HootSuite Integrates with Webtrends Analytics, Seeks Social Media ROI

HootSuite is launching an integration with Webtrends Analytics, a move the company says will increase the range of measurement tools available to HootSuite Enterprise users.

As a result of the integration, HootSuite enterprise users can now create custom, automatically generated reports that show the impact of social media messaging on customer conversion. In addition, users can compare the effect of social media messaging across different channels to determine where engagement is highest.

HootSuite says the integrated Webtrends Analytics capabilities also allow users to evaluate metrics such as which specific social media account or page provides the most valuable traffic, which time of day produces the highest volumes of traffic and engagement, and which specific types of messages and words drive the highest conversion rates.

HootSuite Pursues Integrations

Hootsuite has been aggressively pursuing integrations with a variety of social media networks and service providers to expand the functionality of its enterprise social media management platform. HootSuite is designed to allow users to collaboratively execute campaigns across multiple networks from a single Web dashboard. Integrations and plug-ins make campaign measurement — and management — more robust and easier to perform.

In August, HootSuite refreshed its GetSatisfaction app to include integrations with Facebook and Twitter. Users of GetSatisfaction, which was designed to ease the building of online social communities by transforming social media interactions into conversations between companies and customers, now have the ability to push and pull content across both platforms from one dashboard.  

In July, HootSuite started offering all users full access to Google+ Pages. As a result of this expanded integration, all HootSuite users (both paid and free) can manage Google+ Pages alongside other social channels, and have access to Google+ Pages functionality in the HootSuite dashboard. In August, HootSuite collaborated with Yammer, allowing all Yammer users to monitor and reply to Yammer conversations within HootSuite.

Other recent notable HootSuite integrations include a partnership with HubSpot for social lead generation and integrations with Instagram and Slideshare, all occurring in June.

In Pursuit of the Holy Grail

According to the Vancouver Sun's "Digital Life" blog, the integration of Webtrends Analytics signals that HootSuite is chasing the “Holy Grail” of corporate social media: ROI. Calling social media ROI “a complex puzzle that taxes companies as they struggle to balance investment in social media with its returns to the bottom line,” the Sun concludes this partnership is “aimed at putting the pieces of that puzzle together, delivering quantifiable results that tell a company or organization exactly how much money they’re making or what their return is for each and every tweet, Facebook post or other social media interaction that delivers a web link through the HootSuite dashboard.”

The integrated HootSuite-Webtrends capabilities are now available free to HootSuite Enterprise and Webtrends Analytics On-Demand clients.

 

 

Source : cmswire[dot]com

Axceler, Webtrends Partner For Better SharePoint Governance, Visibility

There’s just nothing like seeing a couple of old hands get together for a common cause. That’s what’s happened today with the announcement that Webtrends and Axceler are joining forces to help another old pardner — SharePoint.

SharePoint Governance Is Suddenly a Hot Topic

One of the many interesting things about this partnership is that it comes on the heel of a spate of announcements about new solutions and software for SharePoint governance.

This week alone we had a new records management release from FileTrail that has a strong element of content governance in it, while AvePoint announced the availability of its DocAve 6 Service Pack 1 (SP) that provides governance for SharePoint.

You can go for months without anyone ever talking about data governance in SharePoint and then all of a sudden, we get a run of three different solutions from three different vendors in a matter of days. With two days left to go, could we be looking at a record-breaking week for SharePoint governance?

Joking aside, there is a serious issue here. It may be that the sudden interest in SharePoint governance indicates that the penny has finally dropped — and enterprises are beginning to realize that SharePoint deployment without strict governance can end up being extremely costly.

Of course it's important to remember that it is already the end of September — and by all accounts, there are only about three months left before SharePoint 2013 goes into general release.

Axceler, Webtrends Combine Their Strengths

Enough of that, and back to Axceler and Webtrends. This combined solution looks to manage user access to SharePoint and SharePoint content and to measure user access and engagement in SharePoint environments.

From the Axceler side of the equation, ControlPoint provides the user management element. Webtrends for SharePoint provides in-depth analytics of what users are doing in SharePoint and even who those users are.

Combined, the two companies (both Microsoft Gold Partners) are providing a solution that offers powerful intranet analytics along with enterprise collaboration governance. The companies say that this will ensure enterprise security and compliance.

As companies make greater investments into social enterprise applications with the promise of enhanced internal communications and collaboration, the question hanging over every organization is, 'Is this working? … Organizations using SharePoint effectively need a combination of measurement and governance to drive effective collaboration and provide a 360-degree view of the social enterprise, which is precisely what Webtrends and Axceler have teamed to deliver," said Jeff Seacrist, VP of Partner Solutions, Webtrends.

It remains to be seen whether they have or not — but if the partnership can provide effective SharePoint governance and user analysis, then they are onto a winner. Combined, they say, the new integration provides:

• Simplified adoption: Offers ways for enterprises to measure the level of content collaboration — by user, geography, team, project or site. Also offers insights into trends across the deployment.
• Restricted uncontrolled sprawl: Gives administrators the ability to uncover usage patterns and block unnecessary growth by identifying lesser used sites as well as popular access points.
• Corporate governance: Allows administrators to easily establish rules and protocols to control usage of SharePoint according to corporate guidelines. Also provides insight into how users interact with corporate material.
• Compliance: Offers better visibility across the entire SharePoint platform by automating SharePoint governance with the ability to establish rules and protocol policies; also boosts security to deter information theft.

With this deal, both companies expand an already impressive list of partnerships built around Microsoft and SharePoint.

 

 

Source : cmswire[dot]com

Webtrends FY'12: Mobile Up 58%, Optimize - 34% + Nabs Former IBM Exec for CMO

If you were unsure how important analytics and data intelligence is for today's customer experience strategists, look no further than Webtrends' latest fiscal year as it recorded double digital growth in mobile, social and optimization business.

Mobile, Social Analytics Key Drivers for Customer Experience

Webtrends released it fiscal 2012 (July 2011- June 2012) numbers and as one of the most well-known analytics providers, it's really no surprise how well the company actually did.

The growing demand for digital intelligence solutions and the vendors coming out the woodwork to provide them is amazing. While Webtrends has been around since the days of basic web analytics, the vendor offers much more than that now.

Here's a simple breakdown of its financial news:

• SaaS services have grown 15% over the same period last fiscal year
• Mobile business grew 58%
• Optimize solutions business grew 34%
• Average annual value of customers rose 25%

According to Webtrends, it expected that its Optimize business will grow dramatically as the demand for more targeted, personalized experiences is high.

A New CMO to Sell the Customer Experience

With good financials often comes some new blood to help an organization continue its momentum. Webtrends has announced that former IBM strategy exec Martin Doettling, is the new CMO. Doettling has over 20 years industry experience and played a lead role in IBM's Smarter Commerce initiative.

Coming from Coremetrics (he was the vice president of product marketing prior to IBM's acquisition), Doettling was responsible for product and market strategy for Coremetric's analytics and digital marketing portfolio. This, along with other previous positions demonstrate sound experience analytics and cloud-based solutions.

Looking Back at Webtrends in 2012

This year isn't over, but already we've seen a large number of updates and new offerings from Webtrends, including a new — and free — iPad social analytics app, an updated Analytics on Demand and the addition of heatmaps (although some noted that this seemed a little late coming)

In addition to new and updated solutions, Webtrends signed a partnership with Tealium,a provider of tag management software, were recognized as a key Partner in Facebook's new Preferred Marketing Partner program, and their analytics module received SAP Web Experience certification.

Overall, Webtrends has shown its commitment to offering the right services and solutions to meet the customer experience marketer's demands. Based on the growth of both the mobile and Optimize businesses mentioned above, you pretty much know where the company will be headed for the next fiscal year.

 

 

Source : cmswire[dot]com

Webtrends Updates Analytics on Demand, Adds New Social Measurement Solutions

Webtrends has added new social measurement capabilities to its Analytics on Demand offering,as well as packaged some new social analytics solutions.

The Portland, Oregon-based company said that these new additions, which combine social strategy, implementation, analysis and optimization, will allow marketers to better achieve success with social marketing.

Social Updates to Analytics On Demand

Steve Earl, Webtrends director of product marketing for analytics, said in a statement that marketers are increasingly “focusing on social channels, particularly Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, to meaningfully and profitably engage with customers.” He added that the new solutions help in the “extremely challenging” task of measuring customer engagement and understanding social marketing success.

The updates for Analytics on Demand include enhancements to the existing Webtrends’ Facebook reporting, which now include the nature, influence and success of Facebook Page posts.

There is also now a capability to measure engagement of YouTube and Twitter channels. The new YouTube tools offer measurements of customer engagement, content viewership and campaign performance, for videos that are on that site or on a brand’s website.

Twitter metrics are intended to offer a better understanding of which content generates more engagement, and which tactics are successful enough to bear repeating. The Twitter analytics measure the reach of Tweets, reTweets and followers.

New Social Measurement Bundle

Analytics on Demand is the company’s unified platform for digital measurement of social, mobile and site traffic and trends. The new FaceBook, Twitter and YouTube measurements, which are bundled as Social Measurement solutions, are available to Analytics customers at an additional fee to the base subscription.

Webtrends said that its social measurement tools answer a need articulated in an August 2012 report by Forrester Research.

In that report, entitled The State of Customer Analytics 2012, the research firm noted that many organizations lack the expertise or experience to measure social media campaigns, although such analytics were a priority. Accordingly, the report said, companies will need to look for vendors that specialize in analytics and data mining to assess customer behavior.

Webtrends said that its measurement tools for digital marketing relevance and customer engagement management are used by more than 3500 global brands, including the New York Times, Microsoft, Hitachi, the Associated Press and BMW.

 

 

Source : cmswire[dot]com