Blogging about the day's big news is sort of obvious, so I'll focus on the question I haven't seen raised yet: what does the Radian6 acquisition mean to the other companies in social media analysis ? Radian6 was already the company most likely to be mentioned in any discussion of social media monitoring (note the careful use of the term). SMA is a feature set that can work into multiple categories; look for SMA companies to focus their feature sets on specific use cases, and expect acquisitions that work into acquirer's existing businesses. MORE >>

Companies that still provide phone support for customers are looking to the Internet to provide a lower cost, more efficient channel to connect customers with the resources they need to solve their problem. Migrating customer support to the web and improving customer experience often do not go hand-in-hand - unless care is taken to create a human-oriented, easy-to-use Customer Support area on your company’s website. This is particularly true for customers who are accustomed to, or feel they require, the human interaction available via phone. MORE >>

a thousand cuts :: adam cohen's blog About Blogroll Contact a thousand cuts conversations about social media and interactive marketing by adam cohen 12 JUL 10 Reasons Market Research is Critical to Social Media Posted by: adam / Tags: Advertising , Advertising and Marketing , Forrester Research , Market research , Marketing , Social Media , Social media marketing / Comments: View Comments I continue to be surprised at how many companies keep the Market Research department in some back hall closet collecting dust and reams of paper reports.  Do they share opinions?  What did I miss? MORE >>

Some people think they can just send out a couple of surveys , or do a few focus groups , and gather all the information they need about the public’s opinion about their products. If you’re looking for a way to find out what people really think of your company, MutualMind , has all the tools you need to do just that. MutualMind can also allow you to see what is being said about your competitors, and see how your company compares. Have you ever wondered what people are REALLY saying about your brand ? Subscribe to the comments for this post? Digg this! MORE >>

was discussing this the other day at lunch with Mark Tobias of the tech company, Pantheon. We’re good at focus groups that generate tiered sponsorship packages. At last year’s ASAE Technology Conference there was a lot of discussion of “big data.” ” I remember at the time that Elizabeth Engel was overheard on Twitter saying something to the effect of “Before associations get too into big data, they might want to get their arms around the little data they already have.” ” Well said. think learning is the hardest. MORE >>