Class leadership social media market research

1

Class Leadership AssignmentSocial Media Market Research

Chiara Regalia & Grant ThibaultOctober 22, 2012

2

Overview

What is market research?

• The pursuit to articulate the voice of the consumer

• Two main types of market research are qualitative and quantitative:

Qualitative Quantitative

Examples: • Focus groups / brainstorming• In-depth interviews• Ethnographies

• Questionnaires• Includes a wide array of

statistical techniques such as conjoint, segmentation, max-diff, etc.

Traditional 3 D’s Advantages Challenges Key Takeaways

3

Impact of social media on market research

• Social media has impacted market research in two ways:

1) Complementing traditional research techniques

2) Creating the need to conduct new types of market research on social media channels

In either case, social media has shifted the research technique from asking to listening

Overview Traditional 3 D’s Advantages Challenges Key Takeaways

4

Social media complements traditional market research

• Complementary research techniques include:

Traditional Technique

Social Media Complements

Social Media Sources

Qualitative

• Focus group • Online focus groups, crowdsourcing

• Google+ hangouts, Facebook, mobile apps

• In-depth interviews • Online interviews • Google+ hangouts, online chats

• Ethnographies • Netnographies • Facebook, brand forums, Twitter, etc.

Quantitativ

e

• Questionnaire • Online polls• Sourcing sample from social media for larger surveys

• Facebook, LinkedIn• Surveymonkey, Zoomerang


5

Crowdsourcing: Mountain Dew Dewmocracy

• Original Dewmocracy concept originated in 2007, asking consumers to develop a new line of Mountain Dew, including flavour, colour, name, and graphics

• Resulted in Voltage, a blue-coloured raspberry citrus drink charged with ginseng

• In 2009, Dewmocracy returned with a new twist - fans of the brand used social media to tell Mountain Dew why they should be the ones to come up with a new flavour

• Fifty fans were selected and sent test kits to come up with their own flavour; Mountain Dew selected the top three, dividing participants into three ‘Flavour Nations’

• The Flavour Nations competed head-to-head in the retail environment, with each nation responsible for all aspects of the product launch including naming, design, selecting an ad agency, and coming up with a digital advertising plan

• Ultimately, White Out beat Distortion and Typhoon in a fan vote, and can still be found on store shelves today


6

• Depending on budget and the quality of information you want to gather, there are three types of research you can conduct on a brand’s social media presence:

Researching the social media market

Investment Level HighLow

Do-It-Yourself Devices Dedicated Firms

The 3 D’s of Social Media Market Research


7

• Social media has empowered brands and businesses to conduct their own market research• Free, vast panels of “respondents”• User-generated content readily available

• Qualitative environment scans • Netnographies

• Quick metric analysis• Facebook ‘likes’• Twitter followers• Retweets• YouTube subscribers

Do-It-Yourself

Pictured: Do you like to do it yourself?




8

• A number of companies have developed online self-serve tools that brands can use to measure their own social media presence• HootSuite • Sprout Social• VerticalResponse

• Typically low cost ($20-$100 / month) or even free

Devices



• Features include one-stop social media management, dashboards, social media activity & growth, follower demographics, top performing posts, and customer targeting

• Integrate with Google Analytics to look at key metrics (website traffic, purchase conversion, reach, page views, time on page, etc.)

Source: Sprout Social


9

• There are also a number of companies who will use proprietary technology to measure, analyze, and interpret a brand’s social media presence• Crimson Hexagon• Salesforce (Radian6)• Converseon

Dedicated Firms



• Costly service, typically custom-priced depending on scope

• Features include much more in-depth analysis as well as acting as consultants to generate the insight from this analysis• Sentiment analysis (sentiment as well as the subject of that sentiment)• Key influencer identification• Geo-tagging / geographic result breakdown

Source: Crimson Hexagon


10

Advantages of social media market research

Traditional Market Research

Social Media Market Research

Panels • Costly, limited • Free, nearly unlimited

Knowledge Limitation• Questionnaires and focus groups have imposed time limits

• Vast quantities of user-generated content to access

Timeframe • Snapshot of a point in time • Ongoing in real time

Insights• Limited to what you ask respondents

• Sift through user content to identify unmet needs and other hidden insights

Verbatims• Limited to qualitative research or open-ended questions

• Rich user-generated content

Cost • Typically costly • Typically little to no cost


11

• Difficulty identifying content creators demographically

• Repeated postings by one/few social media users can skew results

• Data quality and verification issues

• Data is largely qualitative and could me miscoded during data collection

• Skew towards demographics that favour social media (generally younger and female)

• Ethical issues covertly collecting and analyzing data

Challenges of social media market researchOverview Traditional 3 D’s Advantages Challenges Key Takeaways

12

Key takeaways

• Social media has impacted market research in two ways:

1) Complementing traditional research techniques• Access to vast data and interactive platforms at no cost

2) Creating the need to research and measure social media itself• 3 D’s of social media market research depending on the level of

investment

• Social media has resulted in some key advantages for market research based on the vast, rich, and free data it provides

• However, the unstructured nature of social media results in some challenges, particularly around data quality and ethics


13

Works cited

Clifford, S. (2012, July 30). Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare as Corporate Focus Groups. Technology Section. Retrieved October 18, 2012, from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/31/technology/facebook-twitter-and-foursquare-as-corporate-focus-groups.html?_r=1

Cooke, M. (2009). Social media and market research: We are becoming a listening economy and, while the future of market research is bright, it will be different. International Journal of Market Research, 51(4), 550. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.library.yorku.ca/business/docview/214802034/139DA5ABD1844CADF38/2?accountid=15182

Emerson, M. F. (2012, August 3). Using Social Media to Test Your Idea Before You Try to Sell It. Small Business Blog - You're the Boss Blog. Retrieved October 18, 2012, from http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/03/using-social-media-to-test-your-idea-before-you-try-to-sell-it/

ForSight™ Data Visualization Reveals Insights in Online Conversations. (n.d.).Social Media Monitoring Analysis and Analytics | Crimson Hexagon. Retrieved October 18, 2012, from http://www.crimsonhexagon.com/data-visualization/

Grove, J. V. (2010, April 19). Mountain Dew Releases 3 Fan-Created Flavors.Social Media. Retrieved October 17, 2012, from mashable.com/2010/04/19/dewmocracy-2-flavor-nations/

Patino, A., Pitta, D. A., & Quinones, R. (2012). Social media's emerging importance in market research. The Journal of Consumer Marketing, 29(3), 233-237. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/07363761211221800

Smith, A. (2012, April 20). Three Amazing Crowdsourcing Campaigns.Social Media Today. Retrieved October 15, 2012, from socialmediatoday.com/alex-smith/492666/three-amazing-crowdsourcing-campaigns

Somosi, A. (2012, June 15). 6 Ways Social Media is Revolutionizing Marketing Research. The Social Marketer. Retrieved October 18, 2012, from http://nmincite.com/6-ways-social-media-is-revolutionizing-marketing-research/

West, A. (2012, September 7). The Top 5 Social Media Management Tools for Small Business. Business & Finance Software. Retrieved October 18, 2012, from http://www.pcworld.com/article/260530/the_top_5_social_media_ management_tools_for_small_business.html


Documents

Class leadership social media market research