1. 1 Focus: Social Media
From passive to active social media analysis
Buzz Almighty?
If you are a consumer who is thinking of buying something, the social web is a treasure
trove of opinions, experiences and recommendations. For this reason, forums, blogs, social
networks and comparison sites are increasingly valuable information sources for companies
as well. Social media monitoring is a market research method that tells you what people are
saying about you and your products. But how “mighty” is this online buzz? How much does
it actually influence purchasing decisions?
By Dr. Christian Jarchow research has a limited lifespan and will be an insignificant
Blackrider12: “I took the new hybrid SUV on a test drive niche market at best in future. The signs of decline seem
today. I’ve heard it has a lot of problems. Does anyone quite obvious to anyone in the market research business: a
know?” Easygoh: “Very bad choice. The hybrid engine is decreasing willingness to participate, poor-quality data and
absolute rubbish. Electric cars are the future now.” People a growing demand for surveys which are fun to take part
who read and write posts on social media sites, in this case in rather than methodologically rigorous and representa-
the automotive forum Motor-Talk.de, attach a very high tive. But the reality is different: all types of online research
degree of credibility to opinions expressed there – so social are expanding fast. GfK has carried out detailed studies,
media monitoring is more important than ever before. comparing the results of online surveys and social media
This is already a relatively well proven area of digital market monitoring, which clearly show that the two research meth-
research, in which companies use special web technolo- ods make it possible to obtain different insights.
gies to collect public posts by users of social media such
as blogs, forums, consumer sites and open communities Keeping a watchful eye
over a specific period, and analyze them using data and If you asked “Easygoh” for his opinion of that particular
text mining. These posts can include written opinions, such make and model of hybrid SUV in an online survey, it would
as product reviews on Amazon, and also homemade vid- undoubtedly be negative. But when he is posting on a web-
eos posted on YouTube. Software systematically collects, site, he is much more forceful in his views: “hybrid engines
cleanses, codes and aggregates data, using statistical and are rubbish”. He even recommends an alternative: electric
linguistic analysis to compare and interpret it and finally cars. “Easygoh” has a very strong sense of personal in-
turn it into valuable business knowledge. volvement, because he is talking freely, spontaneously and
honestly to like-minded people in cyberspace about subjects
Will social media monitoring make online surveys ob- that matter to him at that particular moment. Users are
solete? also much more likely to be open about sensitive subjects,
Some proponents of harvesting user-generated content say such as health, where the anonymity of the internet allows
that online surveys will eventually be seen as stone-age them to share problems with others who are affected. Since
technology. They predict that questionnaire-based online the beginning of the year, GfK HealthCare has been >
2. Focus: Social Media 2
The bugbear that is the almighty social media user – companies can use innovative market research to stand up to him
3. 3 Focus: Social Media
Fig. 1: GfK ThreadMap – spatial representation of GfKCeres.dx: collecting and understanding words
discussion about VW Golf VI at Motor-Talk.de GfKCeres.dx is first and foremost a traditional social me-
Good acceleration dia monitoring tool, used to analyze consumer-generated
Motor performance Consumption content such as opinions on products and services. GfK
Gearbox, gear changes
Speed merchants –
Delivery time Driving experience identifies between 10 and 20 of the most important so-
Noise
Waiters + +
cial media in each language for the brand, or uses its own
Features Costs Advice Poor acceleration
Too expensive focused, industry-specific web indices. For example, it is
Resale
Hagglers Color Gurus – –
Aesthetes wheelExterior
Tires, rims
Light
currently building an international web index for the au-
Question tomotive sector containing the most important motoring
Problem
Posted topics in Web 2.0 Advice seekers forums and blogs.
Interior
Communication types
+ positive tonality Aftersales
Five years ago, this process would simply have involved
– negative tonality collecting and sorting keywords, but this is no longer
enough: increasingly, companies also want to understand
why people post particular things. The distinctive feature
monitoring public social media channels for postings on the of GfKCeres.dx is that it offers two types of research: it is
subject of diabetes. This multiclient study enables pharma- available in express and depth versions. The express ver-
ceutical companies to identify patients’ needs, misunder- sion shows very traditional, customer-specific social media
standings and problems concerning their own and com- key performance indicators (KPIs) in the form of a daily
petitors’ products, and to respond quickly where required. updated dashboard or key figure cockpit. One typical KPI is
Social media monitoring also makes it possible to track sub- “share of buzz”: the number of posts about your own brand
types who are difficult to recruit in online panels. For ex- as a proportion of the total posts on all brands in a product
ample, some people on automotive websites talk about cars category. The depth solution goes one step further. The
which they have ordered but that are yet to arrive. Known posts are classified and subjected to qualitative analysis,
as “waiters” (fig. 1), these communication types openly which makes GfKCeres.dx different from other tools. In this
discuss delivery times and how much they are looking for- way, clients find out not only what people are saying, but
ward to their new vehicles, and generally compliment the also how it should be interpreted.
manufacturer. Their posts may have a positive influence
No rose without thorns
Traditional surveys are normally factual and neutral, where-
GfKBrandBuzzMiner.dx makes it possible to
as online discussions are frequently very emotional. Social
carry out online surveys during, before and af- media posts are often influenced by the feelings of others,
ter specific social media contacts. This means and particularly opinion leaders, who in the semantic chart
that market researchers are no longer passive of posts on the VW Golf VI (see fig.1) GfK refers to as “gu-
rus”. Maybe this particular SUV is not really that bad after
observers, but can be actively involved and ask
all – perhaps “Easygoh” has simply read a lot of negative
questions about people’s motivations. posts about it, and exaggerated his negative opinions as a
result. In an online survey, you can find out why by asking
on the opinions of potential buyers. If a market researcher more questions, but this is not possible in social media
can monitor these subtypes, they can also highlight issues monitoring, so market researchers and clients have to take
that would not have been revealed by an online survey, what they read at face value.
but which are highly relevant to the client. So “waiters” The general problem for market researchers is that social
might talk about delivery times, “speed merchants” about media monitoring can never be representative. The au-
the amazing driving experience and “aesthetes” about the thors of online buzz are mostly individuals with a strong
shininess of the wheel rims. desire to share and above all they remain anonymous.
4. Focus: Social Media 4
We might hazard a guess that “Easygoh” is male, but Two pillars of a social media strategy
we have no idea about his age or income. Because we Companies using not only GfKBrandBuzzMiner.dx but also
know so little about posters’ demographics, social media GfKCeres.dx can study posts on the sites of particular inter-
monitoring cannot replace surveys that find out all this est to them, and then obtain quantitative and qualitative
information. information. So if the hybrid car manufacturer finds that
But what one method cannot do, the other can. The two ap- Motor-Talk.de and Facebook are particularly influential as
proaches are not mutually exclusive – in fact they comple- far as owners and potential buyers are concerned, GfK can
ment each other. So in addition to the extremely versatile use GfKCeres.dx to monitor the public areas of these sites
social media monitoring tool GfKCeres.dx, which is the for specific keywords. This gives a very precise picture of
right research solution for specific customer questions, GfK which groups of people are writing what about their prod-
has developed GfKBrandBuzzMiner.dx, which combines ucts, and how much these posts influence the marketing
methodological components of online surveys and social target group. Based on this, they can decide whether it
media analysis. is worth becoming active on these sites, for example by
advertising and helping to shape discussion in a positive
GfKBrandBuzzMiner.dx: focusing on specific target way. Combining the two tools GfKCeres.dx and GfKBrand-
groups BuzzMiner.dx therefore forms the ideal basis for a social
How do we know whether “Blackrider12” or “Easygoh” media strategy. At present, for instance, GfK is carrying out
represent the majority viewpoint among owners or poten- a basic study comparing the effects of Facebook, YouTube,
tial buyers of a particular make and model of car? This is a car forum and the manufacturer’s own website on the
where GfKBrandBuzzMiner.dx comes in. As with question- brand image of a particular car.
naire-based online research, the marketing target group So if our hybrid manufacturer uses this strategy, “Black-
is the starting point of the survey. Respondents identified rider12” may soon see banners advertising the new SUV
as members of a particular group from their responses to on Motor-Talk.de, and possibly even an article discussing
online panel surveys are asked to install a browser add-on the relative merits of hybrid and electric cars on a Facebook
on their computer, which allows GfK to record the social page newly created by the manufacturer.
media sites they visit and the posts they read or write. So if
we find that “Blackrider12” does belong to a target group, Further information:
we already know he is male, aged about 30 and works as Dr. Christian Jarchow
an electrician. The add-on would enable us to find out if, tel. +49 911 395-2663
after his discussion with “Easygoh”, he actually went and christian.jarchow@gfk.com
found out more about electric cars.
GfKBrandBuzzMiner.dx also makes it possible to carry
out online surveys during, before and after specific social
media contacts. This means that market researchers are Dr. Christian Jarchow
no longer passive observers, but can be actively involved is Head of Digital Research in GfK’s
Custom Research sector, and is based
and ask questions about people’s motivations. For exam-
at GfK Marktforschung in Nurem-
ple, they could ask “Blackrider12” whether he actually berg, Germany. He is responsible
intends to buy an electric car, why he trusts the opinions for developing new research tools,
expressed on Motor-Talk.de, and whether he has been such as GfKCeres.dx and GfKBrand-
BuzzMiner.dx, and the conception of
influenced by opinions expressed on Facebook or other fundamental surveys in the field of
social media sites. Based on all this information, GfK can digital research.
then evaluate things like the extent to which individual
social media sites affect brand image and intention to
purchase.
