Is Social Media A Good Market Research Tool?*

Many businesses use social media to advertise and to build brand awareness. But there is another use for social media that many companies overlook. Social media gives you ready access to thousands of people around the world and there is a lot of data that you can pull from these platforms. This can make it a very handy market research tool. 

Just how can you use social media for market research? And does it have its drawbacks? This article delves into all of this, as well as discussing a few alternative market research resources.

How to use social media for market research

There are a few different ways in which you can use social media for market research. Below are some of the best strategies to consider. 

Ask questions/create polls

Through social media, you can directly ask consumers questions that could be beneficial to your business. You can then sift through the replies and see what the most common responses are.

Some social media platforms also allow you to create polls with multiple answers. The results in these cases are tallied up for you. Just be wary that such poll results are public. You also cannot screen participants, so such polls may not always provide accurate results.

Promote private surveys through ads

Private surveys are typically hosted on other websites. Using these surveys, you can usually ask more questions and provide a greater selection of answers, plus you can screen participants by questions about their interest level and background. This can allow for more accurate results.

How does social media play a part? Well, you can use social media to advertise these surveys – either through paid ads or regular posts containing links. Paid ads are generally a better option if you want to expand your reach and get a greater level of participants answering.

Use social media to track competitors

You can also use social media to conduct competitor research. By scrolling through social media accounts of competitors, you can see what your competitors are up to – including seeing which products/services they’re selling, what deals they’re offering and which customers they’re working with.

By spying on competitor social media accounts, you can also get inspiration for social media content. Perhaps certain questions or images or memes have received a lot of engagements. Could you post something similar to get a similar reaction? 

Look at social media analytics

Most social media platforms offer analytics so that you can see which posts are popular, who is interacting with them, when they are interacting with them and how many followers you are earning/losing. This can help you to understand what types of content to post to get engagements and when to post it. 

There are also a number of third party social media analytics tools that you can use for more in-depth research. These include Sprout Social, Hubspot, IZEA and Buzz Sumo. This guide to social media analytics tools offers more information on each of these tools. 

Take inspiration from viral content

When it comes to creating engaging content, it can be worth looking at what is viral on social media. If certain news stories or images or memes are being shared around, consider whether there is any way in which you can link these to your business to create your own relevant content and join the conversation. The word ‘relevant’ is important – not every hot button topic or viral meme is going to have a connection to your business.

You can search for what is viral by searching through popular hashtags on X, or by scrolling through social media and taking note of recurring topics.  

Follow accounts that provide useful advice

There may be business owners or industry experts giving out free advice on social media. Following these reputable figures could expose you to tips which could potentially help you improve your business. 

By joining social media conversations on topics that you care about, you can help algorithms expose you to relevant influencers. There are also many guides online that can advise you on the top social media accounts to follow within a certain industry (such as these top 10 TikTok accounts for marketing advice). 

Don’t ignore other research tools!

Whether you’re looking for digital PR ideas or more general business advice, it’s important to remember that there are many other resources that you can use for market research beyond social media. Below are just some of the other useful tools you can use when conducting market research. 

Website analytics

If you have a website, it’s vital that you’re analysing your traffic to see who is visiting your website, which pages they are visiting and what actions they are taking. This can allow you to improve your website so that it is better designed to generate leads. You may also get a better idea of where to advertise to increase visitors to your website. 

Competitor websites

You can also learn a lot by looking at competitor websites. Such websites may give you ideas of how to design your own website. You can also see what types of products and services these businesses are offering.

Keyword research tools

Keyword research tools like Semrush and Ahrefs Keywords Explorer can help you to understand what terms people are searching for, which keywords other businesses are using and which keywords aren’t so popular. Such tools are essential to SEO. 

Studies and reports

There are many studies and reports available online that can give you an idea of what other businesses are doing and what customers are looking for.  These studies and reports can provide hard data to help base your tactics off of. Some of these reports/studies are free, while others require you to pay for them. 

Informational blogs/vlogs

There are many informational blogs and vlogs that offer advice on all kinds of topics from marketing to fundraising. Don’t forget to check these out for inspiration. While you can follow bloggers and vloggers on social media, you can independently search for this content via search engines. 

Informational books

There are also many books published on various business matters from accounting to marketing. These books can provide an in-depth guide into subjects – however you do need to make sure that the advice in them is still relevant. 

In-person customer research

You can also conduct customer research in person. This could include physically handing out surveys, assembling focus groups to test your product or even just asking for feedback. 

In person professional advice

There are also professionals that you can pay to help educate you on various areas of business. This includes advisors such as financial consultants, marketing consultants, legal consultants and HR consultants. You can also attend seminars and workshops. 

Understand the limitations and drawbacks of social media

Social media has many benefits such as the fact that it is free and easily accessible, and the fact that it is up-to-the-minute and global. However, there are limitations and drawbacks to social media that can affect the quality of your research. These are important to consider when using social media as a research tool. A few key issues to consider include:

Trolls, fake followers and bots

Not all social media users are humans, and those who are human may not always have genuine intentions. Social media sites have unfortunately become flooded with trolls, bots and fake followers and they can distort the results of analytic reports and surveys.  This is something you need to consider before you act upon this information. 

Fake news and inaccurate facts

If you’re looking for advice or information on social media, it’s important to always consider who you can trust. There are sadly many people on social media spreading false information. Unless sources are provided, it can be hard to know whether some information is genuine or not. Further research may sometimes be required before sharing facts or using them to influence your business strategy.

Consumers with no socials

Social media can tell you a lot about consumer behaviour, but it’s important to remember that not all your consumers may use social media. This is why it’s important to do research elsewhere so that you can get a broader understanding of how your target customers behave – not everyone is going to react to the same style of advertising.

Should you use social media for market research?

Social media may have its weaknesses, but it is definitely worth using within your market research strategy. Surveys, competitor monitoring and analytics are all useful ways in which you can learn more about your audience, and they are all worth experimenting with.  

Just make sure to consider the accuracy of the information you are getting from social media – combining social media with other strategies can give you a more comprehensive idea of the truth. For example, when conducting surveys, feel free to publish surveys on social media, but make sure to always conduct private online surveys and in-person surveys too in order to attract a wide range of participants.