Twitter Analytics

Twitter has rolled out its Beta version of Twitter stats - the offical tool for Twitter for statistics. Similar to Facebook insights, Twitter stats shows you topline information about your tweets so that you can now amalgamate more Social Media data into your Website/Campaign analysis.

It makes we wonder when we will have an all-round, one-stop shop that will allow you to pull all this data together including 3rd party platforms such as Facebook or Twitter, Web Analytics tools and Social Media Monitoring tools. There doesn't seem to be anyone that has quite nailed it yet.... is there a gap there? Who knows.

In the meantime, Twitter Stats shows us quite a few useful pieces of information and supplies some top-line graphs those who like to look at visual data.

Stats include:

• Tweet impressions
• Clicks
• Retweets
• Replies
• Favourites
• Mentions
• Follows/unfollows
• Best/good/all tweet filter

If Twitter get this right, it could help leverage their platform's positioning into a much stronger Marketing and Communications Tool; rather than the pigeon-hole of  social media "buzzwords" that it is currently resides in with most Marketing Managers. So, keep your eyes peeled for further developments.

Relevant information:

• Twitter Analytics on Mashable

Cooliris launch iphone app

Cooliris, the ridiculously sexy way to browse images online, has launched an app for the iphone that allows users to browse their iphone images and post them to social media networks such as Twitter.

Cooliris makes browsing images online enjoyable and I am looking forward to seeing how it transfers onto a handheld device. I must admit, the iphone's existing way to browse images is fairly robust, so Iam intrigued to see how this can compare. Will this take user interface to the next level or will it be a case of going one step too far and be counter productive for a positive user experience.

It took me a while to get into Twitter, but with interfaces that are so fun to use and making interaction so simple, it is difficult not to start embracing these new platforms. With the applications like this, and Apple releasing the new software for the iphone (V3.0) this summer, it is only going to put UI even more at the forefront of new technology. September is going to be an exciting time for innovative design.

Social Media vs Engagement - Make yourself heard

The buzz term for marketing at the moment is social media, but how much does it actually impact customer engagement with your business and brand? Are you pro-actively using social media in the right way to help users engage more with you rather than the platform itself? Are you using the social media platforms effectively to increase communication channels and increase your brand equity?

Social media is a great way to do all the above, but your business model can vastly change the way in which you should be using these mediums. Ensure that your business is not giving your consumers the opportunity to engage more with your communication channel - entice potential customers to interact with you. If they use this platform, make them want to use it to keep track of you. As impossilbe as it may be, try to make yourself indispensible to the platform and your customer by showing relevant, useful content at the right time. Don't Tweet for the sake of it, make it count. Don't let yourself be a "bonus" - ensure you are heard, and you are key to the retention cycle. You will see a massive difference in your ROI.

Related links:

• Twitter