Marketing Measurement is Only Half the Story: The Untapped Potential of Social Data

The Social Intelligence Lab released the?2023 State of Social Listening report, a comprehensive look into how brands and organizations leverage social data to inform business decisions (email required to download, but worth it).

They surveyed over 200 social listening pros to benchmark the industry's maturity. The findings reveal how objectives, use cases, data sources, technologies, and analytical approaches are evolving when extracting value from social conversations.?

Interestingly, while the current focus skews toward marketing measurement, the report provides tangible steps organizations can take to unlock deeper qualitative insights and evolve social listening into a strategic resource.

For anyone looking to enhance their approach or seeking a pulse check on the state of the industry, this is an invaluable guide filled with data-backed insights and expert perspectives. The 2023 report provides reassurance on progress and a roadmap to push social listening to the next level.

Here are a few critical data points and key takeaways:

Current Usage & Maturity

The report shows significant adoption and maturity of social listening, with 76% of marketers utilizing the approach in some fashion. Most focus on core marketing measurement objectives like brand tracking, campaign analysis, and competitive benchmarking. But there are signals that strategic evolution is still needed.

• 76% of marketers use social listening
• The top objectives are understanding attitudes/opinions, brand tracking, and competitive intelligence??
• The most common use cases are trend detection, brand monitoring, and campaign analysis

Data Sources & Technology

Social media dominates as the primary data source for most teams. But gaps in access and capabilities are holding back more strategic applications. Despite heavy tech investment, challenges remain around data breadth, analysis, and deriving meaningful insights.

• Top channels of interest include Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, and LinkedIn
• 9% spend over $100K annually on social listening tools?
• The most crucial tech features are data quality and source coverage
• But data access gaps and analysis limitations persist?

Processes & Skills

Approaches to data analysis lean quantitative, with reliance on set KPIs versus frameworks. This limits strategic insight discovery. Gaps in skills and non-integrated tools may slow the evolution to more qualitative analysis.??

• 47% use set KPIs and metrics to analyze data
• 53% have to analyze data outside of their tools manually
• 50% of time spent on data analysis, 45% on cleansing data
• 41% want easier insight discovery from large data sets

Organizational Alignment

While social listening usage is strong, leadership understanding of value is declining. Budget constraints also hinder the full impact. Agency partners are tapped for supplemental analytical support.?

• Leadership full understanding of value down to 35%?
• Budget constraints are a top challenge
• 33% spend $100K-$199K annually on agencies for ad-hoc projects and dashboard creation

For any marketer or PR pro looking to maximize the value of social data, reading the 2023 State of Social Listening report is a must. While reassuring that brands derive tangible value in areas like brand tracking and campaign analysis, the report issues an essential wake-up call.?

There remains untapped potential in evolving beyond vanity metrics to extract strategic insights that inform planning and growth opportunities. The time is now for social listening to level up. With an insider's view into the state of the industry, current challenges, and prescriptive enhancements, the report will surely add value to your business and marketing endeavors.?

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The opinions expressed in this newsletter are solely my own and do not express the views or opinions of Zeno unless otherwise stated.?