Transforming Social Media Data into Predictive Analytics – CRM Magazine

Consider it the next frontier in social media marketing: While some companies fine-tune their ability to monitor social media networks, others are going one step further, fusing social media data with predictive processes.

Interest in social media, from individuals and businesses alike, is soaring. More than 900 million people worldwide check their Facebook accounts on a monthly basis, followed by Twitter, which has more than 150 million active users. In March, LinkedIn claimed it had more than 160 million users, with two new members joining the site every second.

Companies are eagerly listening to what is being said about their brands and searching for ways to take advantage of all this data. While there have been several successful cases, plucking trends out of social media chatter is still an emerging practice, notes Gartner senior research analyst Jenny Sussin. “We think overall target market penetration for social analytics is in the five to ten percent range,” Sussin says. “In terms of companies doing something predictive, I’d have to say it’s less than five percent.”

via Transforming Social Media Data into Predictive Analytics – CRM Magazine.