Localspeak

Gleaning Actionable Insights from Social Media

26 May 2011

In deploying NetBase Consumer Base Workbench – a tool that enables us to extract actual consumer perceptions from terabytes of social media commentary – Localspeak initiated several cases studies, tapping into the tool’s Consumer Base social intelligence warehouse to glean actionable insights.

In utilizing Consumer Base we are able to capture a quick read on the typically expensive-to-research “why” questions in order to identify market trends and “hot topics” at a faster speed and without great expense. Because Workbench quickly reveals social insights without investing large amounts of time and resources – for up to one year of social commentary – analysts and brand managers are able to stay on top of day-to-day trending and to adjust their strategies, positioning, packaging, and the like for a vast array of marketing uses. The implications for use of this tool across industries and markets are virtually limitless, and we believe they present an astute way to supplement traditional research with social media market research.

Containing the most advanced natural language processing engine, Consumer Base reads and categorizes each individual posting “contextually,” not simply by frequency of mentions. And it does so according to the opinions, emotions, and behaviors that consumers have expressed. Without having to manually code in thousands of comments, an analyst can focus directly on interpreting the data and delivering actionable insights.

In one Localspeak case study, we compared the top social media emotions and behaviors behind the perceived “cable-cutting” threat to cable companies by VOD users of Netflix and Hulu. In a second study, Localspeak looked at comments in differing social forums that may inform messaging or suggest a social strategy shift to gain more sustainable traction for lackluster public reports of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Using the Consumer Base Workbench, we ran a quick analysis of 2.8 million sound bites to compare top behaviors and emotions for Comcast, HBO , Hulu, Netflix, and Time Warner. Insights weighed heavily in favor of Netflix and show a high passion index for Netflix as compared to Comcast, HBO , Time Warner, and even Hulu. A net sentiment by brand ranking leaned nearly three times in favor of Netflix over HBO , and even higher for the other brands. These insights were confirmed by high precision sound bites for top behaviors that showed Netflix subs watch and get the service by a ratio of at least 2.5 times more frequently than HBO or the other brands. Assuming an analyst would want to dig deeper into the “whys” of these top line insights, one could automatically group findings into themes and create custom filters, drill into the details to examine individual comments pre-sorted by precision and identified themes. The engine also automatically compares opinions, emotions, and behaviors across up to five brands.

The social insights we discovered in our Consumer Base analysis appear to support the trend toward a collision course between Netflix, HBO and other cable companies that was predicted in a recent post titled Netflix & HBO – On a collision course? By Michael Dowling, CEO , Interpret LLC http://www.interpretllc.com. Mr. Dowling’s post revealed Interpret findings that Netflix subs are 30% more likely to strongly agree with the statement “You see yourself one day unplugging your TV and turning exclusively to the Internet for video entertainment.”

In the second case study we examined the recent social buzz spike resulting from a very cool post by Ali S. Kahn on the CDC Public Health Matters blog titled Social Media: Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse . Following its May 16 release, CDC Net Sentiment rose on May 17th from a 0% flatline to 9% on May18th, spiking at 48% on May19th.

How had the notoriously staid agency soared overnight to “coolest government agency” status, according to some comments? Although the CDC had been unable to sell a new study in its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report trumpeting Ten Great Public Health Achievements to the press, Kahn, in the agency’s communications department, following the Fukushima disaster in March, cleverly took a lead from the CDC’s spike to inspire his blog:

Ready For A Zombie Apocalypse?

Then the CDC got a question about zombies during an online chat about radiation leaks related to the meltdown at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in March, and they saw traffic spike. Khan and his communications team knew they’d found a way to get the public interested in disaster preparedness, he said. “You have a ‘Resident Evil’ movie coming out, ‘Shaun of the Dead,’ ‘World War Z.’ It [CDC]‘s a good metaphor for where you have complete disruption,” he said.
kitv.com Blogs, 05/19/2011

Certainly Kahn’s team is on the right track to help resuscitate the staid agency’s profile.

Notwithstanding its scary prognostications, to better find the public’s pulse and create better traction for critical messaging the CDC might consider taking a closer look at the forums and domains into which their sound bites are falling and read the themes and emotions surrounding the chatter to tweak their marketing communications – all of the above easily done using Netbase Consumer Base Workbench.