How did you get into social intelligence? What was your career path to your current position?
I started my career in the research + analytics department of a communications agency in San Francisco, CA. It was an excellent way to gain experience implementing qual + quant research methods; we prioritized tailoring our methodology to understand the specific question at hand. In turn, I was trained to lead focus groups, conduct in-depth interviews, draft surveys and dig into big behavioral data - and, yes, explore social data.
I found that my outputs were always strengthened by the inclusion of social insights. I'd recommend including social intelligence components as part of any research proposal - as there was always an applicable angle. Social data provided a rich, unprompted view of the topic at hand. I loved weaving it alongside more traditional research methods and data science figures. (I think of research as that elephant metaphor - different methods are the ears, tusks or tail; all together they give a more complete picture of the elephant.) That said, I loved the evolution, thoughtfulness and creativity of social data requests more than my research that centered on predictable SPSS cuts.
Social intelligence, in my opinion, can be one of the most fun and exploratory research disciplines. From memes + emojis to linguistics + analytics, it is full of untapped possibilities. It can go back years or be up to the minute. Parameters can be customized - looking wide and conceptual or narrowing in on a specific trend, feature, product or brand.
I meandered away from the social intelligence discipline to gain a broader experience with other data science + research methods - but I'm thrilled to be back exploring social data full force at Microsoft.
What's your proudest achievement of your career to date?
At Microsoft, my proudest moments have been providing emerging insights to colleagues + leadership. The rush of providing near real-time insights as decisions were being made as well as the satisfaction in providing a longer historical view to inform long-term business strategies. In either case, social intelligence has given my peers + leaders alike a fuller, thoughtful context to better understand our industry, products and consumers.
For example, COVID-19 first came on my radar as a serious topic via social in early 2020 - as I regularly keep my eyes out for emerging trends. Due to the nimble nature of social data, we were quickly able to build out daily reports around the topic, followed by deep dives into new terms gaining speed like 'social distancing' or 'telehealth'. As lockdowns occurred and traditional in-person research was disrupted, appetite for these reports grew enormously. Our team + suppliers rose to the occasion. We proved over and over the value social intelligence has around trendspotting, checking social reaction to fast-moving stories as well as providing product and brand insights.
Our social data research has subsequently helped our stakeholders, colleagues and leadership understand other emerging topics as well as product launches, name changes, industry events, product deep dives and much more. Along with demand, the team at Microsoft has grown too. Each new report and each new team member makes me proud to be a practitioner in this growing and important discipline.
How is your organisation using social data to support business decision-making?
From my point of view, we've been able to leverage social data in two distinct + important ways:
• Its speed: By understanding a quickly evolving story or trend ‚Äì which are more in the moment temperature checks
• Its depth: By unlocking robust, conceptual research ‚Äì which is deeper exploratory work that takes a more detailed + long view
Both types of social intelligence research have shaped feature development, engineering prioritization, comms + messaging, website design, product naming - just to name a few!
Looking into 2022, what are your expectations for how social intelligence is going to support your organisation?
Our team has been growing - as has demand for more of our research! We've built a strong foundation, and I'm excited to see all we build, design + implement in 2022. We will be supporting more growing workstreams - building more queries + more audience cuts while experimenting with conceptual methods and quickturn visuals.
What's your view on how to develop social intelligence and get organisational buy-in?
I think it can be easy for data practitioners to get lost in the weeds after we've thoroughly explored our data terrain. Social data is no different. A professor at the University of Notre Dame, Kevin Hartman (who is now Chief Analytics Evangelist at Google), advised to always 'use as few brain cells as possible' when sharing your findings. This isn't because your stakeholders 'won't get your cutting-edge methodology'; it's instead about shifting the cognitive load from interpreting your strategic social insight to rather thinking about how to act on it. Get to the point and make it sing.
Your stakeholders may in fact have never heard of social data. They might be social data experts or busy executives who are short on time. It shouldn't matter. If your visuals + narrative are clear, the cognitive load shifts away from interpretation and toward curiosity around how we can do even more of this.
As a starting point, I think if you can unlock even simple things like volume over time or share of voice, that'll prove value and provide a fuller + usable context.
What piece of advice would you give to others working within organisations doing social intelligence?
For all the fun + experimentation in the discipline, social intelligence practitioners are often fairly isolated from other folks in similar roles. Joining professional interest groups can really help build camaraderie. Sometimes they're in the form of a Slack group or a monthly meet-up or a one-off conference panel. These groups have helped me simply just have *awareness around the latest and greatest opportunities + spark ideas* on what type of research I could consider doing next. They keep me in the loop on what might be on the horizon and they were good networks of support.
Where would you like to see the discipline of social intelligence going in the future?
While I still see the discipline deepening its outputs around text analytics, I find there is more and more a growing appetite for social intelligence to more quickly unlock insights from visual listening, emotions and network trend mapping. We are already fast, but I think the discipline is poised to be faster and dig even deeper - specifically in these areas.
What would you say to business leaders about why they should be incorporating social intelligence into their growth strategies?
It's unprompted commentary about the things you care about. It can reveal terminology, slang and witty memes you were entirely unaware of from more traditional research methods. It can clearly showcase moments when you have wins and where you’ve had missteps. It can provide a rich context to help you more fully understand your industry, your brand's perception, your consumers' journey and the most-pressing customer needs.
My personal views and opinions expressed are solely mine and do not necessarily reflect the views of Microsoft.
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