According to Digital 2020, there are more than 3.8 billion social media users worldwide. It’s obvious that social media is a huge part of our lives now.
Implementing social media to your market research efforts to develop your business is a no-brainer.
Social Media Shapes Our Behavior
It’s definitely a big factor in how we engage with the outside world, whether it’s with loved ones or a particular brand.
Some people would say we reflect our personalities, preferences, likes and dislikes on social media, but there is also a strong argument that we don’t simply reflect ourselves on social media, but social media actually shapes us. Either way, using social media for promotion and better understanding your audience is a no-brainer.
It’s important for your customers to feel connected to your brand, and social media is a great way to establish that connection. This method of communication between the customer and the business not only strengthens the engagements, it can also help you develop your business.
How to Use Social Media for Learning About Your Audience
Most of your social media followers consist of your customers or people who are interested in your business. They are already interacting with your brand. This is a great starting point for conducting market research.
Try to analyze and learn more about the demographics of your current audience. Understand the breakdown of your audience’s age group, location.
Try to identify the posts that get the most engagement from your audience, so you can focus on that type of content down the line.
Social media is personal. Therefore, you are also more likely to receive comments on your social media posts, learning more about your audience’s ideas about your business while connecting with them personally.
Analyzing Your Competitors
Another great way you can use social media to develop your presence is analyzing your competitors. Check out what type of content they are publishing the most, and which ones they are getting the most attention. See how they interact with their audience. How businesses interact with their customers on social media is extremely important. It’s not just about the particular customer they are responding to, their interaction is there for all to see.
Learn more about what people are saying about that particular business, see the areas they excel at and the areas they need to improve first hand. If your business can provide a better service in the area they are lacking at, so you can focus more on that point on your content.
Check out the requests they are getting through social media. People always have ideas and want improvements for a service or a product they are paying for.
How to Use Social Media for Researching Your Potential Market
Learning more about your existing customers and developing your business according to their needs is great for your business. But, it’s not enough on its own.
You need to expand into new markets, and it’s always better to go in with a bit of knowledge about your potential customers rather than directly diving in and hoping for the best. You can accomplish that by combining surveys and social media advertising. You just need to create a survey asking the right questions about your potential customers. It’s really easy to create professional and great looking surveys nowadays with free survey maker tools like JotForm. Before you get started, design the survey according to your needs. Identify what you are trying to learn through the survey. Decide on the method, questions and sample size. Don’t just shoot in the dark.
Defining the goal is extremely important. What are you trying to get out of this research? Which method are you going to use? Which platform are you going to conduct your survey? All social media platforms are not the same. You need to create your survey with that in mind.
Once you complete all these steps and create the survey, you can boost it through social media advertising. You can target people who are in certain locations, who are in a certain age group, who have certain behaviours, and interests. When the survey gets completed by more people who are in your target audience, you’ll definitely have a better idea of how to make the next move for your business.
Market research is an important part of business development. Once you’ve done your research, you need to take action with the insights you’ve gained. Otherwise, it’ll all be for nothing.
Utilizing social media is an easy and effective way to conduct market research. Whether you are starting a business, or trying to develop the one you already have, it’s a great way to see what you are doing right and wrong.