You've done your initial market research and you've rubber-stamped your company business plan. All that's left is execution. Your superstar team turns your idea into a business, as you acquire new users, close your first few sales, and build great new features for your website. Revenue grows a bit, then stalls, then falls, but perhaps it's just a typical hiccup for a young company trying to get things going. A large tech company then makes a product similar to yours, but you reassure your employees by stressing the features that make your version unique. A few customers drop off. User counts decrease. Your crack squad of talented developers launches three new features, but by now, you're feeling desperate.

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.  

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. 

Social media is creating better opportunities to engage and share expertise, family photos, and self-aggrandizing quotes (ok, maybe I'm just talking about myself, but you get the point.)  Specifically, Twitter has empowered us to drop pint size knowledge in under 140 characters.  Its popularity is increasing with each tweet.  According to eBiz, Twitter is the 9th most visited website on the Internet. From teenagers to corporations, Twitters' penetration makes it an attractive option to conduct market research.

My earliest memory of market research takes me back to Christmas shopping with my mom twelve years ago. We were paid ten bucks to give our opinions on our preference between Coca-Cola Classic and Pepsi (For the record, yours truly is a Coca-Cola Classic man). I did not have the slightest idea how to obtain business intelligence, but I did know what made a tasty beverage.