Using Twitter for trend analysis | Detailed explanation of advantages, disadvantages, and how to use it
Trend analysis plays an important role in understanding market trends and hidden consumer needs. However, some people may not know how to conduct trend analysis.
In this article, we will introduce the advantages and disadvantages of using Twitter, one of the most popular social networking sites, for trend analysis, as well as how to use it for trend analysis.
table of contents
What is trend analysis anyway?
Trend analysis is the analysis of market trends and consumer needs based on information on social media, including social networking sites such as Twitter and Instagram.
By analyzing trends in the world, you can grasp the true feelings of consumers, which are difficult to grasp through questionnaire surveys, and the characteristics of products and services that are likely to become popular in the future. The data obtained from trend analysis can be used for the development, promotion, and marketing of your own products and services.
Another advantage of trend analysis is that it allows you to understand the times when users are likely to pay attention to your content. If you have an official account on social media, you can create a strategy to post at times when your content is most likely to be popular.
Advantages and disadvantages of using Twitter for trend analysis
Next, we will introduce the advantages and disadvantages of using Twitter for trend analysis.
Benefits of using Twitter for trend analysis
There are several main benefits to using Twitter for trend analysis:
- There are many posts, making it easy to gather information
- Get real-time information
- You can collect real opinions
- Each tweet is short and the topic is easy to identify.
First of all, a major advantage of Twitter is that there are many posts and it is easy to gather information. According to materials released by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (※), the usage rate of Twitter in fiscal year 2021 (Reiwa 3) was 10% for teenagers, 67.4% for those in their 20s, and 78.6% for those in their 30s. This usage rate is higher than other SNS such as Facebook and TikTok, proving that there are active users.
In addition, tweets are updated in real time, and you can collect real consumer feedback. For example, if your company's commercial is aired on TV, people who watch it can post tweets, which can be checked immediately by keyword search.
Additionally, when non-paying users post, each tweet is limited to 1 characters, which has the advantage of making it easier for companies to identify topics.
Disadvantages of using Twitter for trend analysis
While there are advantages to using Twitter for trend analysis, there are also disadvantages, such as the following:
- Due to character limit, names and ratings may be difficult to understand
- The poster's age, gender, and other attributes are unknown.
As mentioned above, Twitter limits the number of characters for non-paying users to 140, so depending on the product or service, it may be difficult to read the correct name or rating.
However, subscribers to the paid subscription service "Twitter Blue" can tweet up to 2,000 full-width characters. By actively analyzing the longer tweets of paid subscribers, it will be easier to ensure the accuracy of trend analysis.
Data available on Twitter
Twitter may collect the following data:
| Data | Features |
| Tweet | Text, images, and videos posted on Twitter. Sometimes called "tweets." |
| Retweet | To forward the content of someone else's tweet to one's followers. This has the characteristic that the information of the original tweet's author is preserved while spreading, and is also called "RT" or "spreading." |
| reply | This refers to the replies to other people's tweets. You can see what people think about a particular topic. |
| Mention | Posting a tweet with "@username" attached. Also known as an @tweet, a notification will be sent to the user who is mentioned by the poster. |
As shown in the table above, Twitter allows you to collect various data depending on the purpose. For example, by checking the number of retweets for a tweet posted by a company, you can see how much sympathy and support it has received from users.
Another advantage is that you can use APIs provided by Twitter or third-party apps to access and obtain Twitter data.
An API (Application Programming Interface) is a mechanism that allows Twitter functions to be used by external apps, allowing for integration with advertising functions and keyword searches, among other things.
On the other hand, third-party apps are apps developed outside of Twitter. There are many different types available, and you can connect your Twitter account to an app that meets your needs.
Analysis methods using Twitter data
Here are three ways to analyze Twitter data:
Keyword and hashtag analysis
By checking the amount and frequency of posts of keywords and hashtags related to your company, you can use this information for trend analysis. A hashtag is a form of posting in which a keyword is preceded by a "#". Tagging improves searchability and allows users with similar tastes to interact with each other.
When searching for keywords, you can use the Yahoo! Real-time Search service to check the number of tweets during a specified period and view a graph showing the trend in the number of tweets. You can select a period of 6 hours, 24 hours, 7 days, or 30 days.
Network Analysis
By using marketing tools specific to Twitter, you can perform network analysis such as the popularity of tweets, the spread of information, and identifying influential users.
You can easily get the information you want to know on an easy-to-use screen without having to open the Twitter app and search for keywords one by one, which will increase the efficiency of your analysis. There are multiple marketing tools available, and it is important to choose the one that best suits your company's needs.
Sentiment Analysis
Sentiment analysis is a method for understanding emotions and opinions on a certain topic. The purpose of this analysis is to objectively understand the emotions and opinions contained in the text posted by users and use them in your company's strategy.
For example, if an analysis of users' feelings toward your company's products and services reveals that there are more negative emotions than positive emotions, then immediate improvements are required. Understanding users' reactions to your products and services can be useful for decision-making and risk avoidance.
How to use Twitter trend analysis for marketing
From here, we will introduce how to use trend analysis on Twitter for marketing.
1. Market Trend Forecast
If you can continue to quantitatively and qualitatively grasp changes such as market expansion or contraction, you can use this information to predict market trends. This can be done by regularly checking posts with specific keywords or hashtags, as well as the emotions and elements contained in the content of those posts.
In particular, it is difficult to generate profits in a shrinking market, so predicting market trends in advance can increase the chances of success after entering as a new business.
2. Analysis and comparison of competitors
By analyzing the activities your competitors are conducting on Twitter and the tweets they make about their products and services, you can more easily differentiate yourself from them.
For example, if you know in advance the advertising and branding features being used by other companies, you will be able to create your own unique strategy when implementing the same thing in your own company.
You can also compare your company with your competitors on a specific topic. By analyzing how general users evaluate and respond to a topic, it becomes easier to identify areas for improvement.
3. Develop your marketing message
Using Twitter for trend analysis can be used to develop marketing messages that go beyond simply communicating the benefits of a product or service, and instead emphasize the true value customers can gain from the product or service.
By extracting genuine opinions about your company's products and services via Twitter, you will be able to find new selling points.
Delivering real value can improve conversion rates for your products and services. In addition, developing or improving your marketing message is less expensive than a major overhaul of your website, and you can start today.
4. New product development
By finding out what problems and needs people have from their Twitter posts, you can use the information to develop new products or improve existing ones.
In particular, in recent years, it has become an important issue for companies to develop new products and improve existing products while staying in tune with the needs of their users. Twitter allows companies to pick up real feedback, making it easier for companies to take action from the same perspective as their users.
Summary
Twitter is a social networking site used by many people today, and is an essential tool for analyzing trends. Because it reflects real-time user feedback, it allows you to objectively check rapidly changing market trends.
Using Twitter analytics for marketing can help you predict market trends, analyze and compare competitors, develop marketing messages, and more.
If you are interested in using Twitter for trend analysis in the future, be sure to check out the information in this article.
In addition, when considering trend analysis using Twitter,Customer research and analysis solutions using big dataPlease also take a look at the information on our website. Our experts will support you from survey design to analysis.
Recommended articles
-
ColumnWhat is context engineering? Why generative AI answers become mediocre: The difference between context design and prompting.
-
ColumnIs your ad really contributing to sales? Exploring the limits of attribution and the true value of incrementality
-
ColumnHow to identify your selling points to beat your competitors | Data-driven marketing strategy that connects analysis to your next move
