5 min read
Edrea Boo - Apr 27, 2022

An Interview with Insights Expert – Social Listening a Must-Have for Insights Gathering

"A number of brands had engaged Digimind to produce reports to study the impact Covid-19 had on consumers as well as the industry as a whole ... have a better understanding and appreciation of the situation, thus informing their business strategy to overcome these challenges."

 

How effectively do you make decisions? In the social world, changes happen in the blink of an eye. A good decision has to be well-timed, accountable, foster opportunities, and, most importantly, address the solution. With that many factors at play, coupled with copious amounts of data, brands find it increasingly difficult to create strategies that guarantee results or solve the solution at hand. 

 

This is where social listening comes in – the tool that ties in social data to brand strategy. It allows you to zone in on what matters amidst the noise and seek out the relevant pain points that need to be addressed. 

 

In a world flooded with information and chatter, how do we leverage social listening to effectively make decisions?

 

The answer: Data-driven insights.

 

Data and insights derived from social listening give you the confidence and accountability to swiftly make decisions; they provide you with a clear grasp on consumer behaviors, market shifts, and how to react or initiate in a landscape that is constantly changing.

 

Join us in an exclusive interview with Faizal Kamal, our Insights Manager at Digimind APAC, as he uncovers the importance of data-driven insights for your business and how they provide an impetus for new opportunities in the consumer industry.

 

 

Expert Interview with Faizal Kamal

 

Faizal

 

Before becoming Insights Manager at Digimind APAC, Faizal Kamal was a social media manager at a government agency and a research manager at a research agency. He combines his experience in social media as well as research at Digimind, to glean actionable insights through social listening.

 

 

Q: How highly do brands prioritize insights as a service?

"Every day, billions of people all around the world log on to the internet for work, to read the news, to shop online, or to consume content on their social media feeds. These are just some of the endless possibilities the internet has to offer. 

 

Internet users also post and comment on social media and forums to engage in discussion with one another. These data points, if cultivated effectively, could offer valuable insights into brands, events, and issues. Social listening provides what traditional market research cannot – raw, unfiltered, and unmoderated perspectives. 

 

Insights like these help businesses inform their marketing strategies, improve product development, or streamline their crisis management capabilities. In this data-driven world, decisions are best made with relevant evidence to support their implementation. Insights from social listening will be able to provide businesses with this edge.

 

We have seen a steady increase in uptake of our Insights services over the past five years. Brands recognize its importance and are investing heavily in this capability. With knowledge and guidance from data-driven insights, brands will be one step ahead in making better-informed decisions and achieving success."

 

 

Q: How has insights gathering changed for brands in a post-Covid reality? 

"We cannot deny how Covid-19 had resulted in changes to the lifestyle and behavioral patterns of consumers. Priorities realign and habits change because of the economic challenges the world is facing collectively. A number of brands had engaged Digimind to produce reports to study the impact Covid-19 had on consumers as well as the industry as a whole. This allowed them to have a better understanding and appreciation of the situation, thus informing their business strategy to overcome these challenges.

 

Over the past two years, we have noticed a shift in the objectives of our Insights projects. More brands have been looking into consumer insights, trend tracking, and crisis monitoring since Covid-19 entered our lives. This is highly indicative of the way businesses are reacting and adapting to the post-Covid reality. As countries around the world are progressively lifting their Covid-19 restrictions, this presents yet another domain to study how events like border reopening and the return to offices for the workforce can potentially cause a shift in the ever-changing social media landscape."

 

Q: Why do you think insights reports created by Digimind Insights Lab would help to deliver more impactful strategies for brands?

"Digimind Insights Lab enhances the value of the data by performing a thorough analysis to derive actionable insights for brands. Combining our cutting-edge technology with our expert analyses, Digimind Insights Lab can transform big data into smart data, which will then be used to generate customized reports to address our client’s strategic objectives. A sample of social media data will also be created for our analysts to conduct qualitative analysis to better tell the audience’s stories."

 

 

Social Listening – the One Constant Through Change

A brand that possesses great social intelligence is distinguished through its ability to properly discern amongst the mass of information and put what they have gathered to good use. Data proves nothing on its own but takes a form only when we ascribe meaning to it.  Social listening allows you to derive important insights from data; it helps you to perceive meaning out of information and see fit the actions that might help your business chart the right course. It helps you to make credible inferences and provides insights into what truly matters to your stakeholders.

 

As the world settles into the new normal post-Covid-19, businesses must find a way to adapt swiftly in a market that is ever-changing. Each decision made in a consumer-centric landscape is crucial; having the right information at hand is pivotal in determining the outcome of that decision, and how well it ultimately supports your business objectives.

 

Amidst the changes, social intelligence remains a constant support for brands to navigate uncertainty and provide insights for well-informed decisions. Amongst the increasing number of businesses that engage in social listening, 5 brands stood out for their insights-led strategies that were derived from Digimind’s AI-powered social listening platform – Digimind Social. From identifying key trends to adapting their content strategy, find out how these brands acquired top-line insights to propel their businesses and stand out from their competitors.

 

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Written by Edrea Boo

Edrea is a member of the APAC marketing team at Digimind. Her fervor towards Marketing Communications has led her to her exploration of MarTech and Social Analytics – a world that could quite possibly tame her wildly curious, extra-extraverted disposition towards all things that tickle her fancy.