Market research articles often focus on very specific customer types. "Suppose you're a restaurant serving mid-to-high-end Italian food," a post might begin, or else, "imagine you just built an iOS game for boys 7-12 years old." The reality, however, is that many of today's new businesses must serve multiple customer segments, and each customer segment requires new market research. Let's take a look at a few of the more common customer segment splits and discuss strategies for researching each separate market. 

Google Plus is a rapidly growing social network thanks to its giant online parent company.  According to Business Insider, there are 359 million active users on Google Plus, which is a 33% increase from June 2012. New users are entering the fray and Google Plus has forced its way into the discussion of social networks that corporations must add to their integrated marketing strategy.  The life of a social media brand manager is hectic and exciting.  The evolution of the well-known names (Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn) has raised the standard for which corporations enter the arena and at what volume their branded messaging is delivered to prospects and customers.  

In 2009, Kevin O'Connor (former DoubleClick CEO) was fed up. He would try to research the best college for his son, or the best ski resort for a family vacation, but all the information was disorganized, misleading, or sugar-coated by a marketing team. He wanted a place where he could indicate his specific preferences, review the facts, and make a smart, personalized decision. That summer, he and Scott Leonard set out to fix the problem, building out the basic structure for FindTheBest.com, and hiring a small team (including me) to help perform the proper market research.

Although marketing through social networks has grown tremendously over the last several years, classic SEO (search engine optimization) is still important. It's also fairly straightforward if you do the proper market research. Follow these SEO best practices and you'll see a nice boost in your organic (non-paid) traffic.

Imagine being a Redskin and getting your hands on the Dallas Cowboy playbook before the season begins; or being Target and getting the inside scoop on the marketing strategy of Walmart. In this day and age, understanding your competition, and particularly the marketing strategy your competition is pursuing, is far more critical than many companies realize.

You've scraped along as best you can on your own dime, and you’ve done the proper market research to prepare for your pitch. Now it’s time to deliver the presentation. The problem is that angel investors and venture capital firms (VCs) might watch 100 presentations before they pick one company to fund: you've got one shot to really impress them. At FindTheBest, we've received two successful rounds of funding, totaling around $17 million.

In the process, we've been turned down dozens of times as well. Here are five things we've learned about pitching investors, based on market research principles and feedback we've received from VCs.

1. Show you're solving a big problem

Social media and market research are natural dance partners. Just imagine how much data you've compiled on people's favorite relationship tip of the day or random nugget of baseless knowledge over time.  After all, social media provides advanced capabilities for segmentation. Once you eliminate the white noise, there is very rich data on consumer opinion and brand equity to extract and analyze.  

There's a common perception that Latino Americans are the next generation of great U.S. consumers. That notion, however, isn't entirely true and marketers who cling to this "consumers of tomorrow" mindset will surely miss out on developing important connections within the influential Latino market today. Though marketing to Latinos is a minefield of complexities--including sensitivities surrounding the use of labels such as Hispanic etc., it's clear that one of the most effective ways to reach Latino consumers is through social media. 

With virtually unrivaled buying power and an ever-growing presence in the U.S. economy, Latin Americans have been a formidable consumer segment for years. The financial services industry, in particular, has benefited from the Hispanic population as Latino consumers have been one of the few bright spots in an otherwise dreary picture for issuers of credit cards. Level of acculturation is one of the biggest factors determining use of financial services by Latino Americans.

Successful product management is the perfect combination of aligning product capabilities with consumer demands.  As a manager, you are under a perpetual pressure cooker.  Skillfully managing each stage of the development lifecycle and avoiding product management mistakes are top priorities.  I reflect on my previous experience as a product manager for a non-profit's social media platform.  Long hours, beta testing, user groups, and stress balls filled my days.  Ultimately, the efforts were successful and the platform is an integral part of association's membership base.