There is more than one way to monitor and measure social media outreach and online campaigns, and companies must find the right setup for them. Looking at how marketers are using monitoring tools and what benefits come from certain options can give companies insight into what works.

In June 2011, RSW/US and Web Liquid surveyed 237 senior US marketers for the “Marketers & Social Media Monitoring Survey 2011” to learn about their monitoring habits. By far, the most popular social media monitoring tool was Google Alerts, as 46% of respondents said they were using it. Radian6 was also popular, with 7% of responses, as was Meltwater Buzz, with 4% of responses.

But just monitoring and collecting the data is not enough. Marketers must use the information they collect to make changes in the business in order to really make the most of these tools. The marketers surveyed by RSW/US and Web Liquid mentioned several ways they used the collected information. Of the respondents, 28% said they use social media monitoring data to influence communications strategy, 19% use it for customer service enhancements, and 15% use it for media planning.

A separate study from Relevancy Group looked at the management of campaigns across multiple channels, including email, print, mobile and social. The study found there were multiple benefits of using a single campaign management suite which allows companies to aggregate the data they collect, communicate it throughout the organization, and coordinate on next steps.

This May 2011 survey found that using such a suite improved the targeting and relevance of campaigns for 63% of respondents. Additionally, respondents cited benefits such as measuring campaigns across channels (54%), reducing marketing production and execution costs (54%), and deploying campaigns across channels more rapidly (50%).

These two surveys show that tracking social media initiatives and campaigns is the first step, but needs to be followed by actions influenced by the information collected. Additionally, whether a company works with a single campaign management suite or not, working collaboratively across functions and channels helps connect the dots after a campaign is complete and makes the most of what a company discovered throughout the process.