by Joe Porter
Social Perception

I have expanded Wreck Diving Magazine to include a new social media data mining business, Social Perception.  We show clients in the dive industry, tourism boards, and outside the industry, what topics and conversations are taking place around their brand, their competitors, and their industry, throughout all social media types (Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Fliker, Blogs, Forums, Mainstream News, etc.) in near real-time.  We provide details and demographics, and demonstrate to clients who the big influencers are through social media around their topics of interest, allowing clients with these influencers and target their marketing campaigns in a more focused approach.

The diving industry is not quite what it used to be and neither is the way people are communicating.  People may be saying very positive things about equipment brands or destinations, or very negative things that could sway future customers from taking a vacation at a certain location and cause them to go somewhere other than a particular resort or destination or brand.  Conversations in social media could also sway people trying to decide whether to buy this regulator or that one, this drysuit or that one, etc.  You can’t manage what you don’t know, and perception is real to people.  With our advanced system, we can see what people are saying about products, destination, restaurants, resorts, etc., and we can drill down to specific parts of the world.  We can even provide files with the actual conversations, and provide the overall sentiment of brands or destinations.  This allows my clients to engage with the “influencers” with these social media channels.  I already showed the tourism board of a dive destination that social media conversations about dive destinations were occurring in a completely different social media channel and from a different region  of the world than they were targeting in their marketing campaigns.

For more information, contact Joe Porter, Publisher, Wreck Diving Magazine.  Phone: 864-326-3445 ext 700.  Toll Free: 888-364-3382 ext 700.  email: JoePorter@SocialPerception.com  Web: www.socialperception.com