A list of social media metrics that a market researcher should or must use does not exist. The choices that are made by enterprises should be driven by their business goals. A list of performance metrics follows. It is intended to be a guide and a jumping off point for market researchers.
Quality of New Actionable Insights
Interestingly, this metric is not commonly employed as a stand-alone measurement.
Social media monitoring experts believe that this is a result of insight quality being integrated into the actual measurement processes. For example, a company may be interested in tracking a high volume of social narratives or consumer conversations. But an aspect of that metric will also be a continuous review of the quality (usefulness and feasibility) of the social narrative data.
Quantity of New Actionable Insights
It is difficult to track the validation of existing insights against the constant stream of new social intelligence. It is, presumably, equally difficult to establish that a deeper insight has been revealed as a result of having access to a flood of consumer information. However, traditional empirical knowledge regarding sample size does signal the validity of this line of thinking. Regardless, the potential rewards are great and support the collection of huge quantities of data in order to achieve an actionable insight multiple. The objectives of chasing data volume are to gain new consumer insights that suggest a change of strategic direction or that lead to offerings for the unmet wants and needs of consumers.
Changes in Customer Satisfaction Scores and Brand Advocacy
The business goals of increased market share or increased revenue are conventionally accepted drivers of customer satisfaction. When customers feel listened to, when their inquiries are responded to, and when their concerns are addressed, customer satisfaction scores are likely to increase. As consumer-brand engagement is strengthened, brand advocacy generally increases, too. The metrics that are created to gauge customer satisfaction and brand advocacy traffic can be more robust than their historical predecessor, the Net Promoter Score.
A Word About Net Promoter Score (NPS)
The Net Promoter Score (NPS) metric indicates how likely a consumer is to recommend a product or service to others. The popularity of Net Promoter Score vastly exceeds its value as an empirical or robust measure. NPS popularity is based on its simplicity. For obvious reasons, the give-me-one-number mentality thrives in busy environments where individuals are not well versed in research or do not have the time or budget to pursue rigorous methods.
Changes in ROI from Marketing and Advertising
The potential of a social intelligence metric to inform return-on-investment (ROI) is largely untapped. The entry of social media data into the realm of marketing effectiveness and customer satisfaction is still relatively new. To wit: social media data has not achieved a level of acceptance in many companies that would cause it to be used to influence the effectiveness of marketing and advertising campaigns. Moreover, the attribution of social intelligence to changes in ROI is not easily accomplished or justified.
Volume of Social Narratives Being Tracked
This metric is inextricably linked to the development of target market segmentation. An enterprise may begin using this metric with the idea that it will create consumer personas or conduct market segmentation, but both are a natural outgrowth of the metric. The focus of this metric is ensuring an adequate body of consumer conversation data such that conclusions can be drawn about consumer brand attitude, and other measures of brand. A deep understanding of social media narratives – as they occur – provides a foundation for more relevant and content-sensitive consumer-brand engagement.
Volume and Variety of Social Media Data
Although much attention is given to the ability to capture an ever-increasing volume and variety of social media data, social intelligence the Twitter fire hose. Rather, it does mean that consideration of the articulated goals of a business should establish a balance between volume, variety, and goodness of fit with business strategy.
Number of Influencers and Brand Advocates Tracked
All brand advocates and social media influencers cannot be lumped together in one category. If there is a single lesson to be learned from social intelligence data, it is to consider consumers as individuals. Although it seems counterpoint to the aphorism No man is an island, the individual details that can be learned about social media influencers and brand advocates are essential to understanding their impact. These details will inform the tone and type of engagement that companies take with these key members of the consumer community.
Additional social intelligence metrics include:
- Navigation of Brand Reputation and Reduction of Risk
- Changes in Consumer Sentiment
Deciphering Patterns in Social Media Research for Use in Qualitative Research
Social media research can provide a strong basis for deeper and focused qualitative =”research. Here are some ways to get more information from social media research that can support qualitative market research efforts.
Pinpoint Areas Consumers Care About Most
Using a deductive approach, a market researcher can explore a broad area in the social media data and work toward identifying key issues of concern or of interest to consumers. This process can help to prioritize areas of interest and narrow the research agenda to reflect the target consumers.
Eliminate Surprises and Broadside Attacks
When preparing for a focus group or interviews with consumers, information from social media forums, posts, and comments can be mined for potentially hot topics. It has always been important to do the research “homework” before beginning a market research project, but perhaps it has never been easier to gain deep knowledge from a wide array of consumers that lays the foundation for market research.
Observe Consumers in Natural Contexts
Social media research is conducted with consumers who have, by and large, self-selected to be engaged with a brand, product, or service. The insight value from conversations with these brand advocates and product-wise consumers is exceptional. In addition, listening to the language consumers use when they discuss brands, products, and services gives market researchers a “leg up” in marketing and advertising. This deep listening can enable marketers and advertisers to sound like the target consumers, a strategy that generally improves the chances that consumers will relate to a brand, product, or service.
Learn More About the Target Audience & Competitors
Social media can reveal consumers who have not been considered part of the target market, but who actually do engage with the brand, product, or service. Also, consumers using social media platforms often reveal information about competitors that even the best competitive intelligence can miss. Consumers are quick to isolate their paint points and to make suggestions for changes in products and services.
Recruit and Develop Market Research Panels
Brand advocates and social media influencers are finding an equal voice on brand, product, and service websites and consumer-facing social media resources. This is an opportunity to link these consumers to the traditional panel member screening processes employed by market researchers.
Applying these strategies to the bigger qualitative research picture can add valuable layers to the metrics and analytics associated with social media research. Using social media research as a jumping off point, market researchers can ensure that the deeper dive qualitative research is specifically designed for each digital channel where consumer-brand engagement occurs.
About the author:
Alissa Zucker is a copywriter working for the college essay writing service. She is interested in reading classic and psychological books which give her inspiration to write her own articles and short stories. By the way, she worked as a teacher at Local Tech College. So she has seen many problems students face.
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