By the year 2017, nearly 2.5 billion people across the globe will be engaged in social networking. That's nearly a third of the earth's current population. So, regardless of how trivial people once considered social media to be, the truth is the social realm has become a truly viable resource for the business world. With this rapid progression of usage and its evolving reputation, it's becoming increasingly important for market researchers to take advantage of the unique networking opportunities social platforms provide. But because of preconceived notions, many professionals are at a loss when it comes to actually harnessing social media's capabilities in an advantageous way. Before this can be done, market researchers must understand social media in terms of practicality and application. So, how can social networking actually benefit your market research efforts? There are several things to consider when determining this.
1. Social networking can connect you to market research professionals worldwide.
Social media has brought new meaning to the idea of industry networking. Gone are the days of area networking events to meet other professionals in your industry. Social platforms offer a unique opportunity to connect with professionals that, otherwise, you would have never had the chance to meet. Networking features, such as Google+ Hangouts and LinkedIn and Facebook Groups, allow researchers to search communities of professionals by industry or vertical and, then, engage in dialogue. By establishing a credible profile, you will encourage other reliable market researchers to connect with you personally, building your own community of industry contacts. Essentially, by casting a wider net via social media, you can reach out to a much more diverse pool of professionals in order to enhance your research goals.
2. Stay up-to-date on the latest industry updates via social media.
By building a diverse and reliable social network of market researchers, you are not only growing your professional community, but you're also gaining essentially immediate access to useful industry updates.This idea of real-time pulse checking, particularly via Twitter, has revolutionized how people receive their news. In an industry where timeliness and time management is key, the ability to stay almost instantaneously up-to-date is a viable benefit of social media that will continue to enhance communication throughout the field.
3. Your social network can grow your access to reliable and useful market research material.
People love to share what they are doing with people who have a common interest. This is the main concept of social media in its most basic form. And, as social platforms continue to become a more trusted avenue for industry involvement, the credibility and reliability of engaged individuals will reflect this improvement. As a result, the more educated and experienced researchers who join social channels and begin engaging, the more high-quality market research content will be posted for other industry professionals to benefit from. In the end, for market researchers social networking is all about enhancing the overall industry through culturing a place for quality community sharing and engagement.
For more information on effectively utilizing social media for your market research efforts, download our free white paper "How to Use Social Media for Market Research."
Thanks for reading!
Ashlan Bonnell
Writer
MarketResearch.com
