Time to skewer sentiment analysis

The tone and sentiment of media coverage has long been used as a proxy for consumer perception and an indicator of likely behaviour.  Sentiment analysis is a false proxy. It is assumed to indicate a desired outcome but doesn’t necessarily reflect it, leading to unreliable intelligence, misguided efforts and wasted resources.

Integrating media audience data with brand tracking data provides a viable and dependable option for identifying where relationships exist between media coverage and consumer response. Always-on brand tracking helps pinpoint when media coverage has genuinely moved the needle on consumer buzz, brand reputation, consideration and purchase intent.

One comms specialist told us recently that he ‘dies a little inside’ every time he is asked to include AVEs in a report. People know there must be a better way. The same applies to sentiment analysis. It should be obsolete because it tells you what the media thinks about everything and the consumer impact of nothing. Anecdotal evidence also reveals that in-house teams sometimes feel obliged to double-check the reported sentiment of coverage to make judgements on whether it is positive, negative or neutral in the context of their brand. This might increase perceived accuracy, but it introduces another level of bias.

Aligning media audience to brand tracking data offers an exciting alternative that will produce far better evaluation of what consumers are really taking out of media coverage. Many organisations already own the data that can help them debunk the myth that media sentiment is the same as consumer opinion and intention.

We’re not blaming PR pros for their reluctance to abandon outdated metrics. The media evaluation industry hasn’t shown them anything better. Yet relying on flaky assumptions – arrived at using subjective and inconsistent assessment of tone – does nothing to increase credibility or demonstrate the real and considerable value PR delivers.

If you’re now feeling less positive about using sentiment analysis, drop us a line on hello@metricomm.com to learn more about linking media coverage to robust consumer insights from brand tracking.