Thought Leadership - Social Media Sentiment Analysis

As the need for clear and reliable information about consumer preference and behaviour are increasingly in demand, brands that reach out to their audience through social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and the like, are becoming more interested with high level analyses of their content. Alongside tracking clicks, traffic, mentions, likes, comments, and shares, there’s one particular metric that can help in zeroing in on the ‘why’ and ‘how’ rather than just the ‘what’ – sentiment analysis.

Social media sentiment is a type of measurement that looks at feeling, emotion, attitude or opinion conveyed in a brand mention. It is a form of social listening which involves monitoring social media posts and discussions, followed by an analysis of how audiences are reacting to a brand or event.

This metric actually helps in adding context to the other metrics. For example, the amount of comments doesn’t tell us anything except for the fact that a particular content is receiving attention. Whether or not the content receives positive or negative attention; quantity of comments can’t provide the answer; sentiment analysis, however, is able to.

At its most basic, sentiment analysis involves checking on the amount of negative, positive and neutral keywords present in a conversation chunk. Usually, social media management tools that can help in gauging online sentiment would group different sentiments or feelings into three (3) categories: positive, negative, or neutral. Though critics argue that sentiment analysis is not entirely accurate; considering the layers of meaning people can convey in messages, it still helps in providing a quite different understanding of how brands are being perceived.

Social media sentiment is crucial in the field of PR as this is where we can evaluate and monitor a brand’s reputation status, and take necessary actions. Regardless of what critics say, the tools are available out there. Here’s how PR pros can conduct sentiment analysis.

Prioritise your Social Media Engagement

Handling social media profiles involves prioritising. Though putting out fires is undesirable, social media managers need to prepare to tackle any issue that might arise in a timely manner. It’s important to attend important mentions first, and sentiment analysis tool can help in filtering out positive mentions (low-priority) and put forth negative ones (high-priority).

This can be of great of advantage if you’re on the lookout for a PR or social media crisis. It’s also valuable in allowing you to assist unhappy customers and in responding to negative feedbacks from third parties.

Measure your Brand’s Reputation

The data derived through sentiment analysis can help in giving a better understanding on how a brand’s reputation is doing. The reports can help in identifying whether the brand is positively or negatively perceived on social media based on the tone of mentions.

It’s important to look for changes in tone, as well as the different trends and patterns in sentiments. Also, it’s best to observe the response to certain campaigns, launches, or events; before, during or after.

Assist with Potential Crises

The nature of managing communications before a crisis is definitely a far cry from managing during. Being able to measure and filter things through sentiment analysis amidst a crisis can help communicators to gain control of the situation from the get go, as well as during the recovery stage.

Perform Competitive Research

Sentiment analysis not only allows brands to monitor themselves, but also their competitors. Knowing how your competitors are doing in regards to their reputations goes a long away. You can look at their positive mentions to look for inspiration, and negative mentions to learn lessons from.

There’s also an opportunity to turn a competitor’s detractor into your next customer, which is by jumping into the right moments in a conversation.

Add Context to Share of Voice

Getting share of voice for your brand may be favourable but if most of the talk is negative, your competitor might be better off. In competitive analysis, it’s best to include sentiment in the picture. Through this, you’ll be able to report on how the market views your brand in comparison to your competitors.

In a nutshell, sentiment analysis isn’t the sole measuring stick for the evaluation of brand reputation, but it can help in adding context to other metrics.

This article was an evolution of Brittany Berger’s article on PR Daily titled ‘5 ways PR pros can use social media sentiment’.

Link:

http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/42f9ad0e-247d-4457-b56e-bb4db4cafbf2.aspx

Image Source:

(1) www.smartinsights.com

(2) jenniferfieldsrealestate.files.wordpress.com

(3) www.prnewsonline.com

(4) www.business2community.com

Fithri Faisal is a Public Relations Executive at Orchan Consulting. He is dedicated to having fun in the pursuit of delivering excellence. To Fithri, public relations is just one of a plethora of integrated tools a brand can use to get its name out there, and he is here to assist with making that happen for clients. If he’s not at his desk, he’s most likely sipping tea somewhere contemplating life (and business).