Analyzing social media performance is a time-consuming challenge. Yet, everyone knows that in order to succeed in social media marketing, it must be done. Twitter has recently released a new analytics tool that could make it much easier for users to access information regarding performance feedback.

So, what do we know about the new tool, and what benefits does it offer marketers?

First, let’s be clear. The new analytics tool is not going to change the world of analytics as we know it. In terms of large-scale analytics, the new tool is not a game-changer. With that said, it does certainly hold some value for marketers who are interested in learning how to refine their Twitter content to become more influential, and there is tremendous value in that.

How the New Twitter Analytics Tool Works

Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of the new tool is that it is slated to be built into a Twitter timeline. This type of integration makes it much easier and less time-consuming to perform instant analysis, and can prove to be particularly beneficial for marketers using mobile devices, an increasing common trend.

The free tool will provide insight into a host of different stats, including engagement rates, total views, and clicks on links or content. Of course, this is all information that users can already access using the standard Twitter analytics dashboard, but integrating the statistics into the Twitter timeline makes it much easier to use that data.

Whether or not the new tool will stick around remains to be seen. To date, Twitter has indicated that it is experimenting with the idea. Even so, this is a clear recognition from Twitter of the growing importance of making such data available to an increasing mobile audience.

More Twitter Analytics Announcements

This is certainly not the first big announcement that Twitter has made recently regarding the availability of data analytics. Perhaps the biggest news came with the announcement of a partnership formed last Fall between Twitter and IBM that will result in several cloud data services. These services will make it possible for users to take full advantage of business insights provided by data from Twitter. The two companies have already released information regarding several developer tools.

Currently boasting more than half a billion tweets daily, Twitter has a power that cannot be denied or ignored. Perhaps more than any other social media network, Twitter is often the first choice when a disgruntled customer wishes to share a negative experience. Consequently, Twitter often serves as ground zero in terms of customer sentiment.

The data provided by Twitter provides a one-of-a-kind insight into what customers are thinking and what they want.  In the past converging that data into a coherent pattern was a challenge.

The new social data solutions partnership from IBM and Twitter make it possible for customers to pull data from Twitter automatically, and then perform a predictive analysis on that data. The result is a visual storytelling model that allows users to identify relationships and even patterns that might otherwise have remained hidden. As a result, users will be able to take more proactive and informed steps to resolve potential customer service issues before they grow bigger. Ultimately, this could prove to be incredibly invaluable in terms of preventing major PR problems, while also providing companies with opportunities to develop new customer service offerings that could prove to boost bottom lines and ROI.

Leveraging both Watson Analytics and IBM Bluemix, the new data solution may provide a tremendous amount of insight, but could also come at a steep price tag. Computer World reports that while the first access is free, the solution then becomes pay-as-you-go. Exactly how much might companies pay for the data? According to IBM, potentially $2,000, as initially tested on 100 companies recruited by IBM to use the service and provide feedback.

As Twitter continues to grow and develop its analytics tools, businesses will increasingly have the opportunity to tap into never-before-seen insights into what is going on in the consumer psyche.