Firstly, people will become more negative towards organisations using monitoring technology in order to “gatecrash” conversations. Brand consumer trust will diminish. 

Secondly, the time, effort and resources associated with managing online buzz will become too much. Organisations will realise (some already do) that people will always express their opinions and they should be allowed to do it in, what they consider to be private.

While these concerns are reasonable, they make a case for better/ clearly defined/ purposeful monitoring initiatives. The consumers we are dealing with are empowered and want to be heard. And they should be. They are increasingly connecting with brands on social networks. According to SheSpeaks “Annual Social Media Study 2009”, 80% of female Internet users said they had become a fan of a product or brand on a social network. In addition, 72% had learned about a new product or brand, or joined a group around one.

Studies also suggest that consumers not only want brands to be on social networks but also want to engage with them. As per Cone Inc., new media users overwhelmingly believe companies or brands should not only have a presence in new media (95%) but also interact with their consumers in this space (89%). Consumers feel companies’ or brands’ top priorities within new media should be to problem solve and provide information (61%, up from 43% in 2008).

Further, solving customer service issues on the social web gives the consumers ready tools to share their positive experience with their network. We know that “75% of Americans are very likely to speak positively about a company after a good service experience in contrast with 59% who are very likely to speak negatively about a company after poor service”. (American Express, 2010)

At the end of the day. companies will need to put in place a social intelligence infrastructure for managing and analyzing social media conversations. Tough questions such as is this a departmental or an organizational initiative will need to be answered. Another mind bender, should companies listen to everyone or a chosen few?

I would suggest a three pronged strategy:

1. Identifying a set of influencers and/ or category enthusiasts who have social clout and setting up filters so that all conversations from this set – blog posts, tweets, forum replies etc – pour into a manageable database for further analysis and action.
2. Shifting conversations to “Brand Backyard” to solve relevant issues and garner actionable insights. The Brand Backyard includes sources such as customer communities, blogs, discussion forums and profiles on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter maintained by the brand. Further synergy can be built within these sources by integrating them to provide customers a seamless experience.  Lithium Community for Facebook does exactly that. A brand’s Facebook fans and its private community members can ask questions, access discussions and review products without ever leaving the Facebook page or the site.
3. Monitoring the social web by setting up alerts to identify any potential issues. Even with the above two in place, it is necessary to monitor the social web even if on cruise control. The idea is to identify any emerging issues or PR opportunities.

These steps should help brands to not only manage the quantum of online conversations but also build a positive customer experience overall. These are some of my ideas. What are your thoughts on managing this challenge?

Getting there is half the fun, right? Rarely. If you are like us, you are always searching for the best deal and the best advice when you are planning your vacation. There are a tremendous amount of resources out there to help make this process a little less painful and a little more enjoyable. Social websites, blogs, and applications have proliferated over the past few years and we’ve done our fair share of testing many of them.

If you’re looking for reviews from people who have “been there,” WhereIveBeen is for you. Want to sidestep the Internet cafes and use your mobile phone or laptop, the Wi-Fi Finder is the must have app. Wondering if you chose the best seat on that transatlantic flight? Seatguru.com is for you. In search of exclusive hotel deals, don’t forget to visit the Hotels.com Facebook page. Running through the streets of Rome and need a bathroom, SitOrSquat will be your best friend. Having a little staycation, don’t forget about your daily steals on GroupOn and LivingSocial. Whether you’re headed out on the open road, hopping on a plane or spending a little quality time with the family poolside, let Fanscape help you make the most out of your vacation time with 10 more of our favorite travel apps and resources.

TripIt (Free: Android / Blackberry / iPhone / Online)

TripIt makes order out of the paper trail (virtual or otherwise) that has been created by planning a trip. It is a hub for all of your travel plans to reside – from flights to room reservations to rentals. After you’ve created a free account, simply email your confirmations to plans@tripit.com and TripIt processes the information and creates a master itinerary for you. The service also connects you with local weather, directions and city guides to help you make the most of your vacation or business travel time. This information can also be shared with your friends, family and associates. The “Pro” version offers travel alerts, frequent flyer mile tracking and exclusive travel benefits. And at $49 per year the Pro version could be a life saver for the well-traveled business person.  USA Today’s AutoPilot (iPhone.iTouch only), is a very similar service, but is designed to sync up with TripIt.

Yelp (Free: Blackberry / iPhone / Online)

True, Yelp has been around for a while now, but there’s hardly ever a time where this doesn’t come in handy when trying to figure out where to eat – at home or away. If your taste buds feel adventurous you can always try UrbanSpoon, but Yelp and its more than 11 million user-generated reviews can help you find the perfect restaurant, event or special offer. Businesses can set up accounts, but it is the users who provide the reviews in an unfiltered and unbiased manner – allowing for us to pick places based on real-life experiences.

Around Me (Free: iPhone only)

If you like to go where the day takes you, or even looking for the nearest gas station, try Around Me. It let’s a traveler or even a local quickly find information and businesses based upon your location. For every listing you can see the location on a map or view from where you are.

Travel Channel GO (Free: iPhone only – coming soon to Android and Blackberry)

The Travel Channel’s GPS-enabled travel tool allows you to explore the world and experience a city like a local – discovering the best things to do and see. Discover nearby places that were featured on the Travel Channel and get tips from trusted Travel Channel hosts. You can also share travel hot spots and experiences with your friends as well as fellow travelers.

Trip Journal ($0.99 iPhone / Android)

This is one cool app. Google Earth integration allows for friends and family to follow your routes, locations, full screen photos, video and blog entries. The app is also integrated with Facebook, Flickr, YouTube and Twitter, making this a f-u-n and highly interactive app.

VRBO.com (Online)

VRBO – Vacation Rentals By Owner – is a fantastic site to find some of the best privately owned vacation rentals, homes, condos, cabins, villas and apartments. They have a blog that’s brought to you by the VRBO bear highlighting some of the actual rental properties available. You can search for a rental and even list your own property.

CruiseCritic.com (Online)

If you are a fan of the cruise ship lifestyle, CruiseCritic.com is a must visit site. This site offers editorial content, offers and news. What’s great about this site is its member review section. The member reviews are extensive and honest – providing specific information on cruise lines, particular ships and destinations as well as ratings on different aspects of the experience such as entertainment, excursions, family and children’s options.

TripAdvisor.com

TripAdvisor is like a trusted friend – helping you plan and have the perfect trip. Hotels, flights, restaurants and rentals, the site has’em. Unsure of where you even want to go? They also offer recommendations based upon your preferences. They’ve taken to the social space with a Facebook page and Twitter account than is the perfect complement to its website – offering discussions and relevant travel news for those about to depart.

Jetsetter.com

Get yourself invited! Jetsetter is a private online community geared for the more sophisticated traveler that provides its members with great insider access to special sales to some of the world’s greatest resorts and destinations. If you’re familiar with Jetsetter’s sister site,  discounted high fashion shopping hub, Gilt Groupe, you’ll understand that once you’re invited to be a part, you’ll have access to some great merchandise at fantastic prices.

Gadling

This travel blog is part of the AOL family of blogs and is chock full of travel information and pictures. The great thing about this blog is it isn’t centered around one city or one component of travel, but rather covers just about everything – from deals to healthy road trip snacks. Interested in info on the Opryland Hotel, they have that too (psst, it’s re-opening on November 15^th).

As we mentioned at the start, there are an incredible amount of travel resources at our fingertips – all devised to help simplify our lives. The more socially plugged-in we become, the easier it gets for us to make the best travel decisions and purchases. The result is a more carefree and enjoyable experience. Just what a vacation should be.

Fanscaper's @germer and @lardog2000

It was great seeing so many people involved in Social Media and finally getting to meet @jeffpulver was a highlight of the (my) night. Hearing people speak to the power of Social Media and how purposeful it can be takes it well beyond the proverbial fun and games of checking in here and building a farm there and I was impressed.

The ladies room is always worth a visit during any gathering, as it is a haven for some of the best one liners of any evening. Case in point, in between speakers I made my traditional pit stop and apparently @SimonMainwaring made quite an impression, as a number of the ladies were commenting on how hot and handsome he was. (Note to future #140conf organizers, the ladies like the good looking guys on stage.)

The evening even turned into an impromptu fundraiser for a patient of @Krupali where every attendee donated at least $1 to help make her patient’s dream of making it to the home of her beloved Pittsburgh Steelers come true.  Granted, this didn’t take place via a tweet or Facebook campaign, but if it wasn’t for the love of Social Media none of us would’ve been there to lend a hand, miles or a few bucks. 

I wasn’t able to take part in the purple Viper Room flash mob, but before I left, it looked like it was going to be a crazy walk down the Sunset Strip. Who’s got pictures of that…come on now share!

Thanks @ericgreenspan, @jeffpulver and everyone else in attendance for making my first #140conf L.A. Meetup so memorable. I can’t wait for the next one.

What follows is an excerpt from Larry Weintraub’s latest post to his Smart Marketing Blog that highlights the new trend of Social Shopping.

A year ago if you had asked me about social shopping I would have pointed you to Amazon and told you that the product reviews from actual buyers were examples of social shopping.  Six months ago I would have told you about shopping aggregation websites like Kaboodle which allow you to view, comment, and receive deals from multiple retailers.  Two weeks ago I would have told you about the new Facebook integration into websites like Levi’s “Friend Store” and how you can see what your friends like.  And today.  Well today I’d tell you it’s all about what I call the Discount Crowdsourced Shopping Experience (DCSE) being powered by Groupon, Living Social, Gilt, Blackboard Eats, Wines Til Sold Out (WTSO) and more.

A few months back I wrote a post about a new business ready to take off.  What I described there was the advancement of location-based applications like Foursquare, Gowalla, and MyTown combined with recommendation websites like Yelp and Citysearch, and how they were providing huge opportunities for shop owners to drive people into their stores.  DCSE’s go the next step and offer discounts to drive you into these stores.  All of these DCSE’s are essentially mailing lists and you get regular (often daily) deals sent to your inbox.

Click HERE to read more

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Fanscape takes a look at some of the best free tools that can help you measure the results of your Twitter contest to determine the success of your promotion, beyond just adding followers.

Have a look and let us know what you think.

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2010 has already seen an upward trend in tune-in for major events like the Grammys, the Golden Globes, and the Super Bowl.  Some argue it is because of the proliferation of social media and a general renewed fervor over pop culture events.  Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and thousands of other online and mobile outlets have helped give people a platform to interact around award shows, sporting events and notable news-worthy occurrences.  With reports indicating Oscar ratings up 14% over last year, it looks like there might be some truth to this theory.

Read the full report here.

Check it out and let us know what you think.

In the 2004 election Dr. Howard Dean emerged from virtual obscurity to become a viable presidential candidate – due in large part to his online fundraising efforts. To fund his campaign, he encouraged supporters to send online donations and visually tracked the progress on his website.  Many credit Dean as the pioneer for online campaigning and the inspiration for President Obama’s groundbreaking 2008 campaign developed by Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes.

As we saw in 2008, President Obama took the use of the web and social media to a new level, harnessing its power to mobilize his supporters from the ground up.  More recently, increasing numbers of those in Congress have turned to Twitter as a primary means of communication with their constituents and counterparts. Whether it’s providing a community for supporters to team up or an avenue to lash out directly to your representative, social media is becoming firmly entrenched in the political sphere.

Although it may have been a case of too little too late, John McCain also delved into the social space in 2008 with his own networking site coined McCainSpace and a blog run by his daughter at McCainBlogette.com. The project did not see the same level of success as Obama’s, but it is certainly safe to say that the 2008 election was the first to make social media a primary campaign component. Today, President Obama has official profiles on more than 16 different social networking sites including Facebook, YouTube and Twitter – all of which are active.  His website also includes tools to join a local group, organize an event and fundraise.

The web has expanded politician’s reach dramatically.  This past month, more than 1.3 million viewers watched the President’s most recent State of the Union address from their computer screens or mobile devices on sites like YouTube, Hulu, Ustream, Facebook and CNN. The White House even released its own iPhone app that provided a live stream of the coverage.

Following the masses, many politicians are making social sites their preferred method of public communication.  For proof, look no further than former Minnesota senator Norm Coleman, who used his Facebook profile to announce that he would not be participating in the upcoming race for Minnesota governor. Using Facebook gave him direct control over the venue and the message while avoiding tedious media inquiries and misinterpretations. This type of authenticity is increasingly important in an environment notorious for fence straddling, side swapping and general ambiguity.  When asked why he chose the medium of Facebook, Coleman replied simply, “Because it’s 2010.”  Expect his actions to be the beginning of a new political norm.

Though not all politicians are as forward-thinking as Coleman, a large portion of Congressional members and groups are active social media producers and consumers.  TweetCongress.org, which tracks Twitter activity of Congressional members, lists more than 200 active members and groups. Some of the most popular include Arizona Senator John McCain, Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill and South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint.

Republicans may currently be in the minority, but recent research indicates that they are the definite majority in the social media world. In his white paper “Twongress – The Power of Twitter in Congress”, Mark Senak determines that nearly half of the Republican caucus is on Twitter and that GOP members tweet more often and have more followers than their Democrat counterparts. Similar trends exist for YouTube, Facebook and other sites as well. Senator Scott Brown, who on January 19^th became the first Republican elected to a Massachusetts senatorial seat since 1972, had five times more Facebook fans and three times more Twitter followers than his opponent Martha Coakley. This is certainly not the sole reason for his surprise victory, but the presence of an active social following must be given significant weight in the overall picture.

While the web has the potential to provide a level playing field for all parties and participants, recent research indicates that, just as in the offline world, there is a strong correlation between online political activity levels and household income. The study also found that active social media members are commonly the most active members in the political world as well. These indicators may explain some of the current skew toward rightward political participation, but the reality is that the Internet has altered longstanding patterns previously defined entirely by socio-economic factors.

The web has vaulted low-profile candidates into the spotlight and given them the ability to broadcast their platform at a level that less than a decade ago would have required several million dollars. It is exciting to watch as political figures and groups make use of social media, but merely having a presence is simply not enough. Politicians and the political world must continue to push far beyond campaigning and the occasional tweet by actively engaging with their audience. Bringing them closer and inviting them to be a part of the process is what engagement is all about. George and Abe would be proud.