Download the State of Social Intelligence report
Why social intelligence matters
If you take away one thing from this report, it's that social data gives businesses unique insights. That's the main takeaway here. Social data is unique, and unique data is valuable. But why?
According to advisory firm Kepios, as of April 2022, there were 4.65 billion social media users around the world. And that audience is within your reach. Every social user is a potential customer. But before you can convert them, then you need to understand them.
That’s why social intelligence is so important. It helps you understand the conversations people are having across the internet, and how your brand is part of those conversations. Imagine it as market research that covers the globe.
Yes, you’re bombarded with more and more data everyday. But when 80% of your peers say that this data is truly valuable, it’s time to sit up and listen.
Social data helps you redefine your brand. Giving you insights into consumer behavior, brand awareness, content ideation. Real information that can empower a strategy and grow your company.
If you’re not listening yet, your competitors are.
Not only that, but that information is becoming more important. We’re a young industry, so people are still awakening to the true potential of social listening. In the coming year, 67% of all organizations surveyed have identified plans to invest in their social intelligence capabilities, with 45% planning on investing in more people for their analytics team.
Social intelligence is the 21st century market research
So, we know people are now putting real thought into social intelligence. And that it’s giving them results. But where is it used the most?
It doesn’t come as a surprise that social media comes out on top. But the stand-out is market research. Social intelligence is the 21st century market research. Forget sampling your audience, and waiting for months to get the data you need. Social listening is real-time and nearly instant; it isn’t surprising that 77% of people are using it for quick, easy, and effective market research.
Digging deeper, we can look at the types of insights that social intelligence can provide. Why is it so effective for marketers to use? And what could you be missing, without it?
Social intelligence is about the consumer
Simply put. Social intelligence is about the customer. About listening to them, and understanding how they perceive your brand.
Every customer is a unique individual. And they want to be treated as such. For that, personalization is key. Your messaging should strike a chord with every one of your consumers, and to do that, you have to use social as the largest focus group available. To understand the conversations your customers are having, and the sentiment behind them, so you can join those conversations - at a level that engages.
There’s the power right there. To use those conversations to shape your brand image to be more impactful.
Whether that is understanding how you fit in your consumers’ top of mind, the sentiment of your brand, or even your campaign message uptake, social intelligence is the only way to obtain this quickly and effectively. Monitoring allows you to crawl the internet for the conversational data involving your brand, providing real-time insights into how the global community is discussing your brand.
Social intelligence is about fast insights
Of course, you still need a way to turn that data into insights. Social intelligence can be gathered from the built in analytics inside individual social platforms, like Facebook insights. But to manage your data comprehensively across all channels and media, you really need a social analytics platform.
And the industry is finding all the tools on the market are strong when it comes to meeting their analytical needs.
For social analysis to drive true impact, you can’t afford to spend too much time on analytics. Clean, accurate data is good. But so is speed. Often the first person to react is the one that gets the press.
Social listening platforms give you the opportunity to not only gather the data you need, but also to do it in a time effective manner. Keeping you on trend, and more importantly, ahead of the competition.
What’s next?
Social intelligence isn’t going anywhere. It’s just going to get smarter. And we’re going to keep improving our capabilities, to provide the next generation of social analysts with even more valuable insights. If you’d like to discover more about why social intelligence is essential for your brand, and to get a complete overview of the social intelligence industry, you can download the full report below.
