In the next iteration of social media monitoring solutions, conversation data from discrete topic groups will be run through a “cycles scanner”, which shows dominant cycles related to specific topics. Insights professionals will be able to accurately predict future behavior based upon recurring patterns discovered using the “cycles scanner”. The way the cycles scanner works is simple: it takes data and uses a variety of well known algorithms, along with spectral analysis, to determine recurring patterns. Insights professionals will see before their eyes on a graph the ebb and flow of conversation relative to periods in the past, as well as a predictive signal (in the form of a wave pattern) going out into the future. This is important because insights professionals will have a higher threshold of confidence when advising brands on when to execute on specific manufacturing volumes, distribution foci, and campaign content. Insights professionals will also be able to blend audience intelligence with this enhanced predictive ability to reveal to brands who will buy next and where/when. We are entering an age of true prediction.
