December 2007
Zeta Interactive’s RelevantNoise™ Technology Tracks the Impact of Celebrity Endorsements for Presidential Campaigners Across the Web
Leading digital marketing agency’s technology mines the Internet’s social media landscape to measure consumer trends and opinions
New York, December 19, 2007 – The most recent presidential candidate to be affected by the star power of a Hollywood celebrity was the Mike Huckabee campaign, where Chuck Norris’ endorsement of the former governor of Arkansas created a significant increase in buzz throughout the online media landscape. However, although the endorsement caused an increase in conversations around the Huckabee campaign, the presidential candidate’s reputation did not necessarily benefit from Norris’ support.
According to RelevantNoise™, Zeta Interactive’s technology that mines the Internet’s social media landscape – including blogs, as well as Consumer Generated Media (CGM) – the amount of buzz, or volume of posts, on the Internet regarding Mike Huckabee spiked to its highest points in the days during the week that Chuck Norris partnered with the presidential hopeful, increasing the volume of Huckabee-related posts in the blogosphere by 66 percent.
However, the positive tone of the online conversations regarding Huckabee actually dropped slightly following his endorsement from Norris, illustrating that support from celebrities does not always translate into an improved public perception. Following Huckabee’s endorsement from Norris, the overall tone of posts peaked at 77 percent positive, versus 82 percent positive overall prior to the endorsement. (Click here to see charts.)
Not so much so for Senator Barack Obama’s campaign, however, whose recent endorsement from media mogul Oprah Winfrey caused relatively little surge in volume or change in tone in the social media scene according to Zeta Interactive’s RelevantNoise technology. These findings run counter to the widespread assumption that securing Oprah’s endorsement would have a resoundingly positive impact on Senator Obama’s campaign.
RelevantNoise is a web-based, user-driven social media mining tool that instantly taps into the over 75 million blogs, as well as message boards and online communities within the Internet’s social media landscape, providing real-time feedback and insight on the consumer trends and opinions that help drive their behaviors. A growing number of organizations rely on the technology to collect vital business and competitive intelligence to help drive decisions regarding their brands and products.
“Zeta Interactive’s RelevantNoise has created a new standard in consumer measurability,” said Al DiGuido, CEO of Zeta Interactive. “This technology keeps a finger on the pulse of the collective consumer, providing an unprecedented view into their perceptions and opinions, allowing businesses and organizations to measure marketing and campaign success in ways that were once impossible. In this case, we used RelevantNoise to gain insight on celebrity endorsements for presidential campaigners as an example to show the immediate value of social media mining intelligence and analysis. The ability to strategically measure public perceptions based on several factors from volume to gender to tone, is invaluable in today’s business environment. We believe the potential of the RelevantNoise technology is enormous. Coupled with our many other interactive marketing services, it’s another example of Zeta Interactive’s mission to become a leading digital marketing agency worldwide.”
In addition to measuring the volume and tone of conversations across the blogosphere, RelevantNoise also measures the influence level of bloggers, and provides links to all related posts. In the case of the Mike Huckabee/Chuck Norris collaboration, RelevantNoise detected a slight decrease in positive posts from a mixture of thousands of online authors, ranging from very influential bloggers to lesser-known authors. The technology is also able to measure competitors’ Internet buzz as well, including share-of-voice. So that a company or political campaigner can compare the volume and tone of buzz surrounding its organization vs. the competition to help gauge the effectiveness of messaging and/or quickly change strategy when necessary.
“In this new Web 2.0 world of social media, consumers have been empowered to do more than just listen to corporate and political messaging,” said Lori Arnold, Vice President of RelevantNoise Operations for Zeta Interactive. “They can now respond and influence large masses of consumers very quickly. It is imperative for forward-thinking organizations to begin listening to the millions of online conversations that are happening in order to effectively gauge public perception, learn who their most powerful evangelists and critics are, and take action when necessary. Understanding public perception and staying one step ahead of the tide using the RelevantNoise technology can empower organizations to improve their messaging, as well as protect their company, brand, clients, products and services.”
About Zeta Interactive
Zeta Interactive is a full-service digital marketing agency offering a wide range of services–from email and search marketing, to web site development, creative, business intelligence services and more. The company aims to be the leading provider of integrated, interactive services that help marketers realize the full potential of the Internet to build brands, increase sales, improve processes, and reduce costs. Zeta Interactive’s specialty is in crafting strategies and programs for customers that help them acquire, retain, up-sell, cross-sell and win back their customers–cost effectively and efficiently. The company does so by providing superior proprietary technology and a marketing approach that is focused on accountability, measurability and ROI metrics.
Headquartered in New York City, Zeta Interactive has more than 300 employees worldwide located in California, Florida, Idaho, Nevada, New Jersey, Texas, Rhode Island and India. The company serves more than 200 clients currently, including such world-class companies as Time Inc., Sony Electronics Inc., and LiveNation. For more information please visit: www.zetainteractive.com.
For more information on Zeta Interactive’s RelevantNoise go to
www.relevantnoise.com, or visit www.zetainteractive.com.
Media Contact:
Matt Rizzetta
Dukas Public Relations
212–704–7385
matt@dukaspr.com