Tapping the potential of social media analytics tools

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.