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For larger B2C companies, social media monitoring produces oodles of data. The sheer volume of content produced by social media enthusiasts can be overwhelming and difficult to analyze. In spite of the difficulties, results of social media analytics can certainly uncover valuable information.
The problem: It might not provide a full picture of sentiment about a company or its products, some experts caution. Here’s why: Frequent social media users are not representative of all customers. The vocal minority who post comments to social media differ markedly in their buying habits from the silent consumers. Those differences can matter quite a lot to marketers.
In fact, marketers who base their research solely on social media analytics are likely to reach flawed conclusions. That’s the key finding of a new report What Social Media Analytics Can’t Tell You About Your Customers from Vision Critical, a market research technology provider.
To analyze social media users, Vision Critical studied customers of a major motion picture studio, a renowned broadcasting company and a cross-category apparel brand. It divided customers into three groups: lurkers who post on Facebook once a week or less, dabblers who post two to four times a week, and enthusiasts who post five times a week or more.
It found that enthusiasts represent 29 percent of companies’ social media audience but generate 85 percent its Facebook posts. Dabblers account for 10 percent of posts and comprise 19 percent of the audience. Lurkers post 5 percent of the updates and comprise 52 percent of the audience.
Deep Differences Revealed Between Customers
Enthusiasts are different from others, writes Alexandra Samuel, Vision Critical’s vice president of social media, in an article for Harvard Business Review. “Understanding the differences between these three kinds of social media users is crucial not only to your social media strategy, but to the way you approach customer intelligence.”
Enthusiasts tend to be eager shoppers, are more likely to be seeking that “next great buy,” and are more likely to shop in big box stores. They love mobile devices and are more likely to comparison shop on their mobile devices while inside stores. They’re more likely to consult friends and family about purchases and more likely to offer purchase advice to others. Because of their frequent posting, marketers have an easier time understanding them.
Lurkers are opposites of enthusiasts in many ways. They tend to be reluctant shoppers and social media is less likely to prompt them to complete purchases. They like their phones and big box stores less and like television more.
Dabblers fall squarely between these two extremes, and social media marketers tend to ignore them because of their less frequent activity.
Quiet but not Unimportant
Social media marketing typically stresses influencers – those who post frequently. But marketers ignore lurkers and dabblers at their own risk. Not posting does not equal irrelevant, Samuel stated, pointing out that most lurkers and dabbles visit Facebook at least once a day.
Because enthusiasts differ so much from other social media users, marketers should identify and utilize other data sources to support social media analytics. The alternative sources can include transactional data, customer feedback through call centers, click tracking, customer surveys, and customer interviews. Businesses, Samuel emphasizes, can truly understand their customers only if they combine multiple sources of input and insight.
Social media analytics can certainly uncover valuable information. However, it might not provide a full picture of sentiment about a company or its products if it’s not combined with offline conversations with customers, according to a Tech Target article. Because social media listening doesn’t encompass offline conversations among consumers, it might not provide a complete picture of sentiment about a company or its products, the authors explained.
Bottom Line: Undeniably, social media monitoring and analytics spot patterns in customer sentiment, identify product or service issues, and measure the effectiveness of marketing campaigns. Many companies have gained a competitive advantage by collecting and analyzing social media data. Nonetheless, companies must be cautious in relying solely on social media analytics to guide marketing decisions. The social media data may not accurately reflect the actual sentiment of the entire customer base.
William J. Comcowich founded and served as CEO of CyberAlert LLC, the predecessor of Glean.info. He is currently serving as Interim CEO and member of the Board of Directors. Glean.info provides customized media monitoring, media measurement and analytics solutions across all types of traditional and social media.
