Nowadays, the world is truly like a global village. Most people––voluntarily!––share a ton of personal information through social media. Granted, such habits could pose some safety risks. However, it may also have benefits. Intrigued? Keep reading, friends.
What is Social Data?
Social data includes dirty little secrets, like someone’s location, biographical data, what language they speak, what they like or are interested in, what kind of content they share, and frankly, who knows what all else! Data mining isn’t new per se, but it has ramped up and re-invented itself in this age of technology.
So What’s Social Data to You?
The short answer is that social data helps brands create targeted ad campaigns centered around people they know or strongly suspect will already be interested in what they have to offer. Keep reading for some tips on getting the most out of your social data.
Gather Those Insights
The first step is getting your hands on useful social data, so you can analyze the heck out of it and use it to grow your business. You can do it by gathering insights. Many social media platforms now have native tools to help do just that.
Instagram and Facebook, for instance, both have an ‘Insights’ tab. These tools allow you to map things like audience engagement. You can:
- Peep your page likes and unlikes
- Peep your post likes and reach
- Track organic and paid reach
- Track impressions and reactions
Mining your social accounts to gather these data metrics gives you the insights needed to adjust your branding or marketing strategy accordingly. Similarly, Google, LinkedIn, and Twitter also provide native analytic tools for social data mining.
Peruse Trending Topics
Keeping up with local trends is a must for creating successful campaigns. You can use your social media account to track those trending topics and conversations.
Once you have this intel, you can then use it to boost engagement with your audience. You can use it for things like starting convos related to the trend or using the trending topic to promote a related service or product.
There are numerous tools for keeping track of trending topics, too. You can try the “Explore” tab on Twitter, suss out the latest news updates on Big G, follow trendsetters on social media, and so much more.
Use It for Campaign Analysis
This is arguably the most common way social data is used. That information can then help you do various things, like analyzing your brand’s reach, tracking engagement and impressions, and more. Once you have those metrics, you can see how effectively your campaign performs and where you might need to make changes.
Social data can also be used to understand a customer’s response to your brand and products or services, although it’s not without limitations. For instance, “sentiment analysis” is difficult because of so many fake accounts, plus algorithms that don’t really compute neutral comments very well.
Listen to Customer Preferences
If it’s not clear yet, social media data helps you figure out exactly what people want. Obviously, that’s useful when you want targeted and highly effective branding campaigns. The key, though, is to listen.
Analyze the social behavior of your target audience and investigate their responses to your own posts. What kind of posts receive the highest likes and engagement? What kind of posts receive the lowest? Once you know these things, you can then develop a content strategy that caters to those preferences.
Utilize Influencer Reach
It’s no secret that influencers can play a huge role in increasing brand reach. However, you really have to find the perfect influencer for the job. No small feat because there are a lot of them out there, all with widely varying interests.
Since you want your campaign to seem as organic as possible, it’s best to find someone that already supports your brand and try to create a business relationship between the two of you.
The benefit is that the right influencer can boost your social media reach significantly. You can even use social media insights to discover influencers that might already be talking about your brand. At the very least, they could help you find influencers that are interested in brands at least similar to your own.
Whatever your goals in mining and using social data, the key thing to remember is to engage. Use that information to really listen to––and more importantly, hear––your audience. Then use that information to better engage with them and give them all they ever wanted and didn’t know they needed.
Need help understanding your social data? The social media team at StellaPop is here to help your brand get the most out of your social media.
See Also:
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