As small business owners, we all dream of a place where we don’t have to guess what people want or like to do. In this place, we have a 360-view of their favorite places to eat, drink, and play. We are invited into conversations among friends about pressures and pain points, brand fails, and unicorns. In this place, millions of people capture life’s rawest and rarest moments in photos and live stream putting a face and story to issues our products are anxious to provide for, our services delighted to solve.

1. Social Media Research Of The Future Is
Here Right Now
As small business owners, we all dream of a place where we don’t have to guess
what people want or like to do. In this place, we have a 360-view of their favorite
places to eat, drink, and play. We are invited into conversations among friends about
pressures and pain points, brand fails, and unicorns. In this place, millions of people
capture life’s rawest and rarest moments in photos and live stream putting a face
and story to issues our products are anxious to provide for, our services delighted to
solve.
Well, friends, this utopia does exist and you don’t have to follow the yellow brick road
to get there. Let me introduce you to social media.
Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat has given businesses an
unprecedented view into the consumer psyche. With the stated mission of
connecting people with friends and family, social media has unknowingly (somewhat
knowingly) created the holy grail of consumer insights. And the best part? At its most
basic level, it’s easy and free to access.
These micro-blogging websites are so rich in utility that an entire industry has formed
around mining and interpreting the data they produce. From social media listening
tools to social media focus groups, businesses looking to conduct market research
on their target audience can now source this data from their social media networks,
revealing a more granular assessment of the consumer buyer’s journey.
Current Social Media Market Research Landscape
I believe, however, that there is emerging research capabilities yet to be revealed
within social media. But before delving into that, let’s get an understanding of the
current social media research landscape. The tools currently available fall into two
high-level categories:
1. Passive listening – passive listening tools put the researcher (you) in a
passive role, more ethnographic, unseen by the “respondent”. Social media
listening tools can scrape vast amounts of profiles for things like brand
mentions and parse them into a range of positive and negative sentiment
analyses.
2. Active listening – active listening can incorporate passive listening, but
allows for the researcher(you) to interject themselves into ongoing social
media conversations or jump into existing conversations. This is more like
traditional market research which involves a “question/answer” scenario.
Social media active listening can be conducted in the comfort of one’s own
home on a platform that is familiar for the respondent making it an attractive
and cost-effective tool to use.
Emerging Social Media Research Technologies

2. Emerging technologies in social media can be game changers for businesses
looking to gain a better understanding of their audience. The result is more relevant
marketing campaigns. Here’s a few examples:
• Virtual Reality Focus Groups – With the launch of Facebook Spaces,
Facebook now presents an exciting opportunity for companies looking to source
qualitative data (measuring the quality of an experience through open ended
questions) through informal focus groups. Current technologies enable focus groups
to take place online through either video or discussion boards. The virtual reality
environment, however, opens a whole new world of possibilities. The digital stimuli
options can range from videos to photos, to retail scenarios, concept cars, restaurant
layouts, travel destinations, and almost anything you can think of.
You can not only change the location of the focus group on a whim (have
conversations about your favorite beer on the beach or in the bar) but you can also
control the focus group environment by presenting a different location on a virtual
screen.
• Stories – The format pioneered by Snapchat is now popping up everywhere,
from Facebook to Instagram. Stories represent an interesting development for
research opportunities. Sharing pictures on Instagram and Facebook are seen as
permanent as they live on the user’s timeline and feed until deleted. So, they tend to
be highly curated and not necessarily a representation of “real” life. The short-lived
nature of stories, however, lends itself to greater transparency, rewarding companies
with deeper insights into consumer behavior.
Consider guided stories, for example. Giving users (respondents in my world) a
series of actions to accomplish, such as shopping for their favorite snack via their
story feed, is a great way to capture insights. While this type of research is nothing
new (mobile ethnographies), the story functionality makes it easier for users to share
feedback as they no longer have to download a dedicated app and will not need a
guide on how to use it as it is now almost ubiquitous across most social media
networks. Unguided, or passive analysis of stories, can also lead to insights if you
can incentivize a user to friend your brand or research account.
• Chat Bot Research – So everyone is talking about chat bots, right? Artificial
intelligence chat bots could one day be able to reserve a table for you at your
favorite restaurant and hail an Uber for you to get there. When it comes to market
research, utilizing a chat bot could help curb the issue of waning respondents for
short quantitative surveys (think polls) by tapping into a new pool of respondents in a
more user-friendly way.
How does this impact my small business?
As you’re reading this, you’re probably thinking that Total market research on social
media sounds over the top. And I’ve just barely scratched the surface of what’s
possible. While tools exist that automate much of the research I outlined, I suggest
stepping back and experimenting with the tools you have in house first. Especially if
budget and resources are scarce.

3. If you do nothing else, utilize the social media analytics available to you on each
network or through social management tools. Facebook Insights, Ads Manager, and
HootSuite, for example, all collect data on users as they engage on social media.
Use that data to build personas of your audience and their habits. The intelligence
fuels more effective marketing campaigns.
Ultimately, the secret to success here, as with traditional market research, is
connecting business objectives with strategy. If you keep your eye on that prize,
social media research can change the way your organization gathers insights and
drives value for your brand.
Welcome to utopia.
This post originally appeared on the Crayons & Marketers Yellow Box Blog.
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August 8th, 2017|Blog, Online Market Research, Social Media, Total Market Research, Total Market Views
About the Author: Mario X. Carrasco
Mario X. Carrasco is Co-Founder and Principal of ThinkNow Research, an award-
winning culturally-integrated market research agency based in Burbank, CA. The
agency integrates Hispanic, African-American, and Asian insights into custom
market research for companies and government agencies looking to thrive in a
changing demographic environment.Under his co-leadership, ThinkNow Research
has successfully launched several innovative market research initiatives, such as
DigaYGane.com, one of the largest and most representative Hispanic online panels
in the industry as well as the first Minority Business Owner (B2B) Panel in the U.S.