Social media isn’t just a great tool for marketing. More businesses are learning how to use social media for market research. An infographic from Insights In Marketing points out a few key do’s and don’ts of social media market research that every brand should consider. See the full infographic below.
How Marketers Use Social Media
The most common marketing use that brands derive from social media is–no surprise–campaign tracking (60%). Other popular uses include:
- Brand analysis (48%)
- Competitive analysis (40%)
- Custom care (36%)
- Product launch (32%)
Unfortunately, market research, on the whole, is not a widespread practice among many companies. Most companies are more focused on churning out content than listening and observing their audience. Want to know how you can leverage tools like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to become a better listener and data-gatherer? Keep reading…
5 Ways to Do Social Media Market Research
#1 Start by defining goals and objectives. Open up Facebook Insights or any other third-party plugin you might be using and you’ll get hit with a tidal wave of data. That’s not necessarily a good thing. Not all data is valuable; only the data that’s related to your goals and objectives is worth paying attention to.
#2 Clean data. Leave time in your schedule/budget to clean the data. Cleaning data helps you see the bigger picture trends in your social market research.
#3 Social is a complement. Don’t over rely on social media market research at risk of excluding other channels. Instead, think of social as a complement.
#4 Keep an open mind. It’s easy to become so focused on your agenda or campaign that you start wearing blinders, unable to hear what your actual users are interested in. Don’t just listen to how your audience is responding to you. Listen to the new ideas they’re generating… the perspectives they’re most interested in.
#5 Refocus. “Move from goals based on gut-feelings to goals that are data-driven,” suggests Insights In Marketing.
Want to see what social media market research actually looks like? Check out this write-up we published last fall about how Upworthy decides what content to create. Upworthy, like BuzzFeed and the creators of the Netflix hit series House of Cards, knows that social isn’t just a platform for creating and distributing content… it’s a platform that allows brands to listen, discover, and rebuild from the ground up.
Are you maximizing social for market research?
Tell us in the comments section below!
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