Creating Products They Want: Consumer Driven Innovation via Social Media Monitoring

Creating Products They Want:
Consumer Driven Innovation via
Social Media Monitoring
An Excerpt from the Let’s Talk! Social Media ROI Series

Download the full whitepaper here:
http://socialmedia.alterian.com/learn-more/roi/Product-development-whitepaper

Brief Overview:

Whether a product is in its conceptual phase or near
refinement, it is important to consider the wealth of
insight available in social networks.
A social media monitoring tool can gather the
conversations and tap into the collective intellect of
consumers at large. It provides brands with the
opportunity to learn directly from their customers,
target markets, that of competitors and the industry as
a whole.


The ROI of Using a Social Media Monitoring Tool

This white paper will provide an overview of the following
ways that a social media monitoring tool directly impacts
the return on investment in product development:

• Reduce traditional market research costs
• Shorten the product development cycle
• Post-production feedback
• Identify influencers & advocates
• Discover new markets


Reduced Traditional Market Research Costs:

The social web creates the perfect incubation area
for new product ideas. In contrast to traditional
market research methods, the organic nature of
social media conversations provides unique value.
Consumers openly share information about brands,
comparing them and making suggestions in real
time. They contribute to the conversation at large
with no reservations or filters in place. Most
importantly, they participate because they want to.


The ROI of Using a Social Media Monitoring Tool

A social media monitoring tool allows one to segment the
data and identify demographic trends around a brand.
The following Theme Clouds
show the words that women
used in regard to McDonald’ s
McCafe products. The larger
the word, the more frequently
they were used in the
conversations about the brand.
The following words offer
excellent opportunities to
gather product development
ideas: iced, free, mocha,
love, chocolate, breakfast, tea,
and vanilla.


Shorten the Product Development Cycle:

Consumers are more likely to provide feedback, and it is the
perfect opportunity for the product team not only to listen,
but also to participate. This will reduce the time needed to
research new product ideas, vet feature lists (provide the
opportunity to vote) and test the pre-release version (beta).
Many companies find that when they engage their
customers, not only do they lower production costs, but they
build brand loyalty and generate excitement about the
product.


Shorten the Product Development Cycle:

A brand can create a private or public community and use a
social monitoring tool to identify main themes and sentiment.
Many social media monitoring tools allow the ability to add
custom RSS feeds. This allows you to analyze the content of
the conversations. Specific topics of concern to the user
community can be identified. It also offers the ability to see
patterns in feedback on sentiment about the products.


Post-Production Feedback:

Consumers shopping online are
more likely to purchase a product
when it is recommended by a
friend; this is especially true if the
friend helped in the product
development phase.

In addition, post-production feedback can help work out any bugs.
Another benefit of post-production feedback is that real-time feedback
enables companies to make changes in the supply chain. Brands no
longer need to wait months to see the fruits of market research.


Post-Production Feedback:

The following chart
shows the tone of the
results. The negative
ones offer the obvious
place to dig into. It’ s
also important to not
overlook the positive
ones. They will provide
many clues as to what
is effective along with
hints as to what
additional features
consumers desire.


Identify Influencers & Advocates

The ability to find influencers and engage with them and their
communities takes product development to the next level. As you
work with them to understand their needs, you build customer
loyalty in addition to developing a better product.
Relationships with influencers and online communities are based on
trust. People buy products when they learn from others’ positive
experiences. By following influencers and their communities,
companies can expand their reach as they learn the sentiment
towards a product, as well as the demographics and geography of
those who use it.


Identify influencers & advocates: A Case Study


Discover New Markets:

Are you interested in new markets? Social media monitoring
reveals potential markets by identifying demographics and
online communities with a need for your products. It is
important to set up broad searches for industry keywords.
Don’t limit the language to specific brands, but include
products and features. A social media monitoring tool can
also help you identify unexpected uses of your products.


Conclusion:

Social Media Marketing provides key data that
enables a company to refine a product and expand
its reach at the same time. Listening to your market
and online communities helps guide market
research and customer engagement in the
process, and it builds brand loyalty for post
production. Beyond developing existing products
and markets, using a social media monitoring tool
leads to identifying new markets.


Creating Products They Want: Consumer Driven Innovation via Social Media Monitoring

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Creating Products They Want: Consumer Driven Innovation via Social Media Monitoring