Image recognition is the new kid on the block that’s about to revolutionize social media listening. Fusing the visual dominance of social media—think Instagram and Facebook—with artificial intelligence, image recognition sets the stage for brands to track customer conversations without having to rely on brand mentions in captions, comments or hashtags.
How does it work? Back in April Facebook introduced Automatic Alternative which was initially developed as an accessibility tool for the visually impaired by providing an audio description of photos. By being able to scan images with object recognition technology and find relevant brand products and logos, Automatic Alternative proved to be a treasure trove of customer data for marketers as well.
Currently 80% of images featuring brands are never tracked if the user doesn’t include a tag or mention in the caption. With image recognition being able to identify brands, or their competitors, without the explicitness of a tag provides new data opportunities for brands to mine for consumer information, track sentiments and engage on a different level.
At this point it sounds intriguing but how can you apply this new level of social listening to your brand? Here are a few ways that image recognition can work within your social strategy.
Tap Into Unbranded Conversations
Visual intelligence grants the opportunity to see how people are using your products without explicitly mentioning the brand. This provides new insight into the everyday lives of your customers measuring their brand awareness and purchase intent.
Identifying how your product fits into your customers’ lives not only allows you to engage with them but also helps to discover new customers and start to build upon the foundation of brand loyalty for both.
Identify influencers
By having fresh insight into discovering new customers you are also able to pinpoint how influential people are talking about your brand. Not only are you apt to tap into unbranded conversation but you are able to see the level of engagement from the followers of those influencers and identity authentic user generated content to utilize across your social channels and marketing.
Monitor the Visual Identity of Your Brand
Image recognition allows you to control more of the visual identity of your brand across social media. Armed with this new social listening tool you’ll be able to monitor the usage of your logo and product to see how it is being used, or possibly misused on social. You will also be able to hone in on both the positive and negative unbranded conversations that you were not privy to before.
Measure ROI of Offline Sponsorships & Events
In the past it’s been a struggle to monitor ROI of sponsorships and special events. With image recognition you are now able to track photos from the event featuring your logo in the background and monitor the engagements and mentions visually.
With this added data businesses will be able to utilize the effectiveness of sponsorships and apply these findings to drive future campaigns. This technology will also allow you to track competitors and see how their sponsorships are performing as well.
With so many social listening platforms launching image recognition products and with Facebook testing the waters this year, visual intelligence is poised to revolutionize how your brand is represented on social.
Need help implementing a social strategy to start the conversation? Contact Filament to find out how your brand can begin to utilize the benefits of image recognition today.
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