What does social intelligence mean to you?
Social intelligence means turning complex data into relevant information, clear insights and strategic advice.
In our work as strategic communication consultants, social intelligence is an essential bridge between our clients’ business goals, their online reputation, overall market trends and the social media campaigns we develop for them. Without social intelligence, brands are at risk of totally misreading the consumer landscape. It helps us build better strategies and measure the outcomes of our work more effectively.
What are you doing that no-one else is to drive the social intelligence industry forward?
There are plenty of insightful and innovative social intelligence experts in the industry and I am honored to be nominated as one of them this year. When it comes to my work and approach to social intelligence, I believe that we, as SI Insiders, first have a responsibility to educate, which is why I have been advocating for social intelligence through thought leadership on social media since 2017.
Last year, I went a big step further with the creation of the Olympic Sponsors Barometer, a tool for measuring, analyzing and comparing the digital impact of all global and official sponsors of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games through social listening.
Key milestones of this project included an online dashboard accessible to all for free, a weekly analysis newsletter, regular features in the leading French PR outlet Stratégies, and a webinar with a guest speaker from one of the major sponsors of the Olympic Games.
I am convinced that it is by demonstrating the added value of social listening through concrete and accessible projects that we will move the market forward.
It's the year 2030: What does the practice of social listening look like?
Probably much more data, faster analysis, a broader range of data visualization options. A lot of this being strongly AI-powered. However, despite the rapid surge of AI, social listening in 2030 should still require a large amount of human intelligence to compensate for the shortcomings of AI, such as understanding irony, providing relevant context and most of all coming up with truly differentiating strategies.
What is the most common question you are helping your clients answer?
How does my brand compare to others on social media? (In terms of visual and text content, impact/performance, positioning, and reputation.)
Have you got a favourite social intelligence use case or case study from the last year?
From our own work, definitely the Olympic Sponsors Barometer which really helped me take the agency to another level.
Among our peers, I am a huge fan of Florent Lefebvre’s work. Florent is a freelance social data analyst who frequently shares very insightful use cases on LinkedIn and X. His “Map of the US election on TikTok” is one of my favourite use cases from last year.
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?
The Happiness Equation from Neil Pasricha. This book has completely changed my way of working by making me more productive, happier, and more confident. A small gift from a very good friend of mine that made a huge impact. I don’t think I would have tried to build something as ambitious as the Olympic Sponsors Barometer if it wasn’t for this book.
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?
Build a dedicated team around a senior social intelligence leader rather than adding social listening as another brick to the scope of your existing head of communications or head of brand. For this position, look for an expert with a real passion for social intelligence, a lot of curiosity and the ability to engage his or her team on the journey.
What are you looking forward to in social listening for 2025?
With the latest announcements from Meta, 2025 promises to be an eventful year for social listening. There will be opportunities to demonstrate the added value of social intelligence not only for brands but also in the context of upcoming elections and other political events. Alas, 2025 might also threaten our way-of-working, especially if we rely on social listening platforms connected to social networks’ APIs. It will be our role as SI Insiders to demonstrate leadership by adapting and continuing to advocate for social intelligence in uncertain times.
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