Market Research in the Modern Setting
My market research assignments are often organized and prompt in response to urgency through sourcing for information online whereas my uncle's situation was organized hours as he relied on manual searching for market-related content to proceed with assignments. In the modern setting, conducting market research is easier as compared to the old times. The ease has been caused by new media facilitated by interconnectivity of networks referred to as the Internet. Traditionally, people had to attend physical exhibitions whereas, in the modern setting, there are virtual platforms where marketer and buyers are at different geographical locations (Oswald " Packer, 2013). In this sense; in the commercial sector, there is a major difference between the manner in which old and new media were and are used.
Social Media's Dominance in Marketing
Social has dominated the marketing function by connecting people around the world. It makes it possible to share and discover phenomena while a person is rooted in one spot. Internet marketing is slowly replacing the old conventional approaches to marketing, more so in the research aspect (Oswald " Packer, 2013). During my uncle's time at my age, a few decades ago, the research methods of marketing mainly involved the application of focus groups, face to face interviews, and surveys. Contrary to that, today there is the power of social media through which marketers can do more as compared to using old media. Today, marketers are approaching social media research and abandoning the traditional approach so that they can gain the insights that they require in the process of developing a marketing strategy (Tuten " Solomon, 2017). Social media has a broader scope of providing necessary information as compared to the old approach that is constrained in terms of source and distribution of material.
Genuine Feedback through Social Media
Through social media marketing, there is the gaining of genuine customer feedback. The research is honest because the response from the population is unlimited. Traditional marketing research approaches are constrained to a given set of questions that are at times pushed to customers who may fail to offer truthful responses. In the case of social media, customers post their opinions even in circumstances where brands are not conducting an official market research. Data from social media could give researchers more information as compared to short responses received from questionnaires and surveys (Tuten " Solomon, 2017). In this way, the new media is more appropriate for conducting market research than the old approach because the latter provides a more expansive and accurate response as compared to the former.
Convenience of Social Media in Market Research
Using social media in market research comes with added convenience on the side of both the researchers and customers. Researchers can conduct different activities within a single geographical position (Tuten " Solomon, 2017). All the required data can be accessed through the click of a button as compared to the traditional approach where people needed to travel and use loads of paperwork in accessing market information. Social media comes with listening tools a person can establish searches that are related to their industry or brand and acquire the needed data sets in a short time (Todor, 2016). The element of convenience in social media research makes it increasingly popular in the modern market research function. It is different from the traditional approaches that involved a lot of manual labor before accessing the requisite data.
Cost and Time Savings through Social Media
In the integration of daily market research activities, social media comes with the element of cost and time saving. In traditional research approaches, there was the consumption of extensive time in planning and executing the market study. For instance, a researcher can search hashtags related to a product or brand on Twitter and get the views of the people who translate to be consumers. In the modern setting, big data analytics space has been expanded and so the understanding of the market has become more feasible for business organizations. Researchers only need to type keywords in a listening tool and acquire the needed information instantly (Todor, 2016). As compared to the traditional approaches, social media assists research to save money that could be spent on focus groups surveys, interviews, and other costly approaches to research.
Better Understanding of Customers through Social Media
Social media provides a better platform for understanding the customer as the audience. In the traditional approaches, researchers ask consumers different questions which are expected to yield various definitive reactions. However, on social networks, engaging with consumers helps the researcher to achieve a better comprehension of their behavior (Burns, Bush " Sinha, 2014). The researcher can learn about the preferences of the researchers and know the kind of content to put out there and gain answers from the customers online.
References
Burns, A. C., Bush, R. F., " Sinha, N. (2014). Marketing research (Vol. 7). Harlow: Pearson.
Hoonakker, P., " Carayon, P. (2009). Questionnaire survey nonresponse: A comparison of postal mail and internet surveys. Intl. Journal of Human–Computer Interaction, 25(5), 348-373.
Oswald, K., " Packer, J. (2013). Flow and mobile media. Communication Matters: Materialist Approaches to Media, Mobility and Networks, 106.
Todor, R. D. (2016). Blending traditional and digital marketing. Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Brasov. Economic Sciences. Series V, 9(1), 51.
Tuten, T. L., " Solomon, M. R. (2017). Social media marketing. Sage.
Appendix
Marketing survey
The marketing survey image indicates the concept of going about market research by administering questionnaires on customers or potential respondents. In the questionnaire, questions are typed. After the questions, there are empty spaces left and multiple choice answers that the respondents are required to answer. The respondents answer the questions with regard to their discretion and the best of their knowledge about them. They are traditional means of data collection that are deemed reliable in different circumstances such as when there is urgency. However, questionnaires are unreliable when administered on illiterate and cognitively challenged persons (Hoonakker " Carayon, 2009).
