Business Social Media Monitoring After Cambridge Analytica

The Cambridge Analytica controversy exposed Facebook’s willingness to put profit ahead of its customers’ privacy.
Trust in the largest social network in the world has been difficult to recover since the news broke in March 2018.

• Nearly half of social media users have formed a more unfavourable impression of Facebook as a result of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, according to a new poll conducted by The Manifest.
• Businesses need to alter their Facebook marketing approach to account for the growing concern among Facebook users about the sharing of personal information.
• In particular, you should make as little of your company’s data gathering activities as possible obvious to the public while yet being completely honest about what those efforts are and why they are used.
• When offered incentives, specialised material, or tailored communications, most people would gladly part over their data. Therefore, for your firm to strike the right balance, it must provide users with the amount of customization they desire while still being open and honest about the data your company collects and uses.
• Read this post to find out how to convince your followers that your data-use rules are honest and transparent in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

Facebook has lost credibility but not users.

• Using social media, your business may engage with its customers on a deeper, more personal level.
• The Cambridge Analytica scandal caused Facebook to lose a lot of credibility and respect, yet it did not cause a mass exodus of users throughout the world.
• What Cambridge Analytica showed was that Facebook cares more about making money than protecting the privacy of its users’ data.
• The blame for the Cambridge Analytica scandal appeared to rest more heavily on Facebook’s shoulders than it did for the issue surrounding Russia’s attempts to influence the 2016 American election, where Facebook could use plausible deniability as a defence since they were the target of concerted operations by foreign intelligence.
• After the first outcry of betrayal, 74% of Facebook users either disappeared for a while, deleted their accounts, or adjusted their security settings.

Social listening is helpful, but doing it well takes time and planning.

• Through social listening, businesses may learn more about their customers, explore new markets, and address PR crises in real time.
• However, social listening can backfire if not implemented properly, leading customers to feel as though their privacy is being invaded.
• Most importantly, your business must keep data collecting and social media activities completely separate.
• You should not, for instance, contact them or send them a message saying something like, “We saw you liked our Facebook post and then visited our website. Here’s a price cut.
• In order to keep their customers’ confidence, businesses must handle their social media accounts responsibly.
• Facebook users worry about privacy, yet majority are still prepared to trade data for benefits.
• Facebook’s users find value in posts that are carefully selected to appeal to their particular interests.
• The Vice President of Marketing and Chief Marketing Officer stated, “Our customers are willing to provide us with data, and they will volunteer it in exchange for value,” in response to the Cambridge Analytica incident.
• It is up to your company to be genuine and upfront about how it uses user data in its social media activities in order to deliver a useful user experience and convince followers that their privacy is preserved.
• “Think long and hard about how you explain data policies and the value intelligence will bring to your customers, and then deliver – every time,” Miller said.
• Customers may be aware that you are able to track their actions and preferences, but they prefer not to be reminded of this fact.
• To appeal to this mindset, your brand’s messaging should appear to be guided by user behaviours rather than predetermined by previous encounters.
• Users may become disengaged from your brand if they believe that you know what they’re doing because of the messages you’re sending them.
• Individualization is desired by everybody, but not from Big Brother.
• Use social listening tools to track how your target audience interacts with your content, but always remember to use that information to be more accommodating and less defensive.

What, if anything, did Facebook learn from Cambridge Analytica?

• People’s fears about the privacy practises of computer businesses, especially those operating social media platforms, were confirmed by the Cambridge Analytica incident.
• However, Facebook suffered its largest data breach to date less than six months after the scandal surfaced.
• The Mueller report included information on how far Russian intelligence had penetrated Facebook during the 2016 presidential campaign.
• This doesn’t necessarily rule out the possibility of Facebook gaining any insight. In an effort to protect users’ privacy, the company is merging the messaging systems of its three flagship social messaging applications.
• However, Facebook’s ad-driven economic model is predicated on gathering user data, thus the social network may never be able to provide a 100% assurance of privacy.
• Unfortunately, this places the onus on businesses who utilise Facebook as a marketing tool to win back consumers’ faith in advertising.

Keeping an eye on social media in the wake of Cambridge Analytica

People’s concerns about Facebook and other internet platforms misusing their personal information were amplified by the Cambridge Analytica incident in 2018.
Avoid upsetting your Facebook fans by projecting an image of openness and data responsibility.
Rather of presenting data collecting as a calculated strategy to obtain targeted advertising money, you could frame it as an open endeavour to better understand your consumers.
Use social listening technologies to learn more about your customers, but don’t reveal any sensitive information about your customers or the methods you used to gather this information.