Changes in customer preferences, financial situations and the latest product trends make for a dicey buyers market. Social media such as Facebook and Twitter have become the place to get information about companies, field experts, service providers and products. More people are using these sources before making significant purchases or making decisions both large and small. As far as organizations go, analyzing follow results from Facebook, Twitter and Google Analytics help determine the best way to reach the next customer.

With that said, the marketing and public relations duties have incorporated more analytical responsibilities. With data readily available, it doesn’t take long to see what marketing ideas work. I spend a good amount of time taking data from all of the social media areas and analyzing the effects of our campaigns. It would be a waste of my time and money to repeat campaigns if there appears to be no interest.

Also, I am really interested in knowing who is looking at us, how they found us and where they are from. This type of data is valuable in making adjustments to my current marketing and branding initiatives.

In every aspect of my job responsibilities, I have had to perform analytical duties. Without dissecting and manipulating data it would be impossible to make adjustments to my plans or confidently make decisions. As we all know, intelligent answers are derived on current conditions. As conditions change, plans need to be adjusted. This can be a bit frustrating and create a lot of work for those who are manually gathering information. Who wants to reinvent the data wheel on a daily basis to ensure that the path to success is correct?

Google Analytics has been a great source for gathering information on the activity of our website, but navigating back and forth between the data becomes daunting and at times confusing. There is no way to compare the different social media avenues. I like to compare the activity of my website to my activities in Twitter. The only way to do this was manually. Activities such as bounces (accidental visits) cannot be removed from the Google Analytics dashboard results.

I like straightforward data, simple yet complete. And the ability to eliminate the data noise… if I so choose. Visual Data Group is developing a Social Analytics module based on our own needs. It’s primary purpose is to help organizations who are serious about leveraging analytics to find the next customer. Combining data from different sources saves time and provides meaningful answers. Social media tools may not be meaningful in their own but the right business intelligence tool can make sense of the data.