Sysomos Social Media Monitoring and Analytics

Tell me about your Company?
Sysomos is tackling the social media monitoring and analytics market by bringing business intelligence to social media. Through the use of contextual text analytics and data mining technology, we provide instant and unlimited access to all social media conversations to quickly see what’s happening, why it’s happening, and who’s driving the conversations.

Sysomos has two products: Media Analytics Platform (MAP), a powerful social media analytics service; and Heartbeat, a flexible, cost-effective and user-friendly social media monitoring service. MAP has been embraced by customers such as advertising and public relations agencies, which want to provide multiple clients with insight and intelligence about their products and brand. Heartbeat is aimed at corporate users that want tools to measurement and monitor social media activity.

What was your first experience of social media?
I started blogging in 2004 while I was a technology reporter with the National Post newspaper in Toronto. At the time, I had heard about blogging but assumed it was a tool used by heart-sick teenagers. I soon discovered it was an exciting and powerful communications medium that let anyone become a publisher.

What is the biggest tip you would give to a newbie in social media?
The advice I would give people getting into social media is take a focused approach rather than trying to use multiple tools. If you’re going to try Twitter, for example, spend some time to learn about the different features, best practices and related tools. I would also suggest that people not be afraid to experiment. The tools are free so the only “penalty” is the time you’ve invested..but I would suggest it’s not a penalty as much as a learning experience.

What does Sysomos.com do that others do now?
There is strong demand for social media monitoring and analytics, and Sysomos meets these needs with two products that have been developed over the past three years. Both Heartbeat and MAP are flexible by allowing users to do as many queries as they want. As well, they both make it easy to create in-depth reports.

What social media nonsense is being promoted out there at the moment that winds you up?
There’s a lot of attention being paid to return on investment (ROI) when it comes to social media. While it’s important for companies to get a handle on what they’re getting for their money, they also need to recognize that social media is a different beast in which the ROI can be hard and soft; hard being metrics such as higher sales, click-throughs and Web site traffic, and soft being things such as better customer service, a strong brand, more customer loyalty and more engaged customers.

As a blogger how could Sysomos.com help murraynewlands.com?
MAP and Heartbeat are probably not tools that many bloggers would use unless they were big enough entities that needed to track what was being said about them. Sysomos does, however, have a free tool called blogscope.net that is a really good – and free – tool for getting information about what’s happening on the blogosphere.

What do bloggers do that you wish they wouldn’t?
If I had to pick one thing that blogger shouldn’t do it would be not taking comments. Blogging is a two-way medium, and not letting people comment makes your blog a broadcast medium.

Where do you see growth in the social media field?
To be honest, I think it’s still early days for social media given that it really hasn’t been embraced by the mainstream. That said, I think the fact Facebook now has more than 300 million registered users suggests social media is going to be an integral part of most peoples’ lives in the same way that computers and cell phones have become a way of life.

What new ideas are advertisers coming up with to take advantage of new trends?
I think video is a powerful medium for advertisers online – much like television ads have done so well.

What do you do to improve the world?
I’m a pretty “green” person. I’d suggest that my biggest contribution is riding my bicycle pretty much year-round as opposed to driving. I’m also big into recycling.

What is one thing about you that not many people know?
I play an awful lot of ice hockey, most of it in the morning before work. It’s a passion and good exercise.

What are your contact details (email, company, blog, facebook, myspace, forums, etc)?
I can be reached via e-mail at mark@(NOspam>sysomos.com, blog.sysomos.com (blog), LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com/pub/mark-evans/0/170/620) and twitter.com/markevans

What events do you go to?
I regularly attend DemoCamp and Third Tuesday. I’m really looking forward to attending BlogWorld Expo in Las Vegas for the first time next month. I’m also one of the co-organizers of the mesh, meshUniversity and meshmarketing conferences in Toronto.

How do you prefer to communicate?
I’m addicted to e-mail and Twitter but also like talking to people on the phone.

Who would you recommend, and why?
I’m a big Seth Godin fan – smart, useful, straightforward advice. I’m also a fan of Paul Kedrosky, Om Malik, Mike Arrington, Paul Graham, Marshall Kirkpatrick, Tim Berners-Lee and Fred Wilson. They’re all smart people who have passion for what they do, while providing great insight into what’s happening.

What is one thing people can do for you?
That’s a difficult one to answer but I would suggest they check out Sysomos.com. 🙂