New tools helping some firms use Web 2.0 data to boost business
New offerings promise to analyze data from corporate blogs, social networks, communities
Computerworld - Large companies are slowly starting to install upgraded Web 2.0 analytics tools that can gather and scrutinize data from their growing numbers of second-generation online applications.
For years, enterprises have used traditional Web-analytics tools to simply measure page views and keep track of traffic on corporate Web sites.
Now, with the spread of corporate-sponsored Web 2.0 applications like blogs, chat rooms and online communities, forward-thinking IT managers are starting to install tools that can measure and analyze activities there.
Some executives say that companies can use the data from these sites to significantly improve customer relations and even measure the so-called buzz surrounding a company's brands.
Kimberly-Clark Corp. first created an online community -- Scott Common Sense -- for users and potential users of its Scott personal care products in 2004. Earlier this year, the consumer products company began taking steps to analyze the data compiled by the Web 2.0 application.
The community has evolved to offer information such as personal finance and healthy living advice and enables members to interact with one another. This year, the company added information about Scott products for the first time.
Kimberly-Clark launched its effort to analyze the Web 2.0 data with the installation of a beta version of a new marketing warehouse from Portland, Ore.-based WebTrends Inc.
The WebTrends Marketing Warehouse operates as an enterprise-scale hub for online and offline data storage and analysis and can integrate the Web data of other corporate information sources, applications and systems, said Dirk Hoerter, team leader for relationship marketing at Irving, Texas-based Kimberly-Clark.
One key early finding: The more a user participates in the community, the more loyal he is to the company's products, Hoerter noted.
Kimberly-Clark is now using the warehouse to link data compiled on its community site with customer profile information, helping it identify its most loyal customers and what type of content they view or which tools they use. Thus, the company can serve up the content most sought by its users, Hoerter added.
Over the long term, Kimberly-Clark hopes to use the analytics tool to determine what products segments of users might be interested in at specific times. For example, the Web analysis could show the company when groups of users with children going through the toilet training process are ready to move from Huggies diapers to Pull-Ups -- both Kimberly-Clark brands.
Kimberly-Clark will likely add more online communities, and the ability to analyze their data, for its other corporate brands.
The WebTrends warehouse became generally available late last month.
John Lovett, a senior analyst at New York-based JupiterResearch, a unit of Forrester Research Inc., said that companies like Kimberly-Clark can't afford to ignore information that may be spreading through the Web 2.0 landscape of company-hosted blogs and social networks.



- Excel 2010 Cheat Sheet
- Register for this Computerworld Insider Cheat Sheet and gain access to hundreds of premium content articles, guides, product reviews and more.
- X-Ray of the PCI Process-4 Proactive Steps
- This white paper from Forrester Research Inc., helps break PCI into understandable components. Security and risk professionals will gain knowledge and insight into...
- Forrester: Economic Impact of Switching to Google Apps
- Content provided by Google
Read this Forrester report on the "total economic impact" of Google Apps, and learn how switching to Google Apps creates... - Intelligent Systems: Unlocking Hidden Business Value with Data
- An intelligent system enables data to flow across an enterprise infrastructure, spanning the devices where valuable data is gathered from employees and customers,...
- Concepts of NonStop SQL/MX
- For DBAs and developers who are familiar with Oracle solutions and want to learn about NonStop SQL/MX, this whitepaper provides an overview of...
- HP Advanced Information Services for SAP In-Memory Appliance (SAP HANA)
- Organizations are eager to connect the vast amounts of data available within and outside their businesses to compete more effectively and make better... All BI and Analytics White Papers
- Quantifying the Business Value of VMware View - Webcast
- Many enterprises have discovered that the use of virtualization to support desktop workloads creates a range of significant benefits. These benefits include price...
- Good to Great - How to Take Business Analytics to the Next Level
- By attending this webcast you will learn how you can implement an effective BA strategy that will deliver maximum strategic value to your...
- Supporting Mobile Productivity With A Limited IT Budget
- Join us and hear from Kaseya mobile IT management experts as we discuss core strategies for supporting the mobile revolution on a shoestring...
- User Experience Monitoring
- In this webinar, you will learn hints & tips for improving end-user response times from Forrester Research analyst, Jean-Pierre Garbani.
- Hints & Tips Cisco
- Overwhelmed by tracking your Vblock, Flexpod or Cisco UCS performance? Spend one hour with Nimsoft to learn how you can eliminate the overhead... All BI and Analytics Webcasts