Some companies are now trading out their traditional focus groups for social media, using popular social networks for consumer research.
“While consumers may think of social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare as places to post musings and interact with friends, companies like Walmart and Samuel Adams are turning them into extensions of market research departments,” reports The New York Times. “And companies are just beginning to figure out how to use the enormous amount of information available.”
Currently, Frito-Lay is using a Facebook app for customers to suggest new flavors and vote on their preferences. Walmart used Twitter chatter to determine whether to keep in-store stock of lollipop-shape cake makers. Samuel Adams used Facebook to create a crowdsourced beer.
“The social media approach also attracts younger customers. People who sign up for focus groups or consumer panels are generally not young fad followers, but Facebook users often are, so adding social media to the mix lets Frito-Lay get a wide range of consumer feedback,” notes NYT.
“Companies using data from social media said the ability to see what consumers do, want and are talking about on such a big scale, without consumers necessarily knowing the companies are listening in, was unprecedented,” the article states.
“This is like the biggest focus group someone could ever imagine,’ suggests Mark LaRow, SVP for products at software company MicroStrategy.
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