New buzz - Social Media Analytics!

We have all seen the incredible power of social media in the realm of politics and social spheres. Media channels, like twitter are allowing news to spread like wildfire and change the way of how we think and what we do, giving us more objective view of the world around us.

Business and commercial spheres are impacted as much. There is a human need for connection and communication. Traditional loyalty to companies and the brands is thing of the past (unless you have an apple in your logo), and the consumers are increasingly mistrustful of the advertising, looking for more objective sources of advice of what to buy and from whom.

Another powerful dynamic is the sheer strength of the consumer's voice within the context of social media, which comes in large numbers with no geographic boundaries. This is certainly taking the big business by surprise, realizing that their brand and reputation is under scrutiny like never before, and that even the smallest misstep can have large effects very quickly on corporate reputation and ultimately its bottom line.

So, matter of fact is that social media does have an impact on your brand. And this is not just twitter, or Facebook, but thousands of others online channels where people post and share information.

So, if you are big business - it is given that somebody is talking about you. It is also given that what has been said can have an impact on your brand. What is not obvious is who is talking, where they are talking from and what are they saying.

Fortunately, there are technologies that can assist you. First you need a means of finding and collecting online sources of relevant information. Then you need technologies that enable you to store internally such information. The third step is to categorize it and, analyze it. This bunch of different technologies is known as Social Media Analytics (SMA).

There is no doubt that SMA really helps you to dig deep under surface and differentiate between sources of positive and negative sentiment. Also, you can categorize this sentiment based on areas of your business. You can also measure this influence of specific online source to your brand, find key influential authors, spot the trend, etc.

In other words, so you can something about it, and you can do it early before it is too late. And if you just do it for your own corporate benefits this can certainly have short-term effects. The trick is to do it for the benefits of your customers first and they are likely to award you with their loyalties and even forgive you for some future slip-ups. Anyone mentioned company with the apple in their logo?

Regards to all and send me your comments.

Goran