Organization Name: Hearsay Social
Industry: Sales, Marketing, Compliance Software Developer
Name of Contact: Victor Gaxiola, Customer Advocacy Manager
Web Reference: Hearsay Social
Hearsay Social is a software developer founded in 2009 by former Microsoft executive Steve Garrity and Starbucks board member Clara Shih. Their software allows clients to market to a variety of customer bases by utilizing social networking services like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter .
What Are Social Media Metrics?
Social media is a powerful tool. Success lies in the ability to analyze the data created from its’ use. There are a variety of metrics that can give insight needed to help companies make the right decisions about many things including their products, services and competitors.
Hearsay Social Keys to Social Success
I tweeted Victor Gaxiola, Customer Advocacy Manager for Hearsay Social and asked what type of social media performance metrics they use for both their own company and their clients. This was his response.
2015-02-25, 11:09 PM@GGriff05 We use our own metrics, built by some of the best engineering talent around. We look at engagement, reach, and post effectiveness
These are their keys to social success.
- Be Findable
- Build social profiles and be where your customers are.
- Grow Your Network
- Strengthen existing relationships, find new ones.
- Hear
- Listen to key insights being shared and learn about your customers.
- Say
- Stay top of mind & build credibility with compliant, curated content.
It’s not enough for companies to engage in social media. The key is being able to engage the right people. Those interested in your products or services, perhaps before they even know it. Keep in mind that social media is always evolving and to keep one step ahead Hearsays’ CEO, Clara Shih spoke about their newly created platform. According to Fortune magazine, Shih states that the Predictive Social Suite platform enables their clients to sift through information from social media and isolate that information which is relevant to their company.
Hearsay’s new platform predicts customer behavior by monitoring activity on clients’ websites as well as their social media networks. That way, Hearsay CEO Clara Shih told Fortune, financial advisors can both take advantage of the improved efficiency provided by automation and algorithms while still being “able to add their unique human value, the human touch.”
Hearsay Social believe there are 5 statistics that you should track to get the most out of social media in your business.
- Reach (Facebook): How many people saw your post
- Engagement (Facebook): People talking about this (PTAT) / Likes
- Time (all networks): Hearsay Social Metrics
- Shareability (Twitter): Search “@yourtwitterhandle” at search.twitter.com
- Relevance (Twitter): Total You Are Following on Twitter / Total Twitter Followers
According to the New York Times,
Roughly 65 percent of Fortune Global 100 companies have invested in a Twitter presence, and 54 percent have a presence on Facebook, according to Burston-Marsteller Communications. And 73.5 percent of chief marketing officers cite social media as a top business priority. Hearsay Social essentially shows them what they can do.
In the same article co-founder Clara Shih comments about company executives who don’t want their employees using social media while on the job.
“I tell them you already have 30,000 employees on the internet and they’re already representing you, unofficially,” she said. “The brand might be liable for anything that they say. You can change that risk into a number of digital brand representatives.”
The Proof…
While speaking with Kate Wilkinson of Canadian Business , Clara Shih revealed the following sales results compiled by Hearsay.
In a round of internal product testing (the results of which were released in August), Hearsay found that a group of its clients delivered sales that were between 11 and 22% better when social media was actively used in the selling process.
Another internal study showed that 64% of Hearsay’s clients said they had used the company’s social media products to find new sales leads, which acts as an indicator to Shih that corporate social media presence can lead to ROI.
Lessons for Others
It is still complicated when trying to directly connect the dots between social media and concrete results. Social media metrics are valuable tools. When used properly companies can benefit from them in many ways.
Shih does acknowledge that connecting social media to ROI is an “imperfect science,” primarily because it’s difficult to attribute which action on the part of a sales representative leads to the closing of a deal with a client.
“It’s not a single phone call or social media or a lunch,” says Shih. “It’s all of those things together.”
Victor Gaxiola Hearsay Social Interview
I had the good fortune of connecting with Victor Gaxiola, Customer Advocacy Manager with Hearsay Social to discuss metrics and the future of social media.
Submitted By: Cindy Griffiths
To contact the author of this entry please email: griff05@sympatico.ca
If you have any concerns as to the accuracy of anything posted on this site please send your concerns to Peter Carr, Programme Director, Social Media for Business Performance.