Marketers and
technology vendors continue to salivate over social networks and their latent potential for deep consumer engagement. In that vein, social media services provider Vitrue, Inc. has rolled out a
Web-based application suite for brands to better manage, schedule and automatically publish across Facebook and Twitter.
By providing measurement and real-time analytics, the new Social
Relationship Manager, or SRM, is designed to make managing a brand's social presence a simpler endeavor.
"The Vitrue SRM enables marketers to treat social media as a true marketing medium with
the traditional approach of segmentation, dayparting and scheduling," said Reggie Bradford, CEO of Vitrue.
In January, Vitrue also released a suite of Facebook-specific applications for brands to
apply marketing components to their Facebook presence.
"Facebook provides unparalleled distribution," said Adam Benjamin, chief strategy officer at Vitrue.
The Facebook applications,
including contest, media gallery and surveying solutions, will attempt to achieve deeper engagement between brands and consumers.
The Atlanta-based Vitrue is one of many companies seeking to
provide brands and agencies with a technology platform to integrate social media programs into their marketing mix, including user-generated content campaigns, promotional contests, branded
communities and social network applications.
The Vitrue SRM is comprised of three powerful components: A Social Publisher for marketers to customize and format "wall posts" on Facebook; a Social
Planner task calendar; and a Social Insights analytics suite.
Vitrue also recently launched a suite of services to help clients better understand the social media space. The consultative arm
builds on a Social Media Index, which the company had recently launched to help brands and agencies measure their "share of voice" across the Web.
Vitrue's technology includes content-sharing
tools, community functionality, program management dashboards and brand safety controls for moderation. The Strategic Services suite provides analysis on a brand's current social media presence,
competitor comparisons, and overall industry trend analysis.
On the brand side, Vitrue clients include Unilever, Asics, Dell, and Anheuser-Busch, while direct marketing clients include Skechers
and 1-800-Flowers.
The Social Media Index system can determine a daily share-of-voice index for a brand by tracking the extent of online conversations about that brand, including mentions on
social networks, blogs and Twitter and video and photo sharing.