first published week of: 11/11/2013
The volume of data available through social media overwhelms marketers of all sizes, including large brands with hundreds of outposts. Whereas it might be possible for a merchant with a single location to manually monitor the tweets, reviews, and photos being posted about his business each day, that kind of personal attention to detail is virtually impossible for larger brands.
A handful of hyperlocal vendors are offering tools that brands can use to make sense of the local data coming through social media. With geo-targeting capabilities that allow merchants to infer location from the context of a user’s message, brands, retailers, and other large chains can see where relevant conversations are happening and measure the influence of their most loyal customers. Here are five examples of platforms that marketers can use to make sense of the location-specific data coming from social media. continued…