It’s called sentiment analysis or opinion mining. It’s a means of gauging what a person or even large groups of people really feel about a topic through determining what the content of language really means emotionally. Does a social media post really support or a candidate or cause or is it undercutting it with hidden emotional clues? Is a Brand name respected or considered out of date? Sentiment analysis software can help give the answers. It’s a combination of text analytics, computer linguistics, and biometrics. Using the available tools, sentiment analysis can help determine if a message is really resonating with a target audience or falling flat.
A recent study indicated that 99% of existing data is never analyzed. This leaves a huge chunk of information unknown as to meaning. Big data analysis and text analytics serve to find understanding in both the structured and unstructured voluminous flow of information inundating businesses every day. For example, Facebook alone has almost two billion users worldwide, This means an expansive amount of information being created every minute of every day. The need by governments, financial institutions and businesses to get ahead of the curve and derive meaning from the mass of information is building. Text analysis is currently a $3billion a year industry and should double that revenue total in two years.
The benefit of text analytics and sentiment analysis can be divided into three major categories:
1)More Accurate Analysis- Because text analysis software can analyze a so much broader swath of data, the results provided have more basis and credibility when it comes to making decisions about the effectiveness of marketing efforts.
2)Risk, Compliance, and Threat Detection- The government and even private organizations are being presented with an immense number of international and domestic entities and persons who could take action against the U.S. and its citizens. Sentiment analysis can focus in on corners of social media and the web where problems and potential threats can be detected before they happen.
3)Customer Engagement – By clearly defining the message heard by customers a business can start refining its marketing and customer engagement to become more effective even earlier than it could before. By the time a sales report has been received, the ability to modify the message may be too little, too late.
Sentiment Analysis for brand reputation can be critical in determining how effectively the perceived value of a company and its products really connects. The 2012 Obama Presidential campaign found sentiment analysis critical in determining how to fine-tune and shape its message through the media in the final months of its campaign.
Social media data analysis if done correctly can give needed answers to questions that need answers daily for businesses and other entities trying to gauge or even stay ahead of the curve. Sentiment analysis and semantic extraction software can be a powerful tool for those needed to the message hidden in those mounds of ever-increasing data files.
