What is social media analytics? | IBM

Key capabilities of effective social media analytics · Natural language processing and machine learning technologies · Segmentation · Behavior analysis · Sentiment ... Whatissocialmediaanalytics? Uncoverinsightsinsocialmediatohelpyourbusiness Seethesolutions Anoverviewofsocialmediaanalytics  Practitionersandanalystsalikeknowsocialmediabyitsmanywebsitesandchannels:Facebook,YouTube,Instagram,Twitter,LinkedIn,Redditandmanyothers. Socialmediaanalyticsistheabilitytogatherandfindmeaningindatagatheredfromsocialchannelstosupportbusinessdecisions—andmeasuretheperformanceofactionsbasedonthosedecisionsthroughsocialmedia. Socialmediaanalyticsisbroaderthanmetricssuchaslikes,follows,retweets,previews,clicks,andimpressionsgatheredfromindividualchannels.ItalsodiffersfromreportingofferedbyservicesthatsupportmarketingcampaignssuchasLinkedInorGoogleAnalytics. Socialmediaanalyticsusesspecificallydesignedsoftwareplatformsthatworksimilarlytowebsearchtools.Dataaboutkeywordsortopicsisretrievedthroughsearchqueriesorweb‘crawlers’thatspanchannels.Fragmentsoftextarereturned,loadedintoadatabase,categorizedandanalyzedtoderivemeaningfulinsights. Socialmediaanalyticsincludestheconceptofsociallistening.Listeningismonitoringsocialchannelsforproblemsandopportunities.Socialmediaanalyticstoolstypicallyincorporatelisteningintomorecomprehensivereportingthatinvolveslisteningandperformanceanalysis. Whyissocialmediaanalyticsimportant? IBMpointsoutthatwiththeprevalenceofsocialmedia:“Newsofagreatproductcanspreadlikewildfire.Andnewsaboutabadproduct—orabadexperiencewithacustomerservicerep—canspreadjustasquickly.Consumersarenowholdingorganizationstoaccountfortheirbrandpromisesandsharingtheirexperienceswithfriends,co-workersandthepublicatlarge.” Socialmediaanalyticshelpscompaniesaddresstheseexperiencesandusethemto: Spottrendsrelatedtoofferingsandbrands Understandconversations—whatisbeingsaidandhowitisbeingreceived Derivecustomersentimenttowardsproductsandservices Gaugeresponsetosocialmediaandothercommunications Identifyhigh-valuefeaturesforaproductorservice Uncoverwhatcompetitorsaresayinganditseffectiveness Maphowthird-partypartnersandchannelsmayaffectperformance Theseinsightscanbeusedtonotonlymaketacticaladjustments,likeaddressinganangrytweet,theycanhelpdrivestrategicdecisions.Infact,IBMfindssocialmediaanalyticsisnow“beingbroughtintothecorediscussionsabouthowbusinessesdeveloptheirstrategies.” Thesestrategiesaffectarangeofbusinessactivity: Productdevelopment-AnalyzinganaggregateofFacebookposts,tweetsandAmazonproductreviewscandeliveraclearerpictureofcustomerpainpoints,shiftingneedsanddesiredfeatures.Trendscanbeidentifiedandtrackedtoshapethemanagementofexistingproductlinesaswellasguidenewproductdevelopment. Customerexperience-AnIBMstudydiscovered“organizationsareevolvingfromproduct-ledtoexperience-ledbusinesses.”Behavioralanalysiscanbeappliedacrosssocialchannelstocapitalizeonmicro-momentstodelightcustomersandincreaseloyaltyandlifetimevalue. Branding-Socialmediamaybetheworld’slargestfocusgroup.Naturallanguageprocessingandsentimentanalysiscancontinuallymonitorpositiveornegativeexpectationstomaintainbrandhealth,refinepositioninganddevelopnewbrandattributes. CompetitiveAnalysis-Understandingwhatcompetitorsaredoingandhowcustomersarerespondingisalwayscritical.Forexample,acompetitormayindicatethattheyareforegoinganichemarket,creatinganopportunity.Oraspikeinpositivementionsforanewproductcanalertorganizationstomarketdisruptors. Operationalefficiency–Deepanalysisofsocialmediacanhelporganizationsimprovehowtheygaugedemand.Retailersandotherscanusethatinformationtomanageinventoryandsuppliers,reducecostsandoptimizeresources. Keycapabilitiesofeffectivesocialmediaanalytics Thefirststepforeffectivesocialmediaanalyticsisdevelopingagoal.Goalscanrangefromincreasingrevenuetopinpointingserviceissues.Fromthere,topicsorkeywordscanbeselectedandparameterssuchasdaterangecanbeset.Sourcesalsoneedtobespecified—responsestoYouTubevideos,Facebookconversations,Twitterarguments,Amazonproductreviews,commentsfromnewssites.Itisimportanttoselectsourcespertinenttoagivenproduct,serviceorbrand. Typically,adatasetwillbeestablishedtosupportthegoals,topics,parametersandsources.Dataisretrieved,analyzedandreportedthroughvisualizationsthatmakeiteasiertounderstandandmanipulate. Thesestepsaretypicalofageneralsocialmediaanalyticsapproachthatcanbemademoreeffectivebycapabilitiesfoundinsocialmediaanalyticsplatforms. Naturallanguageprocessingandmachinelearningtechnologiesidentifyentitiesandrelationshipsinunstructureddata—informationnotpre-formattedtoworkwithdataanalytics.Virtuallyallsocialmediacontentisunstructured.Thesetechnologiesarecriticaltoderivingmeaningfulinsights. Segmentationisafundamentalneedinsocialmediaanalytics.Itcategorizessocialmediaparticipantsbygeography,age,gender,maritalstatus,parentalstatusandotherdemographics.Itcanhelpidentifyinfluencersinthosecategories.Messages,initiativesandresponsescanbebettertunedandtargetedbyunderstandingwhoisinteractingonkeytopics. Behavioranalysisisusedtounderstandtheconcernsofsocialmediaparticipantsbyassigningbehavioraltypessuchasuser,recommender,prospectiveuseranddetractor.Understandingtheseroleshelpsdeveloptargetedmessagesandresponsestomeet,changeordeflecttheirperceptions. Sentimentanalysismeasuresthetoneandintentofsocialmediacomments.Ittypicallyinvolvesnaturallanguageprocessingtechnologiestohelpunderstandentitiesandrelationshipstorevealpositive,negative,neutralorambivalentattributes. Shareofvoiceanalyzesprevalenceandintensityinconversationsregardingbrand,products,services,reputationandmore.Ithelpsdeterminekeyissuesandimportanttopics.Italsohelpsclassifydiscussionsaspositive,negative,neutralorambivalent. Clusteringanalysiscanuncoverhiddenconversationsandunexpectedinsights.Itmakesassociationsbetweenkeywordsorphrasesthatappeartogetherfrequentlyandderivesnewtopics,issuesandopportunities.Thepeoplethatmakebakingsoda,forexample,discoverednewusesandopportunitiesusingclusteringanalysis. Dashboardsandvisualizationcharts,graphs,tablesandotherpresentationtoolssummarizeandsharesocialmediaanalyticsfindings—acriticalcapabilityforcommunicatingandactingonwhathasbeenlearned.Theyalsoenableuserstograspmeaningandinsightsmorequicklyandlookdeeperintospecificfindingswithoutadvancedtechnicalskills. Relatedsolutions Analyticssolutions Unlockthevalueofyourdatatopredictandshapefutureoutcomes. ExploreIBManalytics AnalyticsservicesonIBMCloud Useacloud-basedservicetocollaborateandfindnewandunexpectedinsightsquicklyanddeliverbusiness-changingresults. ExploreanalyticsservicesonIBMCloud IBMSPSSStatisticsGradPack&FacultyPacks Predictiveanalyticssoftwareforstudents,teachersandresearchers. ExploreIBMSPSSStatisticsGradPack&FacultyPacks Socialmediaanalyticsresources JourneytoAIblog ReadthelatestondataandanalyticsforAIonthejourneytoAIblog. Analyticsfordevelopers Learnhowtouncoverinsightswithdatacollection,organization,andanalysis. Whatisbusinessintelligence? Learnhowbusinessesusedataintelligencetogainactionableinsightsandinformdecision-making.