Open source information and data (OSINT) is an activity that has been going on for decades in both the public and private sectors. Companies are now working with a large amount of open source content to develop intelligence. An example of this is in the competitive intelligence sector , to assess a competitor or a partner with due diligence services. Also for the strategy of the entity, using strategic foresight and scenario building methodologies or for marketing campaigns or marketing intelligence, which we will talk about in this article.
Marketing Intelligence
Intelligence in the marketing sector is based on obtaining and analysing data collected from external sources (mostly OSINT) and internal sources (data from the company itself), with the aim of knowing the market of interest and thus having sufficient knowledge to be able to make strategic decisions within the company.
Developing a good marketing intelligence strategy enables a company to:
- To get the most value out of the data obtained. Make sense of and create comprehensible content derived from the systematic analysis of the data.
- To keep the strategic decision-makers of the entityinformed.
- Predicting future scenarios. Create possible implications for current events.
- To assist in decision-making. To provide sufficient evidence of the impact of certain decisions.
Future Space wants to help companies in this task, so the Open Source Intelligence Cell offers a Marketing Intelligence service adapted to the needs of the client.
OSINT in the marketing world
One of the great challenges in this area is the detection of quality Influencers or Brand Ambassadors aligned with the company's strategy. Nowadays, a good marketing campaign in many cases depends on Social Networks and the positioning achieved in the sector.
For this reason, having a good brand ambassador has become one of the biggest headaches for companies and marketing departments, as is the case of Amazon and Ángel Martín, who announces the new releases of the Prime Video platform in Spain.
So where do you start? How do you choose the right person to represent a certain product? And most importantly, has the campaign been successful? These are some of the most frequently asked questions that you will find the answers to a few lines below.
Selection and evaluation
One of the main objectives in this first phase is the selection of those influencers who can have the greatest impact on a given campaign.
In this sense, in order to identify the most appropriate people who are best suited to the requirements of a campaign, their performance indicators are evaluated when generating content on social networks, where different metrics are taken into account:
- Digital presence in social networks.
- Level of audience, reach, engagement and impact.
- Themes of the content generated.
- Range of activity (days and times when you post the most).
- Brands detected in search of competitors or risks.
In addition to this performance analysis, we must not forget the reputational image of the influencer himself or herself. brand safety. This consists of detecting risk situations both in their publications and in possible mentions or references they may have made in the past, as these can undermine the credibility of the campaign or the product in question.
Campaign analysis
Once the detection and evaluation of Brand Ambassadors has been carried out, the analysis is completed with the monitoring of the campaign. In this way, through the subsequent study of the repercussion generated, it is possible to determine whether the required impact has been achieved and whether the influencer has fulfilled his or her objective.
This analysis also serves to identify strengths, as well as possible negative or critical aspects that can be used to improve the campaign in the future. For example, in relation to the format or type of publication, some social networks may be more suitable than others to reach a larger audience.
In this sense, it is particularly important not only to analyse the influencer himself, but also the audience. This is of great help to qualify the impact according to the content generated, allowing to know in depth the audience to which the message reaches.
The most relevant indicators for this type of analysis include:
- Audience characterisation (bots, presence of other influencers and users)
- Socio-demographic analysis (gender, age and geographical distribution).
- Segmentation by purchasing power.
- Themes of interest of the impacted and target audiences and definition of niche audiences.
The convergence of Intelligence and Business
The use of intelligence methodologies, as well as the search and analysis of open source information, oriented in this case to complement the work of marketing teams, can go far beyond the classical application of market intelligence, more focused on industry, company and customers, to open up a large number of opportunities in other areas of private enterprise.
As we have seen throughout this article, this is another example of how Intelligence and Marketing, two initially separate worlds, are converging more and more often, resulting in improved capabilities and competitiveness that translate into better service and a more refined product.
Article by Raquel García and Enrique Traver.
