Select and Implement a Social Media Management Platform

The proliferation of social media networks, customer data, and use cases has made ad hoc social media management challenging.
Many organizations struggle with shadow IT when it comes to technology enablement for social media; SMMP fragmentation leads to increased costs and no uniformity in enterprise social media management capabilities.

Our Advice

Critical Insight

SMMP selection must be driven by your overall customer experience management strategy; link your SMMP selection to your organization’s CXM framework.
Shadow IT will dominate if IT does not step in. Even more so than other areas, SMMP selection is rife with shadow IT.
Ensure strong points of integration between SMMP and other software such as CRM. SMMPs can contribute to a unified, 360-degree customer view.

Impact and Result

The value proposition of SMMPs revolves around enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of social media. Using an SMMP to manage social media is considerably more cost effective than ad hoc (manual) management.
IT must partner with other departments (e.g. Marketing) to successfully evaluate, select, and implement an SMMP. Before selecting an SMMP, the organization must have a solid overall strategy for leveraging social media in place. If IT does not work as a trusted advisor to the business, shadow IT in social media management will be rampant.

Select and Implement a Social Media Management Platform Research & Tools

Start here – read the Executive Brief

Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should implement an SMMP, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.

Select and Implement a Social Media Management Platform – Executive Brief

1. Develop a technology enablement approach

Conduct a maturity assessment to determine whether a dedicated SMMP is right for your organization.

2. Select an SMMP

Use the Vendor Landscape findings and project guidance to develop requirements for your SMMP RFP, and evaluate and shortlist vendors based on your expressed requirements.

3. Review implementation considerations

Even a solution that is a perfect fit for an organization will fail to generate value if it is not properly implemented or measured. Conduct the necessary planning before implementing your SMMP.

Select and Implement a Social Media Management Platform

Rein in social media by choosing a management platform that’s right for you.

ANALYST PERSPECTIVE

Enterprise use of social media for customer interaction has exploded. Select the right management platform to maximize the value of your social initiatives.

“Social media has rapidly become a ubiquitous channel for customer interaction. Organizations are using social media for use cases from targeted advertising, to sales prospecting, to proactive customer service. However, the growing footprint of social media initiatives – and the constant proliferation of new social networks – has created significant complexity in effectively capturing the value of social.

Organizations that are serious about social manage this complexity by leveraging dedicated social media management platforms. These platforms provide comprehensive capabilities for managing multiple social media networks, creating engagement and response workflows, and providing robust social analytics. Selecting a best-fit SMMP allows for standardized, enterprise-wide capabilities for managing all aspects of social media.

This report will help you define your requirements for social media management and select a vendor that is best fit for your needs, as well as review critical implementation considerations such as CRM integration and security.”

Ben Dickie
Research Director, Enterprise Applications
Info-Tech Research Group

Executive summary

Situation

Social media has reached maturity as a proven, effective channel for customer interaction across multiple use cases, from customer analytics to proactive customer service.
Organizations are looking to IT to provide leadership with social media technology enablement and integration with other enterprise systems.

Complication

The proliferation of social media networks, customer data, and use cases has made ad hoc social media management challenging.
Many organizations struggle with shadow IT when it comes to technology enablement for social media; SMMP fragmentation leads to increased costs and no uniformity in enterprise social media management capabilities.

Resolution

Social media management platforms (SMMPs) reduce complexity and increase the results of enterprise social media initiatives. SMMPs integrate with a variety of different social media services, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube. The platforms offer a variety of tools for managing social media, including account management, in-band response and engagement, and social monitoring and analytics.
The value proposition of SMMPs revolves around enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of social media. Using an SMMP to manage social media is considerably more cost effective than ad hoc (manual) management.
IT must partner with other departments (e.g. Marketing) to successfully evaluate, select, and implement an SMMP. Before selecting an SMMP, the organization must have a solid overall strategy for leveraging social media in place. If IT does not work as a trusted advisor to the business, shadow IT in social media management will be rampant.

Info-Tech Insight

SMMP selection must be driven by your overall customer experience management strategy: link your SMMP selection to your organization’s CXM framework.
Shadow IT will dominate if IT does not step in: even more so than other areas, SMMP selection is rife with shadow IT.
Ensure strong points of integration between SMMP and other software such as customer relationship management (CRM). SMMPs can contribute to a unified, 360-degree customer view.

Framing the SMMP selection and implementation project

This Research Is Designed For: IT directors advising the business on how to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of social media campaigns through technology. IT professionals involved in evaluating, selecting, and deploying an SMMP. Business analysts tasked with collection and analysis of SMMP business requirements.	This Research Will Help You: Clearly link your business requirements to SMMP selection criteria. Select an SMMP vendor that meets your organization’s needs across marketing, sales, and customer service use cases. Adopt standard operating procedures for SMMP deployment that address issues such as platform security and CRM integration.
This Research Will Also Assist: Executive-level stakeholders in the following roles: Vice-president of Sales, Marketing, or Customer Service. Business unit managers tasked with ensuring strong end-user adoption of an SMMP.	This Research Will Help Them Understand what’s new in the SMMP market. Evaluate SMMP vendors and products for your enterprise needs. Determine which products are most appropriate for particular use cases and scenarios.

Social media management platforms augment social capabilities within a broader customer experience ecosystem

Customer Experience Management (CXM)

'Customer Relationship Management Platform' surrounded by supporting capabilities, one of which is highlighted, 'Social Media Management Platform'.

Social Media Management Platforms are one piece of the overall customer experience management ecosystem, alongside tools such as CRM platforms and adjacent point solutions for sales, marketing, and customer service. Review Info-Tech’s CXM blueprint to build a complete, end-to-end customer interaction solution portfolio that encompasses SMMP alongside other critical components. The CXM blueprint also allows you to develop strategic requirements for SMMP based on customer personas and external market analysis.

SMMPs reduce complexity and increase the effectiveness of enterprise social media programs

SMMPs are solutions (typically cloud based) that offer a host of features for effectively monitoring the social cloud and managing your organization’s presence in the social cloud. SMMPs give businesses the tools they need to run social campaigns in a timely and cost-effective manner.
The typical SMMP integrates with two or more social media services (e.g. Facebook, Twitter) via the services’ API or a dedicated connector. SMMPs are not simply a revised “interface layer” for a single social media service. They provide layers for advanced management and analytics across multiple services.
The unique value of SMMPs comes from their ability to manage and track multiple social media services. Aggregating and managing data from multiple services gives businesses a much more holistic view of their organization’s social initiatives and reputation in the social cloud.

Diagram with 'End Users (e.g. marketing managers)' at the top and social platforms like Facebook and Twitter at the bottom; in between them are 'SMMPs’: 'Account & Campaign Management', 'Social Engagement', and 'Social Monitoring/Analytics'.

SMMPs mediate interactions between end users and the social cloud.

Info-Tech Best Practice

The increasing complexity of social media, coupled with the rising importance of social channels, has led to a market for formal management platforms. Organizations with an active presence in social media (i.e. multiple services or pages) should strongly consider selecting and deploying an SMMP.

Failing to rein in social media initiatives leads to more work, uninformed decisions, and diminishing returns

The growth of social media services has made manually updating pages and feeds an ineffective and time-consuming process. The challenge is magnified when multiple brands, product lines, or geographic subsidiaries are involved.
- Use the advanced account management features of an SMMP to reduce the amount of time spent updating social media services.
Engaging customers through social channels can be a delicate task – high volumes of social content can easily overwhelm marketing and service representatives, leading to missed selling opportunities and unacceptable service windows.
- Use the in-band engagement capabilities of an SMMP to create an orderly queue for social interactions.
Consumer activity in the social cloud has been increasing exponentially. As the volume of content grows, separating the signal from the noise becomes increasingly difficult.
- Use the advanced social analytics of an SMMP to ensure critical consumer insights are not overlooked.

Ad Hoc Management vs. SMMPs:
What’s the difference?

Ad Hoc Social Media Management

Social media initiatives are managed directly through the services themselves. For example, a marketing professional would log in to multiple corporate Twitter accounts to post the same content for a promotional campaign.

Social Media Management Platform

Social media initiatives are managed through a third-party software platform. For example, a marketing professional would update all social account simultaneously with just a couple clicks. SMMPs also provide cross-service social analytics – highly valuable for decision makers!

Info-Tech Best Practice

Effectively managing a social media campaign is not a straightforward exercise. If you have (or plan to have) a large social media footprint, now is the time to procure formal software tools for social media management. Continuing to manage social media in an ad hoc manner is sapping time and money.

Review the critical success factors for SMMP across the project lifecycle, from planning to post-implementation

Info-Tech Insight

Executive management support is crucial. The number one overall critical success factor for an SMMP strategy is top management support. This emphasizes the importance of sales, service, and marketing and prudent corporate strategic alignment. A strategic objective in SMMP projects is to position top management as an enabler rather than a barrier.

	Planning	Implementation	Post-Implementation	Overall
1	Appropriate Selection	Project Management	Top Management Support	Top Management Support
2	Clear Project Goals	Top Management Support	Project Management	Appropriate Selection
3	Top Management Support	Training	Training	Project Management
4	Business Mission and Vision	Effective Communication	Effective Communication	Training
5	Project Management	Supplier Supports	Appropriate Selection	Clear Project Goals

(Source: Information Systems Frontiers)

Dell uses a dedicated social media management platform to power a comprehensive social command center

CASE STUDY

Industry: High-Tech | Source: Dell

With a truly global customer base, Dell gets about 22,000 mentions on the social web daily, and does not sit idly by. Having established a physical Social Media Command Center powered by Salesforce’s Social Studio, Dell was one of the companies that pioneered the command center concept for social response.

The SMMP carries out the following activities:

Tracking mentions of Dell in the social cloud
Sentiment analysis
Connecting customers who need assistance with experts who can help them
Social media training
Maintenance of standards for social media interactions
Spreading best social media practices across the organization

Today the company claims impressive results, including:

“Resolution rate” of 99% customer satisfaction
Boosting its customer reach with the same number of employees
One third of Dell’s former critics are now fans

Tools:

Salesforce Social Studio
Three rows of monitors offering instant insights into customer sentiment, share of voice, and geography.

Staff:

The center started with five people; today it is staffed by a team of 15 interacting with customers in 11 languages.
Dell values human interaction; the center is not running on autopilot, and any ambiguous activity is analyzed (and dealt with) manually on an individual basis.

Follow Info-Tech’s methodology for selection and implementation of enterprise applications

Prior to embarking on the vendor selection stage, ensure you have set the right building blocks and completed the necessary prerequisites.

Diagram with 'Enterprise Applications' at the center surrounded by a cycle of 'conceptual', 'consensus', 'concrete', and 'continuous'. The outer circle has three categories with three actions each, 'Governance and Optimization: Process Optimization, Support/ Maintenance, Transition to Operations', 'Strategy and Alignment: Foundation, Assessment, Strategy/ Business Case', and 'Implementation: System Implementation, Business Process Management, Select and Implement'.

Follow Info-Tech’s enterprise applications program that covers the application lifecycle from the strategy stage, through selection and implementation, and up to governance and optimization.

The implementation and execution stage entails the following steps:

Define the business case.
Gather and analyze requirements.
Build the RFP.
Conduct detailed vendor evaluations.
Finalize vendor selection.
Review implementation considerations.

Info-Tech Insight

A critical preceding task to selecting a social media management platform is ensuring a strategy is in place for enterprise social media usage. Use our social media strategy blueprint to ensure the foundational elements are in place prior to proceeding with platform selection.

Use this blueprint to support your SMMP selection and implementation

Launch the SMMP Project and Collect Requirements — Phase 1

Benefits — Use the project steps and activity instructions outlined in this blueprint to streamline your selection process and implementation planning. Save time and money, and improve the impact of your SMMP selection by leveraging Info-Tech’s research and project steps.

Select Your SMMP Solution — Phase 2

Use Info-Tech’s SMMP Vendor Landscape contained in Phase 2 of this project to support your vendor reviews and selection. Refer to the use-case performance results to identify vendors that align with the requirements and solution needs identified by your earlier project findings.

Get Ready for Your SMMP Implementation — Phase 3

Info-Tech Insight — Not everyone’s connection and integration needs are the same. Understand your own business’s integration environment and the unique technical and functional requirements that accompany them to create criteria and select a best-fit SMMP solution.

Use Info-Tech’s use-case scenario approach to select a best-fit solution for your business needs

Readiness

Determine where you are right now and where your organization needs to go with a social media strategy.

Three stages eventually leading to shapes in a house, 'Distributed Stage', 'Loosely Coupled Stage', and 'Command Center Stage'.

Use-Case Assessment

Identify the best-fit use-case scenario to determine requirements that best align with your strategy.

Three blocks labelled 'Social Listening & Analytics', 'Social Customer Care', and 'Social Publishing & Campaign Management'.

Selection

Approach vendor selection through a use-case centric lens to balance the need for different social capabilities.

Logos for vendors including Adobe, Hootsuite, CISION, and more.

Info-Tech walks you through the following steps to help you to successfully select and implement your SMMP

Steps of this blueprint represented by circles of varying colors and sizes, labelled by text of different sizes.

Locate your starting point in the research based on the current stage of your project.

Legend for the diagram above: lines represent Major Milestones, size of circles represent Low or High effort, size of text represents Average or Greater importance, and color of the circles represents the phase.

Info-Tech offers various levels of support to best suit your needs

DIY Toolkit	Guided Implementation	Workshop	Consulting
"Our team has already made this critical project a priority, and we have the time and capability, but some guidance along the way would be helpful."	"Our team knows that we need to fix a process, but we need assistance to determine where to focus. Some check-ins along the way would help keep us on track."	"We need to hit the ground running and get this project kicked off immediately. Our team has the ability to take this over once we get a framework and strategy in place."	"Our team does not have the time or the knowledge to take this project on. We need assistance through the entirety of this project."
Diagnostics and consistent frameworks used throughout all four options

Select and Implement a Social Media Management Platform – project overview

	1. Develop a Technology Enablement Approach	2. Select an SMMP	3. Review Implementation Considerations
Best-Practice Toolkit	1.1 Determine if a dedicated SMMP is right for your organization Social Media Maturity Assessment Tool Social Media Opportunity Assessment Tool 1.2 Use an SMMP to enable marketing, sales, and service use cases SMMP Use-Case Fit Assessment Tool	2.1 SMMP Vendor Landscape CRM Suite Evaluation and RFP Scoring Tool 2.2 Select your SMMP SMMP Vendor Demo Script Template SMMP RFP Template	3.1 Establish best practices for SMMP implementation Social Media Steering Committee 3.2 Assess the measured value from the project
Guided Implementations	Identify organizational fit for the technology. Evaluate social media opportunities within your organization. Evaluate which SMMP use-case scenario is best fit for your organization	Discuss the use-case fit assessment results and the Vendor Landscape. Review contract.	Determine what is the right governance structure to overlook the SMMP implementation. Identify the right deployment model for your organization. Identify key performance indicators for business units using an SMMP.
Onsite Workshop	Module 1: Launch Your SMMP Selection Project	Module 2: Plan Your Procurement and Implementation Process
	Phase 1 Outcome: Social Media Maturity Assessment SMMP Use-Case Assessment	Phase 2 Outcome: Selection of an SMMP	Phase 3 Outcome: A plan for implementing the selected SMMP

SMMP selection and implementation workshop overview

Associated Activity icon Contact your account representative or email Workshops@InfoTech.com for more information.

Day 1

Preparation

Day 2

Workshop Day

Day 3

Workshop Day

Day 4

Workshop Day

Day 5

Working Session

Workshop Preparation

Facilitator meets with the project manager and reviews the current project plans and IT landscape of the organization.
A review of scheduled meetings and engaged IT and business staff is performed.

Morning Itinerary

Conduct activities from Develop a technology enablement approach for social media phase, including social media maturity and readiness assessment.
Conduct overview of the market landscape, trends, and vendors.

Afternoon Itinerary

Interview business stakeholders.
Prioritize SMMP requirements.

Morning Itinerary

Perform a use-case scenario assessment.

Afternoon Itinerary

Review use-case scenario results; identify use-case alignment.
Review the SMMP Vendor Landscape vendor profiles and performance.

Morning Itinerary

Continue review of SMMP Vendor Landscape results and use-case performance results.

Afternoon Itinerary

Create a custom vendor shortlist.
Investigate additional vendors for exploration in the market.

Workshop Debrief

Meet with project manager to discuss results and action items.
Wrap up outstanding items from workshop.

(Post-Engagement): Procurement Support

The facilitator will support the project team to outline the RFP contents and evaluation framework.
Planning of vendor demo script. Input: solution requirements and use-case results.

The light blue slides at the end of each section highlight the key activities and exercises that will be completed during the engagement with our analyst team.

Use these icons to help direct you as you navigate this research

Use these icons to help guide you through each step of the blueprint and direct you to content related to the recommended activities.

	This icon denotes a slide where a supporting Info-Tech tool or template will help you perform the activity or step associated with the slide. Refer to the supporting tool or template to get the best results and proceed to the next step of the project.
	This icon denotes a slide with an associated activity. The activity can be performed either as part of your project or with the support of Info-Tech team members who will come onsite to facilitate a workshop for your organization.
	This icon denotes a slide that pertains directly to the Info-Tech vendor profiles on marketing management technology. Use these slides to support and guide your evaluation of the MMS vendors included in the research.

Select and Implement a Social Media Management Platform

PHASE 1

Develop a Technology Enablement Approach for Social Media

Phase 1: Develop a technology enablement approach for social media

Steps of this blueprint represented by circles of varying colors and sizes, labelled by text of different sizes. Only Phase 1 is highlighted.
Estimated Timeline: 1-3 Months

Info-Tech Insight

Before an SMMP can be selected, the organization must have a strategy in place for enterprise social media. Implementing an SMMP before developing a social media strategy would be akin to buying a mattress without knowing the size of the bed frame.

Major Milestones Reached

Project launch
Completion of requirements gathering and documentation

Key Activities Completed

Readiness assessment
Project plan / timeline
Stakeholder buy-in
Technical assessment
Functional assessment

Outcomes from This Phase

Social Media Maturity Assessment

Phase 1 outline

Call 1-888-670-8889 or email GuidedImplementations@InfoTech.com for more information.

Complete these steps on your own, or call us to complete a guided implementation. A guided implementation is a series of 2-3 advisory calls that help you execute each phase of a project. They are included in most advisory memberships.

Guided Implementation 1: Develop a technology enablement approach for social media

Proposed Time to Completion: 2 weeks

Step 1.1: Determine if a dedicated SMMP is right for your organization	Step 1.2: Use an SMMP to enable marketing, sales, and service use cases
Start with an analyst kick-off call: Assess your readiness for the SMMP project. Evaluate social media opportunities within your organization.	Review findings with analyst: Discuss how an SMMP can assist with marketing, sales, and customer service. Evaluate which SMMP use case scenario is best fit for your organization.
Then complete these activities… Assess your social media maturity. Inventory social media networks to be supported by the SMMP.	Then complete these activities… Assess best-fit use-case scenario. Build the metrics inventory.
With these tools & templates: Social Media Maturity Assessment Tool Social Media Opportunity Assessment Tool	With these tools & templates: SMMP Use-Case Fit Assessment Tool
Phase 1 Results & Insights: Social Media Maturity Assessment SMMP Use-Case Assessment

About Info-Tech

Info-Tech Research Group is the world’s fastest-growing information technology research and advisory company, proudly serving over 30,000 IT professionals.

We produce unbiased and highly relevant research to help CIOs and IT leaders make strategic, timely, and well-informed decisions. We partner closely with IT teams to provide everything they need, from actionable tools to analyst guidance, ensuring they deliver measurable results for their organizations.

What Is a Blueprint?

A blueprint is designed to be a roadmap, containing a methodology and the tools and templates you need to solve your IT problems.

Each blueprint can be accompanied by a Guided Implementation that provides you access to our world-class analysts to help you get through the project.

Table of Contents

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Guided Implementation 1: Develop a technology enablement approach

Call 1: Identify organizational fit for the technology.
Call 2: Evaluate social media opportunities within your organization.
Call 3: Evaluate which SMMP use-case scenario is best fit for your organization.

Guided Implementation 2: Select an SMMP

Call 1: Discuss the use-case fit assessment results and the Vendor Landscape.
Call 2: Review contract.

Guided Implementation 3: Review implementation considerations

Call 1: Determine what is the right governance structure to overlook the SMMP implementation.
Call 2: Identify the right deployment model for your organization.
Call 3: Identify key performance indicators for business units using an SMMP.