Capturing actionable consumer thoughts to guide strategic planning is an enormous task. There are almost 8 billion people out there, holding a variety of perspectives, after all – so any understanding must be led by a nuanced approach. Here’s how . . .
Recently, Mike Baglietto, Global Head of Market Insights, NetBase Quid and Alfie Adamson, Senior Research Consultant for Epiphany RBC sat down and discussed exactly that – how stay ahead of change and facilitate business transformation from social conversation during a webinar on Finding the Human Perspective: How Conversation Powers Insight. We’re sharing some insight from it below, and be sure to watch it when you get a chance.
Finding the Human Perspective
Humans aren’t robots. And their emotions and opinions can turn on a dime. To fully understand them, companies need to listen beyond the basics. For example: “I don’t like X brands chips” requires investigation. There’s a driving force, a reason why – and if many agree on this point – well, that’s something worth considering and potentially changing.
Technology is precious to consumers because it brings them something meaningful, and one of the biggest values is the connection to other people. And this makes social media important not just to the consumer, but to brands everywhere.
It’s this human connection that drives consumers online to have conversations that can be mission critical for brands. By taking advantage of consumer intelligence, you can bring about business transformation from social conversation happening now on any number of social platforms.
But what do you focus on? With trillions of data points floating around in space, which conversations are the most pertinent to your company
Choosing What to Focus On
While discussing how to create business transformation from social conversation, Alfie Adamson dives into how to use the intel that you’ve unearthed – and what to focus on. And there’s a lot of meat on that bone so to speak, but we’ll highlight just a couple tips from the webinar here.
Though we’re all different as consumers, we all share some common traits and we band together in groups. Perhaps it’s in our DNA going back to the beginning of time. We create little “tribes”, and within those tribes, are more subgroups. And this is true online as well.
Alfie shared his view that it’s our commonalities which link us together and it’s here that a business can focus its energies. He uses pet owners as an example of this. Here we see common must-have brands that this category of people all share. We can also see brands that are creating a buzz in their circle, as well as influencers and KOLs that capture the attention and loyalty of this group of consumers:
Each of these revelations offers an ‘in’ to these online groups. And with this intel, a company can better understand what its target consumer segment views as non-negotiable, as well as what new thing has piqued their interest.
Using NetBase Quid, Alfie and his team were able to find out more detail, not just what the consumers liked, loved, and hated – but also common language used and their daily habits, interests and even routines. Additionally, just being able to see who they idolize opens up a world of opportunity. Just think – what if you could influence the influencer?
That’s a powerful opportunity, and one that’s within reach when you have this nuanced audience understanding. Advanced AI-powered social media tools make it possible to do this, as Alfie points out. Each tool in the arsenal dissects your target audience down to the tiniest detail.
All of this guides brands toward getting messaging right, as well as driving real conversation with their consumers. It helps your company talk with consumers as if you’ve met them in real life, as opposed to the stiff conversation they’re used to from big name brands. And Alfie points out that this intel can be used to not only beef up your marketing strategies, but bring an intimacy and approval to even the most mundane data gathering, such as surveys.
Most importantly, it illustrates that a company is made of humans too. And human connection, as we’ve seen, is a big driving force in connecting with – and converting – new consumers.
Getting Actionable Results
Because we are social beings, the need to connect on a deeper level will always be there. And this intuitive understanding should absolutely be remembered when marketing. Consumer listening brings about actional results for your brand, as everyone seeks to be known. It’s a prime opportunity that many brands miss.
Mike Baglietto, shared starting points for consumer research to kick off brand efforts. Obtaining actionable results starts with asking basic questions about the big picture. And then as you get a sense of the space and new insight is revealed, it’s time to zoom in on the finer details to reveal your audiences’ interests. Are they sports fans or video game nerds? These specific details point the way to having a more human connection with your audience. If you know what and how they talk, you can meet them where they are.
There’s so much more to this conversation between Epiphany and NetBase Quid, this only scratches the surface. Hear more about how to transform your business using social listening, here: Finding the Human Perspective: How Conversation Powers Insight. He be sure to reach out for a demo to see it in action!
