Sentiment analysis may seem pretty straightforward. It's all about determining if an opinion expressed through language is positive, negative, or neutral toward your brand, topic, product, or service. Right? Well, at first glance, it is that simple, but there are actually several aspects to take into account when you want to find a tool that helps you accurately understand people's perceptions. For example, you want to understand what's being said in relation to the context where it's being said. And not to forget – social media language has many different ways to express opinions in addition to the text, such as emojis, GIFs, user tags, images, or hashtags.
This article will explore what is required to get a seamless and consistent sentiment analysis across social media platforms. In addition, we have picked some of the best tools available for incorporating sentiment analysis within your social media marketing strategy.
Want to jump right to the summary? Find it here!
A sentiment analysis tool is a software application that uses natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning techniques to automatically analyze a text's emotional tone. Many companies and marketers use these tools to efficiently gather insights into how their target audiences on social media think and feel about a topic, product, service, or brand. The insights can then be used as a guidance for marketing or content strategies.
Read more about sentiment analysis on social media here.
Some people argue that the best sentiment analysis is done without a tool. However, managing this process manually can be a challenge. For example, you might face difficulties achieving accurate and consistent results due to factors such as language complexity, context, personal biases, and human errors. In addition, it’s tedious to go through every single comment one by one.
Therefore, the best way of conducting sentiment analysis is to use a tool that facilitates the process and provides reliable results. The list of benefits is long, but here are a few valuable ones regardless of your company’s size or industry:
Sentiment analysis tools can process a large amount of data in a short period of time, making them more efficient and cost-effective than just relying on human manual labeling. For example, some platforms allow users to create automated notifications for an unusually high volume of negative conversations. This allows marketers to stay on top of critical conversations, no matter how large the volume of conversations is.
Using sentiment analysis tools can be a great complement to achieving more reliable results. For example, a team of people with different backgrounds might interpret comments differently. While someone considers a comment positive, others may think it's neutral or even negative. Sentiment analysis tools use sophisticated algorithms and machine-learning techniques to classify text. Therefore, a tool can complement human annotators to ensure a consistent and accurate analysis.
Sentiment analysis tools can provide real-time analysis, which is especially useful for businesses to react fast to issues. For example, suppose a new ad receives a high negative sentiment spike. This may indicate that either the audience targeting is wrong, the creative doesn’t resonate, or perhaps something else has happened that has led to increased negativity towards the brand.
Some sentiment analysis tools can analyze text in multiple languages, making them useful for businesses that operate globally and want to get insights across different markets or regions.
Sentiment analysis tools use various methods and techniques to conduct sentiment analysis on social media. In fact, they vary to the extent that the results may differ significantly depending on which software you use.
A key factor when it comes to the tool's performance is how the tool determines whether the sentiment is positive, negative, or neutral. In other words, what models does it use to classify text into different categories accurately?
Within the field of conducting sentiment analysis automatically, there are three main approaches – the linguistic (rule-based) approach, the machine learning (statistical) approach, and the hybrid approach. You can also find tools that let you manually label sentiment or set up your own rules based on keywords.
In short, when conducting sentiment analysis automatically, the rule-based Linguistic approach helps identify specific sentiment-bearing words and phrases. The machine learning approach trains and learns algorithms to recognize patterns to be able to classify new text samples. Finally, the hybrid approach is a way to combine these two, which usually gives the best and most accurate results since it takes both words and context into consideration. Keyword-based rules and manual labeling are basic methods that rely on additional analysis and frameworks to ensure accurate results.
At BrandBastion, we adopted the hybrid approach that enables us to achieve better results and enables us to be flexible when it comes to processing various types of data. Try out the accuracy and potential of our tool here:
Before we jump into comparing some top tools available on the market, let us look into some criteria to consider when you're evaluating which tool is best for your business. By comparing different tools based on some key factors, you can find the best one that suits your needs and expectations.
💵 | The price and value of the tool Naturally, you want to find a tool that fits your budget and gives you value for the money you spend. One of the best ways to find out if a tool is meeting your expectations and needs, is to try it out. Most sentiment analysis tools offer free trial periods which can help you understand ROI better. |
☑️ | The accuracy and reliability of the tool. You want a tool that can accurately and consistently capture the tone, emotion, and attitude in social media language. Look for a tool that uses advanced and sophisticated methods, which enable complex analysis no matter context. |
📊 | The features and functionality of the tool Sentiment analysis is only one part of SMM-related work. Therefore, you could benefit from using a tool that also provides related features that help your business reach its goals. This could for example the ability to categorize comments, provide a visual summary, and perform intent analysis. |
At this point, we have a better understanding of sentiment analysis tools and how they work. The only thing remaining is to explore some of the top tools available on the market. So let us have a look!
Let us start with our personal favorite of sentiment analysis tools – BrandBastion platform. Sentiment analysis is one of our favorite things, and we are proud to present a tool powered by advanced AI and methods.
Pros:
Sprout is mainly a tool for social media management but also offers features for social media analysis.
Pros:
Cons:
Hootsuite has been in the social media managing and monitoring market for over a decade and is best known as a management tool. As a stand-alone, Hootsuite offers a few sentiment analysis options. However, additional apps, such as Brandwatch, enable you to explore your target audience’s opinions and emotions deeper.
Pros:
Agorapulse is a social media management software with features that help you stay organized and on top of conversations across social media platforms. Agorpulse also offers some options for sentiment analysis, both manual and automated (to a certain extent). Pros:
Statusbrew is another all-in-one social media management tool designed to help marketers and businesses manage their social media presence across multiple platforms.
Pros:
Cons:
|
BrandBastion Lite |
Agorapulse |
Hootsuite + Brandwatch |
Sprout |
Statusbrew |
AI-based automated sentiment analysis |
✔️ |
❌ |
✔️ |
❌ |
✔️ |
Languages covered (w/ translation) |
109 languages |
N/A (sentiment analysis is not automated) |
38 languages |
N/A (sentiment analysis is not automated) |
12 languages |
Customizable analysis options |
✔️ |
✔️ |
✔️ |
✔️ |
✔️ |
Sentiment reporting |
✔️ |
❌ |
✔️ |
❌ |
✔️ |
Notifications for spikes in volumes and sentiment |
✔️ |
✔️ |
✔️ |
✔️ |
✔️ |
Team collaboration |
✔️ |
✔️ |
✔️ |
✔️ |
✔️ |
1 Advanced plan, which is the only one that includes Automated Inbox Assistant
2 Business plan, which is the only one that includes Message Tagging. You may also need to pay extra to get access to Brandwatch insights
3 Advanced plan, which is the only one that includes an Inbox rule builder for automated actions. Each additional user is +$349/mo
4 Premium plan, which is the only one that includes sentiment analysis