The Primer of Social Media Analytics

Defining Social Media Analytics

The use of social media to engage with customers has increased dramatically in recent years. According to the Pew Research Center (Sheet, 2014), more than 74% of online adults in the U.S use social media to connect, interact, collaborate or engage with others. Social media based recommendations influenced an average of 26 percent purchases across 30 product area and more than 100 brands (Bughin, 2015). The widespread influence of social media as a source of information and marketplace has sparked research interests for social media analytics (SMA) (A. Chen, Lu, Chau, & Gupta, 2014; Qiu, Rui, & Whinston, 2014). Although the impact of social media continues to increase, its measurement remains a challenge.