SocialSphere, Inc.

We keep it simple. We connect you with the largest market in human history.

You may have never thought about this before, but Millennials are the largest generation in history. That makes them the largest market in human history. Millennials, true digital natives, live in a sea of technology and “new media.” This is a global phenomenon that has already changed the world. Markets have no borders. Time and distance shrink every year. The global “wired” market has gone from 400 million to 2 billion in the past ten years. Projected growth is from 2 to 2.5 billion between now and 2014.

SocialSphere’s deep understanding of technology and its impact on people, will give your organization the strategies to earn trust and develop loyalty inside and outside your corporate walls. 

We understand how this impacts other generations and stakeholders and give you the strategies and tools to have a deep reach beyond Millennials, and into both older/wealthy and emerging/younger demographic cohorts.

Our service offers fall into the following four categories:

• Measurement
• Insights
• Strategy
• Execution

Measurement: It's simple. We measure everything.

Founded by the Director of Polling from Harvard's Institute of Politics, measurement, numbers, analytics, ROI are in our company's DNA. Utilizing the best combination of rigorous social science methodologies with business-world realities, learning from our clients, their customers and their communities is central to what we do. Virtually every new engagement we undertake begins with measuring our client's footprint in the "social sphere" -- without a baseline measure of where we start, it's nearly impossible to measure success and optimize for further improvement.

Include among the "everything" we measure are:

• Social Media Influence: Using our ORBIT Reports and dashboard as a grounding, we measure and report in real-time on the people, topics and issues that are influencing brands and organizations around the world;
  
  
• Web Analytics: When clients give us the keys to their Google Analytics and AdWords account or other web analytics platform, beautiful things happen. Regular monitoring of the short-term and longer-term trends from your analytics platform is key to understanding not only the web, but often your entire business;
  
  
• Public Opinion & Marketing Research: Our founder and Managing Partner, John Della Volpe, maintains his position at the other end of Harvard Square -- as Director of Polling at Harvard University's Institute of Politics. In that role, John has pioneered the art of polling the Millennial generation and we continue to utilize his 18 year career as pollster and analyst to Fortune 100 companies and heads of state from around the world when necessary for our client's brand development, product development, message or beta-testing.
  

Insights: Measurement without insight is like ...

One problem that does not exist in the new world of Web 2.0 and social media is lack of data. One problem that does exist though is lack of insight about what data are meaningful and what are not. That's where we come in. Our team of experienced researchers and strategists -- that range from Wall Street portfolio managers to brand strategists to political advisers to some of the most prominent leaders in the world -- turn research and measurement into true insight that can be used on day one to develop and optimize business and social media strategy. While few projects are the same, most of our insights fall within five broad categories:

• Social Media Landscape
• Industry Analysis
• Competitive Analysis
• Initiative ROI
• Millennial Trends
  

  

Strategy. Awesomely simple strategy.

Before Web 2.0, and even before the Web, there was a brilliant American jazz musician and anti-racism activist named Charles Mingus, Jr., who without knowing, nailed the difference between SocialSphere and more than a few of the strategy and social media companies operating today. Referring to jazz, Mingus said:

“Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity.”

Making the complicated simple, that's what we do -- and we're proud of it. Most of our strategies are based on a very simple premise -- and one that's not necessarily even built on the latest technology, but one that is based on human psychology and sociology. We believe that if organizations:

1. Identify their most passionate advocates;

2. Empower them with the right combination of respect, technology, responsibility (and sometimes cash incentives too);

3. And ask for more;

-- they will almost never be disappointed.

It is this philosophy, that recognizes and adapts to a more connected world and marketplace, that is at the heart of most all the strategic planning we do. Our strategy assignments generally take shape across one or more of the following categories:

• Social Media Brand Management: Social media is a completely different animal than traditional advertising, marketing and public relations -- and requires business acumen, planning and buy-in from the top to execute properly. All media have their roles, but when executed well, social media strategy is a true, authentic, insightful, multilateral dialogue -- created in large part due to the inherent deficiencies of one-way vehicles that still dominate much of today’s media landscape.
  
  
• Enterprise 2.0: We all know that the world is flatter today than it was yesterday, but so is about every major company or organization as well. Add that reality to the Millennial generation's undying desire to make a difference and there's some powerful chemistry at work We work closely with senior management to develop enterprise level strategies to uncover the best talent, the best ideas and the most profitable new opportunities within your company or organization.
  
  
• CEO/Personal Brand Management: The opportunity to use the tools and strategies we have developed over the last few years for "CEO Brand Management" is enormous. In fact, we'd argue that few things can transform a company's brand or reputation faster or more cost effectively than a plugged in CEO who knows what he or she is doing online in the social media and Enterprise 2.0 space -- and uses these new tools to innovate and inspire. One of our earliest successes is from the world of Thoroughbred racing, which after less than a year on our program, was noted by a prominent Los Angeles blogger as "the most blogger friendly sport going (at a time when the NBA is kicking bloggers out of the press box)."
  
  
• Crisis Communications: People make mistakes, things get broken -- sometimes they go away quickly and sometimes they don't (Tiger, are you listening?). Most of our clients mistakes go away quickly because we work with them before they happen to develop a plan for crisis communications in the world of social media where everyone has a voice, but there are a few who are a lot more influential than others.
  
  
• Digital Media: After initial steps into the world of Web 2.0, social or digital media -- many of our clients in the last year have asked us to help allocate their digital media spend for their budget cycle. With no vested interest in any particular media or execution, we develop digital media plans that optimize every penny of a budget typically applied across social media platforms, social media outreach, Google AdWords and banner and display advertising.