What does social intelligence mean to you?
Social intelligence to me is an opportunity that has been a long time coming in the brand-consumer relationship where we can finally stop (or maybe at least drastically reduce) oversimplifying the consumer and over relying on the same surface metrics your competition is also using.
Now with evolved technology, robust data, professional culture changes, improved concept connections (e.g. behavioral science growing in marketing work), market drivers forcing change and increasing skills and confidence in early career analysts, there is more capability and desire via social intelligence to dig into the depth and complexity of humans than ever before.
The best part is that through social intelligence we can now really look at the dynamic human wants, needs and behaviors not just in general but specifically tied to the relationship, and gap, constituents have with our brand.
This may slow processes down a bit and make work a bit harder in the “now what?” phase, but that, especially in a world of increasing uncertainty and noise, is a very good thing we all, on the brand side as well as consumer side, need.
What are you doing that no-one else is to drive the social intelligence industry forward?
I deliver a manually generated 100-300 page report daily and I am starting my seventh year teaching social listening and audience intelligence to strategic communications students in a dedicated class that spans five months.
You might be saying, hold on, we are in the era of generative AI and platforms that at the press of a button process extremely large volumes of data and create awesome visualizations in seconds, a report that big and a class that long seems like a backward move?
What I am focusing on in my work and teaching is slowing down just enough to develop often missed and understated critical fundamentals of data use in organizations as tools improve. By bringing macro context and micro moments to the forefront, the humanity behind the numbers stands out which sparks curiosity, critical thinking and questioning for the readers, students and analysts.
The result roots social intelligence as not just producing yet more metrics quickly seen and forgotten by stakeholders but rather an ongoing narrative integral to better strategic communication decision making.
This report is just a part of this approach. I also fully embrace and use robust social intelligence platforms and AI too.
It's the year 2030: What does the practice of social listening look like?
“It is easy to see the branches of trees moving, but it takes practice to see the wind.” I found this wonderful quote from Flux: 8 Superpowers for Thriving in Constant Change by April Rinne. A great book I often reference in my teaching. In 2025 the practice of social listening focuses on what is there (the branches) for clear reasons. In 2030 I hope the practice of social listening, as well as the technology, evolves to also help professionals better see and dig into what is not there (the wind) too. Who is not talking? What is not being said? What aspects are not being covered? This is a great way, in my opinion, that tech like AI can help complement the human brain.
What is the most common question you are helping your clients answer?
“Can we remove this comment?” No. For one thing we are a public university so we have different legal requirements than private organizations but even beyond that my answer would still likely be no*. Social media should be a conversation. Humanity as well as community has parts you might agree with and parts you might not agree with. It also has nice people and not so nice people. Just like with all human-human relationships, the brand-consumer relationship needs trust and authenticity. This means a brand has to be open to hearing all perspectives and they should want to get as many perspectives as possible. From a social intelligence perspective, this is where our insights can really be beneficial. We seek the whole picture, not just the part we want. Learning often occurs in the parts that are challenging, not easy. *There are times when people go too far into threats and other situations that may be removed.
Have you got a favourite social intelligence use case or case study from the last year?
The influence of football (American) on university admissions, student life, giving, research and overall reputation is one of the most talked about, and debated, topics in U.S. higher education. This is not new but in the last year decades old models are being rebuilt in real time significantly altering previous understandings and approaches to all aspects of strategic communications for a university. I have the added benefit (and challenge) of a very high profile head coach (and family) driving many of the changes across not just our institution but the entire industry. One of my ongoing social intelligence efforts is using social intelligence to better understand how these changes, fandom, wins/losses, media coverage, and many other factors are impacting all aspects, including and beyond athletics, that make up our university’s reputation.
They say to be great you need to read around your subject – what are you currently reading or your favourite book and what insights have you been able to apply to your work?
I read as often as I can and fancy physical books vs audio. I love books about systems and human behavior. These all make me a better social intelligence professional and teacher by expanding and diversifying my context, improving my understanding of how our brain impacts collection, curation and consumption of insights. I share all the books I read on my LinkedIn feed so follow/connect if you want to see more.
My favorite book, which all my students will validate as they hear about it often, is Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don’t Have All The Facts by Annie Duke.
Uncertainty, ambiguity, and missing information is always going to be part of social intelligence even with the awesome tools and data we have. The more you reflect on your own journey with uncertainty the better you will be at any part of social intelligence (collector, curator or consumer). Annie’s book is outstanding at guiding this reflection.
If you had to share three emojis that summed up social intelligence, what would they be?
🤔🤔🤔
What advice would you give to a brand who wanted to create an internal social intelligence team?
Before the team is in place, assess what you really want to achieve and how you want the team’s colleagues and management to work with them and bring them into their workflows. Don’t invest in the tools, concepts and people without also making sure the structural and cultural pieces are in place to enable them to thrive. Social intelligence will challenge paradigms. This is a good thing and what you want, but it can also lead to tension around divergent perspectives, contrarian views and negative insights.
Honest and research based insights from your social intelligence team are not easy to share and take in, but honesty and candor are critical to the team helping their colleagues. Invest in training and ongoing guidance for all your teams around bias awareness and effective/respectful communication practices.
What are you looking forward to in social listening for 2025?
I am excited to be challenged by fragmented social media. While I don’t necessarily agree with everything that is happening, by both the platform side and user side, I do think social media as an industry and concept was overdue for a shakeup of some kind. Are we seeing the best kind of shakeup? I am not sure. Parts I would say yes, and parts I would say no. While there will be many more bumps and curveballs to come, in the long run they will settle out to a better model overall. Social listening this year will be harder due to all the above, but the results will be more impactful and the concept will be even stronger in the future.
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