Back in November, we asked if market researchers were listening to (or ignoring) social media as a resource for market research. If your clients really desire customer insights, then you can’t ignore social media entirely. The sheer size and cultural influence of social media means that rich conversations are happening and your clients should be listening.
That said, your job is not to be the social media consultant telling the client that if they’re a retail client and not using Instagram they’re missing the boat (which they are). You’re there to counsel the client on the best ways to use social media as a means to gaining rich insights through social media monitoring, social sampling, and more.
To do this, you need to be well-informed as to the benefits and pitfalls of using social media for research purposes. It’s not as easy as just checking to see how many times the client’s brand was mentioned on Twitter today. You need to consider questions such as the following:
- If you’re considering social media monitoring, how do you judge authenticity? How do you deal with limited demographics? Does at least a minimum buzz exist around the client or brand?
- If you’re considering social media sampling, how well does it reflect your target markets? What bias exists?
- How do you apply market research best practices when social content and sources are so much in flux?
If we are posing these questions, you can bet we have a class for this! It’s one of our most popular ones, Social Media Meets Market Research, in which we provide answers to the questions above and quickly get you up to speed.
In 90 minutes of class time we provide a comprehensive overview of how social media and market research converge. This class includes examples, software demonstrations, interactive exercises, and real-time Q&A with the instructor. Click here to see a sample from this class.
We look forward to seeing you April 25th at Social Media Meets Market Research. Register now before the class fills up!
