The Telegraph reported that Mancini found out the news from chairman, Khaldoon al Mubarak, on Sunday night, that his tenure would be terminated but the public has only just found out.

This makes for a good time to look at the social buzz surrounding the news. We ran a social media analysis of the past seven days to see how the level of social conversation varied in the run-up to the announcement and in the immediate aftermath.

Buzz Volume

Rumours started circulating the social world on Friday when the number of mentions started steadily increasing, creating the first peak on Sunday at 4,211 mentions. Many of these were from those caught up in the speculation. The second peak came on Tuesday, the day the news was announced, with the mentions peaking at 5,349.

So how did those on social take the news?

Many were shocked at the news, regardless of the some claims being made by the mainstream media. Messages of support and thanks flooded in:

There were also several people who felt Mancini had been unfairly treated. One social media user took sympathy on him:

Whilst former Manchester City defender Andy Hinchcliffe was amongst those who suggested Mancini should have been given more time, a common thread:

This appears to be a very different reaction from the current team players, who were reported to be ‘delighted’ and ‘relieved’ at the news:

So it seems there has been a fairly negative reaction to Roberto Mancini’s dismissal from Manchester City, with a few exceptions (see above tweet). By engaging with a social media monitoring tool, high profile people and organisations can find out the ‘real’ reactions from the public as social media is often deemed the most honest media platform. On Wednesday it was revealed that Malaga’s coach, Manuel Pellegrini, would be allowed to leave the club after this season, so it’s possible that he may be Mancini’s replacement. Only time will tell.

Traditionally, poor customer service is something we associate with call centres that are more interested in keeping costs down than providing a valuable service. We’ve all experienced the tedious process of waiting on hold to speak to someone, before being transferred to-and-fro between agents reading from scripts. Perhaps this is why so many of us now turn to social channels when we have a problem.

This is particularly true of Generation Y. The research, conducted by NewVoiceMedia, shows that roughly a third of 16-24 year-olds will post online if they are unhappy with the service they are receiving. However, if they receive good service, 71% would recommend the company to others and 44% would use the company more frequently.

This shows the impact that offering quality customer service can have. More emphasis needs to be placed on improving the customer experience across all channels; whether in-person, on the phone, online, or using social media.

Customers need to be treated as individuals, but for this to work we need to see a joined up approach across multiple-channels. For instance, when a customer complains about a brand via Twitter, the person responsible for dealing with that complaint needs to be able to see the full picture – the conversation history, who has previously dealt with them, any other conversations that have taken place, and so on.

Research from last year showed that budgets for Marketing and Advertising totalled $500 billion, whilst Social CRM budgets were $50 billion and Customer Service was a lowly $9 billion. I hope this is something we will see changing in the coming months and years, otherwise many brands will sink into irrelevance as the voice of the customer grows ever stronger.

To discuss how Sentiment Metrics can help with your Social Customer Service efforts, please request a demo or contact a member of the team.

Joining our CEO, Leon Chaddock, on the panel were Frank Eliason (Citibank) and Christophe Langlois (Visible Banking), with Our Social Times’ Luke Brynley-Jones chairing the discussion.

Why are so many companies failing to monitor social media?
Companies either don’t understand social media monitoring or are scared by the quantity of the data. Monitoring should be the first thing we do in social media – it’s risk free and helps you understand what is going on. There’s no excuse not to be doing it. Even if you don’t engage on social media you need to know what’s going on and what people are saying about your company and the industry.

What are the challenges of social media monitoring?
One challenge of social media monitoring is that it needs to be connected with traditional channels. Why do we place so much emphasis on listening on social media, but we don’t listen when people call us? Social is not a silo and needs to be seen as part of a bigger picture.

Are there different opportunities and challenges for different departments?
Almost every part of the business has a vested interest in social media monitoring. Social Media is not about PR, Marketing, or Customer Service, it’s about the entire organisation.

Leon noted that Sentiment Metrics used to work with a lot of individual departments focused on their own particular needs, but with each department running off and doing their own thing there were huge inconsistencies within the company. Today Enterprises are looking to implement consistent strategies across the organisation, set within a holistic framework. Within that, each team can create their own customised dashboards to make sure they are collecting the data relevant to them.

Are there specific challenges and opportunities for the finance industry?
One problem any organisation faces on social media is that they have to be believable. Given the recent financial crisis, credibility is a real issue for banks. They have to earn the trust of their customers by putting the customers first. Companies need to stop thinking about themselves and start thinking about their communities.

Another challenge is that the finance industry is governed by strict regulations and many banks are reluctant to get involved in social as a result. However, Frank argued that rather than fearing the regulators, financial institutions need to work with them. This will help all parties better understand the landscape and how regulations are applied to social media.

How to produce great content
The companies that are really good at social actually do very little. Instead they let their communities do it for them. User generated content gives your customers a voice and makes them feel included. It really helps to connect the business with the customers. CIMB Malaysia is a great example of this in action – amongst other things they asked their Facebook fans to design and vote for their latest credit card design.

Where companies are failing
One of the problems with social media monitoring is that so many companies that collect data never actually do anything with it. They fail to tag it or pass it on to the right people and it is lost. This data could be used to learn and transform the organisation or product – a recent case study shows how Barclays did this to great effect following the release of their PingIt app.

Be careful
Frank highlighted a recent example where a cancer patient tweeted his insurance company after he reached the cap on his policy. After a couple of days of engaging with the CEO on Twitter, his insurance company lifted the cap. This may have been a compassionate gesture, but it sets a dangerous precedent. It sends out the message that if you don’t like something, contact us via social media and we will give you special treatment.

The future of social media monitoring in the finance industry
One area that will continue to grow at a rapid pace is social customer service. It presents a fantastic opportunity for banks and insurance companies to show the human side of their company and encourages customer advocacy.

(Image from: www.telegraph.co.uk )

So for those of you who may not follow rugby as closely, who made the cut? You can find out here.

After the names of the squad were released, Lions coach, Warren Gatland, said “I don’t think there was too many surprises,” however it seems some of those on social may think otherwise… Just after the line-up was revealed, social went into overdrive. We took a look at the social discussion over the past seven days to see what was creating the social hype.

Buzz Volume

As you can see, the level of comments surrounding the Lions steadily increased over the course of the week in the run up to the announcement with the number reaching a peak of 1167 mentions on Tuesday. Some of these mentions were from news sites spreading the word, while the majority were people’s reactions to the chosen team.

So what was the social reaction?

Various rugby fans showed their excitement because it was that time again:

While other social media users posted comments about particular members of the squad. One Facebook user thought Sam Warburton being made captain of the team was a great opportunity for the player’s sporting future:

As well as another congratulating two specific team members:

Others weren’t so pleased about the squad and were quick to criticise the choice made by Warren Gatland. The line-up caused some confusion and shock amongst social media users:

Along with Johnny Wilkinson, Chris Robshaw and Rory Best’s absences from the team:

One tweeter even referred to the chosen line up as a ‘boring’ squad!

So, it seems there was a mixed response from fans. This is just one example of how monitoring social media allows you to see immediate reactions to announcements. If your brand has a big announcement coming up, have you got everything prepared in order for you to monitor the reaction effectively?

The man’s son-in-law decided to post a photo of the bill on Facebook with the aim of getting Virgin Media’s attention. And boy did it do just that! Since then it has gone viral, not only on Facebook but also across other social media channels. On Facebook alone it has been shared more than 53,000 times! Virgin Media made a public apology for the mistake and then took to resolving the sensitive issue offline.

So what can brands learn from this?

Regardless of whether you personally feel that your business has done anything wrong, always apologise and offer a solution where appropriate. This is backed by an article from the BBC which reported that, according to social media experts, it is a reminder of the importance of responding quickly and publicly to complaints made on social networks. It doesn’t take much nowadays for one post on social media to potentially impact a brand’s reputation thanks to the power of sharing or retweeting content. In order to keep on top of this, you need to know what social channels to be present on. A lot of brands prioritise Twitter, but this is a prime example of when that may not always be the best idea.

For more top tips on how to deal with negative comments about your brand, take a look at one of our previous blogs on crisis management.

This tweet shows how much customers expect brands to live up to their expectations. In the UK, if you pay your water bills, you expect to be provided with a safe, reliable source of water don’t you?

Whichever industry you work in, there will almost always be competition in some way shape or form. Social media monitoring and analysis enables to you to track mentions of your own brand, and benchmark performance against your competitors to give you vital intelligence to help you plan your digital strategy. By gaining insights into competitor brands you’ll be able to see what you you’re doing differently to them, as well as what you may need to do to increase engagement with your customers, and manage your digital reputation.

We ran a comparative social analysis, from the past 31 days, of four UK-based water providers to see how each one fared up on social, identifying what people talked about the most for each brand. The water providers we focused on were:

Anglian Water
Northumbrian Water
Southern Water
Thames Water

As you can see, the four companies received varying levels of social media conversation. However there was one more dominant than the rest. Thames Water (the grey line) sent the water flowing the fastest on social over the 31-day period. It hit a peak at 91 mentions on 18 April. Key talking points included reports of leaks, a representative from Thames Water attending an event in London, as well as the company’s apprentice scheme.

Sentiment

It’s all well and good looking at the number of mentions your brand is getting however it’s not all numbers, numbers, numbers. In order to understand customer motivations and behaviour, it’s vital to know what people are actually saying as well and the sentiment of these comments.

Out of the four water companies, Northumbrian Water received the largest percentage of positive mentions accounting for 27.8% of the company’s total. In comparison, Thames Water received the most negative making up 19.7% of the overall number.

What does sentiment around the Anglian Water conversation look like?

Anglian Water was praised for its efficiency in dealing with water leaks:

As well as encouraging energy saving:

In terms of negative sentiment, one customer frowned upon the company’s work ethic, thought they had sent out too many workmen and questioned resources:

While other customers questioned errors in debt collection linked to their water bills. For example a forum reply on consumeractiongroup.co.uk talked about a bill sent to a former customer which was meant for his ex-wife, and had been sent to the wrong address.

Northumbrian Water

While Anglian Water was doing its bit for the environment, it seems Northumbrian Water wasn’t. Some of its customers were subjected to brown discoloured water and were less than happy (as you can tell from the language used:

As horrible as that sounds, Northumbrian Water acknowledged the problem quickly and sent out a tweet from its official Twitter account, aimed at those in the affected area.

But, social media users also suggested Northumbrian Water’s employees did a great job getting the area back to normal by cleaning up afterwards:

Additionally, the company recently decided to invest in replacing pipes to improve overall water quality in the catchment area:

Southern Water

Southern Water customers were quick to acknowledge the good service and quality of the water:

However, some Southern Water customers were also concerned about debt collection policies:

Water bill payments weren’t the only topic to be slated… there were also comments about a lack of communication when water was turned off unexpectedly:

Thames Water

The quality of the water was also a key talking point for Thames Water, but for a very different reason. One tweeter referred to the taste as ‘yuk’:

As well as Thames Water receiving comment about issues with sewage pollution:

Don’t give up on Thames Water just yet though! While this has been going on, the company has also taken part in a multi-million pound deal to use innovative sources of renewable energy resources, which may also help chivvy along any long-term solutions to other problems:

From this brief analysis of some of the water companies in the UK you can see how insightful using a social media monitoring tool can be to help you understand what your customers are saying about your brand, what is working and the areas of service where you need to listen and respond.

Our own CEO Leon Chaddock will draw on his own industry experience having worked with the likes of Barclays and Deutsche Bank to set up and optimise social media listening processes. Speaking alongside him will be Frank Eliason – also known as ‘the Godfather of social customer service’ – who now heads up social media at Citi Bank. Also on the panel is Christophe Langlois, Founder and CEO of Visible Banking and a trusted advisor to the worldwide financial services industry on the topics of social media and digital engagement.

The discussion will be chaired by Our Social Times’ Luke Brynley-Jones, who will probe the panel on the following topics:

Using social media monitoring for customer service
Using social media monitoring for lead generation
Spotting and reacting to a social media crisis
Tracking brand awareness and social media buzz
Monitoring blogs, forums and news sites
Tracking results

You can register for the webinar here.

Are there any other topics you would like the panel to cover? Please let us know here or connect with any of the speakers on Twitter.

At last it’s getting a bit warmer and some of you might be thinking about a city break in Europe, fancy a couple of days in Barcelona, Marrakesh or Venice. If you want to fly, and travel light, chances are you’ve probably thought about booking with Ryanair or easyJet? (other low cost airlines are available ) But now there’s another option for the cabin case traveller to consider. British Airways (BA) recently announced it was extending cheaper fares from Gatwick for those travelling with hand luggage only.

The news of having another low budget flying option for those all-important city breaks definitely created some social noise. A lot of this came from social media accounts spreading the word:

While others suggested BA were following in the footsteps of low budget airlines such as easyJet:

As it’s still early days for the service, we will come back to looking at the response to it. However, it’s easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of a new product or service so all brands should remember when a new product or service launches… don’t forget about other areas of the business!

Whenever a new product or service is launched, it’s vital there is a balance between promoting it to the best of the brand’s ability and not forgetting to provide exceptional customer service. This is a basic for any company, and should not be dismissed at the expense of something else.

One way of flying high at this is by engaging with a social media monitoring tool. Recently our very own CEO Leon Chaddock took part in a webinar about managing social media for teams. It’s not just marketing departments who can benefit from social media monitoring you know! Social customer service is more important than ever, as more and more people move away from traditional customer service channels. You need to respond to your customers’ needs. BA’s Twitter profile states they will answer any queries between 9-5pm GMT Monday-Friday. But what about those who have night flights or travel on the weekend?

We looked at the social conversation surrounding BA, luggage and fares in general, during the 31 days after the announcement was made, to provide an example of how other areas of the company were being seen by travellers near and far.

Over the one-month period, you can see the news of cheaper flights for passengers with hand luggage only caused mentions to reach a high altitude, peaking at 101 mentions on 13 March. This may not appear like many; however every comment counts in the customer service sector in order to keep your customers happy and your brand reputation alive.

We delved deeper into the social chatter to establish what people were discussing about luggage and fares. The majority of the comments were from social media users who were ranting about their luggage being lost:

However there was one forum user who discussed BA’s lack of flexibility for a fare which needed to be changed due to illness:

Just by looking at this handful of mentions from a variety of sources, it appears plane to see that BA may have some customer service issues. It’s not all bad news for BA though! One forum reply highlighted that the airline allows a larger hand luggage allowance than others, which for some, is the perfect solution:

Find out where your customers are talking about you

With millions of sources out there on the web, which social media monitoring tools can crawl through, it’s important to realise where your brand is being discussed the most. You can find this out via a channel chart.

While many brands will see popular sites like Facebook and Twitter dominating the mentions, brands in industries such as travel, which often rely on recommendations more so than others, see a more diverse spread. Blogs accounted for the highest percentage of mentions, making up 27.5%, with forums landing second accounting for 25.9% and forum replies, 22.9%.

Reviews on sites like TripAdvisor or Wikitravel can be very influential to travellers when they are doing their homework about which brand’s best to go with for flights, hotels and restaurants.

One way of easily keeping up to date with your customers’ opinions and comments about your brand, service or product is to engage with a social media monitoring tool. By using a solution like Sentiment Metrics, you can answer questions and resolve issues in real time through the engagement function and link your brand’s social media accounts to the tool to allow efficient social media engagement. You will also be gathering intelligence on how to best invest in your customer service resources.

If your brand is about to introduce a new service or product, remember it could prove difficult to engage an unhappy customer base!

Amongst the speakers was Sentiment Metrics’ CEO Leon Chaddock, who presented a case study on B2B Social Media Monitoring alongside Maria Jose Serres from Peer 1 Hosting.

We started working with Peer 1 in 2012 after they realised that they were missing many relevant conversations that were taking place on social media. There were support related questions going unanswered, complaints being missed and potential leads being wasted. To rectify this, we supported them in securing a consistent and strategic approach to their social media monitoring.

The first step was to listen and filter out mentions that they could actually act on. This could be a question, a complaint or a complaint about a competitor.

The next step was to get the right people involved. There were multiple departments that could benefit from social media monitoring, including:

Customer Service
Technical Support
Sales
Marketing
Human Resources
Public Relations
Legal
Product Development
Operations

Whilst some of these departments are actively engaging with mentions, others are only using social media monitoring for analysis. For instance, the Customer Service and Technical Support teams are actively responding to questions and complaints, but the Product Development team are only listening to what users are saying to help them make improvements to the service.

There have been some impressive results. In March 2013 alone, they were able to identify 55 sales leads worth £800,000. They were also able to act on a number of customer complaints that could otherwise have resulted in losing customers or damaged the brand’s reputation.

They also identified 140 positive mentions of Peer 1 Hosting that they were able to engage with to help drive customer advocacy.

Social Buzz

Searching across the Twitter firehose, we found an impressive 1,051 mentions using the event hashtag – #Measure13.

Top Topics

Drilling down into those mentions, we can see the topics that really got people talking. Andrew Bruce Smith’s talk on ‘Using Google Analytics to Measure the Direct and Indirect Value of Social Media’ seems to have gone down particularly well, with ‘Google’ being the second most mentioned topic and ‘Bruce Smith’ and ‘Andrew’ also featuring highly.

Lutz Finger’s presentation on ‘Astroturfing and the Rise of Fake Influencers’ was also very well received and it’s no surprise to see ‘social media bots’ generate a significant amount of buzz as a result.

Top tweeters by number of mentions

With almost twice as many mentions as anyone else, @AnjleeB won the title of most prolific tweeter.

Top tweeters ranked by number of followers

The chart above identifies some of the most influential tweeters based on number of followers. Coming out on top was @shopped who kept his 22,479 followers up-to-speed with all the latest updates.

We would like to say a huge thanks to Our Social Times for hosting this insightful event. Look out for their upcoming social media conferences heading your way in the next few months.