“Social analytics” is definitely a buzzword (or buzzwords) floating around the world of digital marketing. It has become common knowledge that social analytics can provide infinite data to drive decision making for marketing campaigns. However, knowing that there are social analytic capabilities is completely different than knowing how to use said capabilities.
Marketers who are keeping tabs on the progression of social analytics tools are elated to discover that we have entered into the next generation of analytic capabilities. Gone are the days of one-off engagement tracking where digital marketers would track the success of particular posts with particular users. Today, social analytic tools help marketers create a strategy with accuracy and speed. Because, at the end of the day, marketers need to see a return on their investment, and social tools provide actionable data to create that return.
According to the CMO Council’s State of Marketing 2014 report, 63 percent of marketers plan to devote more resources to analytics over the next year. Considering only 6 percent of marketers consider themselves experts in the field of social analytics, it is certainly time to invest more resources into the field. Next generation social tracking tools help marketers see who is engaging with their brand, what those people are engaging with, and why they are engaging.
Update campaigns in real time
The latest generation of analytic tools helps marketers boost campaign performance with tweaks here and there based on actionable data. The online tools can alert marketers when certain components of a campaign are underperforming. The tools also assist in refining the perfect message that will garner the greatest engagement from the brand’s audience. Social listening in conjunction with analytics can help marketers understand what components of a campaign are resonating with their audience on an emotional level.
Track customer purchase behavior
With more in-depth social tracking tools, marketers are able to learn what motivates customer purchases. This data helps marketers make point-of-purchase display choices, brand positioning, packaging design, etc.
Monitor the competition
By monitoring competitors and their audience, brands can glean insight as to how to edge out their competition. If a competitor releases a product that customers are unhappy with, that is an opportunity to gain market share by swooping in with a solution. With the next generation of social listening tools, it is possible to track who has the highest share of voice, who the happy customers are, and what is the greatest influential factor for campaigns.
Learn more about potential customers
Marketers are ever venturing to get into the psyche of their customers and potential customers. With social monitoring, marketers can learn more about their customers’ interests outside of just their particular brand. This helps marketers position themselves in a way where they are most appealing to customers via associated interests.
Love it or hate it, social media is highly beneficial in terms of actionable data as long as a brand knows how to leverage the data. There is an infinite world of information being shared on social platforms, complete with opinions, news, interests, basically everything a marketer wants to know about their audience. So if you are not one of the 6 percent of marketers who consider themselves a social media analytic specialist, perhaps it is time to venture down the colorful path of social monitoring and analytics.
