• Social media technologies have greatly evolved over the past decade
  • Once only viewed by whoever held the Twitter password, social media insights are now used across teams
  • When selecting a new social media management technology, communications leaders must consider additional capabilities

Not to date myself, but I remember a time in marketing when social media management technologies did not exist. We spent hours painstakingly creating calendars of content, separate from the images that would be shared. I still get chills recalling times when the content calendar was shared with a client for review and they would try to edit it in Excel. What's New With Social Media Technology

But then a glorious thing happened – and some smart (and likely frustrated) marketers thought that there must be a better way to manage an organization’s social media presence. Enter a new category of technology: social media management.

The initial use of social media management technology was likely via a free version of one of the tools and used by the organization’s social media manager. As functionality and the “asks” to promote content via social media expanded, teams upgraded to paid versions. And while most organizations typically first adopt and implement social media within a marketing function for brand- and demand-related programs, the use of social media management technology has expanded to include sales, product, customer support and HR teams. As B2B organizations have increased their adoption of social media tactics, social media management technology providers have added to their functionality.

While usage may vary from organization to organization based on the depth of integrations and utilization by teams, one of the core benefits to social media management technology is actionable insights. Social media management technology provides measurement and analytics that track the impact of social content. Organizations can incorporate this feedback into the ideation process for future content and identify influencers for influencer relations campaigns. It can also be used to help inform what content is performing best by channel. Additionally, social listening and analytics are key inputs into understanding audiences and market trends and planning go-to-market strategy.

Now more than ever, organizations must be strategic in their selection of social media management technology. The first step is understanding the capabilities that are required for the social operations team and how these tools can be leveraged by other teams within the organization. Bringing these teams together early in the process ensures that all needs are identified. It is also critical to keep open lines of communication between these teams to ensure that the solution continues to be the best fit for the organization.

Learn more about social media management at Summit 2018 in my session “Brand and Communications Infrastructure: A Capabilities-Driven View of the Stack That Drives Growth.” I look forward to seeing you in Las Vegas and please connect on social media beforehand.