Socialrithmic is the latest entrant to the growing field of social media optimization, the counterpart to SEO that brings an analytic approach to social engagement with brands and customers. The service, said co-founder Peter Chang, is intended to be useful to established brands that are using social media actively, but feel they would benefit from a longer view of social strategies: at what time of day it’s best to post, for example, or on what types of content they should focus their energy. The Seattle-based startup’s flagship analytics suite will be “aimed at brands and marketing agencies that are pretty active in social media and engaging a lot but are not doing much to measure business outcomes and optimize for them,” Chang said. “We can then provide the insights for them based on data.” The team realizes that data on social engagement — even just on Facebook and Twitter, where it is focusing its efforts — can be confusing. The idea behind Socialrithmic is to break information down into as few metrics as possible, and to make it clear how social media is being translated into leads and revenue. The company also characterizes its interface as “not just another” dashboard. Instead of an ocean of data, it says, the backend highlights just the most important information: How to get better outcomes and start more conversations with users. “Compared to other social media optimization tools, we analyze a lot more different factors that can make a difference,” Chang said. “Others focus on timing only, while we are the only one that consider the combination of timing, content types, post structures, as well as channels.” Chang also sees potential in keeping the software flexible, and letting different clients tailor it to their particular needs. “While one user may focus on actual conversion dollars, another may just want more shares of his content,” he said. The project is currently bootstrapped, and is in an early stage of a private beta. The longterm plan is to operate on a tiered monthly subscription model.
