Social media monitoring resources and contacts
There are a considerable number of resources on the web which are specifically related to social media monitoring. They vary from directories to customized consulting services. Here's a compilation of the ones we know of...

Social Target - Social target help clients develop social media and customer intelligence and analytics capabilities with independent research and consulting services. Nathan Gilliatt is the firm's founder - also see his blog, the Net-savvy executive.

Ken Burbary has created a wiki of social media monitoring solutions.

Mark Goren provides a directory of social media monitoring tools on his Transmission site. This listing features also a number of free solutions which focus on specific platforms such as Twitter.

Marshall Sponder blogs extensively on social media analytics on his blog WebMetricsGuru.

Aaron Uhrmacher blogs on social media metrics on his blog Disruptology.

Interested in following all the social media monitoring experts on Twitter? Use this social media monitoring Twitter list...


Consultancies
The following consultancies cover the topic of social media and social media monitoring extensively.

Altimeter Group - Founded by Charlene Li, the co-author of Groundswell, the Altimeter Group is a strategic consulting firm that focuses on disruptive technologies. Partners include Jeremiah Owyang and Deborah Schultz.

Our Social Times is a UK-based consultancy run by social media consultant Luke Brynley-Jones. and organizer of the Monitoring Social Media Bootcamps, the first one of which was held in April 2010.

Ants Eye View - Ant's Eye View guides organizations through the process of transforming customer experience and brand engagement by activating and embedding customer voice in every aspect of their business. The Ant's Eye View team delivers expertise in internal collaboration, social media, community building and management, and influencer strategy development.

Dachis Group - Dachis Group helps businesses create and capture value from emerging trends in technology, society and the workplace. They refer to this approach as Social Business Design: the intentional creation of dynamic and socially calibrated systems, process, and culture.

Forrester has an extensive practice dealing with the topic. Among other initiatives, it developed a methodology to segment your audience by the degree in which they engage with social media platforms and other online media. For more info, see the company's Technographics Profile. Forrester's Josh Bernoff is among the field's thought leaders.

Katie Paine from KDPaine&Partners is one of the early pioneers in the media measurement field. She has written several books and is a regular presenter at industry events. Katie's blog and website contain a treasure trove of relevant information. Make sure you take a look...


Blogs
Amber Naslund writes about media measurement in her blog Altitude - see the first post of a series related to practical media measurement. Amber is the Community Director for Radian6.

ReadWriteWeb is an information technology blog which covers social media monitoring. The blog was founded by Richard MacManus.

Paul Gillin has written extensively about social media - also see his blog.

Courtney Barnes, a former editor at PRNews, has written a book about the impact of social media on corporate environments. See her blog Think.com.



Organizations - Communications & Public relations
All the organizations listed below cover the topic of (social) media monitoring regularly through a variety of channels, including their events and webinars. Check their websites for more info.

AWC - Association for Women in Communications

Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management

IABC - International Association of Business Communicators

InfoCom/Bulldog Reporter

IPRA - International Public Relations Association

IPR - Institute for Public Relations

LACP - League of American Communications Professionals

NAGC - National Association of Government Communicators

PRSA - Public Relations Society of America

PRNews

Ragan Communications

SNCR - Society for New Communications Research


Organizations - Marketing
The organizations listed below cover the topic of social media marketing through a variety of channels. Check their websites for more info.

AMA - American Marketing Association

BMA - Business Marketing Association

ClickZ provides news and advice for the digital marketer.

eMarketer delivers research and analysis on digital/Internet marketing trends.

Hubspot provides services and software that helps companies to be found online, and to convert that online traffic into customers. It features considerable resources on its website.

Marketing Sherpa researches what works in marketing via exclusive case studies, surveys, results data analysis and lab tests.

MarketingProfs offers actionable know-how to help market products and services both smarter and better.