[April 03, 2018]

Top Brands in U.S. and Canada Report Poorly Targeted Social Analytics Can Cost Billions in Lost Revenue

NetBase, a global leader in social media analytics, released its 2018 U.S. and Canada Social Media Analytics Report today. It found that there is still a tremendous opportunity for social media analytics to be more broadly used across companies beyond the marketing department. The study also found the need for more effective solutions to be deployed to derive customer insights, drive business impact, and save billions in lost revenue. Even in the most popular area of use, community and customer engagement, a surprising number of businesses still do not believe it is important to respond to customer complaints in real time on social media.

"Social media is constantly evolving and what worked yesterday will likely not work today, and nothing will work if you aren't properly targeting and sharing your efforts," said Paige Leidig, chief marketing officer at NetBase. "One of the biggest takeaways from our report is that social analytics, and the insights they deliver, are not being shared as broadly as they should be to inform operations and planning."

Key findings include:

• Marketers agree that social analytics make campaigns more successful - More than half of the marketing professionals surveyed (56 percent) agree that social analytics make their campaigns more successful, but approximately a third (38 percent) don't know if they do - which means many businesses still do not know how to ascertain social ROI metrics.
• Top uses of social analytics - Businesses use social analytics in several ways, with the most popula including community management and customer engagement (72 percent), informing campaign strategy (63 percent), and improving customer care (41 percent).
• Bulk of businesses spend less than $25,000 on social media analytics - which when it comes to connecting with customers, and getting insights that can drive critical business decisions is less than many other important analytic investments.
• Social media now used for deeper connections - 93 percent of respondents indicated social media enables them to really connect with their customers beyond follows and likes. It delivers understanding into what motivates and drives consumers to purchase, their passion and provides insights into what they love and hate.
• Surprising divide on real time response - Despite the evidence of how quickly customer complaints can escalate on social, only 53 percent of marketing executives feel it's "very important" to respond to negative comments on social in real-time. The survey found 23 percent of businesses only believe it is important some of the time or not at all.
• Analytics reporting and insight has evolved - Likes and mentions have become much less important and insightful measurement tools, as businesses are now increasingly looking at sentiment analysis and visual listening to gain a competitive edge.

Methodology

NetBase surveyed more than 700 marketing professionals in December 2017 in the U.S. and Canada to see where they're focusing their efforts, where they feel they should be focusing their efforts, and how to bridge the gap between the two.

About NetBase

NetBase is the award-winning social analytics platform that global companies use to run brands, build businesses, and connect with consumers every second. Its platform processes millions of social media posts daily for actionable business insights for marketing, research, customer service, sales, PR, and product innovation. NetBase is a trusted partner to American Airlines, Arby's, Coca-Cola, Ogilvy (News - Alert), T-Mobile, Universal Music Group, Walmart, and YUM! Brands. Learn more at www.netbase.com or @NetBase.

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View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180403005779/en/

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