Brands Shouldn’t Believe Everything They Read About Themselves Online

“Don’t believe everything you hear” is good advice — especially in an era of fake news and alternative facts. The same goes for managers who often rely on social-sentiment analysis to get a handle on what consumers think of their brands. Social-sentiment analysis is the process of algorithmically analyzing social posts, comments, and behaviors and categorizing them into positive, negative, or neutral. Many companies use it to understand how their customers are feeling about their brands. But new research found that there appears to be very little predictive power between how people appear to feel online and how consumers, who have experiences with those brands, rate them. This article offers  advice for those using or about to use social-sentiment analysis as a part of a brand’s consumer intelligence plan.