Whether you are a small or large business establishment, developing your presence within local search engines as well as major directories, data suppliers, and review sites is imperative.  As users search the web for the ‘best bite’ or ‘best service’ in their local town, you as the related business must be at the forefront of their search. You want to catch their attention not only with your contact details, but also with information about multiple locations, hours of operation, social media networks, payment methods, and other related facets pertaining to your business.

Make it easy for your users and potential customers/clients to find you.

Be present. Be known. Be shared across networks.

Below we highlight set-up details to keep in mind for search engines, directories, data suppliers, and review sites noted within our related post on working on local search.  Set up takes time and a bit of hard work especially with multiple locations, but the resulting reward…well, you guessed it, it’s far ‘greater’ with increased visibility.

Search Engines and Major Directories:

*Note: Provided monthly/yearly prices are subject to changes depending on the related source

• Local.com
  • One account setup
    • For each location, separate listing may be created with proper address, zip code, hours of operation, payment methods, company description, services offered, and organization categories.
  • Premium Listing is $49.95 a month
  • This will include photos, video, twitter feed, special links.

• SuperMedia
  • One account setup
  • For additional features:
    • $25.00 per month for picture, logo, or slogan to be included
    •  Including Promotion Text: $27.00 per month
    • Including Logo/Icon: $38.00 per month
    • Main dashboard allows measurement of clicks, impressions, and CTR

• BING
  • Account setup with ‘Bing Business Portal’
  • Must ‘claim your business’ if business information already exists within Bing, otherwise create a new business listing
  • Convenient multiple location registration; however verification for each location must be completed via mail or phone (requires receiving confirmation code)
    • For multiple locations, separate listing may be created with proper address, zip code, hours of operation, payment methods, company description, services offered, and organization categories.
    • Mobile version for each location is provided with availability to highlight key business services, products, and offering
    • Photos may be uploaded and arranged for each business setup
    • In addition to business information, categories for “What I Sell,” “Events,” and “Deals” are provided.
    • “Advance’ section of main dashboard allows management of all content under one interface.
    • “Marketing” section provides opportunity for management of brands, designs, advertising, and other related promotional materials.

• Yellowpages
  • One account setup
  • Convenient multiple location registration; however verification must be completed via mail or phone (requires receiving confirmation code) before listing can be created
    • For multiple locations, separate listing may be created with proper address, zip code, hours of operation, payment methods, company description, services offered, and organization categories.

• Yahoo
  • One account setup
    • For multiple locations, separate listing may be created with proper address, zip code, company description, services offered, and organization categories.
    • Each listing must be reviewed by Yahoo for final approval. It is standard for a review to remain in ‘Review Pending’ status for up to 5 business days from submission
    • After listings become “Active” further edits can be made to include “payment information, hours of operation, photos etc.”

Data Suppliers/Review Sites/Other Directories

• BOTW
  • One account setup with multiple locations
    • Business profile pages are subject to ‘pending review.’ Due to an overwhelming amount of Free Jumpstart submissions (basic BOTW listing submissions), it can take 2-3 weeks before a page is reviewed. Users will notified by email as soon as the review is complete.
    • For multiple locations, separate listing may be created with proper address, zip code, company description, services offered, and organization categories.
  • Free Jumpstart listing limited to 2 photos
  • Additional features – Must upgrade to “Premium” from “Jumpstart” listings
  • $29.95/PER MONTH
  • This Includes
  • VIP placement in your categories and locations
  • Feature your website links and contact information
  • Receive email alerts when someone leaves a review
  • Your business photos and videos
  • Feature detailed business description, products, services, brands, hours of operation and more
  • Premium service

• CitySearch
• • Website contains broken links
  • Not recommended to provide listings for local search.

• InfoUSA
  • 2 Accounts must be created for initial setup
  • 1 under Info USA, 1 under Express Update from InfoGroup
  • Express Update from InfoGroup – Location where listings reside. (InfoUSA is the general account)
  • No photo capability
  • Under the main account must verify whether or not your provided business (s) already exists for you to claim. If yes, after you claim your business be sure to update necessary contact information (address, zip code, services offered, hours of operation, social media links, and restaurant descriptions and categories.
  • 10 free listings per year may be created and updated under one account. If more listings are needed, must call for information about our low-cost Bulk Upload service.

• Insider Pages
  • One account setup
  • Under the main account must verify whether or not your provided business (s) already exists for you to claim. If yes, after you claim your business be sure to update necessary contact information (address, zip code, services offered, hours of operation, social media links, and restaurant descriptions and categories.  (Heavy legal fine if we are not the correct reps. for the locations)
  • Claimed all 17 locations using one account setup.
  • For multiple location, proper address, zip code, hours of operation, payment methods, company description, services offered, and organization categories should be included
  • In addition, for all locations additional photos may be added in highlighting specific locations, and products/services offered

• Localeze
  • One account setup
    • For multiple locations, separate listings may be created with proper address, zip code, company description, services offered, and organization categories.
    • If interested in additional features, subject to ($200+)
    • Additional features to enhance the listing (i.e. hours of operation, photos, etc.)

• Openlist
  • Local information service
  • Searches web for third-party reviews and ratings
  • No Account/Listing creation available
  • DATA provided by LOCALEZE

• iBegin
  • One account setup
  • Convenient multiple location registration; however verification must be completed via mail or phone (requires receiving confirmation code) before listing can be created
    • For multiple locations, separate listing may be created with proper address, zip code, hours of operation, payment methods, company description, services offered, and organization categories.

• Kudzo
  • One account setup
  • Must pay for additional features to enhance main account/profile
    • $5, 500/year
    • This includes: Company Logo, Portrait Photo, Photo Album, Video, Marketing Description, Business Email Address, Higher in Results, Attachments

• MagicYellow
  • One account setup
  • Must first claim your business(s) by submitting phone number of related location. After review of business, representatives will contact to verify the identity of the person in charge of the business

• MerchantCircle
  • Users often solicited for sign ups.
  • Not recommended to provide listings for local search.

• All Pages
  • Website contains broken links.
  • Not recommended to provide listings for local search.

• Brown Book
  • One account setup
  • Under the main account must verify whether or not your provided business (s) already exists for you to claim. If yes, after you claim your business be sure to update necessary contact information (address, zip code, services offered, hours of operation, social media links, and restaurant descriptions and categories.
    • For multiple locations, separate listing may be created with proper address, zip code, hours of operation, payment methods, company description, services offered, and organization categories.
    • Additional features may be added in such as logos, related business photos, text, widgets, and endorsements
  • Listing layout may be adjusted for logos, photos, contact information, and other related features that are included.

 Do you have any questions about local search? 

Would I go back to Seattle and the places I visited? No doubt and I would make recommendations to visit any of the places I went to.

Did I spend money on local businesses? Yes, I spent the entire gift card and almost another $500 on top of it.

Did I leverage my social media “influence” pre trip, during the trip, and post trip? I didn’t talk much about the trip going in, two of my tweets are being used on the 2DaysinSeattle website (I posted about 15-20 times while in town), and plus I ended up writing this blog series although I don’t know if this series is something they would like or not like.

I’ve been offering my opinion on this for the last two blog posts. What does the Seattle Convention and Vistors Bureau think of the program? I asked their Direct of Marketing Ali Smith.

-Can you describe the 2 Days in Seattle program?

It is a multi-channel campaign created to drive consumers in Portland, Vancouver BC and San Francisco to spend 2 Days in Seattle. It’s based on educating consumers of the amazing things Seattle has to offer involving Arts, Culture, Music, Food & Wine.

-What were your goals with this program and the influencer outreach?

We have a few goals of this campaign. Ultimately, we want to increase overnight visitors to Seattle. In addition, we want to educate people on the amazing offerings Seattle has. And, by using the influencer outreach, we want to create brand advocates for the city.

-What are the KPIs of this program?

We are able to look at hotel occupancy levels within the downtown core to see how they compare to previous years. We are also using Radian6 to see how Seattle is coming up in conversations on the web. We tested prior to the campaign launch as well, to ensure we had a baseline.

-Are you happy with the results?

Currently, I would say we are cautiously optimistic. We are mid-campaign and things are going well. Our influencers appeared to have a wonderful time, shared great experiences, and said complimentary things about our city. And the conversations are still going, which is definitely a good sign.

-How do you see social media impacting tourism and the choices of travelers while visiting?

I believe it’s part of the future of the hospitality industry. The barrier between destinations/retailers and potential consumers is quickly disappearing. It allows people to make real-time decisions based on real-time interactions with restaurants, bars, museums, attractions, etc. As a destination, it’s exciting because all of those conversations are out in cyberspace where different audiences can view and participate as well. For us it means more people are learning about the rich offerings and the personality of our city.

-What are some of your key learnings from this?

Social media is a powerful tool and has added an unique perspective and voice to our campaign. Until the campaign is complete, I’m hesitant to make any additional claims. We should chat again in May.

I will take Ali up on that and reach back out in May.

Thanks to Ali Smith, Klout, and The Seattle Convention and Visitors Bureau for selecting me for the program and their feedback.

A key point to consider is, on March 30th, Facebook brand pages will be required to change their page design and layout to mirror the timeline format currently effective on personal profile pages.

 >Download Convertiv 2012  Facebook Updates Doc<

Brand//Fan Communication Changes

Reach Generator

Update

Brands can now pay money to guarantee that posts/updates are seen by most of their fan base via news feed each month.

Effect

Double average reach and engagement with posts as more fans will see, engage and expose their network to brand page posts. The brand page ‘EdgeRank’ score will be amplified increasing the reach of a page post from 16% to 75% of brand page fans. Tests by Facebook have revealed that ads located within the news feed receive five to ten times the click-through rate of standard ads.

Action

It will be key to provide engaging content and invest in the Reach Generator to guarantee distribution. By paying for enhanced circulation brands will get significantly more engagement.

Pinned, Starred and Milestone Posts

Update

Brands can now assign greater significance to page posts by pinning, starring or marking a post as a milestone.

Effect

‘Pinned’ posts stay on the top left-hand side of the page timeline highlighting it for up to seven days.  ‘Starring’ a post makes it extend the full width of the news feed turning it into a prominently featured story. ‘Milestone’ posts highlight a larger photo and can also incorporate a date and other content. These new post types help guarantee that fans see a page’s most important and engaging content.

Action

Pinned, starred and Milestone posts can be used as links to any featured content on (or off) Facebook.   Having a featured story (or stories) every week for fans to engage with is a good way keep fans interested and engaged with a brand page as well as test what kind of content is most engaging to its fan base.

Direct Messaging // Customer service inbox

Update

Users can now contact a brand directly via direct Facebook messaging.

Effect

To contact any brand visitors can now simply click on the prominently featured ‘Message’ button and send a private message; The new button is located directly next to the ‘Like’ button in the upper right of the page. The goal of this new feature is move customer service interactions away from the Wall to a more inconspicuous location optimized for direct one-on-one communication. Messages will be delivered to the new brand page admin panel where page managers will go to monitor all notifications and page insights.

Action

Brands will now need to be ready to monitor this channel of communication and respond to fans in real time. However, if a brand is not ready or does not want to use this new channel, it can be disabled.

Page Design and Management Changes

Brand Timeline

Update

On March 30th, brand pages will be required to change their page design/layout to mirror the timeline format currently running on personal profile pages.  Now when users visit a page they will see a compilation of stories published by the page itself, by their friends interacting with that page, and stories/posts from other users that have obtained the most likes, comments, and shares. Facebook is making an effort transform the way brands are represented so they interact more like a person and less like a company, while still providing them the ability to program and host any type of content on their page. The timeline format provides brands with beautiful canvas to tell their story. Consumers will now be able to easily navigate the latest content and campaigns on a page or dig into a brand’s history with only a few clicks.

Effect

The design changes that accompany the timeline include:

• A large cover photo (825 x 315)

• A smaller square profile picture (180 x 180)

• An abbreviated brand info/about section under the profile picture

• Four larger icons (111 × 74) featuring the first four page tabs or applications

• Tab width has been increased from 520 pixels to 810 pixels, drastically increasing design options

Page tabs are now front and center by design – located under the cover photo rather than off to the left under the profile picture – but Facebook is removing the ability set any tab as a default landing page for non-fans visiting a page.  Each tab will still have unique URLs so they can be promoted in posts and ads.  Brands can still ‘likegate’ tab content to force users to become a fan but Facebook is discouraging this by disabling auto refresh; now if visitors ‘like’ a page will not automatically reveal new content. The visible top four tabs (or applications) are all re-orderable except for ‘photos,’ which will always hold the left-most position. The icon that displays total number of ‘Likes’ can never be removed entirely but can be shifted out of the top four.

Six major design requirements accompany the new timeline format:

• No price or purchase information

• No contact information (now all belongs in the info section)

• No references to Facebook features or arrows

• No calls to action

• No false, misleading or stolen IP materials

The abbreviated brand info/about section under the page profile picture is the new home for any key information. It also links to a larger page specifically designed to display all brand information such as contact info.

Action

Brands will need to implement all the fore-mentioned design changes and begin to build out their company history via photos, videos and text in Timeline. Choosing the right stories/posts to highlight, hide and set as milestones will be important as they will play a key role in telling the brand’s history. A solid editorial strategy for constructing an engaging view of brand history and representing it in the future will be a key focus. Building out a detailed brand info/about section, which is linked to by the abbreviated version located under the page profile picture, will also be key for making sure fans have access to all the brand information they may need.

Real-time Insights

Update

Facebook is introducing real-time insights that will start reporting post statistics in only minutes.  This used to take up to a few days.

Effect

Data about page posts will appear in Facebook Insights just 5 to 10 minutes after posting. This data will include:

• Views
• Clicks
• Media consumption
• Spam score
• Total reach
• People talking about this

Real-time insight into post performance will work in concert with the ‘Reach Generator’ and help page managers quickly identify which posts deserve amplification with paid media. Page-level data reporting will continue to take up to a few days to aggregate.

Action

Real-time reporting on reactions to content will make it rapidly apparent what posts are going to be successful or not, and therefore much easier for page managers to develop a true sense of what content their fan communities do or do not enjoy.

Competitive Insights

Update

Facebook is exposing lots of data about brand page fan bases to non-admins; this data will be
accessible through the ‘Likes’ box on all pages.

Effect

Basic demographics data, a one-month historical graph of ‘People Talking About’ and a one-month graph of ‘New Likes per Week’ (a new metric) will be available to all page visitors.

Action

This will give brands the ability to run continual analysis of competitor performance and activity.

Advertising Changes

Content and Ads Melded Together

Update

All Facebook ads will now begin as content posted to a Page. There are two categories of Facebook ads:

1. Premium ads: bought directly from Facebook today.
2. Marketplace ads: the ads that are shown on the right-hand side of Facebook. Marketplace ads can be bought through Facebook’s self-serve portal or via third-party ad API technology.

Effect

A new publishing process has been introduced: content posted on Facebook and its related data have become the “front end” of the new ad system.  Content/creative and ad copy are paired from their inception. Posts that generate the most engagement are allowed further circulation via paid distribution.  Users can ‘like’ and engage with the content anywhere: on the brand Page or in the paid ads. Users will inform brands what the like via clicks, shares, ‘likes’ and comments. Brands can turn any post into  premium ads. Premium ads, appear in four places:

1. News feed
2. Right-hand side
3. Mobile newsfeed
4. The logout page

Because these ads are socially tuned to be an extension of each brand’s best and most
engaging content ad spend will go much further.  Ultimately, this will allow brands to reach
approximately 200 times the number of fans they have.

Action

Brand pages will need to create awesome content that focuses on being engaging by providing high quality relevant information; this means crafting posts/ads more like stories for consumption and sharing.   Brands will need to monitor engagement data in real-time and make the right choices about what to buy and when.

Facebook offers

Update

A new variety of post that enables brands to easily publish and circulate coupons for their fans.  Facebook Offers can be accepted directly from  a user’s web or mobile newsfeed. ‘Reach Generator’ can be utilized to further promote offers to a larger and/or targeted audience.

Effect

Clicking on an offer sends a redeemable voucher to the user’s email.  That voucher can then be spent at a physical location or entered as a coupon code at the vendor’s ecommerce website. Accepting a Facebook offer creates a post that is shared on the user’s wall and may appear that user’s friends’ newsfeeds; this helps increase the viral reach of the offer.

Action

Brands that want to drive consumer engagement and product trials, or retailers that want to drive sales through discounts should definitely take advantage of Facebook Offers.

Dinner on Friday at Restaurant Zoe: A newly re-launched Restaurant Zoe had only been open for two weeks at it’s new location. They had an amazing menu and dining experience. If you go you must have the Fresh Ricotta Gnudi, Lamb Sausage, Citrus, Fried Sage small plate.

Why did we go there: Recommended highly on Yelp.

Restaurant Zoe: Chocolate Orbs

Drinks at Red Fin: After a long day we wanted to have a few more drinks close to the out hotel, Red Fin provided that.

Why did we go there: We were offered a few places to stay and ended up choosing Hotel Max. Red Fin is part of their hotel and was recommended before we got to Seattle via Twitter.

 Breakfast at Lola: It was a solid breakfast; you have to work hard to screw up breakfast.

Why did we go there: Recommended by a friend via Twitter. We originally were going to go to some places at Pike’s Place for brunch recommended by @SeattleMaven but it was pretty brutal and windy outside.

Gauguin Exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum: What? I am totally cultured. It was very interesting, although it was packed which made getting around the exhibit a little bothersome.

Why did we go there: This was the only stop in the US of this exhibit, it came recommended to us by @SeattleMaven and it was part of our welcome kit. It was great to interact with the @Iheartsam Twitter account when they found out we were going.

Photo by Matt McGee

Pike’s Place: You have to go there when you visit Seattle, right?

 Why did we go there: We originally were going to go to brunch at one of the restaurants here based off the recommendations by @SeattleMaven. We ended up walking through after the Gauguin exhibit.

 Massage at the Four Seasons: My date wanted a little luxury and relaxation; we got that in spades, with an end of the stay steam and massage.

Why did we go there: While at the Gauguin exhibit someone from the Four Seasons (@FSSeattle) reached out to me via Twitter about having lunch there. I replied asking about their spa and they put us in touch with their spa Twitter account (@SpaExpertsSea).

Dinner at Ray’s Boathouse: An amazing meal but even better service. From the time we arrived to the time we left we were treated with amazing service. It didn’t hurt either that we basically shut down the restaurant sitting around with the staff sampling some of the wine from their dinner service. Every single person we met there was completely nice and fun to talk to.  Also they have Bodega Goulart on their wine list, which is one of my favorite wines.

 Why did we go there: When we started looking at places to go and tweeted to @SeattleMaven @RaysBoatHouse was one of the first restaurants to proactively talk to us and ask if they could help book anything. They even helped bump back our reservation via Twitter when we were running late from the massage. Ray’s was a perfect example of how proactive outreach leads to an amazing experience.

The Space Needle and the Experience Music Project: The Nirvana exhibit was one of the highlights of the trip. Being a fan of the band growing up and seeing how the Northwest music scene evolved in the late 80s and early 90s was really interesting.

Why did we go there: Nirvana: Taking Punk to the Masses was highlighted on the 2DaysinSeattle website and it was something that stood out when planning the trip.

 Where we stayed: The Hotel Max was our hotel of choice and the staff went above and beyond to make sure we were comfortable. Additionally they were really friendly via Twitter (@hotel_max) to make sure we had a good time. When I return to Seattle again I would without a doubt stay there again.

In looking back over the trip it is amazing to see how much social media impacted just about everything we did. Granted the context around the trip was already based in social media but the people I interacted with helped influence my choices as well as my satisfaction.

Next: What were the results of this campaign personally and for the Seattle Convention and Visitors Bureau?

Who watches this?

I received the best Klout perk yet recently, a two-day trip to Seattle.

A few weeks ago Klout reached out to me about 2DaysinSeattle a program being put on by Seattle’s Convention and Visitors Bureau. The “perk” was a two-day trip to Seattle, which included hotel, transportation, and a pre-loaded gift card for $500 to be used anywhere we wanted. Additionally we received a welcome kit that included passes to the Seattle Art Museum Gauguin & Polynesia Exhibit, tour passes, some chocolates and a gift certificate to Frans Chocolates.

In the lead up to trip Klout reached out to me to introduce me to the website that the Seattle’s Convention and Visitors Bureaus created and the Twitter account @SeattleMaven which would act as a virtual tour guide/concierge in the lead up to and during my trip. The website did a great job in aggregating the various events and offerings that are going on in Seattle with tweets from influencers integrated into one map. Between the website, the @SeattleMaven Twitter account, friends, and interaction with various other businesses through Twitter I was able to get a great idea of what to do and choose my entire trip.

Putting my professional hat back on, I found that we were influenced in everything we did except for one quick lunch via social media.

Tomorrow: Where we went and how we were influenced

These tactics aren’t talked about often because nobody wants to be known for artificially manipulating social media. Still, there are a lot of people out there that use these techniques to build their client’s or their own personal brand. So while many people enjoy a utopian view of content and how it’s accelerated through the social web, the mechanics and tactics behind it can often be a little galling.

The ethics around this really interest me. If you are using these tactics to promote lousy content, then it immediately comes off as spam and is frowned upon. However, if you are using these tactics to promote worthy content, especially if it is being produced by someone that doesn’t have the ability to promote themselves, does it become okay? For example, if people are actually receptive and interested in content being amplified by some seemingly shady tactics, is then it ethical?

What do you think are the ethics of self promotion? 

While I may not agree with Klout as a flat out ranking system, I do find it useful for reaching a large swath of people with common interests easily, and that makes it a good tool. As a company we have leveraged Klout Perks for multiple clients and have been pleased with the results.

In the few times Convertiv has used Klout perks we have gone after a large base of people to introduce them to a product or a website that they might be interested in using. In each case we wanted to reach 1000 to 5000 people as opposed to a small group of influencers. In these situations we received a very positive ROI on what we wanted people to do, whether that be sign up, download, or buy. Furthermore, the cost per acquisition or action was in line with our other paid marketing efforts.  Plus our clients received a boost in mentions across key social media outlets and an increase in followers.  (However, I was actually disappointed regarding the total number of followers gained versus how many people interacted with the brands.)

While I wouldn’t use Klout to define the absolute top five influencers in a specific space, I have and will continue to use it for identifying larger groups of people based on a common interest, location, or other factors.

How have you used Klout?

As social media evolves within your organization and the toolset, analytics, and data improve around your efforts, you will need to evolve your goals and KPIs to go with the rest of the evolution.

When a lot of organizations get into social media they often encounter similar challenges. Where is the social campaign going to sit within the organization? What resources are going to put behind the campaign? How is the organization going to measure it?

By the time a company’s social efforts have gained some traction, many of these questions have already been answered on some level; often as a piece of their greater integrated marketing program. However, the next level of evaluation sometimes has yet to be considered.

It is important for organizations to re-evaluate their KPIs and goals after they have established their programs and toolsets in order to drive continued success. Looking back on initial goals and tightening them up based on a campaign’s current position will help foster continued growth and engagement. For example if one of your initial goals was to generate webinar signups through social media, this should evolve away from acquiring signups and towards deciphering what content is bringing in quality leads. Also evaluate the platform being used, the content that people are engaging in, and the tactics that are generating the higher quality signups.

Continue to build out your program but remember as it expands the complexity of your goals and KPIs should grow simultaneously.

In the last few months there have been a lot of blog posts in the social media space where people are trying to hammer out the true value and impact of Klout. Simultaneously there have been a lot of posts on how horrible the BCS is and why college football needs a playoff. While absorbing these disparate pieces of information it occurred to me that people dislike the BCS and Klout for the same reason, both are trying to rank things that are highly objective.

Trying to determine the best football team in America based off polls, computer programs, and formulas isn’t the way to determine a National Champion. That can really only be decided on the field by a playoff. Klout is trying to determine influence based on a proprietary formula that bypasses equal comparison and instead seems to consider pretty superficial data points like the sheer amount of posts a user puts up.

The problem with Klout is everyone is always going to have a slightly different view of how to measure influence.  And unlike the BCS there is no head to head solution that can determine a clear “winner.” So unless you have two influencers invite their social circles to the Catalina Wine Mixer and then compare what sort of impact their opinions had on the crowd, we are all still going to need to rely on some sort of formula to rank influence.

Ultimately, the debate surrounding the BCS playoff has potential to go away with the creation of a playoff while the debate around influence and how to measure it is going to rage on with no clear solution.

What are your thoughts on Klout?

*(Note: I wrote this before I was selected to a promotion by Klout called Two Days in Seattle which I am participating in. This might change my ambivalence but I wanted to make sure I was transparent about this.)

One ring... err I mean one tool to rule them all

I understand the desire to have “one tool to rule them all,” or an individual software suite that makes me more efficient at all the parts of my job. But at this point, I have seen more social media “dashboards” than I ever cared to and many blended tools that simply don’t deliver.  None have ever had enough of what I consider useful or any sort of features I feel I must have.

So here is the social tool that I want. (Sure some of this might be next to impossible… but it’s my dream tool, so bear with me.)

It must connect to my CRM – My dream tool needs to be something that sits on top of my CRM or is a stand-alone program that connects to it. One thing is for sure, it can’t be a new CRM because most large companies aren’t going to make a switch. Even in smaller companies where the sales department controls which CRM they use it is unlikely they would make a change. (No matter how great a new product is sometimes replacing a legacy product is just an impossible sell.)

It needs to be able to connect with additional key databases – If a lead’s purchase history isn’t in the CRM I need to be able to import that data from my existing database.  This is because when interacting with someone who is talking about my brand I want to see if the individual is a customer and what type of customer he or she is. Does she buy from us? Does he book rooms? How long has she been a customer? Etc.

It needs to show me the social profiles the customer uses – I love Rapportive for Gmail, but I dislike having to go into Gmail to see the type of social information it retrieves. Tools like Radian6 and Hootsuite can also pull data from customers’ social profiles, but it remains inconvenient to need a separate tool whenever I want this information. If this feature were attached to the CRM portion of my dream tool (with the ability to edit a customer’s information) it would be amazing.

It must show all the customer’s interactions with my brand – My dream tool would show every interaction my company has ever had with a customer and if he or she ever mentioned my brand in the past.

It needs to tie into my customer service program – my tool must tie into Zendesk or Gets Satisfaction so I could see the history of any individual’s customer service issues. Ideally this is data the CRM feature would already pull, but because companies often have different toolsets for leads than customers this would be a key feature.

By having customer service information combined with the CRM and social media interactions, I could paint a full picture of the customer and his or her relationship with my brand.

A monitoring level- Basically just plop a Radian 6 type product in here and it would be good to go. When paired with all the other features discussed above, users would gain a lot of context about who is talking about their brand.

A Social Profile management level- A Hootsuite or Tweetdeck type of setup would be fine.

Now, this is a social media tool that I would get excited about.

What features would make up your dream social media tool?