Gathering Qualitative Insights from Social Media Use

What information would you try to elicit from social media use?

How would you get at that information in a way that would be most accurate and telling?

As social media becomes more popular and acceptable, I think people have become more comfortable being honest and open in sharing information about themselves, for better or worse. For this reason, and particularly since I have a background in social psychology, I think social media is an interesting new source to observe human behavior. A company looking to gather information about a customer based on social media use, can look at several things, including which communities he belongs to, in which of these communities is he really active, what is he talking about, what is he posting/reposting/retweeting, who does he follow, who follows him. In addition, you can learn something very different from each social media site; they all have very specific purposes, and people portray different parts of their character on each site.

I think you can also see clear generational differences in social media use. Whereas social media has become second nature for my generation, we will try anything, but older generations are playing catch up. For example Michael, the persona I discussed in Blog 1, is a baby boomer, he did not grow up in a world with social media, so it isn’t second nature to him. At first, he was against it, he could not understand why this young generation was so comfortable sharing their lives and activities with the world, he wasn’t as trusting. Despite this, he has jumped on the bandwagon and has joined LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Even the most skeptical people are learning the value in social media.

So, using Michael as an example, I will talk about some specific insights you can gather about a customer. By looking at which communities Michael has joined, you can gather base level insights into what he finds important and interesting. He joined LinkedIn first, years ago, but did not consider this to be social media. I would infer from his involvement on LinkedIn that professional networking is important. He joined Facebook three years ago and is a fairly active poster for someone his generation. He also recently joined Twitter, but has yet to post anything; he can’t quick figure out what is the purpose of this community. I think from this you can see that he is trying hard to keep up with technology, but still doesn’t fully get it. I think it is important to understand that every social media community is unique and that the aspects of person’s life he chooses to share in each community is very different.

LinkedIn is a professional networking community, so you can obviously find many insights about the professional side of Michael on this site. From his education, certifications, jobs, qualifications, connections, you can learn a lot about his background. One great aspect about LinkedIn, in terms of gaining insights, are the recommendations, you can see what others are saying about Michael. Many people find him to be reliable, trustworthy, and honest. This is obviously in a professional context, but characteristics like these relate to him in a general context, this tells us something more than what he does, but how he behaves and what he values. I think LinkedIn is an underestimated source of information and insights, and because people are generally concerned with their reputation more so on LinkedIn than elsewhere, it can be a great source to interact with consumers and get honest opinions.

On Facebook, you see a little more about Michael’s personal life. By looking on the “about” page, we easily see a broad list of interests that he passively follows, his primary interests are books, TV, and photography. Since Michael is wary of social media, he keeps a tight lock on his privacy settings, allowing only friends to see the full content. So assuming we can see into his page, we can gather deeper insights by looking at the active content on his page, what he’s posting about, commenting on, and with whom he is communicating. He’s a football and baseball fan, he only posts about these two sports during the seasons, that doesn’t mean he’s not a fan of other sports, but he’s loyal to his teams in these sports. He’s passionate about politics and will not only post opinions on his own page but engages on his friends’ pages as well.

Although Michael joined Twitter about a year ago, he has yet to post anything. So you can see that he tries to keep up, but perhaps doesn’t have the time to commit to multiple communities.

Based on some of our discussion the other day, another way to get at deeper insights in a more accurate way, beyond merely observing social media behavior, might be to have a conversation about social media use. Ask a customer to explain or tell a story about his typical daily social media activity. This would allow a deeper understanding of why he uses specific sites, who his audience is, what motivates him to post or respond to certain things, and even why he joined certain communities in the first place.  

We also talked in class about distinguishing between active and passive engagement in social media and I think that is a very important distinction. Many companies using social media to connect with customers focus heavily on numbers, how many followers, how many likes, but I think more meaningful insights can be gathered by taking the time to look in to active engagement. It is easy to hit a like button and forget about it a minute later, but for someone to take the time to comment, whether on a brand, product, or idea, shows that they have put in more thought and commitment into that brand.

A final word of warning, and sort of side note, to end this blog post - I do think companies need to be careful about how much they listen to people in social media communities. On Facebook specifically, people have gotten used to voicing their opinions on anything and everything and are not afraid to tell a company when they’ve done something wrong. Some people just want to be heard and acknowledged, but others are looking to get something out of it. Since several companies have started publicizing how well they have compensated social complainers in order to protect their reputation, there has become a culture of “me too” in social media. Not every follower is a customer you want or need, but it is important to engage with these complainers to understand their motivation.