SOCMINT is an OSINT-adjacent intelligence gathering strategy that focuses entirely on social media platforms. Social media intelligence has been widely used to research individuals, and more recently, used to investigate businesses. Digital marketing is considered a requirement for most business marketing strategies, and at the same time, the company’s privacy is often sacrificed. Below is a brief crash course into SOCMINT, the research phases, and its current uses.
What is SOCMINT or Social Media Intelligence?
SOCMINT or Social Media Intelligence is intelligence through which large amounts of information obtained from social networks can be collected, integrated, and shared. The term most commonly used today is SOCMINT, although it used to be called SOCINT. Nowadays, the latter term is more widely used to refer to societal and cultural intelligence.
Who uses SOCMINT?
This type of intelligence is essential for companies and brands. It allows them to collect a lot of information about the target audience, the market, or the competition, and carry out marketing strategies more adapted to their audience and create new products that people may need. SOCMINT is becoming an essential tool to increase the competitiveness of companies and institutions. If you want to know more about Competitive Intelligence, we suggest this article.
It should be noted that social media networks are the largest source of information about citizens, businesses, and entities in the world. Citizen or consumer insights go beyond demographics such as age, gender, and location but can also explain shared interests and feelings towards specific facts, ideas, brands, or products. However, it also entails a number of dangers for privacy and disinformation.
Operation and uses of SOCMINT
In terms of operation, SOCMINT focuses on basic and active social listening to find out what citizens or customers are saying about certain events, public personalities, brands, products, or services. Secondly, it is about analyzing the data obtained and transforming it into useful information for decision making, whatever the field.
SOCMINT makes it possible to analyze and use conversations, personal interests, preferences, and behaviors in online social interactions, so that people’s profile and behavior patterns can be known to use this almost complete knowledge of them in an influencing or purchasing process, for example.
In the same way, SOCMINT makes it possible to find suitable “influencers” to promote a product, to know the reputation of the brand worldwide, and even to detect trends and get inspiration for advertising or political campaigns and stay ahead of competitors or opponents.
SOCMINT is a great tool for product development or market demand for certain products/services.
SOCMINT Phases
- Planning: First of all, it will be necessary for the organization to have workers trained in OSINT (Open Source Intelligence) and Intelligence Analysis as well as in the necessary tools to obtain and analyze data from citizens, customers, or potential customers. To this end, the information needs and objectives of the organization should be identified when using SOCMINT. It is also advisable to establish a methodical system for achieving the proposed purpose and specific dates.
- Research and monitoring: This is carried out through “Social Media Listening” and consists of collecting comments, mentions, and social actions made about the company, the product, the competition, a fact, an idea or a particular proposal. From this and other information, it is possible to know the characteristics and needs of a group, audience or environment, identify subjective states (such as emotions or sensations) and cross-reference data.
- Analysis: Once the most relevant data has been obtained through Big Data, it is necessary that they are analyzed and interpreted properly to achieve the objectives set by the organization concerned. That is to say, all this information or knowledge gathered must be “interpreted” according to each stakeholder, grouping quantitative and qualitative data. For this it is necessary to carry out a good Intelligence Analysis.
- Decision-making and innovation: Once the opinions, sensations or emotions of the analyzed audiences have been correctly interpreted, it is time to make decisions oriented to the achievement of objectives. In the field of the company, improvements in products and services should be implemented, adapting them to the validated market trends. In the field of public institutions, it will be necessary to adapt the public policies or services offered to the real interests of citizens. This phase also includes the review of the SOCMINT process and the correction of some steps, if necessary. Flexibility is key for the organization to be able to adapt to changes in the context and maintain a competitive advantage.
