Metric description and application:

Sound measurement of sentiment, opinion, and advocacy is challenging, particularly when considering the rigor required to derive metrics that can be applied as indicators of business outcomes. Traditional marketing research has such time-tested and rigorous standards in place, executed by the disciplined research expertise that is required to implement the proper techniques produce defensible results.

 

But times are changing: The proliferation of automated social media measurement solutions has democratized access to social media data. At the same time, techniques and methodologies applied through these tools are not as tested and qualified and those involved in analyzing the data are not necessarily trained analysts – in contrast to traditional marketing research. 

 

Status:

Approved and published June 2013

Open for comment until July 31, 2013.

Revised and republished October 2014

 

Version, date, and author(s):

Version 2.0

Provided for public comment June 1, 2013

Authors: Neil Beam, Eve Stevens, and other members of the #SMMstandards Conclave

 

Standards or guidelines:

Standards

 

Metric type:

Outcome depending on the program’s objectives

 

Detailed description:

This is the actual standard, and must include full description of how to use this metrics

 

Sentiment is a component of opinion and advocacy. Sentiment is the feeling the author is trying to convey, often measured through context surrounding characterization of object.

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Opinion is a view or judgment formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge. Standard indicators of opinion standards have not yet been achieved, but typically opinion is definitively articulated and associated to the speaker. 

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Advocacy the noun vs. verb is a public statement of support for or recommendation of a particular cause or policy. Advocacy requires a level of expressed persuasion. The key distinction between “advocacy” and “opinion,” is that advocacy must have a component of recommendation or a call to action (CTA) embedded in it. 

 

These definitions are a good starting point when considering the measurement of sentiment, opinion, and advocacy, respectively.  

 

Guidance:

-Social media conversations can provide insight into social media user sentiment, opinions, and levels of advocacy for a brand/product/issue.

 

-There are several factors to consider when applying social media sentiment, opinions, and advocacy metrics to generate insights and assess communications outcomes.

 

-Results are non-conclusive: Many practitioners think the results of social media measurement are conclusive and allocate budgets and execute projects solely on social data. In fact, comprehensive measurement of the online population is impeded by data availability and other challenges. It is possible that sentiment, opinion, and advocacy can be positively impacted by public relations efforts without any evidence of this change occurring online.

 

-Makeup of those involved in the conversation: Are your target audiences online and participating in social conversations? Is the conversation you are assessing for sentiment, opinion, and advocacy made up of your target audience? If not, social media measurement is not the correct methodology to achieve insights into your target audience perceptions, opinions, and persuasion.

 

-Inherent bias and limited projection: Social media measurement can only examine comments from those who are proactively offering an opinion or statement and doing so online. The opinions/attitudes of those who are not actively participating in the conversation are not measured.

 

-Lack of quality, veracity and validity of automated sentiment tool: 

 

-Inconsistent definitions and methods for deriving sentiment, opinion, and advocacy:  Unlike marketing research techniques, where agreement on perception statements can be understood and accepted across industry, what constitutes sentiment, opinion, and advocacy within social media is subjective and often industry-specific.

 

Best Practices:
-Because social listening, by itself, is not projectable to the opinion and advocacy of all stakeholders, unless quantitative analysis is done to align the counting method against the key performance indicator, it is not an independently reliable method for quantitative measurement.

-Do not use social media sentiment, opinion, or advocacy measurement as audience indicators if your target audience is not represented in data analyzed.

-Social media sentiment, opinion, and advocacy metrics limitations need to be clearly understood amongst stakeholders.

-Do not use social media measurement as sole data source when making strategic business decisions.

-Social media sentiment, opinion, and advocacy data should be assessed in conjunction with data arrived at through other research means.

-Definition, scope, and methodology transparency should be standard parts of any social media metric reporting (see Content & Sourcing Standards).

-When assessing social media sentiment, opinion, and levels of advocacy, measure favorability as well as negativity to understand the holistic nature of the conversation.

-Distinction should be made between the purpose and function of social media sentiment research and market research. Here are the advantages of each:

 

Social Media Measurement:

-Idea exploration and uncover white space opportunities

-Identification of the elements of opinion and advocacy

-Understand the characteristics of who is discussing opinion and advocacy

-Understand the drivers of the conversation

-Dimension and range of the conversation categories

-Explain findings of a quantitative study

 

Quantitative Market Research:

-Clarify or validate existing knowns

-Test specific hypothesis with statistical confidence

-Identify evidence of cause and effect relationships

-Examine specific relationships

-Project results to a larger population