Ways Companies use Social Media Analytics to Make Decisions
Although the use of social media has increased exponentially in recent years, it still remains unclear how organizations use social media analytics to make decisions and impact their bottom line. Social media analytics is a broad, but relatively new term that refers to all the methods firms are using to track and analyze their social media data. This blog post will provide tendencies on how companies are currently using social-media analytics by comparing them with traditional sources of analysis such as marketing, sales, research, and product development.
- Research
Companies are beginning to realize the importance of the tools in the research process. A majority of firms are engaging in their use because of their customers’ changes in preferences and new market trends. Searches on social media platforms such as Facebook for keywords like “diets” or “diet plans” before a large event like Thanksgiving or the New Year’s Day have shown a 40 percent increase from previous years.
- Sales and Operations
Firms are using the tools to determine how best to provide customer support. Firms use targeted mailouts, email campaigns, and blog comments to determine whether and in what manner to respond. A blog post saying “we want our customers’ opinions” can lead a business to realize that they need more information on the topic and thus increase their sales.
- Marketing Communications
Companies are using them not only for their marketing departments, but also for the sales team and all departments in the company. The tools helps business interactions by providing information on sales and marketing efforts and other important industry trends. Additionally, social media analytics help businesses understand their competitors in the social media space.
- Product Development
Product development is a major field that has adopted the analytics and shaped new products based on customer feedback from social platforms. Nike’s website on Facebook changed its logo after a group of fans gave them negative feedback on the current design. Additionally, it is evident that various institutions are considering social media analytics when developing new products or services.
- Sales and Marketing
Different companies enhance profitability and this through the use of the tools to improve distribution channels. Because they have a high number of their customers using Twitter, they can send out carefully selected tweets to their customers in order to increase sales.
- Research and Development
The tool is used to identify new products based on customer data and to assess the performance of existing products. For example, when sales of a product decline or stagnate, social media analytics can help determine why through a survey or questionnaire conducted on the company’s blog or Facebook page. Businesses are discovering that their customers want more features or different features than what is currently available.
- Marketing, Sales and Operations
The use of the tools can be beneficial to the sales, marketing, and operations departments of a company. For example, Facebook’s user targeting allows them to send targeted messages to their customers by allowing businesses to send messages that only their target customers will see. These targeted messages are then sent out through a third-party service that Facebook provides for a monthly fee. Further, Twitter is useful for customer support, sales leads, and consumer research.
Twitters and Facebooks are a major sources of information for firms to determine what needs to change. These tools have become an important part of businesses’ marketing strategies, even though they are still trying to figure out how their customers want the information delivered. As the tools are used more and more frequently, firms will continue to use them in new ways that we will not be able to predict. Netbasequid affirms that Social Media Analytics has become the most efficient way for companies to obtain customer feedback.
