BACKGROUND IMAGE: iSTOCK/GETTY IMAGES
Tapping the potential of social media analytics tools
-
Article
Gain an understanding of social media analytics tools
Social media analytics tools aren't exactly like BI tools. Find out more about how they work, and how they can help your organization. Read Now
-
Article
How to integrate social media metrics into your BI strategy
Learn how to take advantage of insights provided by social business intelligence, with the tips in this book excerpt. Read Now
-
Article
Exploring social media data: Is it time to invest in social media analytics tools?
Many organizations are implementing social media analytics tools, but others aren't in such a rush. Which approach is right for your company? Read Now
-
Article
Follow customer data to find treasure from social media tracking
Learn how social media analytics tools help some companies wade through the layers of online customer data to discover valuable information. Read Now
Editor's note
Buried within the mountains of social media chatter are nuggets of valuable data -- customer comments and opinions on companies, their products and services, breaking news and market trends. Every day, customers and prospective buyers offer feedback and engage in online conversations about businesses on sites like Facebook and Twitter. Organizations looking for a competitive edge can use social media monitoring and analytics tools to find, sort and analyze that data. Among other potential benefits, social media analytics offers businesses the ability to identify patterns in customer sentiment and gauge their marketing effectiveness.
But while the potential is there for achieving payback from social media analytics tools, their effectiveness isn't always a given. Analysts and experienced users cite complexity and lack of a tangible return on investment among social media monitoring program challenges. While companies can use the software to collect customer data, they aren't always sure what to do with the information once they have it. And just implementing social media analytics software isn't enough; at some point in the process, humans must get involved in the analysis and interpretation of collected data. Furthermore, because social media listening doesn't encompass offline conversations among consumers, it might not provide a complete picture of sentiment about a company or its products.
If your company is putting a social media analysis plan in place, or evaluating a possible deployment, be sure you know what you're getting into first. This guide offers discussions of the benefits and drawbacks of social media analytics as well as user insights and tips.
1Confronting the challenges of social media analytics tools
For all the potential value to be gained from social media analytics, it's just one spoke in the business intelligence and analytics wheel. And the technology has yet to fully mature. Companies need to understand the limitations and risks that come with investing in these tools -- including the danger of drowning in an ocean of data. In this section, learn what users and analysts have to say about the drawbacks and challenges associated with social media analytics initiatives.
-
Article
The pros and cons of social media analytics
Organizations can utilize social media analytic tools to gain insights into their customers -- but there are some challenges you should be aware of before embarking on projects. Read Now
-
Article
Beware of the obstacles that can weigh down your social media analytics plan
In order to gain business value from social media analytics plans, organizations need to be aware of the limitations of social media analysis and mistakes to avoid. Read Now
-
Article
Business focus helps avoid getting lost in sea of social media data
Companies should concentrate on tying efforts directly to business strategies when implementing social media analytics programs. Read Now
-
Article
Care needed to glean useful insights from social media analytics tools
The process of analyzing social media data is a complex and inexact science, according to consultants, who say users need to proceed with caution. Read Now
-
Article
Social media analytics not easy for companies to embrace, survey says
According to a TDWI survey, many businesses are dragging their feet about investing in and implementing social media analytics systems due to ROI concerns and budget limitations. Read Now
-
Article
Social media strategies force enterprise architecture changes
Social media offers business value, but it also requires changes to enterprise architectures to help companies maintain some control over the flow of information. Read Now
-
Article
Social media analytics tools still have a role in the enterprise
Other big data applications may be in the spotlight, but social media analytics still have a story to tell about your organization. Read Now
2News and trends associated with social media monitoring
Companies in various industries are starting to recognize the potential value of managing their social media presence and engaging in social listening. The news and trends stories in this section offer insights from organizations such as SAS, Xerox and the Red Cross on the important role that social media analytics tools are playing in their business operations.
-
Article
Agency turns social media buzz into social media intelligence
Find out how one digital marketing agency leverages social media noise. Read Now
-
Article
Investment firm bets on social media sentiment analysis
Capital Market Exchange is using social media sentiment analysis to gain insights derived from social media and business news posts. Read Now
-
Article
Three uses for social media analytics tools in business
Learn how organizations can utilize social media interactions to gain insights into the business. Read Now
-
Podcast
Marketing analytics and big data important topics for SAS users
Speakers and attendees at a SAS conference focused on the potential value of marketing analytics, including studying social media data to help understand what customers are looking for. Listen Now
-
Article
Enterprises engage in social listening to collect critical customer information
This article discusses the combination of social collaboration and social media monitoring tools to help companies keep track of grievances and other online customer comments. Read Now
-
Article
Companies test the maturity of social media listening tools first-hand
Managing a company's social media presence is challenging. Are social media listening tools mature enough to handle that challenge? Read Now
-
Article
Tapping Twitter's potential for social media data mining
Looking to gather useful information from social networks such as Twitter? This article offers advice on how to get started on mining social media data. Read Now
-
Article
Social media platforms deliver helpful data fast -- if managed properly
Various organizations can use data from social media to affect business outcomes, as demonstrated by disaster relief efforts. But there are some lessons to be learned, too. Read Now
Free Guide: 5 Data Science Tools to Consider
With the right data science tools, you can gain powerful insight out of the ever-growing pools of corporate data. Learn why data science experts are using Python, R, Jupyter Notebook, Tableau, and Keras.
3Glossary of social media analytics terms
Learn and review some key social media analytics terminology with this glossary of relevant definitions.
-
Definition
Social media dashboard
A social media dashboard is a social media management tool that individuals or companies can use to coordinate a social media presence across multiple channels or accounts, through a single interface. Read Now
-
Definition
CRM analytics
CRM (customer relationship management) analytics comprises all programming that analyzes data about customers and presents it to help facilitate and streamline better business decisions. Read Now
-
Definition
Opinion mining
Sentiment analysis, also referred to as opinion mining, is an approach to natural language processing (NLP) that identifies the emotional tone behind a body of text. Read Now
-
Definition
Social media
Social media is the collective of online communications channels dedicated to community-based input, interaction and collaboration. Read Now
-
Definition
Social media analytics
Social media analytics is the practice of gathering data from social media websites and analyzing that data using social media analytics tools to make business decisions. Read Now
-
Definition
Social media monitoring
Social media listening, also known as social media monitoring, is the process of identifying and assessing what is being said about a company, individual, product or brand. Read Now
-
Definition
Text mining
Text mining is the process of exploring and analyzing large amounts of unstructured text data aided by software that can identify concepts, patterns, topics, keywords and other attributes in the data. Read Now
-
Definition
social media metrics
Social media metrics refer to the measurements that companies use to gauge the impact of their efforts on social media platforms, and the impact of social media activity on a company’s revenue. Read Now
4Social media monitoring tools quiz
Take this brief quiz to test your knowledge of social media analytics and monitoring tools.