It’s been almost 10 years since the word ‘data’ was selected as word of the year by the American Dialect Society in 2015. That’s a decade of companies going head-to-head in the data race; of recognising data as a critical asset for gaining customer insights, making informed decisions and achieving a competitive-edge.
The irony, however, is that while the gathering of data has become almost second nature for a lot of big companies, it’s knowing what to do with it that still needs work. More specifically, what’s lacking is the skill to organise unstructured data in a way that can drive actionable strategies.
Recent research cited by international customer experience company Ninetailed shows that 53% of businesses identify a lack of skills and knowledge regarding technology and data as one of the main barriers to improving customer experiences.
This brings us to what I believe is an incredibly exciting space for marketing and CX, and that’s artificial intelligence (AI), data and social listening.
The writing is on the (social media) wall
Since 77% of businesses use social media to reach customers, where 90% of customers follow at least one brand, it stands to reason that some of the most valuable data a company can collect is on social platforms.
But according to a Customer First study done by Hubspot, which surveyed over 1 000 customer service agents globally, less than half reported monitoring social media posts.
This seems counterintuitive based on the fact that the average consumer is spending two hours and 23 minutes a day on social platforms – that’s a lot of data that could unlock significant insights to inform business strategies.
Beyond basic sentiment analysis, new tools can detect specific emotions and intensity levels in social media posts.
Lack of data skills, resources and data literacy are the top challenges cited by most companies when it comes to collecting and analysing data. But with the advent of AI, not only is it getting easier to collect data, but in the social media space, AI is now able to listen to what customers are saying on a deeper level and provide a more accurate interpretation of what these insights mean.
Social listening is nothing new. The process of monitoring and tracking digital conversations across social media platforms, blogs, online forums, etc, has been a tool that marketing departments have been using for years. But it’s been surface-level.
At most, social listening tools have provided teams with the typical word clouds that identify commonly used phrases by a customer segment on a social platform, highlight key trends based on these phrases, and conduct a quick dipstick check of positive and negative sentiment.
While these insights are useful, what’s been lacking is the ability of these tools to provide a more multi-layered approach that goes beyond just scraping the data. The evolution of AI tools is enabling us to go further into the minds of our customers so that we can better understand the WHY behind the data.
According to DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman, interactive AI is the next big thing. So, moving from generative AI, which is where the world's focus is at right now, to more interactive AI. From a social listening perspective, this means the AI will go beyond the data gathering, analysis and reporting. Interactive AI will be more adaptable and responsive, and able to engage in more personalised feedback.
Here are seven exciting prospects in the AI and social listening space:
AI and machine learning advances: We are seeing improved natural language processing and machine learning algorithms come to the fore. This enhances sentiment analysis and enables the AI to be more context-aware. So, things like sarcasm and irony are better picked up.
Voice and audio analysis: An exciting space, social listening tools are now able to analyse voice and audio content from podcasts and video streams. This enables companies to monitor mentions and sentiments in spoken content.
Visual analysis: Just like audio, we are also seeing advances in image and video recognition technologies that can analyse visual content. This includes things like identifying sentiment from visual cues in photos and videos.
Integration with customer relationship management (CRM) systems: Social listening tools are increasingly being integrated with CRM systems, providing a more comprehensive view of customer interactions and feedback across multiple channels. This helps businesses personalise their marketing and customer service efforts.
Enhanced multilingual and multicultural analysis: Various social listening technologies are now becoming more adept at analysing content in multiple languages and understanding cultural nuances. This is extremely beneficial for international business strategies and understanding foreign markets.
Sentiment and emotion analysis: Beyond basic sentiment analysis, new tools can detect specific emotions and intensity levels in social media posts. This provides deeper insights into consumer reactions and feelings towards a brand or product.
Integration with e-commerce platforms: Integration with e-commerce platforms enables social listening tools to track the direct impact of social media activity on sales and customer behaviour, providing a clearer ROI for social media campaigns.
These advancements are making social listening more powerful and integral to modern marketing, customer service and business strategy.
With all the data at our disposal, it’s the companies that can harness effective social listening that will essentially win the day. The great data race is no the machine learning and AI race. Just (social) listen, and you won’t be left behind.
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