Author:Nick Shin
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
Below is a small taste of the great conversation we had. Take a look at the full transcript for more tools that the #smmeasure community has recommended.
Q1: Best URL shortener (bit.ly, ow.ly, etc)? Why?
• @addy_dren: “I use @HootSuite so ow.ly and ht.ly are my favorites. Easy to use, but also give enough numbers”
• @JonClements: “bit.ly good – especially when working from a mobile. Being able to click and copy the shortened link without having to scroll over, copy, paste and all that nonsense”
• @BrianJacklin: “I’m a fan of Bit.ly solid tracking, custom urls, sidebar feature is very helpful”
• @katzpdx: “I prefer bit.ly – more robust API”
• @TsarKasim: “I will say that when I post a bit.ly link via TweetDeck, the “views” number always seems inflated.”
• @GalacticPhantom: “you can also get a free bit.ly pro beta account to customize to your url if you want. it’s on for a limited time”
• @GalacticPhantom: “the downside of bit.ly is that info about the link, who’s posted, RT, etc is a hot mess & needs a simple tree structure”
• @rochlatinsky: “I use bit.ly when I’m on web based twitter clients. and whichever one tweetdeck defaults to when im on my laptop.”
• @grmeyer: “bit.ly -> short links, named, can also add your own tracking codes”
• @dbbradle: “If you enter your Bit.ly API key in TweetDeck, it tracks them for you. I check the Bit.ly dashboard here and there”
Q1.5: What do you do with the metrics you get from the URL shortener?
• @40deuce: “I use the info from my link tracker to determine how much of our traffic comes from Twitter (as I mostly use short URLs there)”
• @dbbradle: “Collect the tested titles for an article/times of day.”
• @theelusivefish: “… Use them to gauge response”
• @WriterChanelle: “With bit.ly I see all of the twitter handles that have tweeted my link, so I follow up by checking bios and following”
Q2: Best website analytics package (Google Analytics, Compete, etc)? Why?
• @40deuce: “for my personal blogs I use Google analytics, at work we use getclicky.com”
• @inspiredtrain: “Best web analytics is always a combination of trackers. Never rely on just one source.”
• @socialskillzcom: “GAnalytics for most sites – it’s free. Some corporate clients use WebTrends – more corporate because it costs?”
• @dbbradle: “For sheer beauty I use Observer: http://bit.ly/czdrmS. For RL I use Google Analytics. “
• @theelusivefish: “Quantcast.com great source of demographics as well for folks planning ad buys”
• @PRBristolblog: “I have found Google analytics to be best, for depth of data & being able to set Goals etc”
• @BrianJacklin: “Google Analytics I think for MOST people would be more than enough. Site overlay feature is my fav”
• @goldsbrough: “GA’s customizable reporting is good and doesn’t confuse non-techy clients too much”
• @Symscio: “GA for internal analytics, Compete for external”
Q3: Best social media analytics software (Sysomos, Radian6, etc)? Why?
• @hughmacken: “one tool that does not get nearly enough credit is Gist.com I think of it as a person-centric monitoring tool.”
• @katzpdx: “Equally biased, but @twitalyzer”
Useful Blog Posts
• Twitter to launch free real-time analytics this year via @
Gigaom• How to coax social media insights from Google Analytics via @
sengineland
Originally published at
http://blog.marketwire.com/2010/09/24/best-tools-to-measure-social-media-success/