How To Pull Insights From Data

On Thursday I’ll lead a webinar for my friends at NetBase around the topic of research and pulling insights from data. It’s really kind of a fuzzy topic for me because while I know how to do it, I don’t know that I’ve ever tried to explain it to others. But moving through the ideas and trying to come up with some recommendations for folks has been a neat exercise.

You should certainly register for the webinar and join us live, if you can. If not, the event will be archived on NetBase’s website, so you’ll still be able to access it. It kicks off at 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT Thursday, May 12. It should last 45 minutes or so. And as of right now, it’ll be a fast and fun talk. I’m not planning on a lot of PowerPoint slides but rather looking at data and just walking folks through what I look for and see.

In preparation, I’d love to hear from some of you who sift through research, particularly those of you who focus on social media data you might glean from monitoring solutions, web-based research tools and the like. I’ll be sharing some ideas on how I try to pull insights from keyword research, anecdotal conversation points and more. But I’d love to hear from you:

• What do you look for when reviewing surveys, monitoring information, keyword research and so on?
• How do you decipher anomalies from potential trends?
• What type of data do you weigh heavier than others?

I’d love your thoughts and ideas on how you find the needles in the haystacks. I’m certainly not the first, only or even best person out there to explain how to pull insights from social media information. Your ideas would be a welcome addition to the conversation.

Come see us on Thursday. In the meantime, drop a comment and let me know how you find insights in the data you see.

Disclosure: NetBase is an online research partner of Social Media Explorer.