IBM Moves Social Media Analytics to the Cloud
IBM (NYSE: IBM) is moving social media analytics to the cloud.
Big Blue today unveiled cloud-based software that the company said will give marketers “real-time, actionable insight from data available across social media channels.”
The new offerings are based on IBM’s acquisitions of Unica and Coremetrics. IBM Coremetrics Social will help companies analyze the business effect of their social marketing initiatives, while IBM Unica Pivotal Veracity Email Optimization Suite analyzes email links that are shared across social network platforms so marketers can capitalize on opportunities across channels.
IBM is linking the announcement to its recent “Smarter Commerce” initiative, which also includes cloud analytics software that lets companies monitor their brand’s presence in real-time through social media channels.
John Squire, chief strategy officer of IBM Coremetrics, said in a statement that “IBM’s approach to social media analytics is based on the understanding that people interact with an organization’s brand in a number of ways — including email, social networking sites and company Web sites — and the true measure of business impact demands a fully integrated view of the interaction with these resources. The new social media analytics software unveiled today will help marketers develop more targeted, highly-measurable and effective social media marketing campaigns.”
Coremetrics Social uses data that’s publicly available on social media websites to measure the effectiveness and return on investment (ROI) of social marketing initiatives. IBM says the product “delivers real-time intelligence on the social media response to a particular brand or the products, content and services being offered and enables clients to make fact-based, accurate decisions about marketing expenditures.”
The Unica offering is aimed at tracking email offers that are shared across social networks. Well-known brands can see as much as 38 percent of their special offer email links shared across social networks, and an average of 28 percent of these links are then ‘liked’ or commented on, IBM said.
For more on the state of the marketing software market, see Marketing Automation Heats Up
Paul Ferrill has been writing for over 15 years about computers and network technology. He holds a BS in Electrical Engineering as well as a MS in Electrical Engineering. He is a regular contributor to the computer trade press. He has a specialization in complex data analysis and storage. He has written hundreds of articles and two books for various outlets over the years. His articles have appeared in Enterprise Apps Today and InfoWorld, Network World, PC Magazine, Forbes, and many other publications.