By Erin Lynch-Klarup
In talking with marketers about Social Media, we hear about good and not-so-good experiences with vendors in the space. In many cases, calling on outside expertise makes sense – but matching Marketing’s needs with a vendor’s capabilities can be tricky in this rapidly growing market. Here are a few things to consider (for those primarily interested in the iPad … skip to #3!)
1. Which Social Media objective will the vendor help us accomplish?
This sounds like an obvious one, but has been problematic for a number of marketers. Across the reviews in our Vendor Review Database, the evaluation measure “Achieved Our Objective” rates lowest in satisfaction. This is a good question answer, if only to cement Marketing’s goals.
2. What internal investments are needed to work with this vendor?
The amount of internal time and brainpower needed to use deliverables from social media vendors catches some marketers off guard. We’ve heard about a number of organizations that subscribe to listening or monitoring services only to find they don’t have the FTEs to effectively use the service. Most products from social media vendors require some degree of internal input – whether that’s moderating an online community, choosing metrics to track, or overlaying customer purchase data with social behaviors. Knowing the full cost of a vendor’s service before signing on the dotted line is critical.
3. Have my peers had good experiences with this vendor?
There’s no substitute for a customer review! Unlike Amazon, you won’t find a star rating and set of reviews under every vendor description. To help our members navigate this, the MLC has launched a Social Media Vendor Review Database (you can read more about the review database, or MLC members can jump straight to the database).
To help grow our vendor review database, we’re sponsoring an iPad drawing for MLC members who complete a review form before June 15th. The form takes about 5 minutes – just tell us about a vendor you’ve worked with and the iPad could be yours!
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