A European Commission-funded project is developing an innovative analysis tool that will help SMEs, marketing agencies and their customers improve the efficiency of their social media actions.
OPTIMIZR will combine information technology, social media data and modelling capabilities to predict outcomes for particular social media marketing initiatives. This will lead to a better understanding of social networks and theirimpact on information diffusion.
ICON(www.icon.com.mt)forms part of the OPTIMZR consortium which has been selected for its wide range of expertise within this niche area of technology. ICON isindeed a key contributor to OPTIMIZR and will assist towards the user interface development, user experience and functional specifications. As the tool nears completion, ICON will also be responsibleforquality assurance and testing while assisting with market strategies to bring the tool to the end user.
ICON is an innovative web and mobile application development company with specialist knowledge in e-business,online marketing and social-marketingtechniques. Setup in the year 2000 and with 14 years of experience, ICON has consistently created remarkable user-centred interactive solutions for world-class brands. Commenting on this project, Mr. Ian Castillo, Director of ICON and project-coordinator for OPRIMIZR stated: “We are proud to be part of this project which allows us to strengthen ICON’s own innovation capacity. Our contribution to the development of this new technology is helping us consolidate our position as local market leaders in terms of social media actions.It has also allowed us to amplify our research initiativesthus bringing the gap between research and innovation.”
The project’s scientific objective is to understand social network structures and its impact on information diffusion, in order to develop analytical tools for campaign optimization. OPTIMIZR is funded by the European Commission’s Seventh Framework Programme, concretely under the “Research for the Benefit of SMEs” (Capacities) programme.
The other partners within the OPTIMIZR consortium include Maven7 aleading Network Analysis, Data Mining, Research and Consulting Company in Hungary, Accurat S.R.La design agency in Milan, Next Wave Europe Kft. a digital change management consultancy in Hungary, Cink Shaking Business S.L. a social media specialist firmin Spain, the University of Namur in Belgium andAteknea Solutions in Spain.
The project began in September 2013 and will last for 24 months. The €1.1 million contribution from Brussels brings together severalEuropean organisations from 5 different countries: Belgium, Hungary, Italy, Malta and Spain to develop a tool whose scientific outcome will be of great service to various user groups.