and the list continues to grow as social media becomes an essential part of business. Who would have thought 5 years ago that by 2011 it would be be critical for companies to have at least one Facebook button somewhere on their website ?

As social media marketing has evolved, so, too, has social media monitoring. Large corporations are investing in enterprise solutions that allow them to manage their online reputations and monitor what is being said about their brand(s). For 2011, there are certain trends we detected at Synthesio in the social media monitoring sphere that we wanted to get your thoughts on :

1. The R.O.I. in social media will be a deciding factor for businesses

Marketers working in the social media sphere for several years will say that this is already a reality or that it’s impossible to calculate the R.O.I of social media. In fact, you may have already stopped talking about “social media” and the “social web” and have started talking about the “web”, period, and taking for granted that the web is social. Yet even this month Social Media Examiner said the #1 question companies ask is “How do I measure social media return on investment?” The SmartBrief / Summus Limited surveyed more than 6,000 of its readers from a variety of industries ; only 14.7%  answered that their organization is measuring the return on social media investment.

The 2010 Gartner Hype Cycle for social media also suggests that social analytics are reaching their peak in terms of expectations. Business owners have already become disillusioned with social media consulting, and are looking for a financial return.

When we presented several of our social media cases at Monitoring Social Media in Paris in December, the feedback we received was overwhelmingly positive ; the attendees had clearly come looking for real-life examples. Just take a look at the number of comments under the  (continually growing thread) “Looking for case studies on the successful use of social media to grow a business” if you have any doubts.

Even if they’re not measuring social media, business want to. Jeremiah Owyang asked 140 social media strategists what their number 1 internal and external goals for 2011 are. The #1 response is that business are looking to calculate ROI

However, in order to help businesses understand which monitoring and measuring tools and services are the right ones for them they need more concrete examples of how social media can advance their business. Marshall Sponder is going to help in this regard, as he is currently working on a book about social media monitoring toolsand uses that features case studies à la Forrester Groundswell.

As for social media listening platforms,

2. Listening platforms are going to become increasingly similar

Forrester Research recently released their 2011 Listening Landscape Report, breaking the listening market into 3 different types of platforms :

Social dashboards—Web-based tools that focus primarily on managing and analyzing social media data:

• Crimson Hexagon;
• Brandwatch;
• NetBase;
• Radian6; and
• Trackur.

Multichannel analytics providers—Analytics infrastructures that mine social media data along with other structured and unstructured data sources:

• Attensity;
• Autonomy;
• Analytics infrastructures;
• Clarabridge
• Overtone; and
• SAS Institute.

Listening service partners—Vendors with proprietary social analytics tools and professional consulting teams that write custom research reports based on social media data:

• Converseon;
• Cymfony;
• EmPower Research;
• NM Incite;
• Synthesio; and
• Visible Technologies.

Zach Hofer-Shall is also looking at how social media monitoring companies price their services, so as to clear up confusion for buyers. For example, while some companies base their pricing on the number of verbatim (the case of Synthesio), others base their pricing on the number of keywords or the number of seats.

However, as the social web has become a necessity for businesses to thrive, the tools used to measure and monitor are going to converge into similar solutions and services to provide a more homogenous market. Several tool providers have already begun adding service components to complete the tool, although there are still various ways they are going about this (community management, setup, video training, etc.).

Yet, it’s not just the tools and services that companies are going to be looking for in 2011.

Because businesses want proof, they also want stories. Storytelling is going to provide the context that analytical data needs to be relevant for buyers. Graphs, statistics, and charts are exciting for an analyst, but clients need a picture of what they represent in the real world. In their reports, for example, Synthesio analysts always pick out top influencers, trends, conversations, and anecdotes around your brand online to paint a picture of your online presence and reputation. They paint a story to bring online data to life.

And finally, in 2011…

3. Customers will have one voice across all channels

Forrester analyst Bruce Temkin wrote in 2010 that, “Most large North American companies have some type of voice of the customer (VoC) program in place. But most of these programs fall short of fueling customer-centric behaviors.” He points out six components of successful voice of the customer programs :

• listening
• interpreting
• reacting
• monitoring
• culture and alignments
• governance and organization

Not only should a monitoring solution be able to allow you to monitor and analyze conversations around your brand, but there must be ways to respond in a way that stretches across the enterprise. Synthesio developed an engagement platform in 2010 that is currently used by teams like the web consultants we work with at Orange [PDF link], but exciting developments are on the way. More info soon

What do you think?

What are your social media monitoring predictions for 2011?

A new office in New York City

Founded in Paris in 2006, Synthesio has since opened offices in London and New York, monitoring for clients such as Accor, Toyota, Sanofi, Ubisoft, and L’Oréal in multiple languages and countries. “Developing our presence in New York is a part of our international development strategy that began in 2006 and has significantly intensified in 2010,” say Synthesio co-founders Loic Moisand and Thibault Hanin.

Ben Farkas, Synthesio’s first U.S. Director

In addition to expanding Synthesio’s presence in the U.S., Mr. Farkas will be in charge of several key accounts and developing e-reputation offers to fit U.S. demand. With 5+ years experience in the Internet industry at Oddcast, Mr. Farkas is an expert in interactive marketing and the importance of online conversations in maintaining a positive online reputation.

This new position was created in response to continued growth of Synthesio’s client base and increasing demand for multilingual social media monitoring and qualitative analyses. “We are very pleased in welcoming Ben to Synthesio as a leader of the firm’s U.S. efforts. Ben brings with him invaluable experience in the social media sphere and will continue building relationships with our clients in our global monitoring partner role.” says Loic Moisand, CEO and co-founder of Synthesio.

“As social media continues to evolve, the number of conversations on the web is growing exponentially. Consumers are talking about their favorite (and least favorite) products / services, and for brands the value of this information is immense. Social Media Monitoring has never been more important, and is fast becoming an integral part of any ad strategy. Synthesio has developed a service that is truly on the cutting edge of SMM, providing an effective customized hybrid of technological and human services. I’m proud to be part of the team and to have the opportunity to lead and grow Synthesio’s presence in the U.S.” says Mr. Farkas.

About Synthesio Web Monitoring

Synthesio is based in Paris, London, New York City and specializes in multilingual analyses of Internet monitoring of mainstream and social media. Founded in Paris in 2006, Synthesio is at the forefront of qualitative social media monitoring, trusting human analysis for in-depth insights.

More Info

Discover Synthesio’s most recent study evaluating the top 10 topics talked about online, looking at 17 countries and over 200 million conversations.

Press Contact :

Michelle Chmielewski

+33 1 55 26 43 40

michelle@synthesio.com

What if you could find out what people talked about most online?

The #1 Topic that brings people to the web around the globe.

We recently divided our index among 40 different categories that we’ve seen to be the major categories for web sites. Using this classification we were able to analyze over 200 million verbatim to analyze what the top 10 most popular topics on the web are.

Check out the latest MonitorChat episode – yes! We’re back in action – to find out more :

AND THERE’S NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT

Wait -  yes you can ! You can measure it. Quantify and qualify it.

And now you can join MonitorChat every Wednesday with our community manager Michelle to get the web conversation breakdowns of the latest trends and current events.

Enjoy ! And let us know what you think

Last week’s episode:

(You can also keep up with MonitorChat on Facebook or by following us on Twitter.  )

#1 : Dave and his “blank”

The virality of this video is stunning (just as much as its content) and fully demonstrates the speed at which information spreads nowadays.

After a few moments of confusion about the product “blank”, the scenario is taken over by a certain Dave that, in one week, will become the new brand advocate of “blank”.

But first, we must answer: Which “blank”? The “blank” with all the “blanks”? Over 1,900 comments, videos on YouTube of people advising against “blank” that have since changed their minds and now suggest “blank”. One post on Twitter that received 14 replies within 2 minutes, yet Dave is still unsure if he should buy “blank”…

His uncle and a friend have “blank”: according to them, it’s “the best blank of all”. Dave finally makes up his mind and buys “blank”. He loves it. A note arrives for him in the mail saying that “blank” loves him, and he loves “blank” back . He put photos of his “blank” on Flickr and joined “blank’s” Facebook group. He tweets about “blank” and sometimes “blank” even tweets him back. He suggests “blank” to his friends and family and convinced his sister to get a “blank” of her own. He has touched 435 lives because he is a brand advocate.

The video’s ultimate question: wouldn’t you like someone like Dave to talk about YOUR “blank”?

In short, a video that offers more than a 20-page sales presentation about the impact social media can have on your product/brand/company…

#2 : Three Essential Market-Research Methods in an Online Community

The burning question : what do you know about your customers, right now, right at this moment ? This article goes directly to the heart of the issue: in order to succeed in your market, you must know your customer. Analyzing the needs of the people that use your product or service that have real needs is indeed a key issue that can make or break a company’s success.

The MarketingProfs emphasize the idea of using communities for brand management, but forget to mention, however, that in order to do just that it is often necessary to have a professional monitoring tool in place:)

Nevertheless, the essential is there: listening and understanding the conversations about your brand allows you to detect your market’s needs, purchase motivations, etc. When the consumer is on your side, you have a strategic advantage in the bag…