How Can Market Researchers Use Social Media Analytics?
The potential of social media tops the media powerhouse and is a perfect platform to measure the current pulse of the audience. After all, it is estimated that there will be around 2.13 billion social network users by 2016.
Unimaginable, however, predictable and that is because with time, social media has outgrown its status as just a means of entertainment to a more serious affair with analytical tools. It provides a wealth of knowledge and powerful insights from its huge database. Market researchers are using social media to their advantage, and here is how social media analytics is helping them hugely!
A Cheap Tool to Understand the Target Audience
The fact that it is free, it is cheap and it is a fast tool, is reason enough for it to act as a great advantage for market researchers. You can run polls, ask questions and get answers from your target audience.
It is a value addition to the traditional market researchers, as they are able to initiate engagement and interact with the audience. It also gives a clear idea about consumer choices and preferences, all at the click of a mouse.
Access to a Larger Target Base
Traditional market researchers can target one market at a time; however, social media has helped them break all boundaries and go beyond the traditional methods, giving them access to the large-scale market that becomes a perfect platform for endless surveys.
Social media gives an opportunity to market researchers to hear the genuine voices of their target audience. If you search for groups and discussion forums where your target market is, you can increase your reach and sales significantly.
Measuring the Competition and Keeping Tabs on Competitors
News travel fastest in social media. Therefore, it is the best way to keep a tab on your competitors’ activity. It will give you an insight into the strategies, both offline and online, adopted by your competitors.
You will know your market position as well. Additionally, you get an idea of your brand’s strengths and weakness as well as how customers perceive your band over other brands.
Research in Real Time
Real time research is best done in social media. It allows surveys and polls to be conducted much quicker than the traditional ways of collecting samples from the market and then conducting a research on that.
Now, it is not necessary to set up surveys or study groups and end up getting outdated results, as it takes time to set up surveys. Social media is the smartest choice to gather real time business intelligence and track consumer behavior.
Discover Trends
How would you know what’s in and what’s out, i.e. the trends? Social media does exactly that with its list of trending topics. Hashtags have revolutionized the way in which information can be picked up and has made things easier.
People constantly have discussions on some topic or the other – be it politics, fashion, music, events – the list is endless. Market researchers can categorize the audience and pinpoint the collective mindsets that highlight the current trends the market is following.
Conclusion
Social media might not be a perfect sample; however, its importance can never be ignored. It all depends on how you, as a market researcher, interpret and analyze the data to derive powerful insights.
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