software is $29 per year/location. A free
version, a free trial, and introductory pricing is available.
Reliability Data is solid and available for 30 days back in detail and volume
tracking historically
Coverage Foursquare, Gowalla, geo-tagged Tweets and Facebook Places
Features Custom groups to compare locations by country or region
Quantifies „extra engagement‟ or activities beyond the check-in –
photos, tips etc
New release is scheduled for 1 November with more features.
Reporting Comparison, sentiment and volume over time.
Engagement Different mechanisms to engage through different channels, all
management available through the system
Brands who want central management of their locations that experience high volumes
of consumer traffic – insight into volumes and detail.
Future versions will include location based campaign management tools.

Type B: All about the listening and
engagement


Brand Competitor
Keywords
Mentions Mentions

Needium
Type B: all about the
„listening and engagement‟

“Needium is a social media lead generation service. By monitoring and
identifying business opportunities based on users‟ expressed explicit
and implicit needs on social media sites, Needium discovers local
leads and directs potential clients to businesses.”
Identifies conversations
expressing needs

Centralises stream of
people talking to/about
your business

Tracks history of
engagements

In dashboard integration
with any resulting
conversation


Needium: Our verdict
Criteria Needium
Price Low enough to be plausible, but high enough to ensure
activities are taken seriously ($150 pm)
Reliability Data is indexed real time, and stored one or two months
for brand mentions and a few weeks for "leads“ (or more
depending on client requirements).
Coverage Twitter only - soon to be indexing Foursquare and
Facebook check ins
Features Implicit and explicit geo-location
Creation of social profiles included
Potential to include stats from trackable tel numbers
Reporting General high level reporting on activity including clicks
(messages sent, leads qualified, replies to needs
expressed, mentions, followers)
Engagement Can use the dashboard to ReTweet or Reply directly
management through Twitter, and track engagements
Good for SMB‟s looking to engage in conversational promotion
No evidence of a „national‟ view of a network so potentially tricky to
manage centrally but excellent for direct control by the local business.

Brand Competitor
Keywords
Mentions Mentions
Hootsuite
Type B: all about the
„listening and engagement‟
Hootsuite is mostly a Social Media management tool, but also has local
listening capabilities for Twitter.
Identifies keywords in a variable geo-fence.

Add up to 3 keywords per
search

Set a geo-fence from 1 Engage directly from
kilometre to a wider range dashboard via Twitter and
track conversations


Hootsuite: Our verdict
Criteria Hootsuite
Price $5.99 a month (or free) - it‟s a low cost tool
Reliability Noise levels can be fairly high unless you‟re searching for
specific non-ambiguous terms. Data stored for the same lengths
of time Twitter data is available.
Coverage Twitter only, so limited reach. Some potential to listen to
Facebook but as data is often private not much use.
Features Nothing fancy or additional
Reporting Reporting on search streams not available, but if you‟re using
links to measure engagement success reporting is available
Engagement In dashboard engagement opportunities directly via Twitter and
management conversation history recorded
A cost-effective listening tool – lacks super insight + reporting but does well to highlight
opportunities and potential reputation issues easily.


Type C: All about the automation of
engagement


Brand Competitor
Keywords
Mentions Mentions

Geotoko
Type C: all about the
„automating the engagement‟

Geotoko is a location-based marketing and analytics platform made for
businesses and brands to run real-time location-based promotions.


Our verdict: Geotoko
Criteria Geotoko
Price TBC
Reliability Data is sourced directly from API‟s.

Coverage Foursquare and Twitter (Facebook Places is available for
analytics, and Gowalla is no longer supported)
Features Campaign creation wizard
Displays post-campaign intelligence extremely well using heat
map technology
Reporting Live and real time reporting incredibly relevant for this type of
service, as well as deep analytics and promotion management
Engagement It appears that engagement is seen as part of the promotion, so
management no additional tools have been designed
Geotoko is less about listening and more about delivering promotions – running deals
and tracking promotion results.

Geotoko was recently (12 Oct 2011) acquired by Hootsuite so we can probably expect
a more integrated product approach sometime in the future.

Brand Competitor
Keywords
Mentions Mentions

LocalResponse
Type C: all about the
„automating the engagement‟

LocalResponse helps brands and agencies deliver real-time mobile
advertising against aggregate location-based check-ins.

Identifies explicit (check
in) and implicit (location
specific mentions) across
many Social channels

Set up of tailored
automated responses
means real-time reactions

Display ads or social
messages delivered to
users based on check in


Local Response: Our verdict
Criteria Local Response
Price Brands only at this stage, monthly licensing fee starting at $5 000
Reliability Data is stored forever, and data is reported at above 95% accuracy
Coverage Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Gowalla, Loopt, Whrrl, Booyah,
Instagram, Path, Color, Flickr
Features Limits the amount of mentions each user can receive
Automated responses for easy management
Reporting Standard reporting delivered to each account: Messages Sent, CTR,
Redemption, Op-Out, Response Rates. Detailed reporting includes
Demographics, Sentiment, Location.
Engagement There is a level of automation possible with the system, allowing
management bespoke „auto-responses‟ to be sent, and engagement through the
platform without the need for separate social accounts.
A local listening service that tracks checkins and responds with either automated
messaging or „retargeting‟ with display ads on mobile or web.
LocalResponse are moving into pure media avenues. They recently received $5m in
funding for Twitter ads – and have a local ad display network.


Summary

A: Soda.sh The tool to listen to sentiment and mentions but not a
comprehensive local listening service. Deep coverage including blogs.
A: MomentFeed The social listening tool that empowers the „centre‟ to monitor
„local‟ social interactions and compare across a network. Excellent
directional and social coverage.
A+B: ValueVine The social listening tool that empowers the „centre‟ to monitor
„local; social interactions and compare across a network. Excellent
directional and social coverage.
B: Needium The tool for local listening, engagement and tracking. Twitter only.
B: Hootsuite The tool to gather anecdotal info on volumes of keyword
mentions in a local area. Twitter only.
C: Geotoko The tool for local deal campaign management. Foursquare, and
Twitter with insight from Facebook Places included.
C: Local Response The tool for automated conversation as a result of check-
ins. LBS and Twitter only.


Contact EMO Local for questions,
additions, comments or services
we’ve missed!

@emolocal
social@emo.uk.com
(+44) 117 311 9000


Local Social Media listening tools evaluation

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