Social Media Analysis Tools: A Crafty Approach to Market Research

Social Media Analysis Tools: A Crafty Approach to Market Research

Market research is an important and integral part of any product development and management process. Often, it is through an exhaustive and well spanned out research that brand managers know how well a to-be launched product is going to fare in the market. Managers use traditional market research methodologies to

Social Analyzing

Understand consumer needs and opinions.

•   To develop a product that is tailor made for their target market
•   Optimize their market reach
•   To assess the existing market trends and based on that predict consumer behavior.
•   To make product enhancements and modifications

But, this is the age of social media and networking, where purchases are made based on friend recommendations and reviews, likes and shares from like minded individuals. Consumers prefer to talk about their favorite products and engage in discussions on social media channels than fill out survey forms or take questions from a market research personnel.

So, don’t you think it’s time that the market researchers made the much needed shift from traditional market research methods to modern social media analytics tools in order to get in-depth and insightful market research data, that too in real time?

How do Social Media Analytics Tools Aid Market Research?

a)Derives Market Insights from Social Conversations

The social channels are all about sharing information and building conversations. For brands and organizations, these candid conversations are a key to useful insights on consumer needs, brand perception among consumers, their products and services. Using social media analysis tools, market researchers and brand managers can very effectively and easily analyze millions of such conversations and derive decisive insights from it, to strategize, improvise and modify their marketing initiatives.

b)Helps Understand Target Markets

Market researchers, using the conventional methods, would have to solely rely on extensive surveys using lengthy questionnaires in order to understand their target market. However, social media analysis tools, with their Sentiment and Intent Analysis abilities, tells researchers everything about their target audience – from demographics to consumer opinions without using any surveys or questionnaires.

c) Assists in Predicting Trends and Managing Competition

Organizations do not have to wait for the results of the market surveys that they conduct to know the market trends or understand their competitors. Social media analysis tools with their Competition Analysis techniques does this for the market researchers.

Therefore, social media analysis tools are extremely useful in carrying out effective market research. I strongly believe that the time is just right for market research departments to embrace social media analysis tools and make the best use of what it has to offer in terms of cost-effectiveness and clarity within minimal space and time.

Shout Analytics is one such high-end social media analytics tool that help organizations manage and improve their market research activities using data available in social media. To know more about Shout Analytics, visit http://www.shoutanalytics.com/.