Brain Waves Blog

Educators have discussed social intelligence for over 100 years. So why am I still asked to introduce the topic to leaders so often? Perhaps because language has evolved in ways that make it hard for us to recognize the innovative application of a century-old concept that now means more than one thing. I bet you’re just as nerdy as me; let’s break it down.

Your social media manager isn’t the right person to determine how you use (or don’t use) social listening. And they’re not the only end user of insights—far from it.

Everyone with an interest in postsecondary enrollment or the health of the industry seems to be talking about research methodology these days. A 5.5% increase in first-year student enrollment was misreported as a 5% decline due to a data coding error announced by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. Professionals are frustrated that “a thermometer for a feverish sector” could have such an inaccurate reading; some maintain that a preliminary report created in response to a worldwide pandemic and possibly carried forward due to its headline-grabbing nature should never have been considered a reliable industry indicator.

I had the most wonderful campus visit in November. Two members of a university leadership team invited me to speak with a group of stakeholders about social intelligence and Campus Sonar. The visit stood out to me because they followed some best practices to vetting and building a relationship with an expert partner. Here’s how to adopt their approach.

Perception is shaped by human feelings and opinions, and is dynamic in nature. Traditional research methods such as focus groups, interviews, surveys, and audience panels, often carry inherent biases and assumptions that impact the data collection process.

Monitoring and listening seem like the same thing, right? It can be hard to understand the difference between these two activities. You’ve probably even used the words interchangeably. We’re here to tell you there are critical differences between them; differences that prove monitoring alone is not enough. Once you start listening, you’ll realize the moments and opportunities you missed when you thought you were listening.