Customer feedback is hugely important for modern businesses. Thanks to new technology, you can gather and analyze it more efficiently than ever before.

One such helpful tool is sentiment analysis. This can help companies determine how customers feel about their products, services, brand, and other aspects of their business.

Let’s take a look at what it is, how it works, and what benefits it can bring.

Understanding Sentiment Analysis

Definition and concept of sentiment analysis

Sentiment analysis, also referred to as opinion mining or emotion AI, is a transformative process that deciphers the emotional tone expressed in text. It leverages advanced technologies such as natural language processing (NLP), artificial intelligence, and statistical analysis to extract meaningful insights from diverse sources like customer surveys, social media, and online reviews. This method provides businesses with a profound understanding of how customers perceive their brand, enabling strategic decision-making.

Types of sentiment (positive, negative, neutral)

In sentiment analysis, sentiments are categorized into three main types:

  • Positive
  • Negative
  • And neutral. 

The analysis can be further nuanced by employing a five-point scale, including very positive, positive, neutral, negative, and very negative. Alternatively, sentiment analysis may delve into specific emotions, such as happy, sad, or disappointed. The choice of classification depends on the specific data a business aims to collect and the depth of insight required.

customer-service-on-social-media

Role of Sentiment in Shaping Brand Perception

The sentiments expressed by customers play a big role in shaping the overall perception of a brand. Understanding how customers feel about a brand’s products, services, or interactions is crucial for businesses. Sentiment analysis provides a comprehensive tool to evaluate brand perception, allowing businesses to gauge the impact of their operations on customer sentiment. By recognizing the role sentiment plays, companies can refine their strategies, address pain points, and enhance the overall customer experience.

Read How to Conduct Sentiment Analysis to Improve Customer Experience?

Integrating sentiment analysis into business strategies not only helps in understanding overall brand sentiment but also provides detailed insights into specific aspects. This comprehensive approach ensures businesses can make informed decisions and optimize their operations based on real-time customer feedback.

sentiment over time determ
Analyzing sentiment with Determ

Why Sentiment Analysis Matters for PR and Marketing Professionals

Impact on brand reputation

Consumer reviews published in opinion forums and on social media can impact a business in positive, as well as negative ways. So, monitoring the reviews that customers leave about your business online definitely pays off! Online sentiment analysis tools will make it easier for you to keep an eye on the perception of your brand. You can identify which sources influence it the most, be it in positive or negative ways. According to a recent research on PR statistics by Determ, 37% of businesses prioritize sentiment analysis when evaluating media monitoring results.

Of course, brand reputation management isn’t just about collecting the data – you need to act on the results.

Influencing consumer behavior

Sentiment analysis is very important for businesses as it helps them understand their customers’ sentiment towards the product or brand. By automatically classifying emotions behind social media comments, reviews and more, brands can make informed decisions. 

Sentiment analysis is a process that analyzes natural language expressions automatically, thus discovering claims or opinions, and classifying them as positive, negative or neutral.

The business landscape has seen an increasing need for sentiment analysis due to its impact on consumer satisfaction, leading to improved products, real-time issue detection, and market differentiation.

Sentiment analysis charts in Determ
Sentiment analysis charts in Determ

Analyzing Customer Satisfaction Through Sentiment Analysis

One key aspect of sentiment analysis is delving into customer satisfaction. Consumers articulate their experiences with products, conveying opinions and attitudes through natural language comments. This insightful data not only provides a snapshot of customer satisfaction but also serves as a compass guiding product enhancement strategies.

Swift Response to Real-Time Challenges Through Sentiment Analysis

In the age of social media, customers can instantly broadcast their concerns to a global audience. Social media sentiment analysis equips businesses to detect and address these real-time challenges promptly. This proactive approach not only mitigates potential damage to brand reputation but also showcases a commitment to customer-centricity.

Crisis prevention and continual improvement

As long as you’re keeping an eye on customer sentiment, you’re in a good position to spot a crisis before it gets out of control. It doesn’t always have to be about major problems. Identifying minor issues and addressing them promptly will keep you safe from any reputational damage.

Negative sentiment spike during crisis
Negative sentiment spike during a crisis

Perhaps a retail store PR team finds that many customers have been recently posting negative reviews of its Chicago stores. Catching this early on thanks to online sentiment analysis tools, the company might realize that there was a logistical issue. By spotting this quickly, they can fix the problem and even open a dedicated service line for those who’ve encountered the problem. Positive reviews of its response may counterbalance the initial negative feedback.

Key Benefits of Implementing Sentiment Analysis in PR Strategies

Let’s explore the key benefits of sentiment analysis through some real-life examples.

Improving Brand Sentiment

Brand sentiment analysis gauges the overall attitude toward a brand, product, or service. Companies employ sentiment analysis to track reputation metrics, such as sentiment score and net promoter score, unlocking impactful insights from customer feedback.

For example, Starbucks, a multi-billion-dollar coffee chain, receives an average of 10 tweets per second. Consider the challenge of manually analyzing this influx of data, including tweets about a new flavor amid various other content like customer complaints and news articles. However, AI effortlessly handles this task, swiftly classifying and cataloging mentions of the new flavor. By running sentiment analysis, AI generates valuable product-specific insights and trends, contributing to Starbucks’ predominantly positive social image.

Sentiment analysis by Determ
Sentiment analysis of SpotifyWrapped by Determ

Enhancing Customer Service

Sentiment analysis aids in proactively capturing and processing the Voice of the Customer (VoC), identifying and addressing specific pain points for improved customer satisfaction.


In gaining insights into its customer base, Airbnb employs an AI-driven sentiment model in conjunction with its Net Promoter Score (NPS). Recognizing the limitations of NPS in providing real-time and comprehensive feedback, Airbnb integrates sentiment analysis to derive immediate customer insights. This combined approach not only expands their reach beyond traditional feedback forms but also facilitates extensive A/B testing, contributing to Airbnb’s pursuit of long-term business goals.

Refining Marketing Strategy

Marketers utilize sentiment analysis to understand their audience, tailor messages, and optimize content for specific segments.

A good example is Pepsi, which frequently employs sentiment analysis to monitor brand mentions and gauge public perception. Utilizing smart tags for automated data processing, Pepsi segments its audience, delivering engaging content that enhances social media presence and reach. This data-driven approach aids in making informed marketing decisions and identifying cultural preferences, enabling Pepsi to tap into emerging markets effectively.

Informing Product Development

Sentiment analysis tracks customer sentiments about specific products or services, aiding in understanding product adoption and identifying areas for improvement.

Google utilizes sentiment analysis for product development, particularly within its Chrome development team. This involves constant monitoring of both direct and indirect user feedback, subjecting them to sentiment analysis algorithms. 

Additionally, Google analyzes specific keywords, including mentions of new features, scalability and security issues, and UI considerations. By keeping track of audience language and preferences, Google gains valuable insights for content development and employs rank-tracking software to identify the “voice of the customer” and their search patterns. This comprehensive approach helps Google document product strengths and weaknesses, identify user-favored features, and pinpoint areas for future research and development.

Competitor Analysis

Sentiment analysis on customer social media mentions provides insights into competitors’ strengths, weaknesses, and offerings, aiding in benchmarking and strategic decision-making. 

In comparing major streaming platforms—Netflix, Disney+, and HBO Max—a sentiment analysis reveals distinct user sentiments. Netflix leads in social media mentions, followed by HBO Max and Apple TV, with Netflix having the highest percentage of positive mentions, followed by HBO Max and Disney+.

Delving deeper, Netflix’s popularity stems from being one of the oldest platforms and its customer-centric approach, exemplified by encouraging users to downgrade plans for unnecessary services. While predicting future relevance is challenging, newer platforms like Disney+ and HBO Max have gained niche followings through original content.

Top 5 Sentiment Analysis Tools

Sentiment analysis tools are indispensable for understanding how your brand resonates in the online realm. Here, we’ve curated the top five social media sentiment analysis tools that empower businesses with actionable insights:

Determ

It scours over 100 million sources globally, providing real-time insights from consumers, competitors, and market trends. Determ’s media monitoring software empowers marketing and PR professionals to do just that through features like:

Monitoring: Focus on your brand with precise keyword setup and filters. Whether it’s websites, social media, or niche sources, Determ ensures you never miss what’s trending online.

Data Analytics: Measure sentiments, reach, and share of voice with ease. Understand how public opinion and brand popularity evolve, and export your data in various formats.

AI Assistant Synthia: Boost efficiency with AI-generated summaries and strategic insights. Enrich your reports with deep dives into influential media coverage and online conversations.

Reporting: Show the impact of your PR efforts through comprehensive, ready-to-present reports tailored for various stakeholders.

Brand24

  • A sleek and reliable powerhouse forl media monitoring, trusted by global companies.
  • Uncover real-time conversations about your business, gain invaluable customer insights, and elevate social customer service.
  • Brand24 keeps you in the loop with robust media monitoring that won’t break the bank.

Mention

  • Established in 2012, Mention boasts a thriving community of over 750,000 users.
  • Tailored for brands and agencies, it provides a holistic view of perception across social media and the broader web.
  • Dive into online buzz around any brand or product and gain in-depth industry analytics.

Hootsuite

  • Beyond managing social campaigns, Hootsuite excels in sentiment tracking.
  • Schedule posts seamlessly across platforms and translate real-time insights into impactful business actions through one user-friendly dashboard.

Brandwatch Consumer Intelligence

  • Trusted by over 5,000 globally renowned companies, Brandwatch decodes customer sentiments with AI-enhanced data from 100 million+ online sources.
  • Gain insights into how consumers perceive your brand, products, and industry shifts, enabling smart, swift decisions.

These tools offer diverse features, from real-time monitoring to industry analytics, empowering businesses to refine strategies, enhance customer experiences, and stay ahead in the dynamic world of social media. Consider integrating one of these tools to improve your brand reputation and better understand your audience..

How to Implement Sentiment Analysis?

Sentiment analysis tools are available from a variety of online vendor we mentioned before. Alternatively, you can build your own software. Both approaches have their advantages and disadvantages that you should consider before making your choice.

Reaching for a ready-made tool is usually the more convenient and economical choice. The same is true in other areas of business. Ready-made solutions, such as Determ makes life easier by saving considerable amounts of time and money.

Work in Progress… 

Given the current state of machine learning and NLP technologies, existing online sentiment analysis tools are not perfect. There are still issues and challenges. Especially when it comes to machines’ capacity to deal with the complexity of human language.

Still, the sentiment analysis software available today can definitely provide you with a lot of valuable information. Remember that technological progress continues, making the tools more and more effective. Getting in now means you’ll reap the early benefits, and stay ahead of the curve as it continues to improve. If you haven’t tried online sentiment analysis yet, it’s time to do it and see what benefits it can bring to your business!

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