Social Media and Market Research

I came across Kari Rippetoe's latest post from The Caffeinated Blog in which she discusses a couple of social media sites where marketers can conduct their own market research for free. Even though traditional market research can not be completely wiped out, take a look at how monitoring conversations in real-time can improve your market research process. Kari lists 5 ways social media and social networking sites can be used for market research:

1. StumbleUpon: This site not only presents a list of relevant sites about a topic, it also compiles a list of users who are interested as well. By clicking on their profile you can find demographics, location, ages, genders, and other interests.
2. LinkedIn: This professional social networking site is primarily used as B2B research tool. You can look for people in LinkedIn by searching for company, job title, industry, and keywords.
3. Twitter: This micro-blogging service initiates conversations, and this provides a great opportunity to hear what is being said about a particular service, product, or market space.
4. Forums: Before web 2.0 was popular, forums were the ideal conversation tool used by people. Forums are still thriving in almost every niche.
5. Niche Social Networking Sites: If there is a topic, the chances are very high that there is some sort of social networking site designed just for it. Research the web for a variety of niche subjects; you will gain some knowledgeable insight about your target audience.