Posted by

Barry Siskind

Community Manager

 

I read an interesting blog posting by Forrester Research Vice President and Principal Analyst, Nate Elliott titled How to Utilize Social Data More Effectively.

 

http://news.yahoo.com/utilize-social-data-more-effectively-212921659.html

 

According to Elliott, last year there were more than 500 billion peer-to-peer impressions about brands and products on various social media sites. It would seem, if all that data was used properly you might be able to develop a reliable barometer on the effectiveness of your brand. Not so according to Elliott.

 

It seems the statistics are skewed in a number of ways. One is age. Apparently twenty year olds are twice as likely as forty year olds to converse through social media. The other problem is that those who comment on a brand through social media are often those with strong opinions; they either like or dislike the brand.

 

Though measuring the impact on brand using social media may be less that reliable, Elliott articulates five better ways to use social media data:

            To develop your message

            To source your creative

            To improve your media plan

            To identify key influencers

            To react to customers

 

It’s a good posting and well-worth taking a few moments to read and then discuss with your marketing people.