Examining Data from Social Media Analytics

Social media delivers numerous benefits for entrepreneurs and business owners. Such platforms provide ways to brand companies, publicize news, and reveal upcoming specials and promotions.

They also offer a way to collect data about customers and would-be patrons legally. Valuable data could help a company devise more effective marketing campaigns to boost sales.

Data and Its Value

“Data” is somewhat of a catch-all term. Formal definitions suggest that data refers to information used for analytical purposes. Sometimes, those purposes involve strategizing marketing campaigns better.

For example, suppose the manager of a company’s social media platforms notices more user activity between 11 AM and 2 PM Tuesday through Thursday. In that case, marketers might choose to run more ads during those times. Running ads at times when fewer people notice them isn’t worthless, but such plans might lead to fewer interactions and sales conversions.

Social Media and Data

User preferences provide one way to examine trends, opinions, purchasing, and other informational items. Simply reading comments posted by consumers may provide valuable information a marketing team could utilize.

Additional data gathering methods become possible because social media present ways to access those approaches. Asking followers to subscribe to an e-newsletter allows for more targeting content to reach more engaged followers, ones more likely to purchase. And there are other ways to gather and use data.

Relying on Social Media Analytics

Social media analytics could involve simple approaches to determine how followers and others react to an online marketing strategy. Often, the core purpose of analyzing gathered data consists in deciding whether a promotional campaign works or not.

When a company invests in online marketing strategies, the enterprise wants to see improved sales. If sales prove weak, a change becomes necessary. Perhaps it is wise not to overlook what Egnyte states: “The main driver of data collection is to gather quality information that can be analyzed and used to support decisions or provide evidence.” The bad news isn’t necessarily a negative. Learning what isn’t working may allow marketing teams to shift directions sooner rather than later.

Graphs and Charts

A social media analytics platform could display graphs or pie charts that break down many aspects of user engagement. Details about how long someone spent on the site, what country the visitors are from, and what search engine or social media platform generates the most traffic, among other items, may appear.

Knowing How to Analyze Data

A larger corporation likely has access to a large staff of analysts and marketing experts. Entrepreneurs lacking a corporation’s cash reserves might try to save money by figuring out data and analytics by themselves.

While noble, the approach could prove disastrous. Guesswork may make the wrong decisions even when presented with exceptionally detailed information. Entrepreneurs could consider investing in an analytics service that would deliver reports derived from a skilled analyst’s knowledge.

Data gathering and social media analytics could help a company or entrepreneur’s marketing campaign. A practical review of detailed data might lead to new decisions that could help a business’ bottom line.