2. What is market research?
Overview Traditional 3 D’s Advantages Challenges Key Takeaways
• The pursuit to articulate the voice of the
consumer
• Two main types of market research are
qualitative and quantitative:
Qualitative Quantitative
Examples: • Focus groups / • Questionnaires
brainstorming • Includes a wide array of
• In-depth interviews statistical techniques such
• Ethnographies as
conjoint, segmentation, max
-diff, etc.
2
3. Impact of social media on market research
Overview Traditional 3 D’s Advantages Challenges Key Takeaways
• 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
3
4. Social media complements traditional market research
Overview Traditional 3 D’s Advantages Challenges Key Takeaways
• Complementary research techniques include:
Traditional Social Media Social Media
Technique Complements Sources
• Focus group • Online focus groups, • Google+ hangouts,
Qualitative
crowdsourcing Facebook, mobile apps
• In-depth interviews • Online interviews • Google+ hangouts, online
chats
• Ethnographies • Netnographies • Facebook, brand forums,
Twitter, etc.
• Questionnaire • Online polls • Facebook, LinkedIn
Quantitative
• Sourcing sample from • Surveymonkey, Zoomerang
social media for larger
surveys
4
5. Crowdsourcing: Mountain Dew Dewmocracy
Overview Traditional 3 D’s Advantages Challenges Key Takeaways
• 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 5
6. Researching the social media market
Overview Traditional 3 D’s Advantages Challenges Key Takeaways
• 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:
The 3 D’s of Social Media Market Research
Do-It-Yourself Devices Dedicated Firms
Low Investment Level High
6
7. Do-It-Yourself
Overview Traditional 3 D’s Advantages Challenges Key Takeaways
• 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
Pictured: Do you like to do it yourself?
• Quick metric analysis
• Facebook ‘likes’
• Twitter followers
• Retweets
• YouTube subscribers
Do-It-Yourself Devices Dedicated Firms
Low Investment Level High 7
8. Devices
Overview Traditional 3 D’s Advantages Challenges Key Takeaways
• 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
Source: Sprout Social
• Typically low cost ($20-$100 / month) or even free
• 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.)
Do-It-Yourself Devices Dedicated Firms
Low Investment Level High 8
9. Dedicated Firms
Overview Traditional 3 D’s Advantages Challenges Key Takeaways
• 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 Source: Crimson Hexagon
• 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
Do-It-Yourself Devices Dedicated Firms
Low Investment Level High 9
10. Advantages of social media market research
Overview Traditional 3 D’s Advantages Challenges Key Takeaways
Traditional Social Media
Market Research Market Research
Panels • Costly, limited • Free, nearly unlimited
• Questionnaires and focus • Vast quantities of user-
Knowledge Limitation groups have imposed time generated content to access
limits
Timeframe • Snapshot of a point in time • Ongoing in real time
• Limited to what you ask • Sift through user content to
Insights respondents identify unmet needs and
other hidden insights
• Limited to qualitative • Rich user-generated content
Verbatims research or open-ended
questions
Cost • Typically costly • Typically little to no cost
10
11. Challenges of social media market research
Overview Traditional 3 D’s Advantages Challenges Key Takeaways
• 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
11
12. Key takeaways
Overview Traditional 3 D’s Advantages Challenges 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
12
13. Works cited
Overview Traditional 3 D’s Advantages Challenges Key Takeaways
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?accou
ntid=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_ 13
management_tools_for_small_business.html
