Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

But how you know when the number of interactions you’re getting is good? And what does “good” mean, anyway?

The answer: It’s all relative. A “good” amount for engagement for a marketer in the software industry could be a totally different number than for a marketer in the financial services industry. That’s why we put together the 2015 Social Media Benchmarks Report -- it's 49 pages of of social media data and analysis from over 7,000 business in nine industries.In this post, I’ll analyze our findings on audience participation on social media for each of the industries represented.

Find your industry below (or use our jump-to links to head directly to your industry) to see how much interaction is happening relative to how much a company posts a week on social media, and also get some key takeaways for how to apply this to your own social strategy....

in aIt’s a great way to keep in touch with friends, create new relationships, build communities and promote your blog/brand.

But when you’re using social specifically for marketing purposes; monitoring mentions, tracking your progress and gauging the impact that social is having on your blog or business are all important tasks that can be incredibly time consuming.

The truth is that these tasks don’t have to be no where near as time consuming or difficult.

Fortunately there are plenty of tools available to save you time and help you get far better results through effective social media monitoring.

In this post I’m going to show you some of the best tools. They range from free to paid and from basic to enterprise level tools so there’s something for everyone here....

Many fear that, given Google Alerts’ recent issues, it will soon join Reader in the graveyard. Here are seven apps to fill the void -- and better than Google did it....

For professional users who are looking to keep track of a product or competitor, Google Alerts’ service has never been ideal. Too often, alerts are missing important data or not being sent in real time. The results are dry in their presentation, making it hard to see across multiple sources. Lastly, the complex syntax and Boolean operators can be challenging for users, leaving them with unwanted results or missing relevant information.

With Google Alerts’ recent performance issues, the door is open for a new hot market. Many companies have taken advantage of the problems and have created solutions to improve where Google went wrong. Ranging from entry- to enterprise-level tools, there are now solutions for any professional to receive the most reliable results in real time. Here are seven options for various needs and budgets:...

If you don’t monitor mentions of your brand online, then you’re missing out on some valuable feedback and opportunities. These are the people you need to interact with and build connections with.

If people are singing your praises, then you’ve stumbled across a world of opportunities, testimonials, guest blogs, networking and more. On the other hand, if people are criticizing your company, you have an opportunity to determine if the criticism is warranted, and if so, take the appropriate action.

I really try to look at criticism as an opportunity to improve; I consider it free consulting. In this article, we’ll cover some of the best tools to use so that you can monitor what people are saying about your brand online. Then, we’ll offer some guidelines about how you should respond to those people....

Since it is almost impossible to monitor every website manually, having a social media monitoring tool or tools is an absolute must in today’s digital world.

Besides the reputation management angle, social media monitoring tools have a tremendous amount of additional benefits and value for a business. Here are a few to be aware of...

Social media has revolutionised the ways in which the game of marketing, advertising and promotion is played. Almost every brand that exists is now roaring out loud on social media. But there is a lot of skepticism over what makes an impact and what goes unheard. To let brands gauge the impact of their efforts and the direction in which they should focus, social media tools were introduced to make managing and analyzing the data that emanated from overflowing conversations easier.

Now, with so many tools cluttering the space, it’s an ordeal to decide what might work for you. If you’re just starting out in social media and looking for something to make running and measuring your campaigns a bit easier, here are a few of the most widely used and effective social media management and analytics tools available...

[Useful overview of social media tools ~ ]