What is the current value of strategic image intelligence?

Quite a few players in the field of strategic monitoring of social networks have decided to release an image-based monitoring option. So it was time for this blog to take a look at the tool and assess the possibilities of this technique. Here's a quick look at 2 months' use of the option provided by Brandwatch.

I. Introduction

Historically, all or almost all software has only been able to survey semantic objects. (One could also mention geolocation, but the number of tools available (only Twitter) and the number of people who have activated the option do not make the approach very productive.

Meanwhile, software has also developed author panels. (Journalists, specialist lists, etc.)

In a world where images and video are becoming increasingly important (the growing influence of Instagram springs to mind), monitoring images can be interesting and represents a growth lever for monitoring platforms. Talkwalker was the first to launch its solution. Radarly and Brandwatch have now also released their solution. Some have their own native version, while others have Ditto or Logograb. I was able to test the Brandwatch solution on the Nutella logo.

II. Analysis

I have tried to isolate the main benefits of this type of solution as a market watcher, as a reputation and crisis practitioner and as a former strategic planner in an advertising agency.

1. More hits

For me, the first thing that tickles my monitoring mind is the fact that we're covering a lot more mentions. This overcomes one of the problems of semantics: capturing all products without necessarily mentioning them. Here we see only one distinct source. In other cases, the photo is used in other places.

We can also see that attachment to the brand is more often present without mention of the brand (see typology below). One of the weak points of image monitoring could be the evolution in terms of price, given that all the services generally pay by the number of mentions. For Brandwatch (I don't know about the others), this concern is eclipsed: once activated, captured mentions don't cost a penny, unlike semantic mentions.

2. The ability to establish a typology of uses

It is now possible to take photographs with the product. In what situations is the product used? (This is particularly interesting for Social Media campaigns), etc. For example, for Nutella, it was possible to distinguish between : Attachment to the brand: https://twitter.com/angeloclick/status/890975812266151936 https://twitter.com/QuotesDeMathias/status/797468498805096452 https://twitter.com/ByellMello1/status/888090417056686080 https://twitter.com/piersmanning60p/status/893456893967949826/ Pornfood :

• Either as an ingredient :

https://twitter.com/ItsFoodPorn/statuses/884658771301150721 https://twitter.com/ExpressouVibe/status/869357703814098945

• Or as a component of Ferrero products:

https://twitter.com/calmateforra/status/902967145872719876 https://twitter.com/dianeygallagher/status/890976207768039424 Sensitive situations : https://twitter.com/michaelgoran/status/900719402013929473 Assembly https://twitter.com/The_Legend_2020/status/895006869139443713 https://twitter.com/The_Legend_2020/status/895003603953471489

3. A new approach to dealing with fake news

Used extensively in the propagation of fake news, images are sometimes extremely difficult to monitor. Eventually, the logo solution will evolve towards clear images. It will then be possible to trace the thread of images and fake news more effectively. Talkwalker is also announcing the introduction of a similar system for videos. This could revolutionise the field of news monitoring, with YouTube and Dailymotion becoming yet another source to be processed.

III. Conclusions

Image monitoring will be perfect for brand marketing, enabling us to see how a product is being appropriated by the public, making it possible to develop brand image typologies and other uses. In addition, it will enable Social Media campaigns and events to be monitored, which could make it a good tool for measuring KPIs. It offers more appropriate possibilities for monitoring sensitive situations, insofar as it can process far more occurrences than semantic monitoring.

However, there are still some weaknesses. First of all, the cost. Even if the €313 package for unlimited mentions is still affordable for large SMEs and big brands, the added value is still too low for all brands to make a global investment. Another problem is that the scope of surveillance is still too small. Logos are the first open door. Other types of visuals (crisp visuals, advertising posters, videos, etc.) without logos will broaden the scope of this new service. What's more, for the time being, the sources processed are still too small. For Brandwatch, only Twitter was monitored for images, whereas its great strength would be on Instagram. (The solution should be deployed soon, however).

As it stands, the solution seems to me to be best suited to carrying out an e-reputation audit on a one-shot basis and not yet for permanent monitoring. However, once the scope of monitoring and the possibilities of image monitoring have been extended, image monitoring will become a necessity for most strategic monitoring.