Social Watchlist 2.0 is out! Regional Facebook data and insights at your fingertips...

Earlier this month I wrote a post about a great discovery, namely Social Watchlist, a website allowing users to keep an eye on Facebook Fan pages from across the Middle East and North Africa region, I call this impressive initiative, geographical imagination. As Social Media develops we are starting to see more and more of those initiatives emerge around the region and I would like to spend some time particularly on this one for you to enjoy.

Interface:

The revamped interface has a better design and layout. The effect is two fold:

• The user can by one click observe a bar chart of the top 25 Facebook Fan pages, smooth and slick approach. 
•  The navigation from one metric to another is intuitive. With that in mind, comparison by location or category makes this Social Media hub an extremely important element of your Social Media strategy.

 Analytics and metrics:

Once you launch your Facebook Fan Page(s), add a new campaign to the page, a new product, content, contest... the list goes on and on. You have to be able to measure, benchmark and optimize whatever activity you undertook on that medium. Truth be told, knowing which metrics to follow on an ongoing basis is paramount for the success of your enterprise... If it's not measurable, it's miserable, I would even add.
Using metrics to keep an eye on those perspectives, experiences and opinions shared on Facebook Fan pages is what increases engagement. In fact, Social Watchlist is a dashboard that allows, when used in an appropriate manner, to build, nurture and shape my relationships as a brand with my audience. It's part of my toolbox.
Concerning individual page history, it has now been extended from 60 days to 120 days. Moreover, you get even get a page's growth history over the past 4 months. Isn’t that fantastic!  I love it, there is so much information in this Facebook Fan pages hub!

·  

The previous version allowed users to access only to the top 100 pages per country or category, now you can browse through all the pages.

Questions that the tool can answer:
(Just click on the question to get the answer)

• Which page has acquired the highest number of fans since last week?
• Which page has moved up the ranks fastest this week?
• Which category in Saudi Arabia has the highest percentage of growth since last week?
• Which countries do FMCG pages perform best in?
• Which category of Facebook pages is the most popular in Egypt?

  Bottom line: Data is critical for many reasons, including measuring performance, that is perhaps one of the most decisive.It's time to get serious about Social Media data and what it can do for a brand and I'm glad that Social Watchlist team are helping the community with such a great website.

Social Watchlist 2.0 is out! Regional Facebook data and insights at your fingertips...

Earlier this month I wrote a post about a great discovery, namely Social Watchlist, a website allowing users to keep an eye on Facebook Fan pages from across the Middle East and North Africa region, I call this impressive initiative, geographical imagination. As Social Media develops we are starting to see more and more of those initiatives emerge around the region and I would like to spend some time particularly on this one for you to enjoy.

Interface:

The revamped interface has a better design and layout. The effect is two fold:

• The user can by one click observe a bar chart of the top 25 Facebook Fan pages, smooth and slick approach. 
•  The navigation from one metric to another is intuitive. With that in mind, comparison by location or category makes this Social Media hub an extremely important element of your Social Media strategy.

 Analytics and metrics:

Once you launch your Facebook Fan Page(s), add a new campaign to the page, a new product, content, contest... the list goes on and on. You have to be able to measure, benchmark and optimize whatever activity you undertook on that medium. Truth be told, knowing which metrics to follow on an ongoing basis is paramount for the success of your enterprise... If it's not measurable, it's miserable, I would even add.
Using metrics to keep an eye on those perspectives, experiences and opinions shared on Facebook Fan pages is what increases engagement. In fact, Social Watchlist is a dashboard that allows, when used in an appropriate manner, to build, nurture and shape my relationships as a brand with my audience. It's part of my toolbox.
Concerning individual page history, it has now been extended from 60 days to 120 days. Moreover, you get even get a page's growth history over the past 4 months. Isn’t that fantastic!  I love it, there is so much information in this Facebook Fan pages hub!

·  

The previous version allowed users to access only to the top 100 pages per country or category, now you can browse through all the pages.

Questions that the tool can answer:
(Just click on the question to get the answer)

• Which page has acquired the highest number of fans since last week?
• Which page has moved up the ranks fastest this week?
• Which category in Saudi Arabia has the highest percentage of growth since last week?
• Which countries do FMCG pages perform best in?
• Which category of Facebook pages is the most popular in Egypt?

  Bottom line: Data is critical for many reasons, including measuring performance, that is perhaps one of the most decisive.It's time to get serious about Social Media data and what it can do for a brand and I'm glad that Social Watchlist team are helping the community with such a great website.

New Methodology for Social Media Customer Intelligence - Media Marketing Contacts Directory - MediaBizNet - News

New Methodology for Social Media Customer Intelligence
Mining and understanding customer feedback creates a powerful lens into the customer experience. The problem, however, is that while many brands are listening to the online chatter, too few are deciphering what they have gathered in a meaningful way. In fact, a recent survey by Harvard Business Review Analytic Services found that while more than half of the surveyed companies are using social media, less than one-quarter (23 per cent) are using any form of social media analytical tools and only 5 per cent are using some form of customer sentiment analysis. Diving deep into online customer chatter is an unprecedented opportunity to identify and remove the obstacles to delivering superior customer experience. Social analytics is an increasingly used methodology to achieve these goals. Unfortunately, most available analytic programs gravitate toward tangible metrics such as "followers," "likes," or star ratings because they are measurable but severely lack the actionable analysis and value executives need to drive business decisions. Social business intelligence -- or the intersection of social media customer feedback, business intelligence, and industry-specific technology -- provides brands with clear industry-specific performance indicators and opportunities to grow their business. By capturing and aggregating a complete view of social media feedback and synthesizing it into customer insight, social business intelligence turns volumes of unstructured mentions online into a real-time performance indicator dashboard that provides clear opportunities to improve customer experience. A true social business intelligence platform delivers four key areas of actionable insight: Social Customer Satisfaction: Your customers are tweeting, posting, and blogging, about whether they will buy your product again, return to your store, or recommend you to their peers. As a result, it is critical for brands to not just resolve the existing issues, but to be proactive in averting future issues that may come down the pike. Advances in analytics -- including sentiment and credibility analyses -- give marketers the power to drill down into the most relevant customer feedback and identify ways to enhance the overall customer experience. Social Competitive Intelligence: In today's socially connected, consumer-led world, there are few places that are more effective at helping companies gather a goldmine of information than social media. Social competitive intelligence enables brands to capture competitor performance, as defined by customers online, and analyse it so they have a clear and timely understanding of competitor strengths, weaknesses, and the latest initiatives. Social Marketing Intelligence: With the rise of social media, how do marketers better understand when, where, why, and how consumers choose to engage with their brand? How do they know what social media channels are most effective? Analysing online feedback gives executives insight into the most relevant customer impressions of their brand and identification of and access to the most pertinent online influencers. Brands also gain critical demographic data on customers online, engagement opportunities, and true voice-of-the-consumer insight. This level of intelligence gives marketers the ability to measure the value of specific social media interaction, which is vital to developing online marketing strategies and informing ROI measurement. Social Advertising Intelligence: Every brand wants to capture new audiences, add revenue opportunities, and maximise the value of advertising inventory. Mining and analysing volumes of real-time, highly influential online customer feedback gives advertising executives the intelligence they need to learn from and transform messaging campaigns. Armed with this direct social media feedback, retailers can easily measure the efficacy of campaigns during and after their run! A comprehensive social business intelligence picture is a must-have. By mining and analysing customer feedback intelligently, organisations gain the depth and breadth of customer insight needed to leverage social media for a true, bottom-line competitive advantage.

New Methodology for Social Media Customer Intelligence - Media Marketing Contacts Directory - MediaBizNet - News

New Methodology for Social Media Customer Intelligence
Mining and understanding customer feedback creates a powerful lens into the customer experience. The problem, however, is that while many brands are listening to the online chatter, too few are deciphering what they have gathered in a meaningful way. In fact, a recent survey by Harvard Business Review Analytic Services found that while more than half of the surveyed companies are using social media, less than one-quarter (23 per cent) are using any form of social media analytical tools and only 5 per cent are using some form of customer sentiment analysis. Diving deep into online customer chatter is an unprecedented opportunity to identify and remove the obstacles to delivering superior customer experience. Social analytics is an increasingly used methodology to achieve these goals. Unfortunately, most available analytic programs gravitate toward tangible metrics such as "followers," "likes," or star ratings because they are measurable but severely lack the actionable analysis and value executives need to drive business decisions. Social business intelligence -- or the intersection of social media customer feedback, business intelligence, and industry-specific technology -- provides brands with clear industry-specific performance indicators and opportunities to grow their business. By capturing and aggregating a complete view of social media feedback and synthesizing it into customer insight, social business intelligence turns volumes of unstructured mentions online into a real-time performance indicator dashboard that provides clear opportunities to improve customer experience. A true social business intelligence platform delivers four key areas of actionable insight: Social Customer Satisfaction: Your customers are tweeting, posting, and blogging, about whether they will buy your product again, return to your store, or recommend you to their peers. As a result, it is critical for brands to not just resolve the existing issues, but to be proactive in averting future issues that may come down the pike. Advances in analytics -- including sentiment and credibility analyses -- give marketers the power to drill down into the most relevant customer feedback and identify ways to enhance the overall customer experience. Social Competitive Intelligence: In today's socially connected, consumer-led world, there are few places that are more effective at helping companies gather a goldmine of information than social media. Social competitive intelligence enables brands to capture competitor performance, as defined by customers online, and analyse it so they have a clear and timely understanding of competitor strengths, weaknesses, and the latest initiatives. Social Marketing Intelligence: With the rise of social media, how do marketers better understand when, where, why, and how consumers choose to engage with their brand? How do they know what social media channels are most effective? Analysing online feedback gives executives insight into the most relevant customer impressions of their brand and identification of and access to the most pertinent online influencers. Brands also gain critical demographic data on customers online, engagement opportunities, and true voice-of-the-consumer insight. This level of intelligence gives marketers the ability to measure the value of specific social media interaction, which is vital to developing online marketing strategies and informing ROI measurement. Social Advertising Intelligence: Every brand wants to capture new audiences, add revenue opportunities, and maximise the value of advertising inventory. Mining and analysing volumes of real-time, highly influential online customer feedback gives advertising executives the intelligence they need to learn from and transform messaging campaigns. Armed with this direct social media feedback, retailers can easily measure the efficacy of campaigns during and after their run! A comprehensive social business intelligence picture is a must-have. By mining and analysing customer feedback intelligently, organisations gain the depth and breadth of customer insight needed to leverage social media for a true, bottom-line competitive advantage.

Virginia Intermont Certified for Leading Equine Assisted Psychotherapy Program

Horses and people can be a match made in heaven. No wonder equine assisted therapy is becoming more popular.
Virginia Intermont College, Bristol, Va., has become one of only two colleges in the nation to achieve endorsement by the Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association (EAGALA) for its Equine Assisted Growth and Learning program.  Founded in 1999, EAGALA is a nonprofit organization,

Social Watchlist for the Middle East Facebook Fan Pages

Serendipity leads sometimes to great discoveries. This week, Social Watchlist is one of them. And, it set the stage for a series of discussions comparing and contrasting Facebook Fan pages within the Middle East & North Africa (MENA). Indeed, Facebook is rocking the Social Media universe, and with as much heat as it has drawn, it only persists to spread like wildfire within the Arab world. All the data provided within Social Watchlist is publicly available to anyone who bothers to check but it is structured and given within a list updated on a weekly basis. Let’s stop briefly to explain the importance of having the data structured. Data is the mountain of raw and unstructured materials that exist in the blogosphere, and being able to get this data presented in a well thought-out manner turn it into information. Social Watchlist can be used to capitalize on the information held within the reams of unstructured data currently available out there from a single point of access. Bottom line: "All the right information at the right time in one place"

 Furthermore, the data can be filtered by country or region (e.g. MENA, GCC, North Africa) and also by category (e.g. Airline, Automobile, banking) which enables the user of the Social Watchlist website to benchmark the number of followers and the trend from a single interface, and hence,  to see the bigger picture in far greater detail. Up to now, the website is monitoring a total of 1040 Facebook Fan pages with a total of 32,808,376 fans.

Besides the ranking, Social Watchlist offers the movement of a Facebook Fan Page and the growth. It came to my attention that each page, part of the ranking, has tags that permit when you glance over the top 10 pages or more to recognize the category in which the page falls into. That’s the kind of attention to detail that gets my attention.

In an era where Facebook Fan Pages are sometimes more important than corporate websites, this initiative definitely seem to be moving in the right direction. Indeed, it is an epitome of the kind of tool that does not require complex algorithms but that makes the life of digital marketers, Social Media professionals and the likes far easier in a world where time is the most expensive currency.

All they might be lacking is that little extra bit of insight. It is a tool that is most effective when combined with a strategic arsenal of relevant insights about the Facebook Fan page.

The idea is to fuse the list for a specific vertical with what makes the page popular (is it the welcome page, the community manager, the content, the design...). My message to marketers is don’t fool yourself into thinking that you can afford to keep going without this vital piece of the business puzzle. It’s no longer a matter of if, nor when, but now a matter of practice and evolution in order to determine success and failure.

 The good news is that it’s still at the beta stage so I am genuinely excited by what will come next. Stay tuned.

Social Watchlist for the Middle East Facebook Fan Pages

Serendipity leads sometimes to great discoveries. This week, Social Watchlist is one of them. And, it set the stage for a series of discussions comparing and contrasting Facebook Fan pages within the Middle East & North Africa (MENA). Indeed, Facebook is rocking the Social Media universe, and with as much heat as it has drawn, it only persists to spread like wildfire within the Arab world. All the data provided within Social Watchlist is publicly available to anyone who bothers to check but it is structured and given within a list updated on a weekly basis. Let’s stop briefly to explain the importance of having the data structured. Data is the mountain of raw and unstructured materials that exist in the blogosphere, and being able to get this data presented in a well thought-out manner turn it into information. Social Watchlist can be used to capitalize on the information held within the reams of unstructured data currently available out there from a single point of access. Bottom line: "All the right information at the right time in one place"

 Furthermore, the data can be filtered by country or region (e.g. MENA, GCC, North Africa) and also by category (e.g. Airline, Automobile, banking) which enables the user of the Social Watchlist website to benchmark the number of followers and the trend from a single interface, and hence,  to see the bigger picture in far greater detail. Up to now, the website is monitoring a total of 1040 Facebook Fan pages with a total of 32,808,376 fans.

Besides the ranking, Social Watchlist offers the movement of a Facebook Fan Page and the growth. It came to my attention that each page, part of the ranking, has tags that permit when you glance over the top 10 pages or more to recognize the category in which the page falls into. That’s the kind of attention to detail that gets my attention.

In an era where Facebook Fan Pages are sometimes more important than corporate websites, this initiative definitely seem to be moving in the right direction. Indeed, it is an epitome of the kind of tool that does not require complex algorithms but that makes the life of digital marketers, Social Media professionals and the likes far easier in a world where time is the most expensive currency.

All they might be lacking is that little extra bit of insight. It is a tool that is most effective when combined with a strategic arsenal of relevant insights about the Facebook Fan page.

The idea is to fuse the list for a specific vertical with what makes the page popular (is it the welcome page, the community manager, the content, the design...). My message to marketers is don’t fool yourself into thinking that you can afford to keep going without this vital piece of the business puzzle. It’s no longer a matter of if, nor when, but now a matter of practice and evolution in order to determine success and failure.

 The good news is that it’s still at the beta stage so I am genuinely excited by what will come next. Stay tuned.