Using Social Media for Consumer Research

There seems to be the beginning of a trend happening, and I feel the need to call it out. Although I'm certainly not the first.



Using social media outlets to conduct consumer research.




There's a breakthrough example from Splenda (the no cal sweetener) for its use of Facebook. Essentially the brand used a custom app on Facebook to distribute samples of an upcoming new product to consumers and then gathered their feedback. Pretty cool and incredibly efficient. AdAge covered it this week: http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=137851






Our agency just recently used social media (Facebook and LinkedIn) to conduct a wellness survey. Johanna Skilling, our head of strategic planning, is compiling the results and will release them shortly. In essence we used our vast networks of "friends" to get feedback on how the economy has influenced our wellness choices. Respondents crossed state and national borders as well as demographic profiles. We believe this social media wellness survey is the first of its kind, and will surely provide insights into the economic toll (or not).






Clearly part of an emerging trend and perhaps an unforeseen use of social media.






Another example is this recent survey of LinkedIn members by AdWeek to gauge interest in a ban on tobacco advertising: http://www.brandweek.com/bw/content_display/news-and-features/packaged-goods/e3ie3cb96740c26f800223ff6479b0c0b45



Spot on and all social.








Hope this finds you well -- Jim.