Do people around you use statistics and analytics constantly?
Web analytics, digital, social media, the list goes on. Yes, we understand. Statistics and ROI are important.
But do you feel overwhelmed? Not sure where to start or what metrics to look at related to your specific business context?
The problem lies in the misconception that analysis starts with statistics. The analytics must, in fact, start from a systemic or holistic investigation, first of the organizational situation (problem) that determined the need for analytics and, second, of the subjective function itself within the analytical process.
First, you need to decide which group relationships to focus on, based on the context and objectives of your research. For example, in a Twitter group, you can choose from the Follower report, the Retweet report, the “Favorite Tweets” report, or the Mention report.
Before identifying the top influencers, you, as an analyst, need to decide what your definition of “top influencer” is. Is it someone who is mentioned a lot by others in the group or is it someone who shares a lot of content? Is someone connected to many other influencers or is it a user connecting group members that are separate from general members?
The analysis, therefore, is not objective. It’s subjective.
How important is it for you to learn more about your subjective perceptions of the social media group being analyzed and the business context?
This is essential as it can help you gain a more systemic or holistic understanding of the situation being analyzed before deciding which metrics to monitor. It can also help you explain to managers the business value of tracking certain metrics.
So how can you do this? Here are some suggestions.
How to do a holistic analysis?
1. Think of analysis as a social process or group activity.
Each analyst has their own subjective view of the organizational context and the objectives of the analysis. To generate a holistic understanding, you need to collect these different viewpoints and analyze them as a whole.
2. Visually represent the analysts’ subjective perceptions
We all know what we think. But if we really want to understand and discuss different points of view, these points of view must be shown as visual artifacts.
Here is an index card created by an analyst to present their opinion on a specific social media group. Cards drawn by individual analysts must be negotiated and discussed in a group of analysts.
3. Discuss! Discuss! Discuss!
Discussing your individual system charts (or other visual artifacts) that represent analyst opinions can help to ask questions about the previously unknown organizational context and social media group. These discussions help to explain the differences in the motivation of each analyst and also to discover the common cause.
Holistic understanding is achieved when differences are reconciled and analysts can shift to a group view of the situation under analysis.
4. Use the following questions to holistically examine your subjectivity as an analyst
- What are your goals for carrying out this analysis project?
- What benefits can you get from carrying out the project?
- What risks might you be exposed to during project implementation?
- Is there anything or anyone in your environment that could interrupt or disrupt your search, or what changes would you like to make based on the search results?
- Who are the stakeholders in your organization or in a broader environment in which you would be interested or influenced by the research? How would they be affected?
- Who else is involved in the project and how does it relate to you and others?
- What level of formal authority do you have to make changes in the current situation or wider environment?
- In addition to any formal authority, do you also have informal ways in which you can change the situation?
- What changes or transformations do you expect to make in the analyzed situation or wider environment, based on the results of your research?
- What do you hope to learn from the project?
The questions above can be adapted for different types of analytical projects. For example, if you’re analyzing a social media group, you might ask questions like these:
- What are your goals for analyzing this social media group?
- What benefits can you get from group analytics?
- What risks might you be exposed to when analyzing the group?
- Is there something or someone in your larger environment that could interrupt or disrupt your search, or what changes would you like to make to the social media group or larger environment based on the search results?
- Who are the stakeholders in your broader environment that would be interested in or impacting the study? How would they be affected?
- Who else is involved in the project and how does it relate to you and others?
- What level of formal authority do you have to make changes in how your company engages with this social media group?
- In addition to any formal authority, do you also have informal means with which you can implement change?
- Based on the survey findings, what kind of changes do you hope to make in the way your company connects with this social media group?
- What do you hope to learn from the project?
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There are some main conclusions from this article.
First, as analysts and marketers, we must holistically understand the situation that created the need for analytics and the broader business context before considering which metrics to track.
Second, recognize that the analysis is not entirely objective. During the review process, we are asked to make many subjective judgments. By recognizing our subjective views and creating opportunities to define and discuss those views, we can generate a more systemic and holistic group-level view of the object or situation being analyzed and its business context.
Third, recognize that analysis should be conducted as an interactive group activity. If the analysis is carried out as an iterative social process, we can discuss the perspectives of individual analysts and identify new insights that can emerge when we consider individual viewpoints in conjunction with each other.
So if you’re not sure where to start your analytics process, what metrics to monitor, and how to identify the insights that make a difference, start thinking holistically.