Merkle Data to Drive Social Marketing

US-based customer relationship marketing agency Merkle has introduced an integrated, data-driven platform allowing marketers to use behavioral insights from social media to drive new marketing opportunities.

Last year, Merkle formed a Market Research Practice, to uncover how consumer beliefs and attitudes shape purchasing and engagement decisions. The agency has since acquired Metzner Schneider Associates; a firm which enables marketers to view customer interactions analysed by customer behavior, profile data, preferences or brand-specific promotional needs.

Merkle's new 'Integrated Social Marketing' framework involves examining consumers' social behavior to understand how they interact with other customers and brands online.

By combining social segmentation and social listening, Merkle says that the system enables users to identify key influencers and then drive more specific content to engage consumers.

The social insights gathered are then integrated with direct, e-mail, mobile and web site programs to add new intelligence to marketers' existing programs.

'Marketers struggle to integrate social initiatives like Facebook and Twitter into their overall marketing programs,' states Rich Fleck, VP, Enterprise Strategy Group at Merkle. 'Our integrated social strategy helps marketers develop an actionable, measurable marketing approach that aligns social marketing strategy with consumer behaviour.'

Web site: www.merkleinc.com .