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The Competitive Intelligence Potential of Social Media

August Jackson

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Our Two-Part Agenda for This Webinar

Should we add social media to our CI sources?If yes, then how?

How can we get started quickly using the leading social media tools?

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Examine KITs for Potential CI Value

Who are our stakeholders?

What decisions do they need

to make?

What knowledge do

they need?

What intelligence can

we provide?

How will we develop that intelligence?

What analysis can we perform?

What information do we need?

Who holds that

information?

Are they likely to be sharing that information in some form through social media?

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SecondaryResearch

PrimaryResearch

SocialMedia

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Start Small and Be Specific

DIY: Get smart before

you buy anything

Learn each platform’s search and monitoring functions

Try to start with social

media input into current

projects

Define a clear

collection plan

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Reverse Engineer your Collection Plan

Who has the information you

need?

Who is their audience?

What social media will they use?

How do you search those platforms?

Whether you’re doing active elicitation or passive monitoring, remember your CI ethics.

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Twitter asks users “What are you doing?”

Official Business Presence• PR• Marketing• Customer Service• Recruiting

Individuals• Employees• Customers• Experts

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Do you speak Twitter?

Public message directed towards a specific Twitter user, e.g. @8of12

Hashtags are public messages attended to be associated with a specific theme, topic or event. The hashtag makes it easy for interested parted to track the conversation, e.g. #scipsmci for this webinar

@

#

Retweet: I liked your message, and I am passing it alongRT

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Twitter offers great search functions!

You do not need to have your own Twitter account

Make lists of search terms• Competitors• Industry terms• Product brands• Noteworthy names

Create RSS feeds of your searches to automate monitoring

http://search.twitter.com/advanced

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Find individuals you want to track

• Look for competitors’ official accounts– http://twitter.com/competitorname

– Look in their marketing materials

• Search for lists of competitor employees or industry experts on Listorious

• Search for mentions of competitors’ names and industry terms in Twitter user’s profiles– Listorious– Twellow

http://www.listorious.com

http://www.twellow.com

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LinkedIn: the professional social network

Information about professionals in resume-like profiles

Company and industry groups for active discussions

Aggregate user data for company statistics and information

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Get to know LinkedIn’s advanced search

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Company profiles have a wealth of detail

Statistics

Hiring, promotions and departures

Open positions

Remember that company data is based on aggregated employee self-reporting

You can also “follow” companies of interest to track them over time

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Quora: Question and AnswerUsers ask questions and other users answer them

Sometimes industry and company-specific topics

Users vote up their favorite answers

Based on real identities, so you can assess respondents expertise

Follow topics and users of interest

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Slideshare: Post your PowerPoint Here

Users post PowerPoints to the site• Easy sharing• Self-promotion• Sales and marketing

Use the same keywords from your Twitter search list

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Thank you!

August Jackson

august (at) augustjackson (dot) nethttp://augustjackson.netTwitter @8of12