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  • Why Brands Need Image Recognition to Understand Visual Content – The Experts’ View

Why Brands Need Image Recognition to Understand Visual Content – The Experts’ View

A search for pictures featuring the Adidas logo using the Talkwalker social listening platform

With the rise of visually driven platforms such as Instagram, Pinterest and Snapchat (over 600 million pictures uploaded each day just for the latter), visual content has never been as important as it is today. The visual web is here to stay, and brands will have to adapt their listening strategy to stay on top of what’s being said about them online.

An image of a parcel carrier throwing packages can rapidly turn into a full-blown crisis for the company, and a celebrity wearing a fashion brand’s accessory can generate a lot of positive buzz. Using and reacting to these types of user-generated content are an increasingly important part of any marketing and PR strategy.

But other departments within a company can benefit from image recognition as well.

  • Legal teams can find cases of trademark infringement and unauthorized usage
  • Customer Service departments can get a more complete understanding of customer experience
  • Product teams can use image analysis to get new ideas for product development

Click here to learn more about use cases for image recognition

We asked social media experts about the importance of image analysis as part of an effective social listening strategy and we let them test our new feature to provide their thoughts on Talkwalker Image Recognition. Here’s what they had to say:

Justin Lafferty

Justin Lafferty (@jlafferty21), Editor of @Adweek Blog Network’s @SocialTimes:

“Image recognition technology can be a huge help for brands, not only to see how their images and logos are being used, but by whom. As more brands become mature on social media, they want to make sure that company imagery, logos and products are being used in an appropriate manner. Additionally, if a major influencer or celebrity is talking about a company’s product, that brand is missing out on a huge opportunity if they’re not aware of it.”

Neal Schaffer

Neal Schaffer (@NealSchaffer), Forbes Top 50 Social Media Influencer and Founder of Maximize Your Social:

“Talkwalker has taken a big leap forward in the social tools industry with product innovation by helping companies analyze and be alerted to their visual representations across social media and the entire Internet. Visual analysis is paramount to a brand’s continued success and adopting the best technology to keep up with social media’s rapid development is key. I am impressed with how Talkwalker’s tools have evolved along with social media as it has increasingly become a visual environment.”

Martin Shervington

Martin Shervington (@MartinSherv), Consultant, Speaker, Coach and Plus Your Business founder:

“Brands who can ‘listen visually’ are going to surface a whole new world of social media activity through Talkwalker’s new image recognition technology. It is going to be like gaining a new sense – and may well surface over 100% of additional activity you didn’t know was happening across social channels. Very smart indeed.”

Brandon Schaefer

Brandon Schaefer (@MyVSF_Brandon) CEO of MyVirtualSalesForce:

“Image recognition (photo analytics) is important for brands to immediately implement because of the following reasons: people are starting to use images to communicate and tell stories, rather than using text; brands can automatically analyze publicly shared social media images and immediately get a better understanding of how everyday people are interacting with their brand; and brands can now use the data collected from the images to create highly targeted demographic segments. Image recognition (visual listening) is a vital component for brands that want to increase the ROI on their marketing budgets.”

Ed Moed

Ed Moed, ‎Co-founder and CEO of strategic communications and marketing firm, Peppercomm:

“With the amount of images being shared on social each day, 1.8 billion to be exact, it is important for our clients to have a clear picture and understanding of how their brand is being used and visually represented across Social and Online mediums. As an agency, it’s really important that our clients are confident we have a 360 view of what’s happening with their brand. With image recognition technology seamlessly integrated into this user friendly platform, my teams can now harness the clearest pictures possible of our clients’ online footprint. We can report on ROI from sponsorships and event efforts, track misuses of brand logos, and uncover deeper brand image insights by analyzing whether or not our messages are reaching intended audiences.”

Juntae DeLane

Juntae DeLane (@JuntaeDeLane), Founder of the Digital Branding Institute

“As the world consumes more visual content, social listening for images will evolve into a critical tactic for protecting your digital brand.”

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