Social Media and Market Research

In today’s ever-changing society, social media impacts everything it touches. From everyday tasks to communicating to friends and those in different countries, social media opens the door for new and improved ways of thinking, communicating, and doing. But how does social media affect research?

With everything in life, utilizing social media the right way will help benefit a business with marketing, branding, and other important aspects that shape a business. There are six easy “tips” for implementing social media in a business, ultimately improving results.

Tip One: Track trends
You may be asking yourself what a trend is. According to Webster, a trend is a general direction of change, a way of behaving, proceeding, etc. that is developing and becoming more common. A trend can also be depicted as a trend line – showing the general direction that a group of points seem to be heading – either upwards, downwards, or staying the same over time. But how does one track changes? It’s easy. Social media – Twitter or Facebook – makes it simple by offering many ways to analyze trends. These sites allow one to search posts, both new and old, and popular ideas, giving insight to the emerging trends of customers and prospects. By doing this, it allows one to see what people are looking for and what they need.

Tip Two: Learn the language of your audience
Learning the language of your audience is extremely important because it helps a business grow. The language you may think is appropriate may not always be what your customers are thinking or view as being important. Social media gives an outlet to businesses because it is a free tool where one can analyze comments and data about certain products, services, or brands offered by a business. By utilizing these results, a business can change their direction and focus on the areas where they see the greatest impact to costumers.

Tip Three: Social media = quick research
Market research, traditionally speaking, involves the implementation of surveys or study groups, but today with social media, the implementation is easier because it is so fast. Because of its fast-paced nature, the results may be there, but beware: are they always correct?

Tip Four: Broaden the scope of your market research
According to a Nielson report, 80 percent of people use the Internet to utilize social media. With such a large percentage, it gives a business a larger audience to conduct market research.

Tip Five: Discover unnoticed trends
Research is driven by questions, and asking the right ones, the right way, will give great results to those burning questions businesses want to know. With social media, information is gained through interaction and observation, which is easy since it is all just a “click” away. It gives a person the choice to be either an observer or a participant in the discussions found on social media, but it can also help a business discover new and innovative ways of thinking and doing.

Tip Six: Cost-effective
Social media is  cost-effective. It is a great tool for research, as well as advertising because it reaches millions of people. Though it does take time to use social media, if it is used right, it can greatly benefit a business.

Now that the journey through the six “tips” of social media is complete, it is up to you to see if it fits for you. Social media is present in everything we do; it surrounds us. But is that always a good thing? Do we want everything at a “click” of a button? Social media is very accessible to those who know how to operate the different sites and how to use it to benefit their business. As you saw throughout this article, social media helps you track and discover trends, broaden the scope of your market, and is cost-effective. These are all enticing, but how does it influence research?
It makes it easier to find results and to analyze trends to who don’t know where to begin. Social media is always changing to adapt to society, and so must a company. It helps a business know the markets surrounding them and how they can create a niche to adapt to them. How do you exactly do this? 

Market opportunity assessments and market perception surveys allow a business to see how they are doing in their given markets, and if they should look into a new and/or different niche. If you don’t know where to begin, we can help. Call us toll-free at 1-800-999-6615, email us at mail@tweedweber.com, and/or visit us on the web at www.tweedweber.com. Also, be sure to follow us on LinkedIn (Tweed-Weber, Inc.) and Twitter (@TweedWeber).Today, sit back and allow us to do all the work, and help you figure out the perfect picture for your company. No one can guarantee certainty, but market research can guarantee clarity. You will Know More, so you can Do More.