ARE YOU LISTENING TO YOUR CUSTOMER’S SENTIMENTS?

That comment a disgruntled customer made on your Facebook page on the post last Thursday might be worth a lot more than you think.

Social media is data-driven. There is an incredible amount of data created, collected and shared every single day. If you work in a digital or marketing role, statements on engagement levels of followers or the number of Tweets and Shares are the standard way you speak (unfortunate for those around you). We are living in the most “tracked” age this planet has ever seen.

But what in the blithering world do you do with all that data?

The generally accepted method is to look for patterns and trends in the data and compile into shareable statistics. But this traditional method largely ignores the unsaid. The stuff your customers might not have said, only felt. Strongly.

Sway ‘Em Back to You

“Sentiment analysis”, according to Michael Schrage, is based around algorithmically examining the language people use (or don’t use) when they communicate (or don’t communicate) about the work they are doing (or not doing). Pretty much information that could be so useful the next time you’re out on a first date.

In the social world, you’re courting that customer, existing or potential: understanding not only how they actually behave – like, retweet or share your content – but also how they are feeling when they are doing it is important. It gives context to how your communication is consumed (and how your products or services are used).

Pick the consumer conversation that is particularly different from the normal; now, step back and see how the conversation is playing out in your wider audiences. They might not be saying anything but they might be feeling mighty *insert any variation of annoyed* and ready to be picked up by the slightest enticement from your competition. Yikes! You gotta sway ‘em back to you, right then and there.

Example: A large pharma company found a photo of a customer on Flickr wrapping his leg in foil after applying their ointment. A prescient employee of the company decided to dig deeper and learnt the ointment left permanent stains on fabric/clothing. Despite conventional customer research for decades, this simple – but terrible –  problem wasn’t discovered until the Flickr photo.   

How You Can Use the Information on User Sentiments

1. Knowing how customers perceive your brand can help significantly in shaping the future marketing and PR strategy for the company. Is the sentiment helping your company? Is your brand message resonating with the clients or making them feel something else entirely? If the public mood is sad, do you want your social media posts to add to that sentiment, or help pull your consumers out of it?
2. According to research by Harvard Business Review, it is often that customer satisfaction is high for the majority of a company’s users (you wouldn’t be in business if customers thought your product is crap!). It is hardly the source of your competitive edge. What your company should be striving for is connecting with your consumer on an emotional level; pulling it out from them using all your monumental business and social might. Remember what Maya Angelou said?*
3. Depending on the industry you are in, the general feeling of negativity of your customers can impact more than just your sales (although that is the single most disastrous thing). Recall health food vs. McDonalds? Here, a social marketing effort will be wasted; a heck lot will need to be changed fundamentally. To top it off, sentiment shift on social media and stock price movements just might be correlated.
4. Within your own company, use the insights from your in-house social media to gauge employee satisfaction levels and stickiness to your company. We haven’t done any research to back this up but…happy employees might be good for you.
5. Correlation is more relevant than causation. In the very loud world of social media and very sensitive and disparate customers, correlations between product/content use and consumer sentiments matter. Find the correlations and build those into your marketing.

Recently, a Polish company called SentiOne that performs sentiment analyses from millions of users across as many platforms received $3.5 million seed funding. Such products will make it a lot easier to listen to customers.

It’s great that you’re creating awesome content on your social channels and sharing it like nobody’s business. But the reactive way’s got some virtue too. Listen a lot more; react almost as much. And connect with your customer – the soul-to-soul, look-into-my-eyes kind – every single chance you get.

*Just in case: “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”