Copyright © 2011, Zanthus. All rights reserved.

QRCA Annual Conference 2011

How to Unlock the Treasures

and Avoid the Pitfalls

of Social Media Listening

Amanda Durkee, Zanthus

No such thing as a ‗social media guru‘

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1. Current state of

social media research

2. Case studies

3. Getting started

Image source: kozinets.net

I‘m here to focus on the listening aspect of social media

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Landscape of qualitative research is always changing

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1960 1970 1980 2020 2010 2000 1990 1950

Focus group image courtesy: triblocal.com

Ethnography image courtesy: carekit.com

Online focus group image courtesy: theblueroomonline.com

Social Media image courtesy: thesocialmetrics.com

iPhone courtesy: yugatech.com

Conditions are right for smooth sailing on the social media

research seas…

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• Quick-turn and lower cost

• Ubiquitous

• Accessible

…but take care to avoid rough waters

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• Information volume

• Rapidly evolving space

• Investment in expensive

tools

• Ethical considerations

Image courtesy: freefoto.com

Lots of tools!! Who do I listen to?

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Sentiment analysis = positive, negative

Some aspects of listening tools—hone in on trends and

themes…

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Influencer analysis

…figure out who to listen to

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…trends and themes of what‘s being said

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Natural language processing (NLP) = trends and insights

How Zanthus integrates social media listening with traditional

research

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Track trends (explore

hypotheses)

Fill in knowledge

gaps (analysis)

Identify themes

(design)

Reliance on free tools, product trials

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Case study #1: home technology convergence OLBBs

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• Study objective: Explore

home control user

experience

• Social media used to

inform discussion guide

• Listen to conversations;

recruit early tech adopters

via Twitter link to screener

Image courtesy: ukhomeideas.co.uk

Case study #1: itracks social media listening tool

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Designed for market research

industry:

• Unlimited search terms

• Customized search

• Data download (daily)

• Support and training

Case study #1: itracks assessment – pros and cons

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What worked well Suggested improvements

Search specific brands, products General search topic ineffective

Consolidated platform Dashboard is too busy

Easy access to original content Mostly from Twitter/140 characters

Data export to Excel Data export volume overwhelming

Customization Time consuming to correct

sentiment analysis,

inclusion/exclusion new blogs

Influencer prioritization Klout score surfaces many

marketers, advertisers

Case study #2: Netflix price hike (SM listening only)

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• Study objective: Explore

hypothesis Neflix users will

defect

• Social media used to

monitor conversation after

announcement through

implementation

• Track discussion about

Netflix, Amazon, Hulu

Image courtesy: kotaku.com

Case study #2: Beevolve social media listening tool

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• Grouped search terms

• Dashboard showing

sentiment, geography, age,

gender

• Data download (daily)

• Insights tool under

development (TBD)

Case study #2: Beevolve assessment – pros and cons

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What worked well Suggested improvements

Search for and compare specific

brands, products

Drill down on one search term at a

time

Consolidated platform Dashboard doesn‘t compare terms

Easy access to original content,

including demographics, sentiment

Data export only Twitter

Data export to Excel Can‘t define time period

Visually appealing Lacking depth

Case study #3: online university satisfaction and needs

assessment

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• Objective: Understand how

public Facebook page is

used

• Facebook audit

• Supplemented satisfaction

study findings

Case study #3: online university satisfaction and needs

assessment

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• Data volume, duplicate info

• Time investment

• Manual customization of

sources (i.e., blogs)

• Automated tools like

sentiment, influencer

analysis not helpful

The pitfalls = the present

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• Download data from

targeted/multiple sources

(beyond Twitter!)

• Accurate sentiment

analysis

• Influencer prioritization

• Text analytics (NLP)

• Qualitative recruiting

The promise = the future

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Steps for setting up your successful social media listening

campaign

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• Choose a tool (or tools) that makes sense to you

• Keep your audience in mind

• Start with objectives; test a hypothesis

• Set time limits, but allow enough time

• Put social media into context

• Just get started!

Issues to avoid to maximize success

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• Distracted by new tools

• Overwhelmed by data

• Sucked into a time vortex

• Reliant on sentiment,

influencer scores

Image source: cathystucker.com

Best practices for listening

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• Track searches in a

spreadsheet

• Put related search terms in

quotes.

– e.g, ―Wal Mart‖

• Exclude terms

• English-only (if possible)

Best practices for sharing results

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• Representative quotes

(remove PII)

• Word clouds

• Charts, graphs

66%

28%

6%

Events

Weather

Books

• Learn from your peers

– Attend webinars (Netbase, AMA)

– Join LinkedIn groups (NextGen MR,

Social Media Today)

– Monitor #mrx on Twitter

• Set up demos, free trials

• Experiment with saved search terms

(Google Alerts, HootSuite)

Get inspired!

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Questions?

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Amanda Durkee

Ph: 971.404.0275 ext: 104

adurkee@zanthus.com

@adurkee, @zanthusresearch

http://www.linkedin.com/in/amandadurkee

+Amanda Durkee