Socialyzer

*predictive* analytics platform that optimizes social sharing in real time

Do More With What You Got

Following up on my previous post about scheduling, I wanted to talk about some interesting numbers I came across today.

According to a survey conducted by Awareness Inc, most social media marketers/teams have relatively limited resources. They found that:

  • Only 8% of respondents reported a social marketing budget above $50,000. 
  • 74% of respondents reported only one to three workers dedicated to social media
  • only 12% of respondents reported a dedicated staff of five or more.

These numbers really show why integrating a tool such as Socialyzer into your social media workflow can bring big returns.

We analyze massive amounts of data in order to predict when and where your content will perform best. We can optimize for clicks, or we can optimize for increased sharing (yes, they are different!).

This allows you to focus on generating more valuable content and engaging with your audience rather than doing data analysis to optimize your efforts… all with the click of a button!

In short, Socialyzer allows you to get significantly more out of what you’re already doing and the resources you have available.

Why not try it for free? http://socialyzerhq.com

*image courtesy of creature_comforts*

Scheduling Tweets Isn’t Free Pass to Opt Out of Engament

I had a short Twitter conversation today about scheduling and it went like this:

Here at Socialyzer, our goal is to help people get more out of their social media efforts and scheduling is a huge part of that.

We’ve been able to determine that there IS in fact a better time to send out most of your tweets if you want more engagement happening around that content. In fact, the Socialyzer SmartShare optimization engine currently increases clicks on links in tweets by 91% and this is entirely achieved by sending out the tweet at what the algorithm determines to be the best time!

So it’s really frustrating to me that scheduling gets a bad rap because people are abusing it like it crazy.

As Tim points out, this IS the real-time web we’re talking about. People using Twitter, especially biz/brands and anyone who has an economic incentive behind social media us, CANNOT forget that being actively engaged with your audience is a HUGE piece of the puzzle.

Our stance is that you SHOULD schedule your content (that is not time-sensitive, or in reply to a real-time conversation… ie, your general marketing messaging as an example) and then you SHOULD ALSO be online and actively engaging with your audience whenever that content is published and people are interacting with it.

And again, I’m talking about people who have an economic driver behind their social media activity. Joe Average Twitter user definitely has no business scheduling tweets, with one particular exception.

It’s a personal pet peeve of mine when someone on Twitter is reading their favorite blogs, news sites, etc and has to tweet out every since article in a short time span. This is the definition of spam! In a case like this, using a scheduler, like Socialyzer, can alleviate the spam and distribute out these articles over a longer period of time.

In conclusion, scheduling your content smartly can give you a HUGE boost in social media engagement.

If you want to see for yourself, Socialyzer can help you do this with a click of a button. Try it free at SocialyzerHQ.com.

New Queued.at Feature: Per-post Optimization Window

We just launched a handy new feature on Queued.at!

You now have the ability to set the optimization window on a per post basis. Previously, this was a user level setting. That setting is still the default value, but you can further customize it per post when using the bookmarklet or main website.

What is the optimization window? Glad you asked!

The optimization window is a setting that tells the SmartShare optimization engine the period of time to analyze in order to predict the best time slot for you posts.

If you set it to 24 hours, the SmartShare engine will analyze each hour over the next 24 hour period, and select the best time slot to publish your post. If your setting is 72 hours, the SmartShare engine analyzes from the moment you click the Queued button up to 72 hours later.

This is a really important variable. Sometimes, you want to pick the absolute best time over the next couple days. Other times, however, you want to send something out sooner, but still optimize when it gets published.

With the new post-specific optimization window, you can now customize your timeframes to your hearts content!

Check it out at http://queued.at - as always, the service is free!

Enjoy!

I got 99 problems but ENGAGEMENT ain’t 1!

One of the coolest things to see when building something is to see it *work*.

Imagine Jay-Z writing this song I’m channeling in the title; he thinks of some lyrics, has an idea of a beat, lays the lyrics to a track, releases the track, and sits back and watches how the product fares in the market.  That album sold over 3 million copies, by the way.  That had to feel so good to Mr. Carter, I’m sure.

Same thing in the technology industry.  You think about an idea, you dream about the idea, you work on the idea, you launch the idea, and then you wait.

The best part is when the idea, now a reality, begins to actually work and show successful results.

And now for the smooth transition…the first version of our SmartShare API is showing some awesome results.  See, it all started when we dreamed of a smart technology that would help us drive more engagement on the things we shared across social networks everyday.  We worked on a beta product that utilized our SmartShare API (can be seen here called Queued.at) and launched it into the public.  Then we waited…..

And lo and behold, people who use the technology get over 122% more engagement (clicks per post) on their sharing!!  Doing the same simple action of hitting a “Share” button resulted in a HUGE difference in engagement…Sa-Weet!

Here’s to you Hova: after using Queued.At powered by SmartShare technology…..I’VE GOT 99 PROBLEMS but ENGAGEMENT AIN’T 1!!!

Scheduling tweets & posts make you MORE social

Recently, Amanda from Spiderworking.com wrote an excellent article on scheduling posts to social networks (see it here).  What is scheduling you say? 

Basically, scheduling a post is when, instead of immediately sharing something on social networks, you queue the post or content for a later time and date in the future.

There are a myriad of reasons why someone or some company would choose to schedule something versus immediately sharing something with their audiences on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Plus, etc. Again, Amanda talks about them in her post.

Here at 3#Labs, we believe one of the biggest reasons for scheduling is pure mathematics.  There’s a science behind scheduling - that is, there truly is an optimal time and day and network for each particular message to allow for the most engagement, and so often that time and day isn’t right when you finish typing your status update, blog, or tweet.  It actually is sometime in the future.

We’ve set out to prove the math and science behind sharing.  We are building a predictive engine that can, with a click of a button, set the stage for maximum engagement with the content and message you are sharing with your audience(s) on social networks.

“But, that’s synthetic and inherently anti-social!”, one might say.  Well, Amanda puts it perfectly in her post, and I’ll leave you with her quote:

“Scheduling doesn’t preclude interaction, it just guarantees you are able to reach your audience when they are online even if you are not. Those who schedule must respond and interact live also, but if you schedule you can do this when it suits you without loosing your audience.  In this respect scheduling tweets actually makes you more social, not less so.”

We wholeheartedly agree Amanda.  Now, what are your thoughts?

Queued.at SmartQueue Scheduler Launched!

SmartQueue

We are super happy to announce the launch of v1.0 of the Queued.at SmartQueue scheduler.

Now when you click the button in Queued.at to schedule a post, we crunch 6 (and growing) variables to select the absolute perfect time to publish your post.

Some of our early data is showing significant improvements in the amount of engagement over posts published without using SmartQueue.

One of the best features of the SmartQueue scheduler is that you can customize the timeframe you want to optimize for in your user profile settings.

 Optimal posting times vary quite a bit by day, and certain days are better than others. By setting a larger window, you give the system more and better options for scheduling.

optimization window

However, you can set a smaller window if you’re posts need to go out sooner, rather than later.

Over time, we’ll be adding additional variables and granularity to the algorithm and the more you use it, the smarter it will become for you specifically!

Happy Queuing!

- Bradley, Founder 3#Labs 

Welcome to 3#Labs

3#Labs is the company behind Queued.at, a service that helps you share smarter across your social networks.

Our mission is to build super smart social applications that increase your online influence and social impact.