You can glean some very useful insights from social media which can be used as market research for your business. You can learn from your own followers and followers of competitors.
Work Out What Your Target Audience Love
Check which product types and services are the most popular. Which items always drive clicks, engagement and sales? For example, a business which sells products online and in stores may find certain product types do really well online. They may consider stocking more of that product line and pushing other similar products online. If you have a business Facebook page, check your competitors most successful Facebook posts in Facebook insights for business. They may give you some ideas.
Listen to Your Fans to Inform Your Marketing
You can take social insights further and use the information to inform future marketing campaigns and strategies. Do certain types of post get better engagement online? For example perhaps your audience engages really well with competitions (benchmark engagement with other businesses) Or maybe images with people in them strike a chord with your audience more than images with objects. Make sure future sales pushes, marketing and ads reflect that.
Listen to Forums and Discussions
What are people asking? What are their pain points? Social media is like a free online focus group. You can find out what people’s issues are, and shape your offerings and marketing to help give them a solution. Try Twitter, forums, blog and article comments sections and comments on relevant Facebook fan pages. You can also go in as a business and help answer their questions by posting replies if appropriate.
Ask For Followers’ Input on Business Decisions
If people like your business enough to follow it on social media, they are bound to be keen to get involved with business decisions. People love being involved. If you’re deciding on your next product line, rebrand or any business decision, why not ask your followers for their input? Quiz-style voting or open comments are a great way to engage fans and help shape the future of your business. People will be more engaged if they helped shape the brand.
Use Reviews Wisely
As we previously blogged about, business reviews are important and people expect to find them. It’s part of the decision process for many people. Use them to your advantage.
Make sure you take reviews seriously. Find out what people love, and what you could do better and learn from it. Take on board any issues and address them. Celebrate successes and thank people for their compliments, and be open and transparent about issues, apologise and promise to address them.