Computers and robots may reign supreme in manufacturing, but it seems that when it comes to social media analysis, a human may still be necessary to get an accurate assessment. Public relations measurement firm KD Paine & Partners has recently joined with social media marketing consultants Buzz Logic in a human-analysis sentiment scoring program. Paine’s Berlin, NH-based firm will enhance the blogging and social media outreach programs and strategies of Buzz Logic’s clients by employing teams of analysts to apply a rating to the blog conversations of interest. While Buzz Logic’s existing programs capture the conversations, the new partnership allows for precise measurement of the sentiment.

“Computers can do a lot of things well, but differentiating between positive and negative comments in consumer generated media isn’t one of them,” explained Katie Delahaye Paine, CEO of KD Paine & Partners. “The problem with consumer generated media is that it is filled with irony, sarcasm and non-traditional ways of expressing sentiment.
That’s why we recommend a hybrid solution. Let computers do the heavy lifting, and let humans provide the judgment,” Paine explains.

In an effort to determine the social media influence on marketing programs, the Buzz Logic program uses automated software to determine a positive or negative scoring for blog conversations; KD Paine’s team will add that human judgment. Because understanding the intention and sentiment behind a blog post is an important factor in determining outreach strategy, Buzz Logic hopes their work with the Paine team will further enhance their client’s communications and marketing goals.

“Consumer generated media has changed the game for how today’s brands both market products and interact with customers,” said Rob Crumpler, CEO of BuzzLogic. “As more companies look to invest marketing and advertising dollars into social media, our job is to offer our customers a crystal clear picture of what influential brand advocates are saying online, and help marketers either leverage or shift those perceptions. We’re excited to work with KDPaine — the firm is the gold standard when it comes to sentiment analysis.”

Sentiment scoring is also an essential element to ROI for many marketers. Without the ability to measure the reactions of the blogosphere to a particular campaign, social media marketers may not be able to determine the benefit of their programs. While automated analysis, which uses language recognition tools to apply sentiment, can be a helpful tool, according to Paine the nuance of the language used in blogging changes the landscape.

In this brief interview with Media Bullseye at the recent Society for New Communications Research Symposium and Awards Gala, Katie Paine explains the keys to measuring influence online. She also outlines the details of her firm’s partnership with Buzz Logic.