What does social intelligence mean to you?
For me, social intelligence, if implemented properly, is THE way to acquire tremendous competitive advantage. How does this occur? Through deep diving into the ocean of online conversations and thus “the other voice-of-the-customer”, enabling the discovery of unknown treasures, thus highly valuable and actionable insight(s), that is, fresh and authentic understanding(s), but not obvious, about consumers’ or customers’ beliefs, values, habits, motives, emotions and needs, which get translated into product, service or communication innovations/improvements. The deep understanding of the online dialogue and its interactions, as well as the strategic use of this wisdom to inform and guide companies, is what social intelligence represents for me.
What motivates you in your work? What makes you want to keep working in social intelligence?
I’ve been practicing social intelligence since I was a student attending my Masters‘ Degree in 2009. In all these years and more than 45 social intelligence projects, I have never had a bad experience identifying relevant insights for my clients or stakeholders. On the contrary, I can proudly tell that every single project was a success on its own, some with more impact than others, but every single insight derived from online interactions, which people are having in their daily lives, managed to move the hearts and minds of the people in the audience, thus clients, stakeholders, colleagues…and yes, myself too. That motivates me tremendously, experiencing the excitement of the clients, noticing that I am helping them achieve goals, or make a difference, be a step ahead of competitors and finally come back to me to solve the next challenge.
What do you think makes you successful in your work?
I think the combination of two elements: Passion and curiosity. A diver loves to dive in the sea and observe the wonderful underwater world (e.g. the immense and colorful biodiversity). I have the same feeling immersing myself into the world of online conversations and interactions in social media; It started with a „Discover Scuba® Diving“, if we stick to the real diving analogy, and it got me! I improved my skills with every immersion until the point where I became the „diver“ that I am today. Curiosity is another typical characteristic of divers, they always want to see more and discover new „things“. The same applies with me: I always ask myself „why“ and „so what?“. As a result, I keep diving, swimming and immersing myself a bit deeper, until I’m able to answer all questions that popped in my mind during the process and until I get that feeling of „all dots being connected“. True, “diving“ is not for everyone, some find it boring, some overwhelming, some terrifying; Luckily, I love being „out there“ and enjoy sharing the discoveries from my immersions to „the „world“, just as National Geographic or Discovery Channel do for their clients through magazines or tv-shows.
What are the key skills that have contributed to your success?
I focus on being systematic, that is, a lot of efforts on i) the process/methodology (keeping my distance from a full “platform-led” analysis with social listening tools) and on ii) the research skills of the researcher, including training curiosity, being systematic and an excellent storyteller. I strongly believe that researchers telling clients or other audiences these data stories need to be bold, authentic, creative and curious. Moreover, I am qualitative researcher by nature, for this reason, my social intelligence approaches have always focused iii) the principles of quality before quantity, understanding before measuring and reading before counting.
What makes social data special compared to other data sources?
Prof. Kozinets would say: „It‘s the researcher‘s secret weapon“. I see it the same way. I have always imagined social data as double-edged sword. On the one side, the more methodological side, due to the non-obtrusive and empathic observation of data, insights are completely unbiased, authentic and context-rich. Moreover, the amount of user generated content in social media is endless, which allows for the exploration of a variety of perspectives (e.g. costumer/consumer types) in one single approach. On the other side, the more strategic side, many channels, forums, groups, etc. represent influential pools of thought-leadership and „meeting-points“ for experts and Lead Users, who share the same interests and passions, and who tend to anticipate needs that will be general in the future. Similarly, in these specialized hubs, experts and Lead Users share their own solutions and „workarounds“ to satisfy their unmet needs. Such coping strategies are an immense source of inspiration for innovation purposes. In addition, I always discover interesting products with unique USPs I had never heard before.
What does being a social intelligence pioneer mean in the context of your work?
It means being always on the pulse of time, being always in the vanguard and up to date, but at the same time being true to myself, my values and convictions, in order to create new but useful methodologies or adapt existing ones, create new best practices, raising the bar of standards, have a positive impact in the practice of social intelligence globally and ultimately act as a facilitator to brands, companies and colleagues to profit from social intelligence optimally. In my current position and current company, it also means showing (especially) the automotive clientele what social intelligence can do for them and constructing tailored approaches, which deliver significant added value, in comparison to classical social listening studies they had experienced with other agencies in the past, where analysis was predominantly led by the functionality of the tools, leaving clients (unfortunately) with a bad aftertaste.
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