Old World/New World: Market Research
With the emergence and expansion of social media, consumers can talk to each other and share information on a scale exponentially greater than during any other time in history. Three years ago, The Economist called the new era of participatory media revolutionary and likened the magnitude of impact to that of Gutenberg’s printing press.
The emergence of social media has caused a fundamental shift in the relationship between consumers and corporations. Namely, the brand identity ‘ball’ has bounced into consumers’ court. Where the goal used to be for brands to start the conversation, the new opportunity is to join the conversation.
This changes things for marketers and the way they do research. No longer is there need to gather consumers and ask for a response. Conversation is aplenty; all the brand needs to do to find out what consumers think is to listen.
Shifting lexicon:
| traditional | social |
| target | reach |
| demographic | psychographic |
| exposure, impressions | share of voice, engagement |
| approval rating | sentiment, promoter score |
| focus group | social monitoring |
Last 5 posts by Anastasia Clarkson
- FTC Publishes New Guidelines – October 19th, 2009
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- A+K = 1,000,000 – April 20th, 2009
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Great summary of the shift from traditional research methods under “artificial” conditions to authentic listening.
Great breakdown. I’d only add the thought that, in this new landscape, the rules of a “gift economy”, not a “market economy”, begin to apply.
The would-be marketer has to drop the old quid pro quo expectation (…I will show you my ad and you will buy my product…) and offer something to potential customers, not just exploit them but to form a relationship in which they jointly create value.
While this idea passive listening is certainly another tool, you’ve still got to be really careful of non-representative samples and online “echo chambers.” Online communities still tend toward more extreme opinions, and listening too hard to that sort of consumer/user/whatever can lead you down the wrong road. The trick, obviously, is knowing when to use what. I don’t think primary quantitative or qualitative research is dead yet.
Extreme enthusiast groups exist, but the problem of too-concentrated niche communities is becoming less of an issue as the use of message boards and other online communities becomes more ubiquitous. Another thing to consider is the influence these enthusiasts have on the casual consumer. There are people participating in online communities and there are also silent observers, or information seekers who are looking to these experts for advice in making their purchase decisions.
It’s important to be aware of the echo chamber effect, especially as research topics approach more granular levels. These more granular, pointed queries are perhaps where traditional focus groups may still be valuable when survey planning is informed by insights drawn out of social monitoring.
To your point of “listening too hard”, I think there is value in using your ‘wide-angle’ lens when surveying the online community.
Great post, I appreciate the breakdown of the old and new. I have to wonder what the heck psychographic means? I never heard this term before, I guess I could go Google it.
Software Seller-
Where demographic relates to age, gender, location, income, etc., psychographic refers to a person’s state-of-mind, values and motivators, etc. In social monitoring where the data (conversations) already exist, the task is identifying relevant psychographics rather than targeting relevant demographics to then probe for insight.
John-
Interesting to think about online communities as a gift economy where people share their valuable knowledge and work –not in a transactional dynamic but driven by primal motivations to connect, be useful, and feel accomplishment. …seed for a new post!
Right: reciprocity in online social media still reigns, but it’s not measured and rationalized as it is in a market economy. Example: mere publication in scientific journals is enough of a reward for years of work; seldom are researchers paid for their papers. What’s gained by the sharing of knowledge is attention and recognition, what Tara Hunt has dubbed “whuffie”; social capital.
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