Sentiment analysis, also known as opinion mining, uses new technologies and algorithms to collect and analyze opinions about a product, service, or even an entire brand. It is not just opinions, though—it is also all the attitudes and emotions expressed with each mention online. In short, sentiment analysis seeks to highlight what people mean, not just what they say.

A Shift In Marketing

Marketing is no longer about trying to manipulate what people think about a product. Two areas most affected by this shift are predictive analytics and brand management.

• Predictive analytics. Predictive analytics allows businesses to identify patterns in customer behavior based on data from social or other open-sources, opening the door to more efficient targeting. Data gleaned from predictive analytics can even be mapped to the customer journey to ensure audiences get what they need right when they need it.
• Brand management. Sentiment analysis isn’t reserved for only your brand name or your trademarked product. You can use it to track trends in your industry or even your competitors, allowing you better manage your own brand strategy.

In addition to the above, big data and sentiment analysis will be heavy-handed players in creating personalized brand experiences, increasing loyalty and revenue for companies that get it right. There are other implications of the technology, too: For instance, sentiment data can help crowd source your product development and management strategies as well as reduce marketing costs.

How Sentiment Analysis is Changing Online Business Competition:

•  Actionable Intelligence – businesses can see what the concerns are AND get a qualitative handle on how much of a problem they have.
• Immediacy – informed by the collective zeitgeist; learning about and managing a problem in its infancy rather than in a full-blown crisis and put a rapid response plan to work correcting the problem.
• Competitive Intelligence – think of the tremendous advantage your sales and marketing team would have if you had the scoop on what customers thought about your competitors’ products and services.
• Brand Management – what if your sales are down for non-product related reasons such as concerns about the company or your key executives? Learn all about that with SA tools, get improvement programs underway and put your PR department to work.