1. 1Info-Tech Research Group Vendor Landscape: Social Media Management Platforms Info-Tech Research Group, Inc. Is a global leader in providing IT research and advice. Info-Tech’s products and services combine actionable insight and relevant advice with ready-to-use tools and templates that cover the full spectrum of IT concerns. © 1997-2014 Info-Tech Research Group Inc. Vendor Landscape: Social Media Management Platforms Reign in social media by choosing a management platform that’s right for you. Info-Tech's products and services combine actionable insight and relevant advice with ready-to-use tools and templates that cover the full spectrum of IT concerns.© 1997 - 2014 Info-Tech Research Group

2. Vendor Landscape: Social Media Management Platforms Info-Tech Research Group2 Different parts of your organization have different social media objectives. Select a Social Media Management Platform (SMMP) that satisfies your objectives across marketing, sales, public relations, HR, and customer service. Introduction IT managers advising the business on how to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of social media campaigns. IT professionals involved in evaluating, selecting, and deploying an SMMP. Sales, marketing, and customer service professionals interested in how SMMPs can improve the outcomes of social media campaigns and interactions. Understand the features and business benefits of using an SMMP to manage social media initiatives. Determine functional requirements based on organizational needs. Understand the current state of the SMMP market, and evaluate and select an SMMP vendor that meets enterprise requirements. Implement and operate the selected platform. This Research Is Designed For:This Research Will Help You:

3. 3Info-Tech Research Group Vendor Landscape: Social Media Management Platforms Book a Guided Implementation Today: Info-Tech is just a phone call away and can assist you with your evaluation. Our expert Analysts can guide you to successful technology selection. Here are the suggested Guided Implementation points for the Social Media Management Platforms Vendor Landscape: Guided Implementation points in the SMMP Vendor Landscape Section 1: Shortlist Assistance and Requirements Get off to a productive start: Discuss the market space and how vendors are evaluated. Decide on which deployment option suits you best and narrow down the options based on customized requirements. Section 2: RFP and Budget Review Interpreting and acting on RFP results: Review vendors’ RFPs and ensure the solution is meeting your needs. Discuss average pricing of solutions and what can fit into your budget. Section 3: Negotiation and Contract Review Purchase optimization: Review contracts and discuss best practices in negotiation tactics to get the best price for your solution. This symbol signifies when you’ve reached a Guided Implementation point in your project. To enroll, send an email to GuidedImplementations@InfoTech.com or call 1-888-670-8889 and ask for the Guided Implementation Coordinator.GuidedImplementations@InfoTech.com

4. Info-Tech Research Group4Vendor Landscape: Social Media Management Platforms Info-Tech Research Group The market is segmented between two broad camps: SMMPs focused on social listening and analytics, and SMMPs focused on social engagement. Although the two have begun to converge in the last year, there continues to be a clear bifurcation in the market between the two, with a surprising lack of vendors that are equally adept at both sides. Some SMMP vendors also approach the space with a focus on particular verticals (such as professional services or agencies). Eventually, CRM vendors will offer feature sets similar to those of standalone SMMPs. While some major CRM vendors (like Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics) have made ground in this direction in the last year, organizations that are serious about social will still need a best of breed SMMP. Other major trends include using application integration to build a “360 degree” view of the customer, workflow routing and automation, and competitive benchmarking. Market overview The SMMP market was created in response to the exploding popularity of social media and the realization that it can be harnessed for a wide variety of enterprise purposes (from consumer intelligence to marketing campaigns and customer service, and HR). As the number of social media services has expanded, and as the volume of content generated via social networks has ballooned, it became increasingly difficult to mine insights and manage social campaigns. A number of vendors (mostly start-ups but some incumbent players) began offering platforms that attempted to streamline and harness social media processes. As usage of social media expanded beyond just the marketing and PR function, being able to successfully scale a social strategy to a large number of customer care and sales interactions became paramount: SMMPs filled a niche by offering large-scale response and workflow management capabilities. How it got hereWhere it’s going Don’t wait for CRM vendor adoption – if you have the need now, you will see an ROI on purchasing a standalone SMMP solution. In the last year, there has been a strong wave of consolidation and market exits in the SMMP space. We expect that the endgame will be coming within the next two to three years as CRM vendors continue to acquire the strongest SMMP players and build in-house social capabilities.

5. 5Info-Tech Research Group Vendor Landscape: Social Media Management Platforms SMMP vendor selection / knock-out criteria: market share, mind share, and platform coverage Adobe: Adobe Social is a key pillar of Adobe’s ecosystem that is heavily focused on social analytics and engagement. Attensity: A comprehensive suite of listening and engagement tools for multiple social channels. Hootsuite: A freemium player with strong engagement and collaboration tools, particularly well suited for SMBs. Lithium: An e-community heavyweight with a robust analytics offering in its Social Media Monitoring product. Oracle: An industry heavyweight, putting renewed emphasis on social integration. SAS: A top-notch player for in-depth, contextual social analytics and sentiment analysis. Salesforce: A leading solution that compromises of Radian6 Buddy Media Social Studio and Radian6 Analysis Dashboard. Sprout Social: A great choice for mid-sized companies looking to provide robust social engagement and customer care. Sysomos: Their MAP and Heartbeat products offer customers in-depth analysis of a wide array of social channels. Viralheat: An excellent option for analytics, social response workflow management, and in-band social engagement. Included in this Vendor Landscape: Although there has been significant convergence between engagement and analytics-focused vendors, the market remains somewhat split between the two – each vendor tends to excel more on one dimension than the other. For this Vendor Landscape, Info-Tech focused on those vendors that offer broad capabilities across multiple platforms and that have a strong market presence and/or reputational presence among multiple enterprise verticals and sizes.

6. 6Info-Tech Research Group Vendor Landscape: Social Media Management Platforms Criteria Weighting SMMP criteria & weighting factors Vendor is committed to the space and has a future product and portfolio roadmap. Strategy Vendor offers global coverage and is able to sell and provide post-sales support. Reach Vendor is profitable, knowledgeable, and will be around for the long term. Viability Vendor channel strategy is appropriate and the channels themselves are strong. Channel Implementing and operating the solution is affordable given the technology. Affordability Multiple deployment options and extensive integration capabilities are available. Architecture The end-user and administrative interfaces are intuitive and offer streamlined workflow. Usability The solution provides basic and advanced feature/functionality. Features Usability Architecture Affordability Product Vendor Viability Strategy Channel Reach Product Evaluation Criteria Vendor Evaluation Criteria

7. 7 7Vendor Landscape: Social Media Management Platforms Info-Tech Research Group Table Stakes represent the minimum standard; without these, a product doesn’t even get reviewed If Table Stakes are all you need from your SMMP solution, the only true differentiator for the organization is price. Otherwise, dig deeper to find the best price to value for your needs. The products assessed in this Vendor Landscape TM meet, at the very least, the requirements outlined as Table Stakes. Many of the vendors go above and beyond the outlined Table Stakes, some even do so in multiple categories. This section aims to highlight the products’ capabilities in excess of the criteria listed here. The Table StakesWhat Does This Mean? The ability to post status updates to multiple social media sites. Basic Engagement The ability to display inbound feeds and summary info from multiple social media sites. Basic Analytics The ability to manage or analyze content from at least two or more social media accounts. Multiple Accounts Supported The ability to manage or analyze at least two or more social media services. Multiple Sites Supported What it is: Feature

8. 8Info-Tech Research Group Vendor Landscape: Social Media Management Platforms Advanced Features are the capabilities that allow for more granular market differentiation Advanced Features Info-Tech scored each vendor’s features offering as a summation of its individual scores across the listed advanced features. Vendors were given one point for each feature the product inherently provided. Some categories were scored on a more granular scale with vendors receiving half points. Scoring Methodology Ability to uncover insights from social media using various techniques such as sentiment analysis. Advanced Analytics Ability to respond in-band to social media posts. Response Management Ability to publish to social media services, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and more. Channel Integration: Outbound Ability to monitor social media services, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and more. Channel Integration: Inbound Ability to manage social and media assets: tools for social campaign execution, reporting, and analytics. Campaign Execution Ability to create end-to-end routing and escalation workflows from social content. Workflow Management Ability to balance multiple social account/persona management with individual user profiles. Account Management Ability to archive social posts and platform activity to create an audit trail. Social Archival Ability to provide mobile optimized, HTML5-based web access and/or native applications. Mobile Support Deep CRM/CSM integration with out-of-the-box connectors for popular suites. Application Integration What we looked for: Feature For an explanation of how Advanced Features are determined, see Information Presentation – Feature Ranks (Stoplights) in the Appendix.Information Presentation – Feature Ranks (Stoplights)

9. 9Info-Tech Research Group Vendor Landscape: Social Media Management Platforms Arrange a call now: email GuidedImplementations@InfoTech.com or call 1-888-670-8889 and ask for the Guided Implementation Coordinator.GuidedImplementations@InfoTech.com Shortlist Assistance & Requirements Prior to the Guided Implementation During the Guided Implementation Value & Outcome 1.Have reasoning as to why a new SMMP solution is being discussed. 2.Compile a list of high-order requirements that you have for customer interaction via social channels. An Info-Tech Consulting Analyst will discuss with you: Reviewing the SMMP market and understanding the rationale behind the evaluation. Deciding on a deployment method. Determining which features are going to be most critical for your organization. At the conclusion of the Guided Implementation call, you will have: An understanding of the SMMP market situation. A narrowed list of SMMP vendors with the customized evaluation tool. An RFP template to distribute to SMMP vendors.

10. 10Info-Tech Research Group Vendor Landscape: Social Media Management Platforms Arrange a call now: email GuidedImplementations@InfoTech.com or call 1-888-670-8889 and ask for the Guided Implementation Coordinator.GuidedImplementations@InfoTech.com RFP & Budget Review Prior to the Guided Implementation During the Guided Implementation Value & Outcome 1.Collect RFPs from SMMP vendors based on the template provided. An Info-Tech Consulting Analyst will discuss with you: Review of SMMP price benchmarking. Review of returned RFPs. At the conclusion of the Guided Implementation call, you will have: A narrow list of SMMP vendors. A clear understanding of the capabilities of the solutions on the SMMP shortlist. A demo script to use during presentations with the final list of vendors.

11. 11Info-Tech Research Group Vendor Landscape: Social Media Management Platforms Arrange a call now: email GuidedImplementations@InfoTech.com or call 1-888-670-8889 and ask for the Guided Implementation Coordinator.GuidedImplementations@InfoTech.com Contract Review and Negotiation Tactics Prior to the Guided Implementation During the Guided Implementation Value & Outcome 1.Bring final contracts received from SMMP vendors on shortlist. An Info-Tech Consulting Analyst will discuss with you: Reviewing your contracts to ensure they are fair and in line with industry standards. The best negotiation tactics to get the best value for your purchase. At the conclusion of the Guided Implementation call, you will have: Tactics on how to get a better price on your solution. Confidence in the SMMP solution you are purchasing.

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