"social influence analysis: a new insight territory"

SOCIAL INFLUENCE ANALYSIS: A NEW INSIGHT TERRITORY

Anthony Fradet - LinkfluenceUK Chief Operating Officer

@anthonyfradet

Luis Fernandes - ExpediaEMEA Research and Consumer Insights Director

The mission of the researcher

QUANT QUAL

The traditional toolkit

QUAL

The new toolkit

SOCIALQUANT

Qualitative data on a quantitative scale

In vivo (vs in vitro)

Social data: qualitative data on a quantitative scale

Vast collection of individual opinions

Identification of major trends and weak signal

Wide possibilities from social KPI measurement to in-depth content analysis

Social data: in vivo (vs in vitro)

Untamed, spontaneous material

Opinions expressed reach an audience, triggering tangible

influence mechanisms

No interrogation bias

What makes research methodologies fit for insight generation?

Framed Analysis

Business Question

Traditional research

QuotasSamples

RepresentativenessDiscussion guides

Valid Insight

Structured / bias-controlled data

QuotasSamples

RepresentativenessDiscussion guides

Unstructured / biased data

Framed Analysis

Social media research (for him)

“Lack of control on key parameters”

Business Question

Valid Insight

Social media research

Structured data

Unstructured data

Business Question

Valid InsightFramed Analysis

1) Definition of the data universe(semantic profiles)

2) Data segmentation

3) Data contextualisation through relevant social analysis frames

Social influence is an element of context unique to social data

Social influence?An individual’s ability to affect other people's

thinking in an online community

Numbers?

We are in the age of the tyranny of numbers

Numbers are good liars

Social influence goes beyond numbers, it is 100% contextual and based on

relationships and influence dynamics

Understandthe context

TECHNOLOGY(RADARLY)

CLIENTSERVICES

MARKETINGINTELLIGENCE

01UK POLITICAL WEB OBSERVATORY

HOW NETWORK ECOSYSTEM ANALYSIS

PREDICTED THE EU REFERENDUM RESULT

Published early June 2016

www.politicalweb.co.uk

www.politicalweb.co.uk

Colours refer to communities

Nodes are websites

Links are hypertext links between two

websites (inbound/outbound)

Node size indicates the level of

influence of a website

02DANONE CITIES

HOW SOCIAL AUDIENCE MAPPING HELPS UNDERSTAND CONSUMER MINDSET

2 objectives

Identify the key communities of interest structuring the social landscape in 4 major cities

Recommend smart actions to engage these communities in a meaningful way

How to capture the social conversation happening in a city and put it into context?

Can we trust individuals to tell the truth about what they are influential on?

Good proportion of what I post

Good proportion of what I post

Almost never postPost rarely

Interest is not influence

To make sense of audiences, content analysis at scale is necessary

The key

Organising individuals in communities based on the topics they really talk about

(not what they say they are)

Topic Drops

Key outcomes for Danone

Sharp understanding of cultural background

Identification of relevant content area

Food for innovation in brand initiative

03EXPEDIA - DIGITAL FOOTPRINT

HOW HIGHLY CONTEXTUALISED INFLUENCE ANALYSIS INFORMED EXPEDIA’S INFLUENCER STRATEGY


Modes

&

context

Business objective

Increase site visits and number of transactions

How to achieve this?

Increase brand presence throughout the decision making process prior to booking

Identify the right influencers for the right mode at the right time

How is the travel ecosystem structured in different markets?

The UK Travel Ecosystem

Colours refer to communities

Nodes are websites

Links are hypertext links between two

websites (inbound/outbound)

Node size indicates of the level of influence of a

website

Travel Online Ecosystem UK vs Germany

1,685websites25sub-communities

2,051websites

Travel Online Ecosystem UK vs Germany

TravelNews1%

Sports2%

Family4% Innovation&Tech

4%Business&Finance

5%

Food&Drinks10%

Lifestyle11%

Travel12%

Beauty&Fashion15%

OnlineMedia22%

Travel31%

OnlineMedia15%

Lifestyle 9%

Food&Drinks7%

Family5%

Beauty&Fashion4%

Business&Finance4%

Culture&Entertainment 3%

How to integrate context into affluence and make it operational?

Contextualised influencer identificationSocial audience

Monthly visits and views

Potential for working

with brands

Relevance for Expedia

Influence score*

*Influence score: Score (from 0 to 100) based on the inbound links received by the websites within the ecosystem.

Blogs with a high influence

score*

Sites with strong social

following

Identification of matching

Expedia Travel Mode

Travel modes in the UK travel ecosystem

• TRAVEL MODE A, B & D are the three main travel modes in the Travel Ecosystem, with 83% of the top influencers within the UK Travel ecosystem.

• These three travel modes provided most traffic. Travel mode B gathers the stronger follower base, with an average 880k followers.

• The most influential opinion leaders:AVERAGEMONTHLYVISITS AVERAGESOCIALFOLLOWERS

TRAVEL MODE A 368K 197K

TRAVEL MODE B 35,5k 880K

TRAVEL MODE C 71,4k 84,9K

TRAVEL MODE D 103K 295K

TRAVEL MODE E 13,8K 18,1K

TRAVEL MODE F 95,3K 46,2K

Key influencersCumulated

social audienceDominant Travel

Mode

25.5m à TRAVEL MODE A

4.2m à TRAVEL MODE B

1.8m à TRAVEL MODE C

1.5m à TRAVEL MODE B

1.4m à TRAVEL MODE D

31%

26% 26%

10%

10% 7%

Shareofinfluencersbytravelmode

Travel mode C

What kind of content do they produce?

• Visual posts, documenting breaks that are largely relaxation, culture or luxury focused (e.g. warm destinations, spa days, boutique hotels)

Place of travel within their life

Travels to relax mentally and physically

Booking Behaviour

• Destination is less important than an ideal resort. Likely to book all inclusive packages, sometimes offline

• Want hassle-free booking

Other interests

Food | Fashion | Style | Weekend breaks | Health

103k MONTHLY SITE VISITS ON AVERAGE

295k SOCIAL FOLLOWERS PER INFLUENCER (AGGREGATED AVERAGE)

Outcome for Expedia:

Involvement in contextual conversations

- Opportunities to develop more relevant content for specific context or simply to share it in the right place…

- Key influencers to work with beyond number of followers

Two things to remember…

QUAL

The new toolkit

SOCIAL QUANT

One thing to remember

Contextis

everything

Anthony Fradet - LinkfluenceUK Chief Operating Officer

@anthonyfradet


"social influence analysis: a new insight territory"

Social Media