Social Media is a great tool for understanding market opportunities.
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The other day a man I greatly admire, Roy A Ackerman wrote a blog about The Unknowns you can find if you use social media differently. The blog was called You, too, Roy?
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His article made me think about all the research you can do using Social Media and online tools.
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Most of us have heard of Survey Monkey where you can create surveys and send non- parametric samples to your contacts on your lists, Outlook (or similar list) and your social media contacts. While the information may have a bias, if you can get a big enough response rate, you can combine this information with other research to find a new opportunity for your business.
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And then there is LinkedIn Answers.
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When you use LinkedIn answers, you can get a number of responses from people outside of your contacts.
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Also within Linkedin you can set up surveys in groups and use polls as well within the groups you belong too.
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And let’s remember Facebook.
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Facebook is a great way of collecting information from consumers. And depending on how you ask your questions and how often you post and comment, can get you great answers.
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The secret to doing successful research with any of these tools though is:
Ask open-ended questions. Questions that can generate discussion, more than just yes or no answers
Reply to all responders to encourage others to respond
Offer something for people who respond – the results of your survey or something else that would be meaningful to those who respond to your research.
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And remember, research never ends. If you want to succeed in business, you need to continually learn more about your clients’ needs.
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Guest post generously provided by:
Roberta Budvietas - Passionate Purposeful Performer who mentors business owners to start and grow their business. If you want to grow or develop a business contact Roberta at http://www.purposefulperformancegroup.com or http://www.eattherhino.com
These tools are great and I use them all. I’m glad that you point out in your tips Roberta, that these tools will provide valuable research that will help your business understand your audience. And knowing what our audience wants, what they are talking about is surely a benefit towards your business success.
So thank you so much Roberta for sharing this information. I am so happy to have you guest post today and look forward to you contributing again soon.
Lynn Brown recently posted..Are You Getting Ahead? 5 Time-Saving Social Media Tips
These are great tools to share Roberta and I love researching when I am having a day where content is just not flowing or I feel I need to find out what others are facing so I can offer them the help that they are looking for. It is so very important to remember that the best thing we can do is really help other find ways to get what they want. Thanks for sharing these resources all of them are amazing.
Gen recently posted..How I Work From Home
One thing Gen, I find that I need to keep researching even when I have no problem with content solely to keep abreast of trends. Just think of the number of businesses that missed the trend and failed to change in time.
Roberta Budvietas, recently posted..Create Sizzle to Sell Content
I have never tried LinkedIn answers. But yes, heard so much about it that I am hoping to check it out soon!
Thanks for the information!
Hajra recently posted..Why you will always be too young / too old for social media.
One thing I love about LinkedIn Answers is that like Yahoo, you can choose the best answer and also the discussions are SO intelligent. I have really connected with good people on LinkedIn
Roberta Budvietas, recently posted..What about the numbers?
These are great ideas, Lynn and Roberta. And, i just found out about Answers the other day and have been busy reading and replying to them. It’s great fun…
Thanks for mentioning my post- and I am thrilled and honored to see that it did exactly what I hoped- to spur others to consider what new information they can glean to improve the bottom lines!
Roy A. Ackerman, Ph.D., E.A. recently posted..Low-hanging Fruit?
Your post spurred this one Roy so seemed appropriate. Glad you are enjoying answers. I really like them too and I have done some great research there,
Roberta Budvietas, recently posted..Create Sizzle to Sell Content