Social media data is useful to companies that need to understand how to put the data to good use. This data is a gold mine when it is analyzed correctly using the correct tools. But it is what these companies do with that data that makes it both valuable and profitable.
In the U.S., the general merchandise store Target has put customer intelligence to good use when trying to gain customer loyalty at a very specific time in their lives.
According to the New York Times, Target assigns every customer a Guest ID number containing information about their life and shopping habits. But it also tracks much more information than basic shopping patterns.
Tracking your online conversations adds to this rich data set. Target not only tracks information about your shopping habits, it sometimes also knows which political party you support and the types of charity you give to.
Learn more about mining the social data stream for deeper customer insight at zdnet.
Tags: consumer insights, reporting manager, social data, social data mining
