November 26, 2010 – Globetrack International (GTI), a local media monitoring company established mid this year, has launched social media monitoring services.
The company boasts of being the first company in East Africa to operate a social media monitoring system that covers over 150,000,000 blogs, 25,000 user forums/message boards & review sites, 95 percent of video content and more than 450 video sites, 25,000 online mainstream media, Forums, Micromedia, Facebook, Linkedin etc.
Social media – with sites like Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, YouTube, MySpace and others – has become popular with many Kenyans through which they express their heartfelt opinions and preferences on all matters affecting their lives; organizations and brands have not been excluded.
“Even though it is often regarded as a waste of time in many companies, social media is the single most powerful source for direct feedback on how the public perceives a brand, organization or person,” says Managing Director Esther Kagiri.
“Organisations should not block their employees from accessing Facebook, Youtube, Twitter and the rest.”
For any brand to engage in social media the first rule is to listen where and what conversations are taking place about you then draw up strategies. Social media is a forum where people, express their genuine views about issues related to their lives. It is also one of the most effective customer service channels for any brand.
Social media tracking is one of the core objectives of the media monitoring company and seeks to help the clients make sense of the information in the public domain. By doing this, we are offering business’s new opportunities to improve their strategies through Social Intelligence – the concept of informing marketing and business decisions with insights found in social media data.’
“Access to information is no longer enough, getting this information in condensed, timely, accurate and palatable portions is a must for every corporation that has future plans,” said the GTI boss.
Facebook, with over 500 million globally, has nearly a million people in Kenya and is ranked the 8th largest user in Africa with Equatorial Guinea having the least with 1,660 users.
“What people say and discuss on the social internet sites are often reactions to what they see happening around them,” she says.
“We are able to relay what, where it was said and the tone it was said in, this way organisations are able to draw up strategic decisions and respond accordingly all the while in line with global trends.”
