Because of social media, the voice of an individual consumer can be many times more powerful than it used to be. That’s why companies can’t afford to ignore social media; they must actively monitor social media outlets and engage with their customers and prospects there.
There are also important implications for market research: conducting research with “influencers” is more important than ever before. While influencers might differ somewhat from your typical customers, it’s more important than ever to know how they think. When designing research, we frequently look at influencers as a separate segment to be studied.
How do we define influencers? When recruiting research participants, we might ask how frequently they post their opinions about companies online or how often friends ask them for advice. But a company called Klout has a more scientific approach: they have developed a sophisticated ranking system that analyzes an individual’s activity on social networks and assigns them a score based on their ability to influence others. For example, they don’t just look at the number of people following the individual on Twitter, but also how often they click on posted links, respond to, list, or retweet that user.
Virgin America used Klout scores to locate influencers to receive a free flight to get the word out about its new Toronto route last spring, which generated 4,600 tweets about the new route. That led to more than 7.4 million impressions and coverage in top blogs and news outlets like the L.A. Times and CNN Money. One benefit of this approach: the recipients of the free flights had already established a credible voice which made them believable despite the free gift. They had “earned” the special treatment.
To utilize social media for your market research, give us a call at (818) 752-7210.
Sources: “Social Media for Market Research,” Ben Smithee, presented to QRCA So. Cal., September 10, 2010; “Need a Reservation? That Could Depend On How Big You Are on Twitter (Really),” adage.com, September 30, 2010