What is Sentiment in Marketing? Definition & Examples

Sentiment is attached to everything, including the trillions of bits of aggregated data collected by consumer and marketing research tools. And brands need to understand what these sentiments attached to social media posts, online reviews and forums mean for them. Let’s find out.

We are going to explore and define just what is sentiment, as we cover:

• How to understand sentiment and sentiment analysis
• Influencing consumer sentiment
• Raising the bar on your brand sentiment

As we lift the lid on what is sentiment in marketing, we have some facts that speak to why sentiment is critical for you to understand, including:

• Sentiment is a mental attitude produced by feelings – while emotions are raw, sentiments are powerful and can make or break a brand.
• The emotional connection between a customer and a brand drives most interactions that occur. This includes sharing content, clicking through to a website, purchases decisions, and, very importantly – customer loyalty.
• There are eight emotional mindsets that influence consumer decisions – we’ll talk more about these below!

So….What is Sentiment?

Sentiment is the product of emotion. Once a consumer feels a certain way, they establish their sentiments towards brands and products based on how those brands/products made them feel. And it’s this little, but very complex aspect of the consumer, that brands need to consider for messaging, campaigns, product innovation, influencer marketing and almost anything else you can think of. It’s that important. There are eight emotional mindsets that influence your consumer, including:

• The need for information
• The desire for validation – consumers are greatly influenced by others’ opinions thus the rise in influencer marketing
• The need to be first – everyone likes to be first; also FOMO (fear of missing out)
• The want to have fun – not just for girls anymore, but boys, transgender and non-binary consumers
• Avoiding Remorse – buyers’ regret pushes them to look for brands they trust
• Decision anxiety – they have a hard time making purchase decisions, so a friendly nudge could be the deciding factor
• The need to feel special – everyone wants to feel special, this applies to products and purchasing
• The feeling of frustration – not everyone enjoys shopping, maybe your product or service offers a quick and easy transaction

Now, let’s look at how you can better understand these emotional states and use sentiment to aid your brand in better connection to your consumer!

And the end of the day, understanding what sentiment analysis is in marketing is straightforward.

It’s consistently tracking sentiment, watching for any blips on the radar and then exploring deeper to understand what these blips mean. The intel gathered can aid you in reaching your consumers on a more intimate level, creating potentially loyal customers for life.

But you need to do more than scratch the surface. And when you’re ready to dig a little deeper and raise your brand sentiment awareness level to defcon 4, reach out for a demo!