Social Watching and Analysing Social Media Imagery at Scale

What is Social Watching?

Social Watching is a unique approach that uses image recognition technology, analysis, and the collection of user-generated content at scale to transform the way brands think about their brand’s equity.

Analysing Social Media Imagery at Scale – An Ikea Case Study.

Last year at Social Media Week I attended a talk by Ikea and The Socialisers about Ikea’s use of social watching to get a better understanding of their customers through analysing User Generated Content.

User Generated Content (UGC) is at the heart of social watching. Social Watching allows the Company to view, collect and analyse data from UGC to see the world through their consumer’s eyes.

They analyse thousands of images to gain a 360-degree view of their consumers, allowing them to analyse brand hashtags and track different locations and audiences. Image recognition allows them to search by colour, by product etc. This allows the company to then understand what their brand means to people.

For example, Ikea found out that 22% of UGC relates to food which was higher than they were expecting. Ikea food is a global phenomenon and social watching allows the company to deep dive and analyse this, to help them identify hashtags that people are using in connection with their products – and use them themselves.

By training and developing the algorithm they have been able to refine and segment that data. They have identified 23 Segments of Content (which are continuing to grow).

Interestingly it also allowed them to understand the way that people are using their products and sharing their experiences and where. Here are some examples:

We don’t all have a huge budget like Ikea to invest in social watching. However, on a small scale it reminds us to look and listen to what people are saying and sharing, to think about how your customers are interacting and using your products and the hashtags they are using – and hi-jacking these for our own benefit.