If you click-through, you can view this interactive mindmap of the recent webinar by Mike Walsh for SDL on the topic of innovation.
Digital Trail
exploring the possibilities of online
Tagged with data …
The social media data behind christmas
Looking at the online data behind the first week of December with the keywords ‘Christmas’ and ‘Xmas’ we can see certain interesting themes and therefore, opportunities.
As you might expect, the highest mentions of the search terms are to be found on Twitter and the like but that doesn’t always mean that is where you should focus your marketing activity. If we look at the second most popular destination for discussing Christmas, we can see that there is capital in the Forums. Forums have stronger networks, higher levels of trust and greater opportunities to convey your opinion beyond the length of a Tweet.
The conversations that take place on the likes of Mumsnet, Money Saving Expert and Offer of the Day are all about getting value for money, the biggest discounts and sharing this information with the network of community members to deliver tips and tricks to make it a more affordable Christmas.
When you drill down further into some of the conversations by platform, in the instance of the niche TES forums, there is a wealth of activity discussing what represents a sensible gift for teachers to give their pupils and lots of ideas on where to get the right gift for the right price. If you cant see the opportunity in that then give up now.
When we look at the themes of the online conversation, we can see that social, commercial and financial mentions are at the fore, religion is up there too but the underlying theme of Christmas lies in the bottom line.
Using social data as a predictive indicator of business functions
Lick your finger and stick it in the air to determine which direction the wind is blowing. Pick a stick from the riverside and set it adrift downstream to judge the pace of the flow. These rudimentary attempts at predicting an outcome have as much value as judging a book by its cover. Sure it looks to be telling you something from all outward signs but underneath, 
what is going on at the core?
Ever done that thing where you kick the tyres of a car to judge the suitability of purchasing it? You can make casual judgements but you can’t have a grasp of what lies beneath or which process in the grand scheme of processes are going to falter. Or can you?
Launching a product to market isn’t about the launch event itself, that is but a bit part of a string of processes and certainly not the end point of a product’s life. Tracking trends in healthcare is going to help you identify production demands for specific medicines and by location but behind the curve. If you could track online social data to witness an unfolding emerging trend or to identify a micro-process in product development that might be a roadblock, then being ahead of the curve will help you to act in the appropriate manner.
Data is the key to all of this insight and the affordability of social media data and the cost savings it delivers against in situ focus groups and other traditional research methods is where the value can be found. Many businesses place their faith in data based algorithms and indexes that deliver insight on a variety of business functions. NPS and CSAT scores are two of the most prominent measures of performance, both regularly viewed by investors and CEO’s as static scores, social data offers not only a less expensive and live view of business data but also indicates where a change within the business needs to occur, something neither NPS or CSAT offer.
The power of social media and the pockets of data that make up tweets, blogs, forums and other digital instances afford businesses a great opportunity to make informed business decisions. Want to find out more?
Webinar | Using social data as a predictive indicator
The Open Data Movement [Infographic]
by visually via 
What should I be measuring via social media monitoring?
‘Likes’ ‘Retweets’ and ‘Reblogs’ are all well and good as a shallow metric but not much more. Use them as a guide indicating how effective your social activity is progressing. Report and monitor the things that truly matter to your business, the deep metrics that deliver consistency of reporting and value in terms of business critical KPI (Key Performance Indicators). If your boss is only asking for these shallow metrics then you will need a considered and logical argument up your sleeve as to why they are not the right ones.
The things you should measure are the very behaviours you are looking to alter by implementing a change to your existing marketing repertoire. That is why you undertake a campaign or a certain strategy. To make something better. To improve leads, brand awareness, renewals or whatever it might be.
Measure the uplift, the money in the bank and the cost per renewal against the cost of acquisition. Compare and contrast. Benchmark your activity. Go historical if it paints a better picture but measure the numbers where the needle shifts from the start of new activity and where it ends up as a result of your considered marketing campaign.
