Social media networks are constantly crawling with the latest information. But how do you convert this data into valuable research? Read this blog post to find out how you can make the most of social media posts.
If you have not been using social media for research, you could be missing out on information. It is good to know that social media networks are constantly crawling with data like news reports, background information, trends, statistics, social sentiments and linked studies to name a few.
However, one problem still exists. To analyse information correctly, you will have to filter out the research. Are you scraping out information together as efficiently as you should? The good news is that you don’t have to be a research pro to do this. Here are five tips that can help you narrow down and convert social media posts into valuable research.
Lets’s get started
- Keep a track of tweets on Twitter – Welcome to Twitter. Everyone has used it for updates. There are over 255 million active users on a monthly average. This fact has transformed the social network into a rich source of real-time sentiments on any trending topic. Twitter is useful for providing new updates and social trending views on major events happening around the world. By using tools like Topsy, you can organize the results by photos, videos, tweets and influencers. The language can be selected, the time range can be specified and even an advanced search can be specified. Simplifying your Twitter research is a great way to find what you need.
- Search the web better with automated web page collection – One disadvantage of using the web for research is finding more web pages than you know what to do with. To keep your bookmarking research in order, you can use social bookmarking services such as Pocket and IFTTT. These tools can help you save your research onto a Google drive spreadsheet. Using such handy tools for research topics, is a great way to narrow down your search to a focussed number of links.
- Track mentions on the web – Why not try tracking mentions for keywords on social media. With some basic tool like Social Mention, you can not only simplify the tracking process, but also pull out all mentions for the specified keyword. Such tools can allow you to search more than just Twitter. You can easily search through events, bookmarks, questions, blogs, comments, videos, audio, news and networks. Once done with the search, you can export your search results into CSV or Excel.
- Convert Facebook feeds into RSS – You can now use Facebook to conduct research on people and brands. Facebook is also a quick way to update your fans with information, post news reports or views comments about your brand/enterprise. Facebook wall updates as an RSS feed can be easily connected to your Facebook account and help you create RSS feed links for the people who follow you. All you have to do is add the feed to an RSS aggregator and you are ready to get a constant stream of informative research.
- Collect data with Google forms and Google plus – The best way to get raw data on a topic is to ask several people, using a Google form. You can simply use a Google account to create a form in Google Docs. After you create the form, you can receive responses directly to a Google spreadsheet and view the researched and targeted data in one place.
Using social media for research is one of the most powerful ways to collate information. Utilizing just one single network can churn out tons of interesting and useable data. If you have no time at hand or lack the tools and resources needed for efficient social media research, why not try outsourcing social media research services.
What do you think about researching social media for valuable information about customers and competitors? Let us know in the comments box below. We, at Outsource2india love to hear from you!
Interested to know more?
- What Are Your Customers Saying About You? Find Out With Social Media Monitoring
- 5 Effective Ways to Gather Market Intelligence
Editor
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