Beer. Coffee. People. Those are 3 of my favorite things, in no particular order.
I love meeting new people. I do my best to grow existing relationships. Even though I deleted Facebook (and Twitter and Instagram) from my phone in October, 2014 and in the past 4 months, I’ve barely logged in to Facebook, I try hard to maintain a connection with the online world.
Old friends, new acquaintances, family, people I meet on the Caltrain. No matter who it is, I still answer the following question over and over and over: What do you do?
As a professional, working adult, that is the question I get asked most often when I meet someone for the first time.
It makes sense. At least in the United States, our work, our job, what we do, where we spend 40+ hours per week, can — well — define who we are. Right or wrong, it is what it is.
I usually answer the “what do you do?” question with a simple, direct, “I’m a marketer.” The next logical question: “Where do you work?”
The answer is easy: Zignal Labs!
But the meatier question, “Cool, what does Zignal Labs do?” can get … complicated.
Zignal Labs is a realtime, cross media story-tracking platform. Zignal Labs does media monitoring. Zignal Labs makes big data small and actionable. Zignal Labs allows you to cut through the noise.
I’ve said – and wrote – all of the above. However, when it comes down to it: Zignal Labs helps you stay ahead.
Our platform allows you to see the story unfold in realtime – not days or hours or even minutes later. Realtime. As its happening.
Want to know what is being said about your industry or competition or company or brand or product or service — as it’s happening? That’s what Zignal Labs does.
And, as it turns out, You don’t need to be a data scientist to dissect big data.
We were fortunate to have Joe Garofoli of the San Francisco Chronicle write a great article about us earlier this week titled, Yes, Trump is loud, but S.F. startup finds message doesn’t resonate.
The write up focused on how we are covering – and uncovering – key insights and actionable takeaways from the 2016 presidential race.
But Zignal Labs does a heck of a lot more than track politics.
Before I explain that last statement, let me be clear about one thing: We “do” politics and we do it quite well. We have a rich history in the political spectrum. Our co-founder, CEO Josh Ginsberg, has an extensive background in politics. We have many clients who are in politics.
But that is not all we do. Politics is not the only industry we help to stay ahead.
Zignal Labs helps companies manage crisis. Zignal Labs helps organizations understand their company, their brand, their product, and/or their service. Zignal Labs helps corporations uncover what’s happening in their industry including the competitive landscape.
While Joe Garofoli’s article certainly has a political “spin” (no pun intended) to it, if you replace the word “supporters” with “customers” and “candidate” with “brand,” the following quote really describes what we do best:
“What’s appealing about Zignal Labs is the way its tools help campaigners comb through media to find out who supporters are, where they live and where a good — or bad — story is originating. The firm can ferret out a supportive blogger in western Iowa or find online conversations about a Florida candidate happening in Spanish, the kind that are usually below the radar.”
Same idea with this quote from Garofoli:
“The kind of cross-platform, geotagged information that Zignal Labs assimilates is data-mining gold to campaigns — and represents the next generation of how political operatives can translate our every online keystroke into hints about whom we might cast a ballot for.”
Read the entire San Francisco Chronicle article here.
We recently produced a few videos that I think (biased, sure!) do a really nice job describing who we are and what we do. Check them out below:
Can’t see the video? Try watching it on YouTube.
Can’t see the video? Try watching it on YouTube.
What do you say when people as you what you do? Please share below.
Photo Credit: debord
