We all know that market research isn’t the most glamorous aspect of running a business. It takes time, money, statistics, comparison data and more. But figuring out the wants and needs of your customers and target market is vitally important to almost any business. So is there an easier way to get some quick feedback?
Absolutely, and you are probably already familiar with the platform: Facebook.
Facebook offers businesses a quick and easy way to touch their customer base and get their opinions products, services, campaigns and almost anything you can think off.
So how can you use Facebook to get some market intelligence? Simple – start asking for it. There are a number of easy ways to engage your customers on Facebook.
- Polls (there are a number of apps for this, including Facebook Poll) – Develop a poll to get your fans’ take on a group of items or to ask Yes / No questions.
- Discussions – Start a discussion about products or services to get some in depth responses from your fans.
- Just ask a question on your Wall – If you have a specific question you want to ask people, just ask. Fans will provide comments that you can look deeper at.
And there’s probably a few more feedback type apps to come. Now, this shouldn’t be a replacement for projects that need full blown market research, but with just a few key strokes you can be on your way to some real insights about your customers.
Have you used Facebook as a research tool, and has anything you learned from your fans impacted your business yet?
