Meltwater‘s comprehensive package of sophisticated social media management and monitoring tools certainly packs a huge punch. When I got together with their sales executive Charles Haworth for a run through of the Meltwater Buzz Connect module I was not expecting to be blown away by the potential of the Meltwate Buzz Social Media Suite. Most monitoring tools tend to require separate doctorates in understanding how they work and therefore are quickly relegated to the metaphoric clothes horse position often afforded to many a piece of exercise equipment enthusiastically purchased by well intentioned keep fit converts.
Not so with Meltwater Buzz. Even the names of the modules are designed to make it clear what they do; Listen, Engage and Connect. Although this review is focused on the Connect module, my little foray into the Meltwater Buzz Social Media Suite was so mind blowing I simply just had to mention it.
Connect plug the gap in the market for a tool that makes managing Facebook pages less of a headache. Facebook to its credit, have made continuous improvement to the benchmark of their platform. Unfortunately for the small business owner having to keep up with the changes and maintain original functionality on your page is an ongoing battle. A quick wander through the pages of Facebook provides evidence that a significant number of businesses have failed to get to grips with the new way of customising page tabs that was introduced with the business page redesign this year that incorporated the timeline.
Tabs are important for your social media marketing because they let businesses create a much richer experience for their community by controlling the content that viewers see when they land on your business page. Sadly, despite the walk-through guide helpfully provided by Facebook, setting up tabs is beyond the technical capabilities of the majority.
The option to pay a tech savvy third-party can be both costly and less responsive than your engagement strategy may require. Here’s where Meltwater Buzz Connect takes the floor; stepping into the arena with such style that it leaves the other contenders to be satisfied with the silver and bronze medals. After a few minutes of familiarising myself with Connect, (Charles’ enthusiasm and willingness to help went above and beyond the call of duty) it was evident that having it in your arsenal would, as Meltwater puts it, allow you “to ignite customer engagement through tailored and agile content pushing”.
Connect features include :
The tab creation wizard
A 101 tab wizard, which has a one click content selector so that even the most computer illiterate business owner can create high-quality professionally designed Facebook tabs in moments. Based on your goal, the wizard provides options for theme design and smart showcased elements to optimise your content presentation.
Live Preview
Exclusive Live Preview saves time by letting you see what your tab will look like as you are building it. No more back and forth between windows trying to see the product of your changes. If you’ve never tried to build a tab before, the Live Preview gives you the confidence to proceed by showing you immediately how what you are creating looks.
Smart Elements
For the newbie, Connect’s one click content selection only allows you to select the elements that will display correctly in the template area you’ve selected. Basically it is not possible to get it wrong! You can include clickable images, a Flickr gallery, Youtube, surveys and polls, contact forms, coupons and even custom HTML if you are savvy enough to know what that means!
Tab version
This feature means you can set and forget by designing your tabs and campaigns, promotions, etc at one time and scheduling them so they change automatically. You can even set the location so that different views appear based on the visitor’s location.
Editing history
With this feature gone are those frustrating moments where you change something and wish you hadn’t. Connect keeps a full editing history so that it is simple to revert back to an older version.
CRM Database
Connect includes a social customer relationship management (CRM) to facilitate easy data management.
Finally, multiple tab management, reports and analytics appear in an easy to navigate dashboard, making managing your tabs (however many you create) simple and so therefore helps keeps you on top of your social media engagement.
Whilst Connect isn’t at the cheaper end of the Facebook tools market (standalone it costs £3000) it is competitively priced given the functions it packs. If you are serious about using Facebook pages as a part of your social media strategy; Connect’s one off price will quickly recoup itself.
Our verdict
Pricey but well worth the money!
Lilach
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2 Responses to Meltwater Buzz Connect Review
Lilach! Thank you so much for writing such a detailed post about Meltwater Connect! I could not have described the product better myself! Hope you have a wonderful week!
Jennifer O’Rourke recently posted..Creating a Connection with Facebook Tabs
Twitter: jorourk4
Very pricey when similar features are available in wildfire for much less