IBIMA Publishing Journal of Internet Social Networking & Virtual Communities http://www.ibimapublishing.com/journals/JISNVC/jisnvc.html Vol. 2012 (2012), Article ID 920553, 12 pages DOI: 10.5171/2012.920553

Research Article Analytics as a Business Intelligence Practice: Current Landscape & Future Prospects Umar Ruhi

Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada

Correspondence should be addressed to: Umar Ruhi; [email protected]

Received date: 9 September 2013; Accepted date: 23 January 2014; Published date: 11 July 2014

Academic Editor: Girija Krishnaswamy

Copyright © 2014. Umar Ruhi. Distributed under Creative Commons CC-BY 3.0

Abstract

Social media analytics is a nascent and emerging discipline that can help organizations formulate and implement measurement techniques for deriving insights from social media interactions and for evaluating the success of their own social media initiatives. Ultimately, a successful social media analytics program can enable businesses to improve their performance management initiatives across various business functions. However, businesses are still struggling with adopting, implementing and institutionalizing methodologies and techniques for an effective social media analytics program. This paper offers a business intelligence perspective of social media analytics with the aim to provide guidelines to help businesses align their social media programs, processes and technologies with the overall strategic objectives of the organization. Toward this, the paper outlines conceptual underpinnings of social media analytics and business intelligence, and draws upon findings from two online expert panels that were conducted to determine current practices, technologies and processes, and recommendations for businesses adopting social media analytics. By doing so, the paper hopes to offer a basis for establishing a baseline philosophy for businesses partaking various social media initiatives.

Keywords: Social Media, Analytics, Metrics, Business Intelligence, Performance Management

Introduction and business workflows, organizations are faced with the need to formulate and As social media channels make their way implement measurement techniques that can from personal to professional lives, and help them derive insights from social media permeate into everyday corporate routines interactions and evaluate the success of their

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Cite this Article as: Umar Ruhi (2014), " Social Media Analytics as a Business Intelligence Practice: Current Landscape & Future Prospects", Journal of Internet Social Networking & Virtual Communities , Vol. 2014 (2014), Article ID 920553, DOI: 10.5171/2014.920553 Journal of Internet Social Networking & Virtual Communities 2 ______

own social media initiatives. Social media Conceptual Foundation analytics is a nascent and emerging field poised to enable such an undertaking – From Social Media to Social Media allowing businesses to improve their Analytics performance management initiatives across various business functions. Whether it is to Before discussing the scope and specifics of measure the effectiveness of promotional social media analytics, it is important to campaigns, gather insights about customer clarify what is included in our definition of needs and preferences, discern social media, as there is no hard-and-fast perceptions, obtain feedback on product definition of the term that everyone agrees performance, or to capture data on market upon (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010), and the trends, social media analytics have the term has often been misused as a buzzword potential to provide useful information to (Kietzmann, Hermkens, McCarthy, & various lines of business such as Silvestre, 2011). Notwithstanding the lack of and , customer relations, public a standard definition, most academics and relations and product development. practitioners use the term social media to describe a variety of online channels and Despite these recognized benefits and the platforms that can facilitate collaborative wide range of vendor offerings and creation and dissemination of information. technology capabilities in the social media Common descriptive features of social media analytics space, businesses are still struggling include interactive, user-generated, with adopting, implementing and collaborative, shared, social network and institutionalizing methodologies and rapid information dissemination (Kaplan & techniques for an effective social media Haenlein, 2010). Categories of social media analytics program (Owyang, 2011; Petrocelli, defined by Sterne (2010) include the 2013). This paper addresses this issue by following: forums and message boards, advancing the viewpoint that social media review and opinion sites, social networks, analytics need to be positioned as a business blogging, microblogging, bookmarking, and intelligence practice – tying its various media sharing. monitoring, discovery and predictive capabilities to the tactical execution of social Central to the social media, categories listed media initiatives and to high level strategic above are two concepts that differentiate objectives of the organization. these channels and platforms from other In terms of organization, this paper first traditional technologies for computer provides conceptual definitions of social mediated communication – namely, activity media and social media analytics. This is streams and social graphs (Hinchcliffe, Kim, followed by examples of contemporary & Dachis, 2012). Social media behaviors such business use-cases and metrics constituting as communicating, creating, sharing and social media analytics practices. Next, the collaborating constitute the activity streams positioning of social media analytics of individuals. Furthermore, these programs within the realm of an interactions occur within the context of ties organization’s business intelligence practice and relationships among individuals and is elaborated. The paper concludes with their social network of friends, followers and qualitative research findings from two recent fans – representing their social graph of expert panel sessions. The findings are connections. presented in the form of five key takeaways related to the current landscape for social These ideas of activity streams and social media analytics, as well as guidelines for graphs are also significant in the context of firms looking at adopting various social media measurement as they provide technologies and processes to enable social the basis for quantifying and evaluating media analytics in their organization. actions and responses that spawn content

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and conversations on social media platforms metrics and business value metrics – each and channels. These baseline activity metrics level building on top of the other, and at a granular level can subsequently be used together they constitute a social media to develop advanced measurement models in analytics program. It should be emphasized a company’s social analytics initiatives – the though, that actionable analytics require subject of discussion in the next sections of well-designed metrics, and without the right this paper. set of descriptive measurements at an operational level, organizations won’t be able Working Definition of Social Media to discover patterns and gain insights for Analytics effective business strategy.

Consistent with the business intelligence Common Use-Cases & Performance Metrics perspective of social media analytics adopted for Social Media Analytics in this paper, we adopt the following working definition of social media analytics as While specific features and capabilities of proposed by Lovett (2011): “Social Analytics social media analytics solutions vary a great is the discipline that helps companies deal among vendors, most software provides measure, assess, and explain the support for standard use-cases that apply performance of social media initiatives in the across a wide range of businesses. context of specific business objectives”. This definition highlights the relevance of social Algorithms based on social network analysis, media analytics to performance management natural language processing, complex event and business objectives – constructs that processing, and data mining techniques are define the very notion of business commonly utilized by social media analytics intelligence (Lonnqvist & Pirttimaki, 2006; software to offer a range of analysis Watson & Wixom, 2007). capabilities and metrics that can be used by At its core, social media analytics comprises managers for deriving critical business the practice of defining and adopting the insights, and to facilitate effective decision- right metrics for measuring the success of making (Melville et al., 2009; Luckham, social media initiatives in organizations. It is 2011). a measurement framework that facilitates an integrated viewpoint of an organization’s On the outset, many analysts agree that strategic objectives, its performance businesses often use social media analytics measures at an operational level, and various for a few common reasons. The main social media metrics that can be tied to those business drivers for social media analytics performance measures. include: identifying advocates and For purposes of this discussion, we influencers; understanding sentiment; differentiate between social media metrics identifying audience segments; measuring and analytics by situating the latter as a brand reputation and share of voice; and higher-order construct. This viewpoint is determining effectiveness of marketing consistent with that of other researchers and messages (Lovett, 2011; Petrocelli, 2013; practitioners (Carlson & Kavanagh, 2011; Stodder, 2012). More recently, there has also Sterne, 2010). While metrics are primarily been an emphasis on including predictive concerned with data, transactions and analysis capabilities in social analytics information from the past, analytics on the software to allow businesses to discover other hand draw upon and analyze those patterns and anticipate impacts of current metrics to generate insights and inform metrics, such as sentiment on future social future strategy. For example, Lovett (2011) media activities (Petrocelli, 2013; Stodder, proposes a multi-level hierarchy of social 2012). media measures ranging from counting metrics to foundational metrics, outcome

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Table 1 below summarizes some common metrics need to be weaved together in order use-cases and the underlying questions that to extract meaning and insights that are businesses want to answer through social relevant to the business. Also, the complexity media analytics, along with analysis of analysis techniques varies by the context techniques that enable these use-cases and of business and the scope of tactical or sample metrics that may be of interest to strategic insights desired. A holistic social management. media analytics program should ideally incorporate multiple use-cases that can As highlighted in the Table 1, effective social enable monitoring, discovery and predictive media measurement comprises a capabilities to be utilized in the decision- combination of metrics derived through making process. multiple analysis techniques, and multiple

Table 1: Objectives, Requirements & Outcomes in Social Media Analytics

Enabling Social Common Use-Cases for Required Pertinent Social Media Media Analytics Social Media Analytics Business Insight Performance Metrics Techniques Which segments to target for acquisition, Social Media Active Advocates growth or retention? Social Network Audience Advocate Influence Who are the advocates Analysis Segmentation and influences for brand or product? What are the new or emerging business Natural Language Social Media Topic Trends relevant topics or Processing Information Sentiment Ratio themes? Complex Event Discovery Are new communities of Processing influence emerging? What are the brand perceptions among constituents? Conversation Reach Social Network How does brand Velocity Social Media Analysis compare against Share of Voice Exposure & Impact Natural Language competitors? Audience Engagement Processing Which social media channels are being used for discussion? What is the relationship among business Natural Language Interests or Social Media relevant topics and Processing Preferences (Theme) Behavior issues? Clustering Data Correlations Inferences What are the causes for Mining Topic Affinity Matrices expressed intent (buy, churn etc.)?

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As outlined in Table 1, there are various at the operational level. KPIs are metrics that options available to organizations for are central to the well-being of an implementing and institutionalizing their organization, and can be used directly to social media analytics programs. What is measure or evaluate the success of achieving important is for social media analytics to be the business objectives, and to prescribe a approached as a discipline that transcends course of action (Lonnqvist & Pirttimaki, just technology tools and applications. It 2006; Watson & Wixom, 2007). should be considered as a practice and a Recent research on social media analytics has process that can enable businesses to use emphasized the need to adopt a BI based social data as a crucial input into business approach to collecting, analyzing and decisions and strategy. Towards this, social interpreting social media data (Heijnen et al., media analytics needs to be situated and 2013; Murdough, 2009). In practicing social integrated as part of the overall business media analytics as a business intelligence intelligence practice in the organization. The initiative, it is important that every social next section provides an overview of the media metric tie to a business metric or KPI requirements and benefits for adopting such (key performance indicator), which in turn an orientation for social media analytics. should map to a strategic business objective. For example, it is often recommended that Social Media Analytics As a Business social media measurement initiatives be Intelligence Practice instigated through a high-level consideration of business objectives common to all For the purposes of this paper, we adopt a organizations – raising revenue, lowering business intelligence (BI) perspective of costs, or improving customer satisfaction social media analytics. In positioning a social (Sterne, 2010). Similarly, for social media media analytics program as part of an marketing initiatives, the high-level goals are organization’s business intelligence practice, usually tied to brand awareness, lead we adhere to the notion that BI can be generation and customer retention (Kelly, conceptualized as both, a process and a 2012). Etlinger et al. (2013) emphasize that product (Jourdan et al., 2008). As a process, business goals can often act as the North Star BI comprises methods and procedures that for businesses, hence helping them formulate organizations can use to acquire, analyze and and prioritize their social media disseminate information for business measurement initiatives. decision-making (Lonnqvist & Pirttimaki, 2006), and develop useful intelligence to help Overall, the relationship between corporate them compete and grow in their industry objectives, supporting business unit metrics (Jourdan et al., 2008). The product viewpoint or KPIs and social media metrics should be of BI focuses on the resulting information identifiable. Early efforts in defining and from analytical procedures that can allow elaborating these relationships can help organizations to predict the behavior of provide a strong foundation for a social various stakeholders and industry players media analytics program in the organization within their business environment (Vedder (Lovett, 2011; Zeng et al., 2010). Owyang et et al., 1999). Overall, the practice of BI al. (2010) refer to this exercise as “creating a pertains to making effective use of social media measurement playbook” that information technology to deliver actionable aligns an organization on the goals, information for decision-makers (Negash, objectives, expectations and actions of its 2004; Watson & Wixom, 2007). social media initiatives.

Core to the practice of BI is the integration Figure 1 below depicts the relationships between business objectives at the strategy among strategy, management and execution level and key performance indicators (KPIs) levels in the organization. We provide the

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following simple example to illustrate the management level, the organization may use configuration and relationships between the a metric such as conversation reach three levels shown in the figure. Towards (Interactive Advertising Bureau, 2009). At meeting the high-level business objective of the execution level, such a metric can be improving customer satisfaction, fostering calculated by looking at the ratio between the dialog with clients may be a specific business number of people participating in the objective for customer relationship conversation and the number of people management at the strategy level. Among exposed to the conversation (Owyang et al., other KPIs that can be used to track the 2010). effectiveness in meeting this objective at the

Figure 1: Business Intelligence Components in a Social Media Analytics Program

In deliberating social media analytics The preceding sections in this paper have through a BI lens, it is recommended that in outlined the author’s perspective of social addition to simply defining operational media analytics including conceptual metrics to strategic KPIs, organizations also underpinnings as well as suggested establish benchmarks at the levels of KPIs orientation for businesses. In order to and social media metrics. Such an orientation expand upon some of these guidelines and can spell the difference between success and offer further insights, the next sections in the failure of a social media measurement paper discuss the findings and results from initiative (Fisher, 2009; Murdough, 2009), two expert panels that were conducted to and it also indicates the maturity of social gain an understanding of the current state business intelligence practices and processes and future prospects of social media in the organization (Etlinger et al., 2013). analytics. Continuing with the example cited above, metrics such as conversation reach should Expert Insights & Recommendations ideally not just be reported as an absolute metric, but also as a trend over time, or as a Methodology comparative indicator against previous or external benchmark. This will help the Qualitative data for this study was collected organization gain a sense of whether the through two online expert panel sessions volume of participants in their conversations consisting of 11 participants in total (six in is expanding, and whether the conversations the first session and five in the second). The are spreading beyond their regular dialog participants who were invited to assist with venues. this research were selected as experts in the field of social media analytics by virtue of

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their industry experience. They were Findings approached and recruited through online discussion forums and practice groups on The results from the online expert panel social networking sites related to discussions session were compiled and summarized into about enterprise social media. All various themes that the participants participants had multiple years of strategic- highlighted as important with respect to the and operational-level exposure to social current landscape for social media analytics, media analytics through their workplace or as well as guidelines for firms looking at consulting backgrounds, and three adopting various technologies and processes participants were currently leading their to enable social media analytics in their own consulting practices related to organization. The key take-aways from these enterprise social media. themes are reported in the following subsections. The online panel sessions were facilitated through a hosted solution providing group Current State of Social Media Analytics: support system (GSS) functionality i. Lack of Business Strategy Researchers have suggested GSS tools to be a useful technology aid in scenario planning All expert respondents in our panel agreed and strategy development (Bryson, 1997; that as a business practice, social media Eden & Ackermann, 1999) . Through the analytics is still in its infancy. Organizations various features available in the GSS, we need to put a concerted effort in were able to use a mixture of structured and understanding the potential for using social unstructured mechanisms for data collection media metrics and analytics in the context of in our expert panel sessions. We consistently their business, in defining their business utilized the nominal group technique objectives and requirements for utilizing (Delbecq & Van de Ven, 1971; Sample, 1984) various social media measurements, and in which allowed participants to create their creating an effective implementation strategy own list of ideas and submit them for further for delivering social media analytics as part discussion at their own discretion. The of day-to-day business intelligence. nominal group technique is a structured variation of small group discussion methods, One expert compared the current state of and prevents the domination of discussion by social media analytics to the state of World a single person, encourages the more passive Wide Web (www) in 1995 when only few group members to participate, and results in companies were putting in serious efforts, a set of prioritized solutions or and most organizations were “merely recommendations (Boddy, 2012; Bryson, interested in conversations about it”. 1997; Sutton & Arnold, 2011). Several participants also reiterated that In our online expert panel sessions, the organizations need to understand the value nominal group technique was used in a that social media analytics can bring in the structured question and answer session workflows of many business functions, and format to gather information from this might require various cycles of usage, participants about the current state of social trial and error, and learning lessons. media analytics, issues and challenges for Development of mainstream social media firms, and recommendations for effective analytics solutions is dependent on social media analytics strategy. Each online businesses identifying their primary use- GSS session consisted of multiple rounds of cases for social media, testing various tools to interactions during which panelists enable these use-cases, and mapping the use- proposed, rated, commented, reviewed, and cases to business objectives and key re-rated items related to these topics and performance indicators. related issues.

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Most participants agreed that with respect to organizations getting started with their social current solutions in the marketplace, there is media measurement initiatives. no dearth of options (free and paid), and a variety of analytics platforms and With respect to advanced social media applications can potentially be utilized by metrics such as sentiment and influence, the organizations. However, organizations need panelists highlighted problems and to spend some time in figuring out which challenges with measuring these composite tools provide the intelligence that is aligned metrics. Some panelists commented that with measurements for desired outcomes of most algorithms for sentiment analysis are their social media initiatives. only accurate in the 60% - 70% range, as most software cannot account for detailed Social Media Metrics: Select Few Popular cues for sarcasm, context or slang. Other Choices & Standards Still Missing participants agreed and noted that sentiment analysis should primarily be used to gauge Almost all panelists agreed that current the main themes of discussions surrounding software suites focus on providing select a brand, product or service. Similarly with mainstream social media metrics such as respect to influence metrics, demonstrating engagement, reach, influence, and sentiment, cause and effect between individual actions and businesses have largely been unable to and aggregated outcomes is problematic, adequately link these and other metrics with and most measurement programs cannot key performance indicators for their business reliably link social media actions to KPIs such objectives. For instance, many businesses are as conversion rates in the consumer buying still trying to establish a plausible link cycle. Most evidence is based on anecdotes, between social media activity on their and this withholds the objectivity of any channels and their sales revenue. decisions based on influence analysis.

Specifically, the panelists highlighted that All panelists agreed that a social media engagement and reach metrics for social analytics program in an organization cannot media are typically used by many flourish until the industry agrees upon organizations as a starting point for several standard definitions for underlying social reasons. Firstly, marketing professionals who media metrics. Until such a time, have previously worked with digital organizations can focus on defining marketing campaigns can identify with consistent internal measurements to report metrics such as page views, unique visitors, the performance of their social media return visits, interaction rate etc. which are initiatives, but be cautious in trying to infer commonly reported in social media analytics from cross-company comparisons based on software in similar and easily those numbers. understandable terms such as number of fans or followers, number of posts or tweets etc. Social Media Measurement and the Linking these metrics to ROI is relatively Elephant in the Room: ROI easier than other more complex and multidimensional analytics. Panel Almost all expert panelists acknowledged participants suggested that organizations that return on investment (ROI) remains the using these metrics while being mindful of key question for social media analytics the differences between social media programs, and that the question keeps channels and traditional websites. Several getting asked because organizations haven’t participants also pointed out to the yet found a satisfying answer. Specifically, usefulness of the IAB categorization of social executive level management is very media platforms and relevant metrics for persistent in their demand for social media those platforms (Interactive Advertising measurements to uncover and define the ROI Bureau, 2009), and recommended its use to

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of social initiatives in the form of revenue, Future of Social Media Analytics: Advances profits or sales. through Big Data & Predictive Analytics

Some panelists also indicated that some The panelists in both online expert sessions marketing professionals are experimenting agreed that the future of social media and redefining ROI in terms of social media analytics is closely tied to the exploitation of specific outcomes. For example, some big data and the emergent field of data providers and consultants have science. With unprecedented access to data recommended the use of Return on Influence and computational ability, businesses will or Return on Engagement as being more finally be able to tap in the abundant appropriate in the context of social media. structured data in their internal enterprise However, panel participants concurred that systems, as well as continuously use social even these new metrics remained “hazy” and media monitoring tools to scrape “vague” since there isn’t an agreed upon unstructured data from the social web. Social definition. As follow-up comments in the networking sites like Facebook are building discussion, most participants assented that data centers around the world to collect and there currently isn’t a definitive method to process data related to their members’ digital measure ROI – in fact the metric may be footprints which can potentially be used to conceptualized dissimilarly by different aid business decision-making processes – businesses. Therefore, it might be useful for especially in areas related to marketing and businesses to develop their performance brand management. The key, according to dashboards to show ROI from more than one expert panelists, would be to effectively perspective. utilize big data by overcoming its fragmented nature and by reassembling relevant Value Driver for Social Media Analytics: information and integrating it with other Integrated Business Process Workflows internal sources of data in a time sensitive fashion in order to facilitate real-time Many panelists repeatedly spoke about the business intelligence. Additionally, importance and potential of integrated organizations will need to find effective ways enterprise systems and business process to cull signal from noise and identify the most workflows. In order to reap value from social valuable data and metrics for their business. media analytics, organizations need to enable Only then can businesses work towards an and support business intelligence workflows effective analytics program to provide through the integration of internal data from strategic insights. enterprise systems such as customer relationship management (CRM) with their Many panelists also expressed their opinions social listening platforms. With reference to about applying predictive analysis CRM specifically, it was noted that all techniques to social media data. Many applications that touch the customer should software vendors have started to provide ideally have a social media component. predictive and prescriptive analysis tools Additionally, organizations should pursue alongside descriptive metrics tools. These tighter integration between social media data features can potentially provide guidance on analysis and other customer intelligence what actions businesses should take in programs such as web surveys. This would response to other (possibly unsatisfactory) allow businesses to validate and act upon components of the social media metrics consumer needs and sentiments in a more scorecard. Many tools show promise in holistic fashion across the customer base. letting analysts discern new market segments, predict sentiment and identify potential customers to be advocates. Overall, the panelists presented a positive outlook for predictive analytics as an advanced

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technology that can help businesses baseline philosophy for businesses partaking anticipate rather than react to changing various social media initiatives. As a market conditions, and in being more continuation of our research, we aim to proactive in improving customer relations utilize our preliminary findings from the and pursuing growth opportunities. literature and the main takeaways from our expert panel findings to develop a more Conclusion formalized research action plan for social media analytics. Our plans include “Social media measurement is like driving a conducting further empirical research modern car. You may have a dashboard with through qualitative interviews and all the lights, toggles, gauges, and metrics, but quantitative survey instruments. The remember, the most important piece of data to expected outcome of our research is a clear have in front of you is the GPS screen. The GPS delineation of organizational, technological screen indicates where you want to go (your and behavioral factors that affect the objective), where are you now, and how to get adoption and implementation of social media there.” (Owyang, 2009) analytics programs in organizations. We aim to utilize our research findings to offer a The statement quoted above by Jeremiah pragmatic approach to delivering social Owyang, a well-known web strategist aptly media metrics linked to strategic business captures the value and importance of objectives can help enable better delivery of approaching social media analytics as a actionable insights to businesses. measurement framework that incorporates strategic objectives and tactical requirements Endnotes – i.e. as a business intelligence practice. As organizations get more serious about i MeetingSphere software measuring the effectiveness of their social (http://www.meetingsphere.com) was used media initiatives, it is important for them to to facilitate the online expert panel sessions. link their measurement frameworks to high- level business objectives of revenue References generation, cost reduction, or operational excellence. Situating a social media analytics 1. Boddy, C. (2012). The nominal group program as part of the overall business technique: An aid to brainstorming ideas in intelligence strategy provides a practical research. Qualitative Market Research: An approach for organizations to get the most of International Journal, 15 (1), 6-18. their investments in such initiatives. As evident from the recommendations in the 2. Bryson, N. (1997). Supporting consensus extant literature and key findings from our formation in group support systems using expert panels, a BI orientation for social the qualitative discriminant process. Annals media analytics has the potential to provide real-time feedback and actionable insights to help organizations in their decision-making of Operations Research, 71 (0), 75-91. doi: processes. Such an orientation would also 10.1023/A:1018983818299 enable organizations to improve the tactical execution of social media strategies such as 3. Carlson, K. D., & Kavanagh, M. J. (2011). building engagement across various channels HR metrics & workforce analytics. In M. J. and platforms, while directly tying social Kavanagh, R. D. media metrics to their overarching business objectives. 4. Johnson & M. Thite (Eds.), Human resource information systems: Basics, It is hoped that the discussion in this paper applications, and future directions (pp. 150- can serve as a basis for establishing a

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Umar Ruhi (2014), Journal of Internet Social Networking & Virtual Communities, DOI: 10.5171/2014. 920553