Mobile advertising does seem to be the biggest trend of the future. People have the capacity to access more from the back pocket of their pants or the inner pouch of their purses. The audience literally is carrying a mini laptop on their persons at all time. This is a big opportunity for advertisers to reach their audience. With the steady app and email use advertising grows along with it.
http://www.greenbook.org/marketing-research.cfm/virtues-of-virtual-focus-groups-04157
Virtual Focus Groups has many benefits. The top reasons I found in this article are non-geographical restrictions, expanded consumer research, enhanced respondent engagement, cost savings, easy access to results and multidimensional feedback. One of the necessary tools is a webcam of course and material to orchestrate the process, but this seems to be a logical option for start up companies or ones with low budgets dedicated for research.
http://www.greenbook.org/marketing-research.cfm/tapping-the-potential-of-facebook-fan-pages-08678
QuestBack, a global leader in enterprise feedback management company based out of Germany has developed a tool to analyze data complied through Facebook. This tool helps to filter though data, offer meaningful insight on social media monitoring and offer interactivity between consumer and brand.
I found this article to make a good point. It states that the baby boomer population can be overlooked by companies. Which isn't such a good ideas since it is an ever increasing population and they are good consumers with large buying power. As far as qualitative research goes this population tends to be more forth right with answers, has a tendency to do homework more and are enthusiastic about research. As a target audience they tend to keep specific patterned behaviors and are highly engaged in the marketplace.
I am a huge fan of the hit TV show Madmen. This clip of a vintage focus group is comical to me. Behind a mirrored glass where the ties pick apart your answers and the conversation is rigid and flat.
Talk about an iconic branding campaign. The iPod commercials really nailed it with the staple black out figures and the white cord connected to the box. Not only does it stimulate visually and auditory but the numerous music themes rely an experience the user gets. It is simply and memorable.
While there is much hype of Facebook being negative due to lack of personal interaction in person, there are many positive features from a research perspective. Companies can utilize Facebook as a means of virtual focus groups or be an insider at a micro blogger level. Facebook can be seen as a powerful research tool for brands to reposition themselves, find new product ideas or introduce themselves. I do believe Facebook might transform relationships or demoted certain ones on a personal level, but from a business stand point Facebook creates value for companies.
Being in the SJMC has taught me much about Strategic Communication Research. From qualitative to quantitative data, how to review Simmons data and how to conduct successful focus groups. However, when I am on the other end of the rope I don't often like to participate. I often get bombarded with surveys in the mail and such but school email is the real culprit. I know I am obtaining my degree from a research institution, but come on that doesn't mean I am a "will work for surveys" type of girl. One survey I took in class while my professor was lecturing, I was almost too embarrassed to take while my male neighbor was gleaming over my shoulder. It was about HPV vaccinations and wanting to know my education about the topic. It asked me everything from sex toys to preference of genders of sexual partners. I thought the surveyor should have asked me out to dinner before I started to answer most of the questions.
How Fortune 500 Companies are being "Social"
While more and more of society is trending towards being "social" so are large corporations and "social" is contributing to their bottom line. Companies like Frito Lay and Wal-Mart utilize social media as a new age approach to consumer research. Whether a company is launching a new flavor or deciding on which products to shelve, the social media platform is being a highly successful tool. Companies can better understand the consumer interest and gain a plethora of new ideas. Estee Lauder found out which discontinued items to bring back based on consumer feedback on social media voting forums.
Wal-Mart bought the social media company, Kosmix, which is a technology that absorbs Facebook updates, Twitter posts and Walmart.com search terms. It was later renamed WalmartLabs. One success of the unit, was finding out that popular cakes on lollipop sticks (cakepops) were becoming a trend in some Starbucks chains and there was much talk about them. These findings prompted Wal-Mart to carry cakepop makers in their store. Other examples of utilizing the research is finding regions where popular foods or items are most popular and developing generics and/or other marrying products.
MicroStrategy a company that has it's own App, Wisdom Network allows access to 13 million private Facebook users once they gain permission. Mr. Mark LeRow, senior vice president for products at MicroStrategy has said, "this is like the biggest focus group some one could ever have imagined."
According to a new study from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth for the Center of Media Research 66% of fortune 500 companies have a Facebook page, 62% have a YouTube account and 73% have a somewhat active Twitter account. The lowest % of social media category was that of the Pinterest, coming in at 2%.
