In Search of Social Media Intelligence

Social media did not exist when Wendy W. Moe transitioned from business to academia. She first heard about sites like MySpace, Twitter and Facebook from her MBA students at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business when she arrived in 2004.

“All of my students were talking about it, and I felt like I needed to learn,” says Moe, associate dean of master’s programs and director of the Smith Analytics Consortium. “I very deliberately went on all the platforms and opened accounts, and started sending messages into cyberspace.”

As an expert in digital marketing with a mind for data, Moe quickly recognized the potential.

Traditional consumer research requires surveys, interviews and focus groups — which all take time and cost money. Social media platforms with large, diverse audiences could provide a shortcut.

“All we’re trying to do in marketing research is get the voice of the consumer,” Moe says. “And here the consumers are just volunteering it.”

In the years that followed her initial exploration, Moe established herself as a leader in the race to harness the newly available data.

Her 2014 book, Social Media Intelligence, co-authored with David A. Schweidel at Emory University in Atlanta, provides tools to filter out the noise in online forums full of fake accounts, trolls and outliers — leaving marketers with valid, reliable results in real time.

Related research by Moe has appeared in top marketing journals, resulting in best paper awards and other honors from the American Marketing Association and Marketing Science Institute.

Along the way, Moe also launched the Master of Science in Marketing Analytics program at Maryland Smith in 2013 and served as academic director until her appointment as associate dean in December 2018. In her new role she oversees all Smith MBA and specialty masters programs. 

“What I’m really excited about is the school’s focus on data-driven decision making,” Moe says. “Data analytics will infuse all of business, regardless if you work in finance, marketing or any other field. These skills are in short supply and high demand.”

Moe’s passion for data science started near Chicago, where she grew up and earned an Ivy League invitation to study business at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.

A banking internship gave her industry experience during her undergraduate program in finance and marketing. Her first full-time job after college was marketing research at Nielsen. Later, she earned an MBA at Georgetown University and helped launch a tech startup.

What turned her toward academia was advice from a Wharton professor, who befriended Moe and served as her mentor. “He’s had a huge impact on me and my career,” Moe says.

After earning a master's degree and PhD in marketing from Wharton, Moe joined the faculty at the University of Texas at Austin. She came to Maryland Smith four years later.

Now she shows appreciation to her Wharton mentor by filling the role for others. “That’s how I see myself as an academic,” she says. “I do interesting research, but I also impact the people around me and help students find their path.”

Besides guiding her research, the business experience gives Moe an edge when consulting for corporate and government clients.

“I’ve worked in finance, marketing and technology,” she says. “I’ve been in large organizations, and I’ve been in startups. Having that diversity of viewpoints helps me see problems from multiple perspectives.”

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