Win with Advanced Business Analytics: Creating Business Value from Your Data

SOCIAL MEDIA ANALYTICAL TECHNIQUES

The flow of data is endless and, as a result, can be overwhelming, especially in the field of social media. In this section, we outline some basic techniques for the analysis of social media data that we have found to result in the greatest business impact. Certainly, this section is not exhaustive but should give you an idea of where to start.

Social Media Listening

Listening on social media can be defined as the process by which a social media team monitors one or more social media channels in a timely way, using technology in order to understand how to generate revenues or reduce cost for the organization from social media analysis.

One of the main activities for a social media team will be listening to what is being said (and why, how, where, and so on) across social media channels. As a result, analysis must be done where social media data collected through listening can be parsed to help you understand what people are saying about your brand, your products, your people, and your competitors. Analysis of listening data is also necessary to stay current in the ongoing conversations, which can change rapidly and in which you may want to participate and even engage. The goal, of course, is to understand past and present action in way that you can use it as input for detecting, interacting with, and predicting the future business outcomes (possibly in an automated way).

When you begin to measure listening, make sure to tie past and current social ...