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1 

Monitoring. Reviewing the method of social listening and deriving insights from these.

2 

Mapping. Finding relationships between individual customers or grouped segments 

using different social platforms, e.g. Facebook and Twitter or email marketing.

3 

Management. Processes for implementing and reviewing strategy. More report detail on 

campaign management would be helpful here.

4 

Middleware. The software tools and APIs used to monitor and gather insight.

5 

Measurement. The measures used to assess social marketing effectiveness and ROI.

Categories of social media

There are many, many sites and tools which provide an environment for social media; to gain 

an idea of just how many, complete Activity 9.1 which lists hundreds of tools in 25 categories.

A social media site is much more than simply a website. From a technology viewpoint 

most of these sites can be considered as software applications or web services which give 

access to users at different levels of permission and then enable management and storage 

of different forms of  user-  generated content. Messaging is also an important feature of 

many of these sites, particularly the main social networks which will alert users when new 

content related to their content or connections is published. APIs for exchanging data 

with other web services interfaces are also a key feature of social networks which enable 

them and their members to extend their reach and influence by being incorporated into 

other sites.

Since there are so many types of social presence, it is helpful to simplify the options to 

manage (as we introduced in Chapter 1).

The popularity of 

communities

 implemented on company sites or within social networks 

means that it is important for companies to manage these effectively. But why is community 

important and how can companies best manage it? Hagel and Armstrong (1997) say:

Community

A customer‑to‑customer 

interaction delivered via 

email  groups,   web‑  based 

discussion forums or 

chat.

Activity 9.1

Understanding the range of social media marketing platforms