[Note:  This post is the inaugural entry in “The Pulse,” a weekly feature that will explore trending topics, rankings and industry “bests” across a wide spectrum of communication disciplines.  We'll post a new "Pulse" each week through 2011 here at Channel M. ]

Lots of PR and digital agencies do a great job for their clients in helping them to establish a social media presence or build a loyal network of fans and brand advocates.  But fewer do a great job with their own social media presence.  Today’s social media-enabled agency knows it’s not enough to simply amass a large number of followers or broadcast promotional messages on their Facebook page — audience engagement is the currency of the social media landscape.  So who’s doing it right, which agencies are most connected to their communities, and why? 

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#smmeasure Twitter chat recap

Although our weekly Twitter chats (#smmeasure) have been going strong for nearly a year, we took a brief hiatus from posting recaps, but we’re bringing them back! Moving forward, we will hand-pick the chats that provide the most significant insights and comments and share them with you on the Marketwire blog.

In one of our recent chats, we based our questions off a HubSpot webinar that brought some of the most burning social media measurement questions to light. (more…)

Nobody ever said communications was easy.  Building great content, finding the right audiences to share it with, and having your messages resonate in a way that makes those audiences take notice and take action involves more than just luck and some clever copy.  Today, successful communications is about conversation and engagement with your customers and key stakeholders, and it’s about building strong relationships with those who can impact your brand and your business.  (more…)

This year, despite the many weddings I’m a bridesmaid for, I couldn’t help but think about the upcoming royal nuptials of Prince William and Kate Middleton. The event, and everything leading up to it, has caused an international media frenzy, similar to the last royal wedding in 1981 when William’s parents (Charles and Diana) were wed. Back then, the public relied solely on traditional media: TV, radio, newspapers. Now, with the Internet, social media and smartphones, things have ramped up several notches. Audiences are much more engaged; the media is faster and more pervasive; and, companies are more aggressive, clever and informed to market to a captive audience. (more…)

A couple of weeks ago at SXSWi, one of the more interesting sessions I attended was called “Social Capital: The Billion Dollar Future.” Social capital refers to a person’s or brand’s collective online presence and what it means to the people around them. The session was paneled by Bill Parkes (nFusion), Michael Spataro (Visible Technologies), Zach Hofer-Shall (Forrester Research) and Richard Margetic (Dell). (more…)

PR News recently hosted the PR Measurement Conference at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, and welcomed more than 250 PR, marketing and communication professionals for a day of strategizing, learning, and networking.  With speakers such as Katie Paine (@kdpaine) and Tim Marklein (@tmarklein), the attendees were in for a treat and a vast wealth of knowledge on exactly what it means to have “influence.” (more…)

Nobody said social media monitoring was easy.  There are billions of conversations taking place across blogs, social networks and news sites – all in real time.  Little wonder that the thought of diving deep into those discussions in an attempt to analyze what’s being said, spot trends and identify the most influential voices and opinions is often overwhelming.  For those who have already taken the plunge, it can be all too easy to find yourself neck-deep in unfamiliar waters:  You’ve extracted a wealth of information and statistics from a host of monitoring and trending tools, yet trying to piece it together in search of “the big picture” is difficult at best.  (more…)

You might wonder how a centuries-old Greek philosopher can teach you how to uncover influencers and advocates on Twitter and Facebook, how to understand the sentiment of what they are saying and how all of those online conversations can affect your business and your brand, both positively and negatively.  (more…)

After a week off due to the Thanksgiving holiday last week, I was beginning to go through #smmeasure Twitter chat withdrawal.  Luckily for me and the rest of the #smmeasure community, Thursday couldn’t come fast enough.  Thanks to Sheldon @sysomos for coming up with engaging questions and taking on co-host duties. (more…)

On Tuesday, October 26, 2010, Marketwire presented a one-hour webinar on how to derive business intelligence from social media.  We covered how to listen and measure social media conversations, and come up with actionable insights you can use to build your brand using Marketwire’s Sysomos products: Media Analysis Platform (MAP) and Heartbeat.  (more…)

NOTE:  The following post is courtesy of Gillian Shaw, author of the Vancouver Sun’s Digital Life blog, and was originally published November 13, 2010. 

While there is still much speculation over who may join the leadership race, I took a look at the social media activities of the main contenders to see if they are ready to launch a campaign. (more…)

Every week, I look forward to participating in the social media measurement chat every Thursday and interacting with a community eagerly willing to share best tips and practices. Last week’s chat on measuring word of mouth campaigns was informative with plenty of actionable insights. This week’s chat focused on what not to do when participating in social media. A big thanks to my co-host, Sysomos’ Community Manager, Sheldon Levine @sysomos.

#smmeasure chat #14 recap (more…)

After missing last week’s chat on social media measurement for marketing campaigns because I was in Las Vegas for the BlogWorld Expo, I eagerly waited for the #smmeasure chat to begin.  This week’s chat focused on measuring word of mouth campaigns.   Thanks to Garry Przyklenk for taking on co-hosting duties last week with my partner in crime, Sysomos’ Community Manager, Sheldon Levine @sysomos.

#smmeasure chat #13 recap

Many social media folks define word of mouth as “viral”, but that’s just one part of one of the most powerful marketing campaigns.  To clarify what word of mouth marketing is, I asked our community.  If you have any questions, tweet @smmeasure without the #smmeasure hashtag.  Take a look at the full transcript. (more…)

This was an interesting week in the #smmeasure chat. We kicked it off by looking at different ways companies could leverage social media. It wasn’t long, however, before a lot of guests got into into a debate about the use of social media as a customer service/retention tool. The debate went the entire length of the chat, and though we haven’t added that debate coverage to this week’s recap, it was quite interesting, so I invite you to view it in the full transcript of the chat here.

Here’s this week’s recap:

#smmeasure chat #12 recap (more…)

In this week’s #smmeasure chat, we answer social media measurement questions from our growing community.  And, as always, a shoutout to Sysomos’ Community Manager Sheldon Levine @sysomos for co-hosting the chat with me.

#smmeasure chat #11 recap (more…)

During each weekly #smmeasure chat, we discuss questions and debate over  some of the best practices for measuring social media.  Because the medium is so new, no one has all the right answers yet.  We saw that last week when I took over for Nick Shin, Marketwire’s social media specialist.  We decided to look into the ideas of trust and reputation management via social media.  While the questions led to some lively debate, we came up with no definitive answers. I would highly recommend that you read through the entire transcript to see all the great ideas that were shared. Here’s some of the chat that went on:

#smmeasure chat #10 recap (more…)

We are all interested in measuring the success of our social media strategies.  Last week we covered the topic of print advertising and social media.  This week, I wanted to get a feel for the most popular social media tools out there, including URL shorteners, website analytics and social media analytics software. I want to thank everyone who participated and helped spread the word.  And, as always, a shoutout to Sysomos’ Community Manager Sheldon Levine @sysomos for co-hosting the chat.

#smmeasure chat #9 recap (more…)

During last week’s #smmeasure chat, we answered the big question: “What is online influence?” with special guest @Klout. This week I wanted to ask everyone about a topic that is not often discussed in social media: print advertising. Thanks to everyone who participated and helped spread the word. And, as always, a shoutout to Sysomos’ Community Manager Sheldon Levine @sysomos for co-hosting the chat.

#smmeasure chat #8 recap (more…)

During last Thursday’s wildly popular #smmeasure chat, I was astonished at the flurry of activity and volume of tweets, and amazed that hosts and participants managed to keep up with the frenetic pace for the full hour.  Amidst the onslaught of RTs, =)’s, comments and questions, I realized there was actually a conversation going on during this Twitter chat:  Folks posed questions and got answers; they shared opinion and insight, and they talked about best practice and trends.  Dare I say it…folks were E-N-G-A-G-E-D! (more…)

This week, we invited our first special guest to the #smmeasure chat and, needless to say, this was our most highly anticipated chat since #smmeasure was launched in July.   A big thanks goes out to Klout’s Megan Berry, marketing manager, and Joe Fernandez, CEO.  I also want to thank everyone who participated, submitted questions and helped spread the word.  And, as always, another shoutout to Sysomos’ Community Manager Sheldon Levine @sysomos for co-hosting the chat.

#smmeasure chat #7 recap with special guest, Klout

Klout, the company that created the “Klout Score,” a metric that measures online influence, began this week’s #smmeasure chat session by asking three discussion questions and then went full force into audience questions.  Below is just a small taste of the great conversation we had.  Take a look at the full transcript for oodles of helpful tips. (more…)