Ask, Measure, Learn by Lutz Finger

Author:Lutz Finger [Lutz Finger and Soumitra Dutta ]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Strategic Planning
ISBN: 9781449336837
Publisher: O'Reilly Media
Published: 2014-01-22T16:00:00+00:00

Social Media: Too Shallow?

Is social media too shallow to use it for customer insights? An online retailer or a telecom company has a massive amount of data about user behavior. This kind of data is mainly structured. We will discuss the difference between structured and unstructured data more in Chapter 9, the summary in short is, that structured data is easier data mined. It is more suited for computer and thus is more likely to yield better insights. The unstructured data such as social media commentary contains a lot of noise not only for us humans but even more so for computer and machine learning algorithm. It is thus much harder to identify any trends or structure in this kind of data.

But this is not the only reason why social media data is ill-suited at first sight. It is culturally biased: it is more likely to be generated by people in the Millennial generation rather than older Baby Boomers. Thus, the results from them might be highly skewed, and statistical relevancy might always be an issue. And indeed one can not find a lot of academic studies that have explored the impact of social media on market research, according to literature survey by marketing professor Anthony Patino.[100]

But there are situations where you want to have social media data. When? The answer is simple: when there is no better data around. Take the recent surge of patient communities like PatienceLikeMe, cofounded by Jamie Heywood; or Ubiqi, founded by Jacqueline Thong. Members of those sites discuss their symptoms, share how a medication has worked, and register when they are “happy” or “in pain.” This is unstructured data at its best. Moreover it is skewed: highly skewed, even, as mainly younger, tech-savvy people will use those methods. But all this data is unique. It offers valuable insights because all of those members discussing their treatment are becoming a part of a virtual study. Using their members’ data, PatienceLikeMe has published more then 35 research studies. The data is not “too noisy” or “too shallow.” Over time, we will see many more examples like this. Social-sourced data is by no means “too shallow.”

Many CRM systems already have the ability to attach social media information. But this feature is seldom used in an analytical setup. Even when social media can deliver insights, the transition of market research from “asking” to “listening” will still require time and infrastructure. According to the Confirmit 2011 Annual MR Software Survey discussed previously, a plurality of companies (42%) feel that it is hard to gather insights from unstructured text, and less than a third feel the process is easy. Perceptions such as these remain one of the challenges in effectively transitioning to social CRM from traditionally structured customer data.[101]

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