Social Media Portal interview with Jasmine Jaume from Brandwatch

Profiled interview with Jasmine Jaume community manager at social media monitoring and intelligence tool Brandwatch

Social Media Portal (SMP): What is your name and what do you do there at Brandwatch?

Jasmine Jaume (JJ):  I?m Jasmine Jaume, community manager at Brandwatch. I work within the marketing team alongside three other community team members, managing our social media presence and producing content for our site. I also assist to manage guest blogging relationships, outreach and other marketing tasks.

SMP: Briefly, tell us about Brandwatch (for those that don?t know), what is it and what does the company do?

JJ: Brandwatch is a social media monitoring and intelligence tool.  It allows clients to search for conversation about anything ? a topic or brand, say ? on social media and the wider internet, including Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, news sites, blogs and forums. In fact, we cover over 60 million sources. The tool then allows this data to be collected, categorised, charted and analysed in a huge number of ways.



Over 600 brands and agencies use our services for everything from customer service to lead generation. We also produce plenty of content and research around social media and online marketing, available on our website.

SMP: Why is monitoring, measurement and analysis so important for agencies and brands?

JJ: The prevalence of social media means that it can no longer be ignored by brands. Monitoring, measurement and analysis can help with everything from social CRM to marketing and product decisions.

Social media means consumers can ? quickly, easily and publicly ? praise or criticise a company, so monitoring is essential in order to manage brand reputation. Plus, customers are increasingly coming to expect communication with brands via the social web, so staying on top of that is becoming more and more important.

Monitoring also offers brands insight into what consumers think (about them, or about topics) in a way that has never been possible before, meaning the data can be used alongside traditional research methods in order to understand the market and how consumers feel.

There are many use cases for social media monitoring, and we help clients across the breadth of those use cases.

SMP: What are some of the main products and services that the company provides?

JJ: The main product is our web-based app. Clients pay a subscription for access to the app and the data it provides, along with a whole host of data analysis features. We have various different packages based on the amount of data and set up that they want.

We also offer additional services such as extra training, more historical data and human data validation, as well as an Insights team who create bespoke reports for clients who don?t have the resources to or don?t want to delve into the data themselves.

SMP: Who is your target audience and why?

JJ: Our services are suited to brands or agencies, in any sector, who want to understand how they/their brands are being discussed online. Our pricing means that we?re more suited to medium to large brands and agencies, but we have a wide range of clients on the books, from small agencies to non-profits to multinational companies.

SMP: You recently attended VirComm 2013, what were your expectations and what were the most useful things you took away from the event?

JJ: VirComm was great; it was fantastic to speak to and hear from so many passionate and experienced community managers. I went to the event not really sure what to expect, the wide range of people from different roles surprised me.

I guess the most useful thing was the realisation that, being such a new area of expertise, there is still much discussion to be had about how communities can and should be run. Things are changing so quickly, and it was nice to hear so many different points of view ? we all agree on the basics, but there?s a good level of debate about wider topics. It?s an exciting area to be working in!

SMP: On your Brand Reputation & Risk Management panel - what did you want the audience to take away?  And were you able to do this?

JJ: I wanted to demonstrate how community managers can use tools to help with the task of managing brand reputation, and how they can greatly help in the event of a crisis. It?s difficult to give general advice, as use of tools can depend greatly on the situation or the brand, but I hope that the audience of our panel took away some good tips about brand reputation and crisis management.

SMP: What surprises or highlights have stayed with you from the event?

JJ: I was left with some ideas for content and some exciting things we could do as brand. I also had a renewed sense of excitement and motivation; hearing how others manage their communities and the cool things they are doing was inspiring.

SMP: Is there any recent research you?d like to share?

JJ: We recently did a major piece of research into the Twitter landscape ? analysing how people are using Twitter, what they talk about, how brands are discussed and so on. There were some interesting and revealing insights that are invaluable to anyone who manages a Twitter community (including us) or is looking to use Twitter for branding or campaigns. Knowing what tweeters are likely to respond to best helps hugely with content planning and strategy for the platform.

We have loads of content on our website though, about all different areas of social media management and monitoring, so I would encourage people to take a look.

SMP: Why do you think measurement in the community and social media arena is so challenging and what do you think can be done to rectify it?

JJ: I think up until now it?s been challenging because it?s new, there?s so much data and everyone was still ?finding their way.? Plus, social media and the internet in general is ever-changing and fast moving, making understanding what to measure difficult.

First, measurement was all about the number of likes/followers etc. you had, but as the industry has evolved brands have realised that those numbers are meaningless if all these fans aren?t engaging with the brand and/or increasing sales. It?s hard to measure the ROI of social media, but gradually ways of doing so have been developed and there are now many articles and best practices for doing so. I think that constant re-evaluation of what we are measuring and as tools continue to develop more intelligent ways of analysing the data, measurement will become easier.

SMP: What are the low moments of what you have been doing so far (in regards to Brandwatch)?

JJ: In 2011, we saw lots and lots of our competitors invest heavily in engagement functionality and for a moment, we were worried. But with research into what clients wanted from our tool, and researching how engagement features are used, we decided to continue with our strategy and not to invest so heavily in the engagement side. It was a risk but our decision has proven to be the correct one; customer satisfaction levels are at an all-time high and the company has continued to grow. In 2012 we welcomed over 300 new customers, including some of the world?s top brands.

SMP: What are the high moments of what you have been doing so far (in regards to Brandwatch)?

JJ: We had a great 2012. We continued our expansion into the USA, resulting in a growth of 600% in US revenue. We grew our customer base, added some amazing new features to the tool, more than doubled our staff numbers and, to top it all off, had great feedback in our annual customer survey. It?s going to be a tough year to beat, but I?m confident that we?ll have even more success in 2013.

SMP: Are community management and social media professionals different (and if so / or not) how can they work together?

JJ: It interests me that this is always such a ?hot? debate. In my own role, those two jobs are merged; there is no distinction, as social media is where our communities are (i.e. we don?t run our own forums/communities per se). There is much variation in job titles and descriptions within our field, so everyone?s idea of what a role entails will differ slightly based on their experience. I think it?s important to embrace those differences and there is no reason that they cannot work together. Understanding other roles, where the different areas of responsibility are and their remits is important to working together as a team.

SMP: There seemed to be a little vibe of old school community management versus social media at VirComm (some of that sentiment found its way onto a blog, then within the e-mint forum) why do think this is?

JJ: Again, I find it strange that this is debated so much. I think social media can?t be ignored, and is part of the evolution of what it is to manage communities; therefore social media should not be shunned or treated as separate to community management. Social media is just another form of community, and should be embraced.

It could be that the proliferation of so many social media ?experts/gurus/ninjas? irks those who have been managing communities for years; the basics of community management stay the same, and seeing those who have just started out claiming to be ?experts? could, understandably, be an irritation to ?old school? community managers.

SMP: How and why do you think the role of community management has changed and how may it evolve over the next five years?

JJ: Social media has definitely changed the role of community management. No longer is community management just about managing niche forums or owned communities; now, we have to deal with ?the masses?. Plus, as companies have realised the potential of community management as a marketing and customer service tool, more focus has been afforded to this area ? both in terms of budgets, staff hires and resources.

It?s so difficult to predict what will happen in the next five years, as things move so quickly, but I imagine that community management will become a standard role within most marketing teams and will become more defined in terms of what it entails. As social media continues to grow, it?s likely that community management teams will get larger, and will be split into sub-teams according to different platforms, as there will simply be too much for a small team to do everything.

SMP: What would be your advice for someone entering the community management and / or social media industry as a career?

JJ: Be bold. You will make mistakes, we all do, but that is how you will learn. Be creative, expect to work hard, and stay on top of the latest developments in the social media world. Read blogs, articles, books and any advice you can get hold of about the industry; there are many, many people in this industry who have been doing this in a long time (?community? is not new!) ? use their knowledge and experience. Most of all, be interested in people. Oh, and always double check which Twitter account (personal or brand) you?re posting from!

SMP: What sort of skills and background might you expect them to have?

JJ: I would expect anyone looking for a career in community management or social media to have a real interest in social media and the evolution of the web. Good writing skills are a must. Creativity, confidence, an eye for detail and good communication skills are also important. With regards to background, there are no hard and fast rules ? I didn?t come into community management through a ?traditional? route. I had no marketing or community experience. But what I did have was an interest in social media, a desire to learn and a proven track record of creating good content.

SMP: What do you see as your biggest challenges and opportunities for agencies and brands in the community arena (and dare we say social media arenas)?

JJ: The opportunities for brands in the community arena are endless; social media and communities allow for greater access to the thoughts and feelings of consumers, the ability to nurture and reward advocates and fans, the possibility of offering help to customers en masse and so on. The biggest challenges are harnessing all that data and making the most of those opportunities; brands are still very much finding their way and exploring how best to utilise social media and the tons of data social media conversations give us access to. As a company, we are constantly striving to give our clients and brands as much information, advice and help as we can about how best to take advantage of the benefits of community and social media, and of monitoring that conversation.

SMP: What?s the next big step for social media / networks and what impact may this have in what agencies and brands do (and in turn the services that Brandwatch provides)?

JJ: I think ?social media? is going to stop being a ?thing?; it?ll just be part of media and will become a natural part of the marketing mix for all brands just as, say, print advertising has been in the past. New social networks will continue to emerge and existing ones will adapt and evolve. Therefore brands and agencies will need to step up their social media efforts and will continue to need more intelligent tools; monitoring will become the norm. The amount of data will continue to increase, meaning monitoring tools will need to be able to offer easier ways for brands to understand the online conversation they are finding; at Brandwatch, we are already starting to develop features that will help our users do this.

SMP: What?s going to be the most interesting aspect regarding community management, social media / technology for the next 12 to 18-months?

JJ: I think we?re going to see a shift in the monitoring tools market; the best tools will continue to stand out whilst the smaller, less powerful ones will gradually fall away. We?re going to see some cool things from lots of the major players (including ourselves!)

I?ll be interested to see how the job market for community management changes, what the roles and job titles will be, what it will entail and how marketing teams will be restructured.

It?s also going to be interesting to see how new technology, such as Google Glass, affects our daily interactions, our consumption of social media and issues such as privacy.

SMP: What are your top five predictions for social media for the next 12 to 18-months?

JJ replies with:

1. The ?visual web? will continue to increase in popularity and importance, with more networks and tools emerging to cater for this demand

2. We?ll start sharing more personal details than ever; I think privacy concerns will gradually be less of an issue as long as customers are getting something ?worthy? in return

3. Facebook will either have to drastically change its offering to brands and advertisers, or will become much less of a focus for many brands

4. Social media monitoring will become the norm for the majority of large brands/companies and analysis will become more intelligent

5. Social media will become part of the effort of all staff, across different departments, within a company (though still ?controlled? by a specific team, to some extent)

SMP: What are your top five community and/or social media tips for agencies or brands?

JJ Replies with:

1. It?s classic advice, but still ignored by a surprising number of brands: Be human, personable, polite and friendly

2. Don?t just broadcast ? engage with your audience, including answering both positive and negative comments

3. Timeliness is important ? social media means that consumers expect fast responses. If you?re not online 24/7, make this clear in your bio/about info

4. Don?t ever ignore a crisis; acknowledge problems before they blow up and keep communication with your audience timely

5. Don?t spread yourself too thin ? don?t be on every network just for the sake of it and stretch your resources to breaking point. Find out where your target audience is, and focus your resources there

SMP: What are your top tips for measurement and monitoring?

JJ replies with:

1. Context is always key. Make sure you know the context of what you are analysing ? knowing that you have been mentioned x number of times in a month is meaningless without knowing how much you, and your competitors, are mentioned on average

2. Make sure you are measuring the right things ? what those things are will largely depend on your aims

3. Make sure you are consistent ? ensure you always use the same filters, the same methods of analysis and the same length of date range, in order to be able to compare data sets accurately

4. Decide what questions you are trying to answer/explore before starting your measurement/reporting. Be as specific as possible

5. Always think of the ?so what?? Don?t shape results based on your presumptions ? be open to new findings, and then consider the impact of those findings for the brand/business and decision making.  We recently wrote a guide to writing a social media report that might help

SMP: Is there anything else we should know, or is there anything that you?d like to share?

JJ: We recently created an interactive data visualisation about the Academy Awards. It analysed public predictions on social media about the winners, compared to those of the critics. Using social media data, we predicted 15 of 18 awards correctly ? more than other predictions, including Nate Silver?s.

We?ve done many cool data-driven projects like this in the past and have more to come this year, so keep an eye out for the next big thing!

SMP: Best way to contact you and Brandwatch?

JJ: Brandwatch have many online presences ? come and engage with us wherever you prefer starting at our contact page.

And the best places to find me personally are:
Twitter @tales_of_cake
LinkedIn

SMP: Is there a video (your best one) that you?d like to point us to (this way we can embed that in the interview)?

JJ: Recently we held an event for our clients, in order for them to meet some of the team and each other, as well as show them some of the new features we?re working on. We had a fantastic turnout and some great feedback from those who attended. Here?s a video round up of the afternoon below.


Many other videos can be found on our YouTube channel about specific topics ? some about Brandwatch and others related to social media in general.




SMP: What did you have for breakfast / lunch?

JJ: I rarely eat breakfast; a cup of tea usually suffices, but on Fridays we get free pastries in the office, so I had a cinnamon swirl!

SMP: What?s the last good thing that you did for someone?

JJ: I sent a little parcel to one of my friends who recently moved abroad, with all her favourite foodie items that she can?t get over there.

SMP: If you weren?t working at Brandwatch what would you be doing?

JJ: That?s a tough one? I reckon I?d still be in an editorial role somewhere, which is what I was doing before I moved to Brandwatch. Had I not started working at Brandwatch then I may have ended up moving back to London; there aren?t that many media-based jobs in Brighton.

SMP: When and where did you go on your last holiday?

JJ: In January I went for a long weekend in Copenhagen to go and eat at Noma (the ?best restaurant in the world?). The food was incredible, and Copenhagen was very pretty (if a bit expensive and very cold!). I haven?t been on a ?proper? long holiday for a couple of years? hoping to change that this year!

SMP: What?s one of the best communities that you?ve seen and why?

JJ: Although it is not one I use or have an interest in personally, Mumsnet is clearly a successful community and there is generally a nice ?community? feel there. The forums on MoneySavingExpert are also good. In terms of social media communities, Innocent does a really good job of bringing their fans together and building brand recognition and loyalty.

SMP: What?s the first thing you do when you get into the office of a morning?

JJ: Make a cup of tea, and then read through my emails ? answering those that are quick to respond to and starring the ones that need more attention. I also have to read through the many alerts I get from Brandwatch; the tool emails me digests when it finds mentions of us online, and I often have anything from 50 to 200 alert emails to look through.

SMP: If you had a superpower what would it be and why?

JJ: I think I?d like to be able to teleport. I hate travelling, it?s a waste of time and money, and that way I could go wherever I wanted at any time!

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