Start-Up Watch COD: SocialBase makes social media management easier and more effective

Social media isn’t a doddle. To do it right requires multiple organizational participants, platforms, content types, an editorial calendar, and processes to manage the flow of information across and throughout the organization.

On too many occasions this year we have seen the result of loose social media management – inappropriate and incorrect messages get attributed to organizations. Apologies abound, pink slips fly, and agencies get fired.

While no platform can solve all of the problems or address all of the opportunities, SocialBaseoffers a great means of improving your control and effectiveness whether you represent a small organization or a large brand concern.

The core idea behind this offering is a dashboard that brings together all of your social presences and connects the social media manager to others in the company who are relevant to the social effort. The manager outlines tasks, needs, and permissions, and uses the platform to get the inputs they need to run all of the social presences effectively.

For example, the service pings a team member assigned to produce a blog post, reminding them to produce the content. Upon delivery, the platform can drive it through a permissions and approval process, time its release, and identify where it appears across the social footprint.

On the flip side, the platform surfaces relevant consumer messages about the brand from across the web. The social manager can read the comment, respond if they are so authorized, or deliver it to other individuals like customer support or legal for follow up.

Multiple presences can be managed from the single dashboard – meaning multiple social media types as well as multiple accounts within specific social platforms.

I am sure the value prop is clear to you – instead of time consuming logistics and manual management, SocialBase makes it easier to be more effective with a more focused set of resources.

Here’s a powerful and succinct product run through:

The service is delivered at three levels and price points. The entry level offering is called SocialBase Solo, which costs $50 a month. For a higher level of capabilities, including team collaboration, more complex task management, and assignable work flows, the cost is $200 a month. For full service support at the enterprise level, the cost rises to a still reasonable $2000 a month.

Do you NEED a service like SocialBase? Well, consider this. Most enterprises are relying on a few “social media managers” or an agency to provide the most public face of the company. Do you think spending $200 or $2000 a month is too much for a major brand to empower such a team and also offer real oversight and control? Ignoring for a moment the risk of a more chaotic management approach, how effective do you believe a team can be if they spend the bulk of their time trying to manage all this through email, IM and the like? Wouldn’t it be better to empower them to better satisfy consumers? A few months ago I wrote about a similar service called Spredfast that I also have heart for. I urge you to spend a little time finding out more about these sorts of platforms and what they can do for your organization.