It's always a pleasure to tap into the considerable brain power of Spredfast's Chris Kerns, author of Trendology, and upcoming speaker at The Social Shake-Up. During last week's webinar, also sponsored by Spredfast, we were able to bounce Chris's theories about putting data into action with Andrew Ashton of Yum Brands.
Our key takeaways were:
- Like anything in business, have a strategy before you do your social data listening. Be aware of what your goals are and be prepared to only listen to those conversations that align with strategy (otherwise you will be overwhelmed.)
- Pick a few small successes to get greater buy-in from management. Be sure to know how to communicate what you have learned in a way that is meaningful to your internal audience.
- Because social data touches all parts of the enterprise (Ashton), take a 360-degree approach to data, not a hierarchal one.
- Geo-testing is your friend. Because social data is a 24/7 focus group, and because mobile gives you such granular insight, focus on a specific geography, test and deploy more widely.
Many thanks to Chris and Andrew, and to Spredfast, for a grounded and relevant discussion. You can access the entire webinar and slides here, or check out highlights in our Storify below. More to come with our Best Thinkers webinars.