Online data analysis isn’t just a method for tracking your campaigns or monitoring what people are saying about you. It can be a driving force for your brand’s conversation, message and even products, so you can provide more value to the customer.
- Data analysis allows you to find and track trends that may not be immediately apparent. Tracking real time trends can allow you to predict what’s next and position your brand messaging and product development to meet the future needs and concerns of consumers. Online monitoring can help you track the rise and fall of hot topics among your stakeholders, so you can weigh in on the discussion in a timely manner and predict what might be the next big thing. Data analysis helps you become a trend setter.
- Data can give you a better understanding of what’s important to your consumer, and find conversation themes that you can bring into your own content to keep your brand fresh and on-trend. Through online data analysis, you can uncover misconceptions or negative perceptions about your brand or industry that can guide your efforts to re-align your brand image and re-educate customers. One of our clients, an automotive group, uses online trending topics about luxury cars as the basis for their content marketing strategy. Data analysis will help you become the thought leader in your industry.
- Online data analysis helps you discover untapped markets and conversation trends in new demographics. Data insights can show you how your brand appears to those outside of your target market and reveal new secondary markets where your brand could succeed. For example, our data analysis for a healthcare company revealed that their permanent birth control method was popular not just among their market of mothers with “complete” families, but among “childfree” women who never want to have children. Data gives you a starting point for sparking new conversation and brand awareness in unexpected places.
- Studying data and online trends helps you understand how your customers use technology and engage. Online data analysis helps reveal what they find interesting and what will be most likely to get their attention. This information can help you to craft brand messages that make the most impact. When our accounting firm client wanted to understand how to reach new college recruits, online data analysis revealed that young candidates in the industry were more likely to respond to brands that had mobile apps, interactive web and social media presence, games and contests, and other tools that made the application and hiring process more convenient and more fun.
What about you? How do you use online data analysis to drive the conversation for your company?
Jennifer Muñoz is Director of Operations & Strategy Analyst with Social Strategy1. She contributes blog posts weekly and can be found on Twitter @getaJenny. Want additional strategy insights? Follow us on Twitter at @sstrategy1.