Exclusive | Social media helping market research: TNS India's Kalyan Karmakar

If you thought that social media is only for reading comments and making new friends, then think again. For now the business sector has got on to accepting and using the social network platform in a big way for doing market research. This is done using number of platforms like weibo, bulletin boards and blogs in addition to Facebook and Twitter.

 

Says Kalyan Karmakar, Vice President, TNS India, “Social networks are a big part of consumer life these days. Earlier we use to think it’s just for the young generation but now it has spread all across and you have people from small town on these networks.” Kalyan Karmakar has more than 13 years of experience in qualitative and quantitative research and in account planning

 

Today more than 80 per cent of the surfers watch videos online and many use smart phones to surf Internet. Social media has created a new channel for corporate marketing and is booming, says a report by Ipsos, the world's third-largest market research company. In the new digital era, which highlights interactivity and free opinion, the influence of straightforward promotion or traditional advertisements in printed media, Internet portals, outdoor facilities and TV is shrinking. 

 

Adds Karmaker, “a market researcher is getting more inclined towards social networks for market research as it is cheaper than traditional face to face market research. In the web based platform you can do surveys with a large number of people on Facebook and Twitter. Market researchers have often juggled the need to deliver fresh customer insights with the mandate to minimize research costs. How do they do it? By cutting costs where they can, and embracing cool new technologies when applicable. They currently follow three strategies. 

 

First by using third party panels. Companies often rely on third-party panels as a sample source for survey research. Third-party panels offer appealing convenience and predictability. Still, if your research requires focusing on your own customer base or special screening criteria, third party panels may not be the most cost-effective choice. As a result, some companies have invested in building their own in-house panels. For certain target markets and populations of interest, an in-house panel can reduce data collection costs and pay for itself quickly.

 

Secondly, many market researchers now accept social media-gleaned insights as a way to inform market research projects. By monitoring social media conversations using various tools such as Buzzmetrics, Crimson Hexagon, Radian6 and Trackur, corporate researchers can discover trends in brand sentiment and even gather product feedback without going out and asking for it. While in many cases, this type of research is viewed as more “qualitative” and directional, as opposed to “quantitative,” it does have value. The large amount of social media content that gets generated worldwide every day is a rich source of data that can be analyzed using cool new technologies.

 

Thirdly some researchers are starting to test prediction markets as a market research method. A prediction market is simply a web-based platform to generate, prioritize, and assess predictions. Want to know which of several new products will sell more? Maybe you want to know what behaviors will be more common in your target market by 2015. How about finding out brand perceptions by asking which of your top four competitors will have the most revenue growth next year? Ask the crowd, whether a broad or narrow one, by hosting a fantasy stock market or “poker chip” game. IdeaScale, Infosurv, and Inkling are just three of the platforms that offer trials. Again, new technologies are allowing corporate researchers to gain customer insights quickly.

 

Says Karmaker, “Spend on Social media marketing is miniscule compared to mass media and traditional research. So researchers are trying to integrate various research platforms. The trends. Therefore we are reaching consumer at various level and 360 degree dimension research is possible.” Social media research across various agencies clients is catching up and the acceptance level is higher. Moreover, social media's influence on brand reputation and purchasing decisions has caught up with traditional channels. Official websites of companies with interactive functions and social websites with links to companies' official websites are more effective at brand promotion than traditional ways.