· 3 min read
Social Media Listening of CBD Products
NLP and social media listening to transform discussions on platforms like Reddit and X into actionable insights, allowing CBD brands to understand user sentiment around products.
Problem
As CBD products surged in popularity, a clear gap emerged between public perception and scientific validation of its health benefits. Social media platforms like Reddit and X (formerly Twitter) became hotbeds of discussion, where users shared personal experiences, dosage advice, and effects of CBD. While these platforms held a wealth of insights, the data was largely unstructured and had yet to be systematically analyzed to reveal meaningful trends in sentiment and user concerns. This absence of a structured approach hindered brands from understanding public opinion and optimizing their communication to build credibility and trust.
Solution
Our Brand Champion service leveraged advanced Natural Language Processing (NLP) and social media listening to analyze sentiment and extract key insights from discussions on Reddit, X, and other platforms. This project focused on transforming unstructured user feedback into actionable insights for brand enhancement. Our approach included:
Social Media Listening & Data Collection: We monitored and gathered relevant discussions from public forums like Reddit and social platforms like X, where users frequently discuss CBD’s effects and benefits. Our monitoring focused on specific keywords and hashtags to capture mentions and conversations around CBD brands, product effectiveness, side effects, and popular administration methods.
Bio-Medical Entity Recognition: We used entity recognition to detect and categorize medical-related terms within conversations. This allowed us to identify trending health issues users were managing with CBD, providing a focused view of why users turn to these products.
Aspect-Based Sentiment Analysis: Utilizing a BERT-based sentiment analysis model, we analyzed discussions to assess sentiment surrounding specific aspects of CBD, such as product effectiveness, side effects, dosage, and administration methods. This provided a layered understanding of public opinion and concerns that could inform product development and marketing strategies.
Tools Used
- BERT: A robust NLP model for context-aware text analysis, enabling aspect-based sentiment analysis that discerned nuanced public sentiment on multiple facets of CBD use.
- Reddit & X APIs: Integrated for continuous social media listening, data collection, and analysis.
- Bio-Medical NLP Tools: These tools enabled the recognition of health-related entities in user discussions, helping filter and interpret conversations with high relevance for CBD brands.
Outcome
The project revealed that CBD is primarily discussed in the context of managing mental health issues, especially anxiety, with sublingual use being the most preferred method. Sentiment analysis indicated mixed public opinions, with positive sentiment around effectiveness but concerns regarding side effects and dosage. The findings enabled the client to enhance their communication strategy by addressing user concerns and building trust through fact-based information on product usage. This project underscored the value of social media listening as a cost-effective, real-time tool for understanding public sentiment, enabling brands to act on insights and strengthen their market presence.
