The Value of Social
Analytics to a Startup
The ability to pivot a business model and maintain
fluidity as a startup is critical to the success of a small,
entrepreneurial-minded business. The
cannon of successful entrepreneurship has moved from "relying on a Steve Jobs–style intuition for what customers want
and a perfectionist product-development process that culminates in one big
launch," [1] to a more lean, iterative approach that builds a consensus
around customer/market feedback.[2] One of the most complex
issues associated with this approach is collecting valuable customer feedback
and reading between the lines of that data.
A simple survey will often yield misleading data while test markets and
focus groups can be costly and still produce unreliable information. Social Analytics is a valuable tool
especially for early-stage startups as they look to tailor their product to
meet customers' needs at a reasonable cost to their business.
Social Analytics is "a
powerful tool for uncovering customer sentiment dispersed across countless
online sources."[3] Social analytics allows businesses and
individuals to capture customer response to their company or the impact of
social media on their business via social media. Effective social media analytics can answer
questions such as "“Do people tweet favorably
about my company? Do they tweet about it at all?” "What are the
major trends in my field that we can see over social media? How can I
capitalize on them?"[4]
In addition, social media analytics can track
the direct impact of promotions, PR, and advertisements in how each customer
arrives at your site, and how they are in turn promoting your content using
their own personal networks.
The value of this tool
for startups is in its ability to provide real-time primary customer feedback
that allows startups to iterate quickly.
For example, an early stage startup may believe they have developed a
product that will help home chefs take hot items out of the oven only to find
out via social analytics that their is a large social media response to their
product from camping and outdoor enthusiasts.
This secondary market uses the device to remove cooking items from a
cooking fire or camp stove and evangelicalizes the product using social
media. The startup should use additional
social media analytics to further define this customer group and promote the
product to them using social media channels.
Additional next steps could include producing a unique version of the
product with special features catering to outdoor enthusiasts.
Social media analytics
allow startups to pivot intelligently and cheaply and is an effective tool to
guide development of a lean startup.
Marian Bonar
[1]
http://hbr.org/2012/09/too-many-pivots-too-little-passion/ar/1
[2]
http://www.forbes.com/sites/martinzwilling/2011/09/16/top-10-ways-entrepreneurs-pivot-a-lean-startup/
[3]
http://www-01.ibm.com/software/analytics/solutions/customer-analytics/social-media-analytics/
[4]
https://sites.google.com/site/week12socialanalytics/what-is-social-analytics
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