The social sphere has opened up a whole new world of business intelligence tools for us to use. As a small business owner, you should be eager to test out new social BI strategies that will significantly improve your business. That’s why today, I’m going to show you how to use social media to gather business intelligence, quickly and effectively.
Courtesy of dachisgroup.com
Using Business Intelligence Tools
BI tools as they are called in the industry, are commonly used to gather, analyze and report specific types of data. When you combine this with social intelligence, the possibilities are virtually endless.
Imagine being able to gather data on how often a specific person searches for items that you sell! Companies are already putting together detailed sales profiles for their online customers.
There are several key areas of social business intelligence that would benefit small and large brands. These involve metrics and leading business initiatives. Everything from sales, customer service management, marketing communications, brand reputation, brand exposure and experience can be measured with social BI tools.
• Sales have long been the obsession of online brands, but with analytics tools that can give you detailed data on the behavior of your buyers – sales funnels can be whittled down to become MORE efficient than ever before. With social, these intelligence tools can now track why a customer buys, who they are, what they like – even who they know. It’s a whole new level of sales-focused social analytics.
• Brand reputation management is another winner with social BI tools. Small businesses will be able to find out what is being said about their brand – they could even insert themselves into conversations about products that their brand offers.
These days with all the negative online talk, brands need to be able to monitor and defend themselves on the internet. Small business owners can build up online reputations and become experts in their field. The future is brand management on the move, with built in intelligence in mobile apps.
Where To Get Social BI
Social business intelligence is all around you, ready to be accessed. You can find it on platforms like Facebook, or have it built into business applications that you create for your company. The software package options that abound online are staggering.
Take advantage of SaaS (Software as a Service) platforms, where you can pay another company to track, analyze and process certain data for you.
Many of these programs are automatic. But each of them requires a certain level of human interpretation. This will require some practice and learning on your part. You’ll need to get used to working with stats, percentages and data. Teach yourself how to deduce usable pieces of information from them!
Speak to your social media strategist about using social business intelligence tools to improve your business! You may want to start with an all-in-one analytics package like Argyle Social. I hear that’s an excellent starter program for businesses that need reliable social metrics.
Otherwise, evaluate your needs, and choose based on the area that needs work! Which analytics program is your favorite?