IBM recently unveiled multiple new software systems geared toward enterprises. As Paul Brunet, the Vice President of IBM Application and Integration Middleware at IBM, explained to WebProNews, these tools cater to the current trends including mobile, cloud, and social technologies.
The company specifically announced a new foundation for mobile computing that helps businesses leverage mobile and cloud opportunities. With this move, IBM provides its clients with better management and security capabilities to ensure that their services operate efficiently through applications and on devices.
Brunet also told us that the company introduced new elements to the PureSystems family of integrated systems. According to him, this offering will help optimize and drive greater efficiencies in the IT environment. Furthermore, it builds “patterns of expertise” that can help organizations reduce costs and workloads in order to deliver their services more effectively.
The new IBM software systems are currently available.
Filed under Internet Marketing by on May 15th, 2012. Comment. 
Marketing on Facebook may have gotten a little bit easier thanks to the release of a couple of tools for analyzing Facebook brand pages. For starters, Facebook released updates to its Page Insights product to help brands better understand how their page is performing.
WebProNews spoke with Justin Kistner, the Director of Social Products at Webtrends, which is a company that was included in the Alpha testing of Facebook’s new product. He told us that the new Facebook Insights tool focuses more on measuring engagement and not just fan growth.
Incidentally, Webtrends also introduced a tool called Hoverstats that allows page owners to evaluate the effectiveness of their posts. He said the idea behind both tools is to help brands determine whether or not they are reaching and engaging with their fans.
Filed under Internet Marketing by on Oct 7th, 2011.
At Marketri, we’re committed to researching and exploring marketing tools that help our clients improve and streamline their marketing efforts and social media strategies. I love discovering a new tool and conjuring up ways that it could be used by our clients, but I have to admit I also like learning about new social media tools to make my everyday life a little easier too! After all, it seems like there’s a new social media tool or site coming out every day. It can be challenging enough to know what they all are, let alone manage them all and still have time for regular work and a life! Luckily, there’s a plethora of applications out there that can help you manage your social media sites.
Tools of the Trade:
Hootsuite
I particularly enjoy using Hootsuite. For those of you who aren’t already familiar, Hootsuite is a social media dashboard that allows you to monitor and post to multiple social networks at the same time. I can schedule Tweets in advance, monitor activity, check mentions on Twitter, and see what’s happening on our Facebook page. I personally find Hootsuite incredibly helpful for managing and scheduling Tweets. I can draft the tweet, shorten the link and choose a time for the Tweet to go out, all using one simple dashboard.
For me, it is great to have a system like this to manage my social media content, so I was somewhat surprised to learn that scheduled Tweets have received a bad rap in the social networking community. It seems that many people feel strongly that scheduling Tweets or automating any part of the social media process is not acceptable. Though I was surprised by this, I agree that social media interaction should feel genuine and not staged. It is social networking after all. You want to make a personal connection.
Buffer
This is where Buffer comes in. Buffer is another tool that allows you to manage Tweets. Unlike Hootsuite, Buffer’s “claim to fame” is that it does not allow you to schedule Tweets for a specific date or time. Instead, Buffer allows you to conveniently create a queue of Tweets. You add your Tweets and content to Buffer as you come across them, and Buffer sends them out in a predetermined pattern. You also have the option create your own pattern.
So which of these social media tools wins out?
I must say that both tools are simple, convenient and easy to use. They can bring a great deal of value to everyday life by helping you organize your tweets. I believe that each of these tools can be suited to different individuals and social media plans. If you haven’t tried them out yet, I’d encourage you to give them both a whirl. See which one fits best with your daily routine and Tweet style!
For me, I’m sticking with Hootsuite. I often peruse tons of articles at one sitting. If I Tweeted everything I found interesting at the same time, I’d be inundating my audience and they’d miss out on all the great content I’m sharing. Plus, studies have shown that Tweets are most effective when spread out over a couple hours. So for my daily routine, a tool that helps me schedule my Tweets is a must. I don’t think using a tool like this means you are destined to become an automated robot. I’m still interacting with my followers and talking to potential new clients between my scheduled tweets, but this tool helps make sure my audience gets to enjoy the same great content I do, only it’s delivered at a more convenient time and in a more easily digestible manner.
Buffer claims that it is not a Tweet scheduling service, and while it does allow you to create a queue that makes scheduling more of a hands off experience, this queue sends your tweets out at four previously scheduled times per day—that sounds pretty scheduled to me.
At the end of the day, my final vote goes to Hootsuite. I find that it offers more control in Tweet-scheduling, and the ability to monitor multiple social media sites at once is priceless.
Please share your thoughts. I’d love to know if you’re a devoted user of either tool and why?
Filed under Internet Marketing by on Aug 18th, 2011.
