Just as your users search for you through a web browser to make it easier to find you online – you should search for your potential customers on the web too. And what is the easiest way to do it? Well, of course – searching for them on social networks. However, to successfully run a campaign – you need to get involved with social media investigations.
The Influence Of Social Media Is Huge
We are fully aware of the enormous impact social media such as YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram have on today’s society. Most of us have a profile on at least one of these platforms – and an enormous percentage of people use more than one platform. That is the exact motive for everyone engaged in a business – because these are places where you can find your future customers, consumers, and even the new faces for your campaign.
Namely, many influencers from platforms such as Instagram or YouTube have started their careers that way. Therefore, over time, the need for so-called social media investigations has become present. Of course, this is just one aspect of social media investigations that businesses can use. However, the very concept and operation of social media investigations are much broader and way more complex.
What Is Social Media Investigation Actually And How Does It Help Us?
We mentioned marketing as just one small aspect of where social media investigation can be used. We have done this more, as an illustration – to bring this concept closer to you. However, the whole story is far more complex. It helps you with more serious things like online scams, insurance scams, identity or IP theft scams, aggressive behavior, and online bullying – all the way to possible crimes. So, this is quite a detective and even forensic-oriented job.
What Do You Need To Know About SMI?
Today, we use social media platforms for a variety of purposes. We publish posts, photos, videos, information about where we are, etc. On the other hand, there are numerous companies with various activities on social media, more or less known to people. With each of our posts, we leave a digital mark online – even when we don’t provide all the information on the profile itself. So, you may wonder how SMI works and provides us with the data we need. Here are some things about SMI that you should know.
1. This is a voluminous and hard job to do on your own
When necessary, with the help of SMI, you can get some exceptionally valuable data. Namely, OSINT-based research (open source intelligence) – can guide you and give you access to a large amount of unique data about users who are the subject of your interest. However, the manual work of this entire procedure is very demanding and time-consuming.
Therefore, it is very challenging to work on your own. First of all, you need to have adequate knowledge of the characteristics and functioning of all social platforms – which in itself is not easy. An additional aggravating circumstance is that these platforms are frequently updated with new features – so it is almost impossible to keep track of everything in this way. Therefore, it is necessary to have a reliable ally in this business.
You can look for additional information in places like this website, where you will see that by combining modern technology and human resources – you can do this job more thoroughly and in a much shorter time. In addition, the data obtained in this way will be more relevant and reliable.
2. Professionals conduct investigations using their data assembly platforms
This is just another reason that points you to the seriousness of the whole business. Namely, as we mentioned, most users have their profiles on almost all social media, or at least on the majority. In these situations, it is sometimes very demanding to keep track of the announcements, posts, and content of the profiles required.
However, professionals also use professional tools – among which platforms through which they can combine data obtained from various social media. Such specialized programs used for these purposes have several additional features that will facilitate your investigation. That increases efficiency in this business – and this can sometimes be essential. For example, if the search result is limited for any reason.
3. The search includes not only names but also hashtags
Many people who are users of multiple social media – use a unique nickname or name for all or most of those platforms. That can be a mitigating circumstance if you search for this information yourself. For example, most Facebook and Instagram users will use the same or similar name or nickname. Of course, most of them are connected to both social media – so it’s logical, and it will make your search easier.
Another trick that will make your search more effortless is the hashtag. This way, you can find the user, his posts – but also the posts of other people with whom the user is connected and others who tagged him in the post. In addition, with the help of the hashtag – the investigation can be narrowed down to more specific things that interest you.
Significance Of SMI And Proofs It Provides
We have already noted that SMI can be used for various purposes – from marketing and business to matters involving litigation and even crime. We need to keep in mind that the social media post is also subject to deletion, but there are various tools with which the deleted publication can still be traced.
This is especially important in cases of litigation or digital monitoring of someone’s profile to shed light on a crime. It will very often happen that a person who published a controversial post, very quickly, removes it from his profile. That is why the help of professionals and modern technology available to them – is crucial. When it comes to the relevance of such evidence – that premise also depends on the country within which the investigation is conducted. Namely, some states still do not accept such evidence as relevant in litigation and the like