Ivan Ivanov — February 27, 2018 — February 27, 2018
Throughout recent years, social media has been slowly developing to become a hub for data consisting of information related to the way people interact with content. Platforms such as Facebook, its protege Instagram and the offbeat Twitter are rushing to compete for the attention of both businesses and individuals, but not as social networks. Instead, the “connect” part is long but a glimpse in the side mirror of a bus headed towards advertising-land. Today, it’s all about big data!
Following the footsteps of Google, social networks provide people with useful tools at the expense of data collection. And what better place to learn what Frank who likes to eat Sushi and watch Star Wars wishes to buy for Christmas? The available data revolutionizes the way people perceive micro and macro-economics and companies are just starting out to realize and harness the potential that comes with big data analytics on social media.
In a rare chance to explore a few ideas in terms of how our customers use Locowise, we’ve decided to tackle the matter of the best strategies to grasp the full potential of social media big data analytics.
From market analysis and reports available at a whim to exploring your client’s company feedback through a word-cloud, here are a few useful tips and tricks on how using Locowise can help you take advantage of big data analytics on Social Media. Without further adieu, let’s get started!
The Algorithms of Predictive Metrics
One of the most important, yet overlooked, decisions related to a social media marketing campaign is the timing. While you probably already have set dates in terms of when to schedule your next campaign, what about the time and the day?
Posts on social platforms tend to receive the most attention the first 24 hours after published. Yet, depending on the specific day of the week and hour of the day, there might be a huge difference in terms of total engagement.
The Target Audience Behavior and Timing
People tend to use social media platforms almost throughout the whole day, but depending on your specific targeted group there might be an uptick in activity at a particular time. As humans, we tend to be habitual creatures and while on an individual basis there might be differences in the exact times we perform certain activities, as a populous the behavioral patterns stand out that much more. Taking into consideration your specific target group, you might be able to achieve far better engagement if you ride the wave of audience activity.
For example, if you are targeting stay-at-home moms, the times between mornings and noons and mid-afternoon hours as well as late night hours might be the most active times of your group. While at the same time, due to the difference in the schedule of working moms, the usual lunch break hours and late night hours might be perfect for your posts.
Of course, the aforementioned examples are just speculation based on generalization. Yet, the truth of the matter is that each specific target group has a behavioural pattern resulting in increased activities at certain days of the weeks and hours of the day.
Competition and Taking Advantage of “Slow” Hours
The other factor that comes into play when timing your posts for social media is your competition. Even if an activity of your target group is lower, certain times might result in more engagement simply due to the lack of content from your competition. Let’s consider the example of that you are in the sports clothing industry and your audience interacts with a number of other brands.
When people use the social media platform, they are interested in seeing sports clothing content. Yet, due to their marketing campaigns, all other brands choose to publish their posts at late nights. Early mornings are left with little to no new content and while there are less overall audience members that are active, due to the lack of competition, your posts will be able to receive that much more engagement.
The Beauty of an Algorithm
The beauty that comes with social media analytics and the algorithms of Locowise is that you will be able to tell the exact time and day of the week that is perfect for publishing your posts. Instead of using speculation as a weapon, the algorithm takes into account all the available data presented by social media platforms and calculates the best times at a per-case basis, allowing you to reap the benefits of perfect post timing. By taking advantage of social media analytics, you will be able to match your timing exactly to the activity of your audience, increasing your engagement without much effort.
Market Analysis at a Whim
Big data on social media is also helpful in terms of big-picture market analysis. By taking advantage of the available insights that social platforms present you with, you will be able to develop new business strategies and adapt your existing marketing efforts to improve your revenue. In fact, in terms of market analysis, the possible insights you might receive from big data analytics on social media are pretty much endless.
While for the most part, big data would be able to provide you with information related to how to improve your existing social media strategy, the valuable industry insights underneath are what makes social media data analytics one of the best tools you can have in your marketing belt. With the data at your disposal, you’d never know when you will be able to find a diamond in the rough that will help you skyrocket your business.
Marketing Reports as a Way to See the Big Picture
One of the best ways to see the big picture is via the big data analytics that come from the top brands within your industry. By using Locowise as your tool, for example, you will be able to create instant marketing reports on eight brands and their social media profiles of your choosing.
Once you do, you are going to be able to see the performance of those brands compared to one another and the full industry spectrum analytics available in an editable presentation format. As shown in the screenshots above, the information that you have at your disposal might not only help you uncover the best strategies for social media, but can also give you a glimpse at a broader insight within your industry.
Competitor Data as a Trampoline
The big data analytics that allow you to tap into the specific intricacies that make up the social media strategy of your competitors might help serve you as a trampoline for your marketing efforts.
This can include anything from being able to reap the benefits of understanding the results of your competitor’s marketing campaigns to seeing the brand customer feedback of those competitors and far more. In fact, the number of insights you might receive based on the data of your competitors is quite big.
Instant Brand Customer Feedback (on Multiple Levels)
Another benefit that comes with big data analytics on social media is the direct and instant response you are able to get from your customers. On an individual basis, it’s hard to go through all of the available commentary based on a per-post basis. Nevertheless, the engagement of your audience as available data is a highly useful tool you can take advantage of in multiple ways.
Big Data Analytics can Help you Uncover Issues within your Business
The direct customer feedback and response from your audience might be hidden in the subtle activities related to the engagement of your customers. Certain elements can help you uncover issues within your business. In fact, we’ve discussed just how social media big data analytics can help you uncover issues within your business at length so make sure to check out our blog post if you are interested.
Social Media Tools as a “Test Bench” for Customer Response
Another way to use the response you get from your customers is to use it as a test bench for content. For example, if you are planning certain marketing campaigns, especially if they are related to your advertising efforts, publishing a few posts might help you better adapt your content to your specific audience group.
Let’s say for example that you are considering five different ways to tackle the promotion of your product. Post at regular intervals five different pieces of content that reflect the ways of the promotion you are thinking about and see which one performs the best. The possibilities are simply endless and bound only by your creativity on social media.
Analytics as a Powerful Tool for Business Progress
Analytics have always been a driving factor behind the success of businesses worldwide. Long before computers were even a thing people used to derive and calculate metrics based on media advertising, survey response and financial data.
And while just a decade ago, pursuing proper market reporting would be a costly endeavor, today with the help of big data analytics, it’s not. Whether you want to present your clients with the unique insights from social media they are paying you to find, or simply want to use the available data to further your social media marketing campaigns, we are here to help you out!
Start a free 7-day trial of Locowise today and see the power of big data analytics in all its visual glory and action!
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