This is a First Look: It's the first time any news outlet or blog has covered this startup. You can read more First Looks here. (We do this a lot.)
Turning social media content into leads is no easy task. In fact, 36% of marketers find converting leads from social media the hardest thing about using it. The problem, SocialMatterz founder J.D. Chang says, is that most marketers use social media just to promote a brand. They don't view it as a platform to create selling opportunities.
"I think you ask every marketer: 'Show me ROI on your social media,' and they're trying to talk around stuff," said Chang.
SocialMatterz aims to take all the chatter on social media and turn it into leads. The company, the second founded by Chang, is the brainchild of his social media agency work for politicians in Washington D.C.
A technology-enabled service used to help marketers, SocialMatterz gives companies the ability to listen to social media conversations and engage users on a specific subject. They do so by analyzing interaction, interest and engagement on a given subject and establish a relationship between their clients and social media users.
"You can think about what we do as a full-service agency with a technology stack underneath," said Chang.
There's a lot of value at conferences like SXSW for customers Chang said. Normally sales VP's will tweet out booth locations and times, but that goes out into the Twitter ether. What Chang's team can do is interact with potential customers at the event and drive them to a company's booth.
"Instead of spending this entertainment budget, they may use us instead because we can drive them more leads."
Starting out at The Capital Factory as just an idea in February 2015, the company completed the accelerator, raised matching funds of $100,000 and is now a team of 10 in an office a block off Rainey St. They'll be there for now, until the building they currently occupy is bulldozed for condos (unsurprisingly).
After their first quarter they've signed on 20 customers and anticipate SXSW to be a huge boon for their business. They currently count Mood Media, vLabs, Ryft and Silvercar as customers. They can implement their business between Twitter and LinkedIn and are currently building out their Instagram tie-in.
