Presentation delivered at the Academy of Marketing Conference, 2012 (Southampton, UK). Winner of the best paper in track, Market Segmentation. More information here: http://anacanhoto.com/2012/08/06/social-media-and-customer-insight/

1. A Conceptual Investigation of the
Value of Social Media Data as a
Source of Customer Insight
Ana Isabel Canhoto, Oxford Brookes University
Jan Kietzmann, Simon Fraser University
Canhoto and Kietzmann, 2012

2. The issue
Canhoto and Kietzmann, 2012 Source: Kietzmann et al 2011

3. The issue
Canhoto and Kietzmann, 2012

4. The goals
• Investigate the potential of SM channels to
contribute to customer insight
• Conceptual research: move theory and practice
from a predominantly micro perspective to a
fairly macro one (MacInnis, 2004)
• Availability of data vs. Value in use
– Information Systems: to make good decisions,
managers need to assess the quality of the input
data on its own, as well as in terms of its usefulness
for solving specific tasks (Watts et al., 2009)
Canhoto and Kietzmann, 2012

5. The goals
• Theory into practice:
Canhoto and Kietzmann, 2012

6. The goals
• Practice into theory:
– Emerging techniques – Keynote speech
– Knowledge gaps
• Different stakeholders’ perspectives
– Users vs. developers of customer profiles
• Segmentation discourse
– Possible vs. acceptable approaches
– Quality
– Effectiveness, efficiency…
Canhoto and Kietzmann, 2012

7. The approach
1. Identify a suitable framework to assess the
quality of social media data
2. Adapt the framework for the specific
context of segmentation
3. Validate the framework with users and
developers of customer profiles
4. Apply the framework on social media data
Canhoto and Kietzmann, 2012

8. 1. Literature Review
Canhoto and Clark, 2012

9. 2. Developing the framework
Dimension Segmentation
Intrinsic The data in Bias, errors, lies or exaggerations (Lichtman et al., 1992)
its own right; [Keynote: Jameson and Bass 1989]
and source
Results can be distorted by unique occurrences or local
effects (Humby, Hunt, & Phillips, 2003)
Contextual Context for Cost and practical difficulties of obtaining and updating
which the detailed customer typologies (Quinn, 2009)
data is to be
used Solutions need to be manageable (Dibb, 2005)
Key variables not easily observable (Hines & Quinn,
2005)
Gap in the literature concerning specific business
contexts (Dibb and Simkin, 2001)
Canhoto and Kietzmann, 2012

10. 2. Developing the framework
Dimension Segmentation
Representational The format Practitioners value ethnographic research (Zolli, 2006)
and the and qualitative insight such as video footage (Quinn,
meaning of 2009)
the data
Intuitive approach (Palmer & Millier, 2004)
Broader, soft, more exploratory than operational data
(Canhoto, 2008)
Accessibility How the data Multiple data sources (Bailey et al., 2009) and
is retrieved distribution channels (Meadows and Dibb, 1998)
Transfer all the data into a single database (Meadows
and Dibb, 1998)
Canhoto and Kietzmann, 2012

11. 2. Developing the framework
Canhoto and Kietzmann, 2012

12. 3. Validation
Dimension Segmentation Application
Intrinsic The data in Bias, errors, lies or Avatars in Second Life as self-
its own exaggerations (Lichtman et idealizations of the user; Facebook
right; and al., 1992) profiles deemed to reflect actual
source personality fairly closely (Back et
al., 2010). LinkedIn, as a
professional social network, might
be seen as a better source
(Kietzmann et al., 2011)
Results can be distorted by People generally share true
unique occurrences or local consumption decisions on
effects (Humby, Hunt, & Facebook, but lie on dating sites
Phillips, 2003) (Epstein, 2007)
Users can have several identities
through conscious or unconscious
disclosure of personal information
(Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010)
Canhoto and Kietzmann, 2012

13. 3. Validation
• Qualitative interviews (key informants)
– So far: 2 users + 2 developers
– Goal: 30 or saturation
• (Very) preliminary findings:
– Dimensions: all relevant
– Factors: not all equally relevant for every
scenario
Canhoto and Kietzmann, 2012

14. 3. Validation
Canhoto and Kietzmann, 2012

15. A Conceptual Investigation of the
Value of Social Media Data as a
Source of Customer Insight
Ana Isabel Canhoto Jan Kietzmann
www.anacanhoto.com http://beedie.sfu.ca/profiles/JanKie
@canhoto jan_kietzmann@sfu.ca
adomingos-
canhoto@brookes.ac.uk