Can Brands Gain Insight from Social Media Chatter?
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TNS/Cymfony presents their new study findings in September 9 webcast.
With more consumers using social media, many are talking about the products they buy. Do the companies that turn up in conversations on blogs, forums and other venues have greatest brand recognition?
A new study by TNS Media Intelligence/Cymfony, provides some answers to that question. Jim Nail, the company’s chief marketing officer, and Jeni Lee Chapman, executive vice president in its brand and communications group, present results from “Social Media Analysis for Consumer Insight: Validating and Enhancing Traditional Market Research Findings,” in an ARF webcast on Tuesday, Sept. 9, from noon to 1 p.m. EST.
Such research is important, says Nail, because about 25 percent of online users now use social media. “It’s a very hot category,” he says.
TNS Cymfony culled data from both its social media analysis and from traditional research conducted by TNS Custom Research, looking at whether mentions of flat-screen TVs in social media translated to brand awareness. The data, gathered last year, suggest that the answer to that question is often yes, says Nail. “Traditional research validates that the social media findings are pretty representative of what is going on in the real world,” he says.
TNS found exceptions and is working on understanding why. “Sony has the highest unaided awareness,” says Nail, and is also the most talked about brand in social media. The two line up very nicely. Samsung, however, was the number two most talked about brand in social media, but was one of a cluster of brands at about the same level in the brand awareness study. The study revealed something different from traditional research. We’re planning a follow up study this fall.”
Cymfony employs natural language processing software that scans social media sites for mentions of brands, organizing this unstructured data in a way that is quantifiable, explains Nail. “We cast a very wide net,” he says. “We grab anything we can get our hands on: blogs, message boards, product review sites, social network data.” For accuracy, human readers assume certain tasks that technology isn’t able to handle as well, such as interpreting the emotion behind posted comments on a social media website.
The company conducted the study for publicity and marketing purposes, says Nail. “This is some of the first work I’ve seen anywhere combining findings from social media analysis with traditional market research techniques looking at similar sorts of questions,” says Nail. “We made the investment to show people what we can do here.”