From MarkBlevis.com

Mark Blevis analyses the social space using Sysomos’ MAP and Heartbeat tools. He took a look at the Idle  No More movement for the week of January 13-19, part of his monitoring since December 23. Here’s what he has to say:

“Despite a week of continued momentum, media interest and online chatter, and much hype around the National Day of Protest, Idle No More posted a significant drop in online activity between January 13 and 19.”

You can see the full analysis and how Blevis used Sysomos Heartbeat to analyze the data at this link.

MOvember is here:  30 totally inspiring, fantastically fun days to sport a moustache and raise money and awareness for men’s health, specifically prostate cancer.  Our own Sheldon Levine (@40deuce) takes a look at who’s saying what about MOvember across the social web and lays down the challenge to take part in this great cause by sporting your own ‘stache or donating to the Marketwire MOvember network.

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The insight and intelligence that can be gathered from closely monitoring the activity and conversations across the social web are rapidly becoming “must have’s” for any company or brand.  Tech journalist and social strategist Amber Mac sat down with our own Jeff Cann during her Canadian Tech Spotlight series at Toronto’s Dx3 Canada conference to talk about the power of tapping into billions of online conversations, and how companies can monitor and evaluate their brand health, campaign performance and consumer sentiment.

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Social media is rife with business buyers searching for business solutions. According to Forrester Research, 84 percent of business buyers say word of mouth has the greatest influence over their purchasing decisions, far surpassing any form of paid media. And Twitter is a great place to find business buyers. It’s a veritable goldmine that can pay off handsomely for B2B organizations. Jonathan Astor, social media lead at Valtech and Sheldon Levine, community manager at Marketwire + Sysomos, show us how to find and nurture social media leads. To listen to Jonathan and Sheldon discuss this fascinating topic, tune into the archived version of our recent webinar: “B2B Social Media:  Turning Untapped Conversations into Business Wins.”

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Positive word of mouth and brand advocacy are important to any organization.  But for nonprofits, groups that are typically challenged by strict budgets, limited human resources and government regulations, word-of-mouth and advocacy marketing are key strategies.  Enter social media and the abundance of wide-open channels (most of them free to use) and communities of socially and ethically conscious millions.  For many nonprofits, the opportunity to identify and tap into groups of like-minded citizens helps the organization not only share its mission and mandate, but use the common collective of fans and followers to spread those messages far(ther) and wide(r).   Let’s look at ten nonprofits doing just that.

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If you’re in marketing, PR or any communications role you’ve likely been inundated with expert advice on how to incorporate content marketing into your business strategies and heard why it’s a must-have in your corporate plan. Many practitioners are just getting familiar with terms like content marketing, content strategy, content publishing and content curation, while others are writing books and blog posts about it. If you’re new to it all, don’t despair: You’re probably already doing some kind of content marketing, even if you don’t realize it.

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To be influential in social media can mean many things.  Sometimes it’s all about the numbers — the sheer volume of followers that one individual can amass is truly staggering, and with every Facebook post or tweet, millions of people have the potential to be swayed by that influence on what to buy, where to travel or how to vote.  But it’s not always just about numbers.  The creativity, expertise and unique insight that an influencer shares with his or her community are what truly make them worthy of following.  Take a look at our choices for some of the most influential in the social sphere in 2011. 

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When we read about the importance of listening, monitoring and being active in social media, it is typically in reference to B2C companies. Social media is almost seen as “sexy” and a “must-have strategy” for B2C success, yet we tend to hear less about how important real-time listening and social media monitoring is for B2B companies. Typically, B2B marketers are not looking for the “sexy” solution; they want practical ways to measure their brand, their campaigns, and their place in the market, and they want to use that intelligence to make impactful business decisions. What’s more, many B2B companies don’t think that they have enough brand mentions to warrant monitoring online conversations. But B2B companies, like their B2C counterparts, can benefit tremendously from listening to conversations in the social sphere. 

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As the month of November comes to close we bid a fond “adieu” to all the wild moustaches that show themselves but once a year. That’s right, by the time this post is up MOvember will officially be over (but I’m sure you can still donate). For those not in the know, all the creepy moustaches you’ve seen over the past month have been part of a worldwide charity effort to raise money for prostate cancer research, while having a little fun.  Well, we started off the month with a MOvember blog post, so I thought it only fair to close it the same way.

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A great team is one with incredible personality, strong spirit and an obvious sense of camaraderie.   Meet the Sysomos team;  the folks who create, support, sell, market and manage the industry’s best social media monitoring tools.  But don’t just take our word for it – watch the video and discover how intelligence, agility and good old-fashioned street-smarts can conquer almost anything.  And, like our team in Chicago, it’s proof positive that when your company is supported by great employees, it shows.

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Halloween may be over, but the time to change your appearance is about to begin again. November has arrived and to many, this month has taken on the new name of MOvember. MOvember has become a worldwide phenomenon where men donate their faces to grow moustaches in the name of raising money for prostate cancer research. The movement has grown larger and larger every year since its inception and this year will be no different.

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Crisis management in the face of social media requires a masterful and agile skillset.  Today’s crises (and their responses) play out in real-time, as do breaking news and opinion about the situation at hand.  Add to that the viral nature of social networks and the ability for a story to get around the world in mere minutes, and you’ve got a virtual powder keg of bad publicity threatening to explode in the hands of the organization at the center of the crisis.  Gone are the days when you can bury a story or get by with a simple “no comment.”  How your company reacts (or doesn’t) to a bad situation can sometimes make or break its future.

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More and more companies, both B2B and B2C, are integrating social media into their overall marketing mix because they have realized the incredible opportunities that exist across the social web.  The ability for real-time customer service, lead generation, brand and reputation management, sales opportunities…the list goes on.   Let’s go over a few reasons why your business should be using social media.  

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Most marketers know that social media must be part of their business strategy.  Unfortunately, they also know that convincing executive teams and getting company-wide buy-in of a social media strategy (and one with an actual budget) is no easy feat.  More and more marketers, however, are finding success by building a case for social media within their organization by putting concrete action plans and real metrics in front of their C-suites, and attributing true ROI to their efforts.  These are the marketing champions who have proven that they can use social media to connect with customers and truly impact their business, brand, and bottom line.  Want to become a champion?  Join us for “Impacting Business with Social Media,” a free webinar hosted by Brian Solis.

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What do an iconic American consumer brand, a Swiss digital communications agency and the 2011 Canadian federal election all have in common?  Each tells its own success story with social media.  Specifically, each is a case study about using the intelligence and insight gleaned from social media monitoring for brand and reputation management, crisis communications and message control, and cross-channel promotion. (more…)

#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…)

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…)

I was interested to see the social media world from a different perspective – across the ocean at Social Media World Forum Europe (SMWF).  The surprising thing is, it doesn’t appear to be much different than the social media world in North America and I can probably surmise that it won’t be much different in Australia or Asia either. This global phenomenon, connecting individuals across continents, presents the same challenges and opportunities to companies regardless of geography or language. Packed with panels and presentations, the conference was a source of thought-provoking discussions, many of which strived to answer that one elusive question: (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…)