Social Media Analytics

Noah Mercado
Professor Ganju
Data Analytics
23 April, 2015

Social Media Analytics

     Social media has quickly been adapted by millions of internet users over the past decade. These online identities resemble the personalities of the true users behind the screen. Users can show who they are friends with, their favorite genre of music, movies, books, clothes, and any other personal interests the user may have. Recently businesses have found a way to gather information about the personal habits and interests of potential customers by using social media analytics. Analyzing the data from a consumer’s social media account provides companies with insight on how to market their products directly to consumers who have a higher probability of purchasing. Social media analytics allows businesses to capture consumer data, predict customer behavior, create personalized campaigns, and identify the primary influencers of a specific social network. These tasks are important because if they are properly implemented, businesses can increase sales of their products, in return increasing revenues and profits.

The topic of social media analytics is very similar to data mining which was covered in our Data Analytics course. Data mining uses variables to predict unknown or future values of other variables and helps predict the likelihood of a particular outcome. The concept of social media analytics is a form of data mining which uses consumers’ online interactions as their predictor variables. By analyzing a consumer’s interests, preferences and habits, companies can increase the value of their business by marketing specifically to consumers with a higher potential of actually purchasing their products.

One example of how social media analytics has been applied in practice is how the high-end stroller brand Bugaboo used data from social media to market directly to their customers. Bugaboo tracked data from social media accounts about users who’s posts related to parenthood, fashion, health, and design. The company found that consumers who post about Bugaboo strollers are five times more likely to post about fashion and beauty products than consumers who post about rival brands. By using this information, Bugaboo was able to successfully market to other consumers posting about these topics.

Works Cited

“Bugaboo Tries to Get a Handle on Customers by Using Social Media Analytics.” Social Media. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2015.

“Social Media Analytics.” IBM. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2015.