Social Data is the voluminous data created and shared voluntarily by individuals in the virtual social space. Moreover, Social Data analysis is when this data is methodologically segmented to make sense and draw inferences.
As Wikipedia states, Social data analysis is a style of analysis in which people work in a social, collaborative context to make sense of data.
Today capturing social data is no longer just about marketing the brand and other promotional campaigns. The organisations just cater to the tip of the social data, they think about interacting with the customers and resolving their grievances if any. They ought to think innovatively and dig out the underlying behavioural patterns and preferences of the customers.
Social data needs to be collaborated in line with other internal and external information to reveal and get insights. These will help organisations to create and leverage organisational capabilities. Research studies suggest that 78% of the salesperson using social media perform better than their peers whereas 64% of the sales team that use inbound social selling achieve their sales quotas.
Revisit the customer
The interactive social platforms provide immense opportunities for organisations to recreate business processes. The resultant inferences can be harvested in terms of competitive advantage the organisation gains over its peers. The social platforms open an intensive world of information about buyers, sellers and competitors in real time. Around 55% of the buyers do product related research through social media. And organisations can leverage their data to get valuable insights across the value chain. The social signals provide real time data not just about the lives of individuals and other organisations but also about their needs, wants and desires.
Seeds of success
Brands are incorporating social data into their businesses though it’s still in preliminary stages. IKEA, (a MNC of ready-to-assemble furniture and home accessories) has been embracing social data in almost all aspects of its businesses. They believe future is filled with innovation fuelled by the social data. They have adopted experimenting approach to the information generated by social accounts of the organisation.
Previously, the consolidated information was not available for brands about their audience and they had to research a lot before any strategic move. A little information, few secondary data and lot of assumptions, but now, irresistible data from different sources is available. Social data can be hugely insightful and is produced at breakneck speed. It provides an effective way of understanding customer behaviour without any labour-intensive and expensive research. This way an organisation converts itself into a genuine social business. Let’s regard this strategy for your organisation to take advantage of social data and start preparing for tomorrow’s success.
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