This project was assigned to students in my communication research class. It combines several techniques to offer students a chance to learn a variety of different ways of doing social media analytics, social listening and some basic social network analysis. You can learn more at: MattKushin.com

1. Matthew
J.
Kushin,
Ph.D.
Shepherd
University
Project
#2:
Social
Media
Analytics
Comm
435:
Communication
Research
Summary
Due
Date
See
syllabus
Turning
In
1
Team
member
uploads
assignment
to
the
Assignment
on
Sakai
Purpose:
To
teach
common
social
media
digital
analytics;
experience
creating
such
reports.
Method:
Digital
analytics
tools;
social
network
analysis
Notes:
Group
Assignment;
We
will
do
data
analysis
in
class
and
jumpstart
the
writing
of
your
methods
and
results
(see
syllabus);
There
is
a
Group
Report
Card
after
to
evaluate
your
participation
in
the
group.
Things
You
Will
Learn:
• Intermediate
research
report
writing
• Write
a
problem
statement
and
research
objective.
• How
to
use
social
media
analytics
software.
• Basics
of
various
techniques
for
social
media
analytics
• Writing
Secondary
Research
and
Methods
sections
• Interpreting
Data
Deliverables:
-­‐ Title
Page
-­‐ Problem
Overview
-­‐
Includes
problem
statement,
campaign
goals
&
objectives,
research
objective
&
research
questions/hypotheses.
See
the
guidelines
on
p.
3
below.
-­‐ Secondary
research
literature
review
-­‐~2
double-­‐space
pages;
~4
sources
cited
in
text:
o Introduce
Problem:
A
bit
about
the
problem/opportunity,
the
organization
and
its
history.
o Problem
History
&
Existing
Knowledge:
§ Why
Problem
exists:
A
summary
of
its
existing
social
media
platforms
and
how
it
uses
them
(You’ll
get
this
from
a
combination
of
observing
their
social
media
accounts
and
direct
interview(s)
with
the
organization).
§ Existing
Knowledge:
A
bit
about
research
that
has
been
done
on
brands
and
use
of
social
media
to
maintain
relationships
with
publics
–
ex:
see
PRSA’s
journal
or
Institute
for
Public
Relations
to
find
studies
o Your
Proposal
o Research
Questions
-­‐ Methods
-­‐
~3/4
of
a
page
o Sample:
Where
did
the
data
come
from?
o Measurements:
To
answer
each
RQ,
what
will/did
you
measure
and
what
does
that
mean?
§ For
example,
how
is
sentiment
calculated?
How
is
share
of
voice
calculated?
o Method
of
Analysis:
Provide
an
overview
of
what
tools
were
used
to
perform
the
analysis.
-­‐ Results
-­‐
length:
as
needed
o Organize
by
research
question
–
the
research
questions
are
towards
the
bottom
of
this
document.
o Use
graphs
and/or
charts
and/or
tables
generated
from
your
research
to
visualize
every
main
finding.
Provide
a
sentence
or
two
describing
the
result
underneath
that
visual
if
needed.
-­‐ Implications
&
Recommendations
–
We’re
not
going
to
do
a
discussion
section.
This
will
take
its
place.
o This
is
where
you
explain
to
your
client
your
interpretation
based
on
your
analysis
and
what
you
recommend
they
do
to
improve.
This
is
where
you
earn
your
value
as
an
expert
–
this
is
what
they’re
paying
you
(in
theory)
for.
Be
sure
to
mention
SPECIFIC
examples
from
the
data
(ex:
Tweets)
that
can
be
used
to
EXPLAIN
AND
INTERPRET
your
results.
For
example,
for
a
RQ
about
sentiment:
Maybe
your
results
show
that
60%
of
the
Tweets
were
positive,
what
are
some
very
positive
sentiment
tweets?
What
are
some
negative
Tweets
that
represent
the
40%
that
were
negative?
§ Based
on
your
results,
what
are
the
key
takeaways
or
insights
the
client
should
know?
§ Recommendations:
• Based
on
your
results,
what
is
your
client
doing
well
at
in
their
use
of
social
media?

2. Matthew
J.
Kushin,
Ph.D.
Shepherd
University
• What
recommendations
do
you
have
to
this
organization
to
adjust
their
use
of
social
media?
• What
other
recommendations
do
you
have?
-­‐ References
–
An
alphabetic
list
of
your
references
Formatting:
We’ll
use
APA
formatting
in
this
class.
Rely
on
the
“APA
Research
Paper
Template”
on
Sakai
when
writing
your
paper.
You
can
type
directly
into
it.
Info
to
Help
you
Write
the
Above
Sections
(note:
there
is
a
guide
I
will
give
in
class
to
help
you
write
methods,
results,
discussion.
The
below
info
will
help
you
answer
questions,
and
thus
write
your
paper)
Data:
Note,
your
data
is
not
all
necessarily
from
the
same
time
period.
So,
it
is
important
to
note
the
dates
the
data
is
from
for
each
of
the
below.
• Client
Social
Media
Profile
&
Engagement
Analysis:
Tweets
analyzed
were
extracted
from
Twitter.com
via
the
CLIENT
TWITTER
HANDLE
account.
Data
was
downloaded
in
CSV
format
and
analyzed
in
Microsoft
Excel.
• Analyzing
Trends
data:
Tweets
mentioning
your
organization’s
Twitter
handle
(example:
@shepcomm)
will
be
collected
using
Microsoft
Social
Listening
software
during
_____
to
_______.
• Social
Network
Analysis
Data:
The
social
network
analysis
Tweets
will
come
from
your
choice
of
either
Tweets
within
a
5km
radius
of
a
location,
or
mentioning
a
hashtag,
keyword,
or
Twitter
account
(You’ll
set
this
up
in
Netlytic.org
when
you
create
your
account).
The
time
period
will
depend
on
your
parameters.
Be
sure
to
record
them.
Methods
of
analysis:
1. Client
Social
Media
Profile
&
Engagement
Analysis
a. We’ll
use
Pivot
Tables
to
explore
your
client’s
posts
on
social
media
and
analyze
their
overall
engagement.
For
example,
we’ll
determine
the
top
posts
your
client
has
made
that
have
gotten
the
most
likes.
2. Analyzing
Trends:
a. We’ll
use
Microsoft
Social
Listening
Center
to
monitor
and
analyze
the
conversation
surrounding
your
brand.
3. Social
Network
Analysis
a. We’ll
use
Netlytic.com
to
build
social
networks
and
analyze
them.
Sources
you
may
want
to
cite
in
your
secondary
research:
• Your
class
textbook
by
K.D.
Paine
talks
about
Content
Analysis
and
measuring
sentiment!
• Search
for
studies
on
social
media
and
brands
in
journals
like:
PRSA’s
journal
or
Institute
for
Public
Relations
Considerations
for
your
Methods
Section
Microsoft
Social
Listening
Sentiment
Score
They
use
an
index
score.
Ignore
that.
Instead,
mouse
over
the
index
and
you’ll
find
the
%
of
positive,
negative,
and
neutral.
Important
Info
For
this
project,
we
will
use
the
client
that
you
recruited.
The
Research
Situation

3. Matthew
J.
Kushin,
Ph.D.
Shepherd
University
Problem
or
Opportunity:
What
is
the
problem
or
opportunity
that
is
bringing
you
to
study
this
particular
organization?
Don’t
just
say
it
is
for
a
class
project.
Ask
them
Campaign
Goals
and
Objective:
YOU
DO
NOT
NEED
TO
WRITE
ONE
BECAUSE
YOUR
CLIENT
MAY
NOT
BE
DOING
A
CAMPAIGN.
SKIP
THIS
STEP.
Research
Objective:
The
purpose
of
this
study
is
to
perform
a
social
media
analytics
audit
of
CLIENT
[subject
of
study]
in
TIME
PERIOD
using
social
media
analytics
software
and
social
network
analysis
[method]
to
understand
CLIENT
NAME’S
current
use
of
social
media
and
provide
insights
and
recommendations
for
enhancing
their
social
media
presence
[variable
of
interest:
too
many
to
list
here,
you’ll
see
them
below].
Research
Questions:
(I
prove
them
below,
you’ll
need
to
modify
their
text
a
little.
I
have
organized
them
by
platform
that
we
will
use):
Client
Twitter
Profile
Analysis
(Pivot
Tables
of
Twitter
Data)
(We’ll
go
over
in
class.
Here’s
the
lab
guide:
http://bit.ly/435_pivottableslab)
1. Which
Twitter
posts
received
the
most
(Fill
in
the
blank
–
you
need
to
decide
what
variables
are
important
engagement
data
for
your
client.
You’ll
need
more
than
1
variable.
And,
you’ll
want
to
show
more
than
just
the
top
Tweet
for
that
variable,
but
the
top
few)?
2. What
is
the
client’s
Twitter
engagement
by
month?
(again,
you
choose
the
appropriate
engagement
metrics)
3. Come
up
with
2
other
RQs
for
important
data
points
you
extract
from
your
pivot
table
analysis
that
you
believe
will
be
of
value
to
your
client.
Trend
Analysis:
(We’ll
go
over
in
class.
But,
lab
guide
for
completing
these
tasks:
http://bit.ly/435_MSsocial-­‐project)
1. For
CLIENT’S
NAME
what
is
the
total
number
of
a)
shares,
b)
replies,
and
c)
posts
on
Twitter
during
TIME
PERIOD?
2. For
KEYWORD,
what
is
the
share
of
voice
for
the
client
and
its
competitors?
a. (repeat
this
for
however
many
keywords
you
have
–
up
to
5)
3. What
keywords
are
associated
with
CLIENT?
a. In
reporting
this,
list
the
top
3
keywords
in
a
sentence
below
the
visual.
4. In
what
STATE/COUNTRY
were
the
top
posts
posted
that
mention
CLIENT?
5. What
day(s)
of
the
month
was
CLIENT
talked
about
the
most
on
each
social
media
platform?
a. Note:
if
we
only
have
data
from
Twitter,
then
just
use
Twitter.
6. What
is
the
sentiment
percentages
(positive,
negative,
neutral)
for
CLIENT?
7. What
are
the
top
positive
keywords
associated
with
CLIENT
on
each
social
media
platform?
a. Note:
if
we
only
have
data
from
Twitter,
then
just
use
Twitter.
8. What
are
the
top
negative
keywords
associated
with
CLIENT
on
each
social
media
platform?
a. Note:
if
we
only
have
data
from
Twitter,
then
just
use
Twitter.
9. Who
are
the
top
fans
and
critics
for
CLIENT
on
each
platform?
REPEAT
THESE
QUESTIONS
FOR
EACH
COMPETITOR.
Social
Network
Analysis
Data:
(We’ll
go
over
in
class.
Here’s
the
lab
guide:
bit.ly/435_netlyticlab)
Depending
on
what
your
networks
are,
you’ll
need
to
choose
from
the
RQs
below.
Choose
all
that
are
appropriate.
Feel
free
to
create
your
own.
Discard
the
rest.
For
networks
that
analyze
hashtags
or
search
terms:
1. What
Twitter
accounts
are
popular
in
this
network
and
how
often
is
each
popular
account
mentioned?
2. What
accounts
mention
others
or
RT
others
a
lot
in
this
network?
3. What
unique
clusters
exist
in
this
network?
For
networks
analyzing
mentions
of
your
client
1. What
Twitter
accounts
mention
your
client
the
most?
How
often
does
each
mention
your
client?

4. Matthew
J.
Kushin,
Ph.D.
Shepherd
University
2. What
communities
are
talking
about
@USERNAME?