What does social intelligence mean to you?
Social intelligence, to me, is about understanding the wealth of information people share and consume online. With a phone in nearly every pocket, people are constantly googling their inner questions, sharing curated personas on Instagram, consuming content across the web, and seeking advice on everything: how to be cool, how to parent, how to manage illnesses, or even what to think about.
The information people share - both publicly and anonymously - along with the content they consume, reveals a lot about society and culture. It shapes decisions in everyday life. If businesses pay attention, they can tap into this treasure trove of insights to make informed choices, just as individuals do.
As someone who grew up in the MySpace and early Facebook era, I like to say, "I used to scour the internet in order to fit in. Now, I do it so that brands can.”
What are you doing that no-one else is to drive the social intelligence industry forward?
With so much work behind closed doors, I'd err on the side of caution when claiming to do something no-one else is. However, my expertise is usually called upon for briefs that are initially deemed Impossible.
There is no set way of doing Social Intelligence, in the way we have with traditional research. My work centres on innovation, and then the democratisation of in-house technologies.
Capture has developed an algorithm that surfaces moments of peak enjoyment and low points in experiences, enabling us to map consumer journeys around key life moments to ultimately surface starting points for product development.
Demonstrating social intelligence can produce outputs comparable to those from expensive diary studies, we’re challenging traditional research norms. This not only increases the adoption of social intelligence but also empowers our clients to address qualitative questions with scalable, data-driven insights.
Another focus is topic modelling at the author level. Rather than looking at the topics in one category, we are looking at how and what people talk about across topics. In this way we are able to see patterns of consumer groups participating in similar topics of conversation and we are able to advise our clients on influencers, and partnerships outside their industry.
It's the year 2030: What does the practice of social listening look like?
By 2030, social listening will be an indispensable part of research strategies, firmly established as a legitimate and essential form of research. Mixed methods will become the norm and social intelligence will be incorporated into research plans will be as routine as traditional survey methods once were (I hope!).
Advances in AI have already revolutionised the field, making it easier than ever to summarise content at scale. AI tools will go beyond surface-level insights to uncover the why behind consumer behaviour, support in query writing, and categorisation and predictive analytics will become more sophisticated, allowing practitioners to surface new trends more easily than we can right now.
We’ll see the adoption of more sophisticated and specific social NPS trackers overtaking the use of traditional Net Promoter Score (NPS) trackers. Leveraging social media conversations to provide ongoing, real-time monitoring of brand satisfaction.
Finally, as video continues to dominate social platforms, we will have better tools designed to analyse and interpret video data as seamlessly as we do text today.
What is the most common question you are helping your clients answer?
The most common questions we help our clients answer include: “What are the trends within our industry?”, “What are our consumers needs and preferences?”, “How are we being discussed compared to our competitors?”, “What is the impact of my campaign?”, “What is the significance of this conversation online?”
Have you got a favourite social intelligence use case or case study from the last year?
It has been immensely enjoyable working with Alberto Romano on the Foresight system and Distilled Report. We have been tracking trends in 5 key spaces for Diageo since 2019, assessing their evolution each year to keep their Innovation and Consumer Planning teams on the pulse of what’s happening in culture, globally. Seeing these come to life in the recently published Distilled report was incredibly rewarding. The project is the prime example of how social intelligence compliments traditional research in trend detection.
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?
Cultish by Amanda Montell is a very easy read and taps into what nearly every marketer wants to know: how can I create a cult following? The subject matter revolves around how cults are formed, information flow, power and persuasion, and the parallels that can be drawn with how fandoms around brands are formed. I often see these strategies play out online, and this book has sharpened my ability to identify and articulate these patterns in my research.
Another favourite is The Signal and the Noise by Nate Silver. It delves into why some predictions succeed while many fail, offering a nuanced perspective on the limits of forecasting. This book has helped me improve how I communicate the constraints and possibilities of predictive analytics. Since clients often request predictions, it has given me the language to set realistic expectations and guide briefs toward achievable and impactful outcomes.
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?
Creating a social intelligence team requires focusing on three core pillars: Foundation, People, and Process.
Foundation:
Start by establishing clear objectives for the team and tie these back to business value. Whether gathering product feedback, identifying customer needs, or tracking market trends, these clear objectives will guide the team’s focus and provide metrics for success.
People:
Build a diverse team combining technical and behavioural expertise. You want people to be able to analyse data, identify insights and translate findings into actionable recommendations. Think about Analysts, Data Scientists, and Strategists. When hiring junior positions, look for candidates from economics, psychology, journalism, or sciences – these backgrounds often provide complementary analytical and communication skills.
Process:
Develop processes for collecting, analysing, and distributing insights. Begin with a focused pilot project with a clear research question such as “What are the key frustrations around our products? And how do these compare with our competitors?”. Create workflows for how insights feed into different business units, whether product development, marketing, or customer service. Think about whether these need to be a presentation or a shared dashboard.
Social Intelligence, and building such a team, is iterative. Start small, demonstrate value through quick wins, and scale based on organisational needs and impact.
What are you looking forward to in social listening for 2025?
I’m looking forward to connecting more with my peers in the industry and sharing our experiences and insight. I’m looking forward to introducing more clients to the power of social intelligence. I am so fortunate to work with brands who are curious and have the capacity to innovate with me. I look toward productising some of the more recent approaches to enable more of my team and clients to understand their consumers, brand perception and consumer trends online.
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