This presentation discusses why researchers should listen to social media conversations to gain insights. It argues that listening is naturalistic, contemporary, accessible, and contextual. Tools can help aggregate and analyze conversations to spot patterns and narratives. While sentiment analysis has limits, qualitative analysis of nuanced meanings and contexts is more valuable. Pilot projects and stakeholder workshops can demonstrate the value of social media research to justify associated costs. Ultimately, if researchers do not listen, their role in providing insights may diminish.

1. Twitter: @TomWoodnutt
Tomwoodnutt@gmail.com

2. Fishing for Insight
in a Sea of Social Media
This is a presentation about why and how I believe researchers should
listen to what people say online…

3. The power of mutuality
The Clown Fish and Sea Anemone live in harmony and have a symbiotic
and mutualistic relationship based on sharing and reciprocity.
I believe today’s brands need to build more mutualistic relationships
with people, by giving them the products, services, content, experiences
and utility that they need and value. In return people will give their
loyalty, social promotion, data openness and insight.
Listening to what people say and seeing what has social currency online,
is an essential input for building more mutualistic relationships….

4. If a fish were a conversation…
Then what does that
make researchers?

5. …then researchers are fishermen
Sailing the seas for
conversations that
will inspire insights….

6. …and gourmet chefs
Serving insights that
help inspire healthy
business decisions

7. Traditional research can satisfy…
Traditional methods like panel
based surveys and group
discussions are valuable because
they give you CONTROL to ask the
questions that you and the client
want…

8. …but it can also lack
‘real-world’ flavour
The questions you ask are on the
client’s terms and not necessarily
on people’s agenda

9. And the world has gone digital
People spend so much of their
time online. Researchers are
supposed to understand people.
It is essential to listen to what
they say, to be able to do this…

10. Yet many researchers still reject
new tools
Many
researchers
are addicted
to the
familiarity of
traditional
methods and
legacy
revenues

11. Which poses a threat to the
research industry
This means that
untrained, non-
specialists without any
regard for research
ethics or quality of
analysis will instead
operate in new spaces
like social media
research

12. Today’s researchers should
embrace social media
Because it is:
1. Naturalistic Free from any research effects
2. Contemporary Essential to inform social media strategies
3. Accessible Readily available online
4. Contextual Adding a layer of social context to insights

13. AND….it’s in ‘real-time’…
Just to clarify, this is a ‘reel’
pun.
Thanks.
Companies like Gatorade have
teams dedicated to listening to
what people say about them.
This is where market research
needs to get to…

14. This assumes conversations exist
- March 2010 - more than 10 billion tweets since launch1
- July 2010 - more than 20 billion tweets
…. there does seem to be a few
out there….
SOURCE:
1 – Claudine Beaumont, ‘Twitter hits 10 billionth tweer’, Telegraph (March 5th 2010)

15. Not just brand-specific
conversations
What people say in general – without any brand mention –
can be more informative….
• Clients over-estimate people’s actual interest in
interacting with them in social media (by a
factor of three1).
Source:
1 - From Social Media to Social Customer Relationship Management’, IBM Global
Services, Carolyn Heller Baird and Gautam Parasnis (2011)

16. Listening should be ‘ethical’
I do not believe we should listen to conversations within
private networks like facebook, or by getting into password
protected forums by creating false accounts….
….But I do believe that someone’s tweet or comment on a
blog is a knowingly public act. And to listen to them, is an act
of empowerment rather than violation.

17. Manual searches are a start
To listen, you could just cast a single line out by searching in
google or twitter…..but that will only get your so far.

18. Free aggregation tools also help
Or you could
use
aggregation
tools and alert
systems to
catch more
relevant
conversations

19. Bespoke software maximises
chances of success
To get the most value, I believe you need
specialist partners….

20. The right partner depends on
budget and needs…
Free-Tools Dashboards Consultants
• Added value • Ad hoc studies • Project retainer
• Light • Rigorous • Rigorous
exploration exploration measurement

21. But different partners do vary
They produce
different results.
…real value is not in
the numbers….but
in using tools to
help interpret
emotion and
meaning
qualitatively
Source:
1 – Interaction London Monitoring Tools Review (July, 2010)

22. Aggregated sentiment is limited
Sentiment scores are a bit like ‘fish fingers’: A bland
amalgamation which lacks flavour. (You would never come out
of a group discussion with a percentage of positive sentiment)….
• It is not necessarily • And there are venue effects
nationally representative meaning different platforms
since individuals self select tend to foster different types
of sentiment
Source:
(Ying, Feinberg and Source:
Wedel 2006) (Schwiedel, Moe and Boudreaux 2011)

23. Be different, and let others
obsess with sentiment…
I believe researchers should
move away from sentiment
and instead focus on nuance,
context and qualitative
meanings…

24. Listening tools help you spot
patterns
Tools like Sysomos
help you quickly
crunch hundreds of
conversations to see
which themes
regularly arise…
This helps you work
out which ones to
focus on, and allows
you to refine your
searches to explore
them in more detail

25. …and uncover social narratives
The tools help you
Identify how brand
conversations and
relevant meme’s spread
like stories across
channels and
throughout networks

26. To create social currency you
must first understand it
Social Media
Research
means you can
identify what
themes,
memes and
content are
most likely to
inspire
conversation

27. This is a lot more manual than
automated…

28. Which requires patience and
resolve
…It’s a case of trial and
error to spot the themes
that matter strategically

29. And familiar traditional
And familiar qualitative
qualitative skills
techniques
…it’s fundamentally about
using qualitative skill to
be go from conversation
to insight and
recommendation…

30. In-house and agency teams aren’t
necessarily best placed
The hectic and stormy worlds of
agencies and clients mean they
cannot commit the time and may
not have the skills to get real value
from social media research……
…..but although researchers are
well placed, they barely feature in
this space….
Source:
1 – eConsultancy Online Measurement and Strategy Report (2011)

31. Researchers are well placed to
find value (and should charge)
For researchers to get proper value
from social media research, they have
to charge a premium for their time
(and the software)…..

32. But it’s hard to charge without
evidence of the value…

33. A couple of pilots help
*
Pilot Fish *

34. And stake-holder workshops to
Cast into the organisation
get the net out further
There are so many interested parties
(from marketing, to insight, CRM, PR
and digital teams….) that it’s essential
to get all stakeholders on board….

35. Why not just listen?
If researchers ignore the value in social media, they will
be less able to understand and represent what people
think, feel and do…..and their role as primary providers of
insight may get gobbled up….... why not just listen?