Every day we receive an unlimited amount of information. This fact has its downside: it is sometimes very difficult to gather the important data about a given market or audience. At the same time, market research provides brands and researchers with the ability to extract more information away from the noise. 

We are in a world of constant change and movement, and like it, studies such as market research. Years ago, market research relied on more traditional methods such as surveys, but today there are new tools to extract information. The use and analysis of data from social media is one of them. 

In this post we will explain what a market study consists of and the methodologies that exist to get the most out of it.

What is primary and secondary market research?

Market research can be of both types: primary and secondary. Although it is true that in some places we can find them under the denomination of field and cabinet, this terminology nowadays is outdated. 

On the one hand, we have primary market research, which is what you can do yourself. This can include conducting surveys or organizing focus groups. 

On the other hand, secondary market research is research that has been done by others and that you want to use. That’s right, these studies may have been conducted by researchers or companies.

What are the market research methodologies?

Let’s get into the subject and explain the different market research methods that exist. All the ones we are going to show include both primary and secondary, the choice of use will depend on the objectives to be achieved.

Focus group technique

During a period of time, a group of people are gathered in a room, where they are asked a series of questions while being recorded. Depending on the information we want to extract, they will be asked about a specific topic such as a new product that has just been launched on the market. 

The person who organizes and mediates this session has to extract and analyze the ideas to get the opinion of society in general on the proposed topic. And how are the participants chosen? The choice will be based on certain criteria such as demographics or job position. 

One of the great advantages of this methodology is the natural conversation and debate that is generated among those who participate. Compared to more traditional surveys, focus groups can digress into conversation without the organizer foreseeing it, and therefore unexpected topics can emerge that provide further information to the research. 

The discussion nature of this market research technique can encourage participants to talk about things they might not otherwise have done, but they may be influenced by others in the focus group or by the organizer.

Traditional surveys

Without a doubt, this is one of the best known and most widely used market research methods in history. 

It can be carried out by various means: in person, by telephone, by e-mail or by means of an online form. Depending on the objectives, open or closed questions will be asked. If we decide to ask closed-ended questions, there are several types: dichotomous, i.e. a choice between “yes” or “no”; multiple choice; a rating scale; a check box and so on. 

This market research methodology is very versatile, as it offers a wide variety of possibilities when it comes to formulating the questions. Each of them requires a small strategy to lead the participants’ answers towards the objectives to be achieved. 

The clearer and more concise the questions are, the better the respondents’ true opinions will be reflected.

Active listening to conversations in social media

Many people post their opinions, tastes and preferences on their social profiles every day. In social media, users express themselves freely and the exchange of this information occurs instantaneously. For this reason, these platforms are very beneficial for market research. It is a source of unlimited data that can be harnessed and analyzed.

There are social listening tools, such as Consumer Research, that are able to collect all the information shared by consumers about a brand, a product or any emerging socio-political issue. Being very useful for market research as participants do not feel the pressure of the presence of an interviewer, thus sharing a wealth of real information about what they think or feel without filters.

Interviews

This methodology creates a more personal atmosphere between the interviewer and the participant, since it is the interviewer who asks the questions directly to the participant without surveys. Leaving the door open to broader and more complete answers.  

However, this method of market research requires a lot of time and money. Therefore, it is necessary to plan ahead in order to allocate resources and efforts in the most efficient way possible. 

If you want to conduct an interview of this type, we advise you not to ask closed or poor questions, so as not to get results that are not very useful for the objectives you want to achieve.

Field tests and experiments: what is it all about?

This method of market research is carried out in the environment of the people who participate. The researcher controls the independent variable to test the impact it has on the dependent variable. In other words, the objective of this test is to examine whether causality exists.

One of the most illuminating examples is Hofling’s experiment on obedience. This was conducted in a hospital where it was tested whether nurses would follow authority figures, such as physicians, if it were the case that the rules set by these figures violated the rules. What were the dependent and independent variables here? Clearly, nurses were the dependent variable, while the physician figure was the independent variable. 

Like all market research methodologies, the field experiment has advantages and disadvantages. First, we can highlight that the behavior here is more natural, as it is reproduced in a real-life setting. In addition, in cases where the studies are covert, the participants are unaware that they are being studied, so they do not feel pressured at any time and, therefore, it does not affect the results.

It is true that experiments of this type have less control over external variables that may affect the results, so it is more complicated for another researcher to replicate the study in the same way as one that has already been carried out.

Observational market research

This method of market research consists of the researcher observing people without their knowledge. In this way, human behavior is more natural, as long as they are not aware that they are being observed.

In the case of wanting to do a study of this type, it is important to keep in mind that it is time-consuming and researchers cannot have total control over the environments they are going to investigate.

Analyze your competitors

As its name suggests, this type of market research consists of the strategic analysis of those brands that form the competition of your company. It is possible to do research on various topics; you can start by defining the product, service and brand; their prices; the strategy they follow in their social networks, etc. 

This method is where the analysis of strengths and weaknesses, as well as opportunities and threats, opens the way.

Public domain information

When we refer to public domain information, we are referring to all the unlimited data provided by the Internet. It is an excellent resource bank for market research. 

One advantage for researchers is that the vast majority of public data is free, can be found in government databases, survey data, fact tanks and much more.

Purchase reports

That’s right, there is also the possibility of buying research reports or reports on the sector in which our company is located. In fact, there are portals that offer a large amount of this type of information, such as Mintel or BCC Research. 

The advantage of this modality is that it saves time and effort, since the data is obtained in a logical and ordered format that gives us the possibility of getting an idea of what we are extracting from the first moment.

Sales data

This market research methodology consists of analyzing the results, together with other data from the study we are doing. It also offers the possibility to better understand customers and their buying habits over time. Although it is a very valuable method, it is important to keep in mind that this analysis will be very limited to customers.

Find the market research method that best suits your objectives

Depending on where you want to go and what you want to achieve, you will have to use one market research method or another. Once we have explained in an orientative way what each of the ways of studying the market or a sector consists of, we recommend that you take the time to find the one that best suits the objectives you have set for yourself.

The post Market research and its different methodologies appeared first on Atribus.

In order to have more control over your brand’s reputation, analysing data from your mentions in forums, blogs, news and social media becomes an almost obligatory task. It is essential to know your community and analyse your strategies in order to improve the perception that users have of you or your business.

We want to show you how active listening tools on social media platforms, such as Consumer Data Intelligence, can make your job easier.

Discover what the networks are saying about your brand in real time

Why can this tool make the process easier for you? As we explained above, the Internet does not rest and every day there are new consumer opinions posted on their social profiles. One of the great advantages of Consumer Data Intelligence is to identify and analyse all the information about you or your company in real time.

That’s right, at all times you can be aware of how your customers are perceiving your brand in order to create proactive and optimised strategies. In addition, this type of tool gathers all the mentions about you or your business in a single platform. It couldn’t be easier.

Lovers vs. Haters – Why should I care?

You or your company can be talked about both positively and negatively and both are equally important when it comes to brand reputation. To keep it under control it is important to know who likes you and who dislikes you. 

In this hypothetical practice case we can see the accounts that talk about the brand with a positive and negative conversational tone. In addition, Consumer Intelligence gives you the opportunity to segment by social network to steer the strategy in one direction or another. 

Do you want to know who your lovers and haters are?

Monitoring of positive and negative evaluations

It’s clear that everything that is published on social media can be seen by thousands and thousands of people, so to avoid negative repercussions on the reputation of your brand, it’s interesting to be able to do a more exhaustive monitoring of customer reviews.

With the help of Consumer Data Intelligence, as well as being able to do this in real time, the tool allows you to segment by gender and generations. 

Do millennials or generation Z talk about you better?

Know where your brand is being talked about

When developing a strategic plan, it’s very useful to know where people are talking about your brand so that you can focus your efforts on a specific country or city. With the geolocation of conversations on social networks, all this information is provided to you in real time so that you are always aware of where your consumers and potential consumers are coming from. 

In this case of hypothetical practice, it’s in the city of Madrid where there has been the most online conversation about a specific brand. Followed by Barcelona and Malaga.

Manage potential crises that could affect your brand

Active listening tools on social media are a great help in managing possible future crises that may affect your online reputation. By having access to all your consumers’ online conversations, you can have exhaustive real-time control of what they are saying about you, your brand or your company.

With the full range of information provided by Consumer Data Intelligence, you have the opportunity to make decisions tailored to the issues at hand.

Understand consumer reviews

Knowing what users think about a company is a key indicator to know if, in relation to the image they have of you and your brand, you are doing your strategies well or not. Take advantage of the information provided by Consumer Data Intelligence and make decisions adapted to current conditions.

The post How to identify your brand’s reputation with the help of Consumer Data Intelligence appeared first on Atribus.

Artificial intelligence applied to consumer analysis which, through active listening on social media, allows the consumer’s purchase cycle to be monitored and studied.

In this post we will see the practical case of beer, where we will show all the information that can be collected about the product, the sector and consumers.

What do social media say about beer?

To develop a product or service, it is essential to understand consumer opinion around the five dimensions of the product: quality, price, sustainability, attributes and innovation. With the help of consumer intelligence, we can get a real-time sample of what consumers’ preferences are based on their online conversations. 

Let’s see how social media are talking about beer.

Reactions to beer

If we want to provide a better customer experience, it can be interesting to classify consumers’ reactions to the beer according to whether they are happy, negative, etc. This way we will know in real time how they are perceiving our product.

In this case study, we observe that happiness is the most common reaction among users with 57%, followed by anticipation and confidence with 14% in a tie. In relation to more negative reactions, we witness that the percentage is considerably lower: disgust and fear, both with only 1%.

The key phrases that have appeared most often in the conversations

With active listening on social networks, we can analyse which key phrases have appeared most often in online conversations, so that we can draw conclusions about what arouses the greatest interest among consumers. 

In the case of beer, being the most mentioned word, we found that craft beer, dark beer, non-alcoholic beer and even the components of the alcoholic beverage have also been discussed.

Most used emojis

It is increasingly common to see social media users communicating through memes, stickers and emojis. In the case of beer, these are the most used emojis in consumers’ online conversations. Once again, they continue to lead the positive reactions to this drink.

How do consumers feel about beer?

Once we have identified the reactions to our product, it is interesting to use real-time sentiment analysis as an ally to maintain customer satisfaction and brand loyalty, detecting improvements at each stage. With the Consumer Insights tool, it is possible to geolocate the sentiment to focus the efforts of the strategy in one direction or another.

In Madrid, the city where there has been the most conversation about beer, positive sentiment (940), outweighs negative (220) and neutral (11). The same is true for Barcelona, where the tone of online conversations is more positive (287) than negative (41) or neutral (10).

Generating new ideas with Consumer Data Intelligence

Through the real-time analysis offered by Consumer Data Intelligence on the relationship between the consumer and our product, it is easier to promote new ideas in the development of the product. 

In addition, knowing what our customers are talking about on social media can help us to identify new emerging trends in the sector, such as organic food, vegan ready meals, artisanal drinks and many more.

Responding to consumer demand ahead of the competition

By doing a competitive analysis, comparing in real time our indicators with those of our competitors, we will be able to detect unmet needs and weaknesses by analysing competitors’ activities and online conversations with users.

The fact that we know which products have the most impact and which brands are the market leaders gives us the opportunity to react proactively and to improve our product strategies. As well as anticipating consumer demand and keeping up with industry trends.

All the necessary information in real time

Consumer intelligence emerges as an extra advantage for the development processes of a product or service. Thanks to the extraction, processing and analysis in real time of the opinions obtained from social media, we can be able to make a more exhaustive study of the market. In addition, it can be useful to share all the information gathered with other departments of the company to follow up with greater precision.

The post Consumer Data Intelligence as a product development tool appeared first on Atribus.

Through the use of this technique it is possible to establish new relationships with clients, branding and brand image and obtain new leads.

This is a slightly intrusive method, because it is not about trying to sell a product to a person directly, but rather about attracting new customers indirectly, making the decision and incentive to buy up to them.

The most used social networks for the development of this method are Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and especially LinkedIn, allowing you to easily access potential customers and leads.

To carry out this strategy, we must implement branding, communication and content marketing in accordance with the objective we seek, approaching potential customers through a quality service that awakens their interest in our brand.

How can I create sales opportunities through social networks?

Knowing the theory of social selling, it is time to know how to exercise this strategy in your company, then we will give you a series of tips:

1.Select with criteria the social networks that can take advantage of the most value to your brand. You must select those in which you have the most audience and your potential consumer profile.

2. Choose well the people you follow on these networks. Both to potential clients and to brands and companies that you would like to collaborate in the future.

3. If you use LinkedIn you must activate notifications to follow your prospects (ideal clients). It is also advisable to join groups related to your sector and participate in them, with this you will be able to get new contacts in the sector and potential clients. It is also advisable to send invitations to connect people who visit your profile, in order to attract their interest and establish a conversation.

4. Intermediate and get involved in existing conversations that mention you and talk about your brand (you will reflect an image of closeness and concern and commitment to your brand)

5. Make and share original and relevant content.

In short, if you want to see results in the application of social selling you should try to bring positions between the potential client and your brand, trying to get closer to them and establishing valuable conversations.

Why should we have a social selling strategy?

Currently most people use social networks, spending 22% of the time on these platforms. Taking advantage of this situation, brands have not stood still and already 85% of companies are willing to interact via social networks, an aspect that pleases the audience.

Social selling is a process that must be thought, planned and properly executed so that the desired results are found; you have to invest an amount of money and above all time.

Relating through social networks through social selling strategies can be a clear competitive advantage over your competitors who are not exercising these functions, so you should not miss the opportunity and you should develop a good social selling strategy

The post What is social selling? appeared first on Atribus.