日本語
With more and more consumers interacting with brands online whether it is within their own social networks on Facebook or Instagram or on other social media platforms like Youtube, it has never become more important to understand what consumers are saying about your brand online. In a nut shell, social listening involves an in-depth look into the main social networking platforms to see what conversations are being had about your brand, extracting key insights, and then applying those to the overall brand strategy.
Social listening is often more insightful when online conversations about competitors are also part of the research – allowing a more in-depth look at the market landscape. And while we have conducted studies involving only social listening, we find they are best when coupled with face to face research and interacting with the consumers directly like in the following case.
Our client, a global beer brand, wanted to launch a regional advertising campaign across Asia, at the same time seeking to understand current perceptions of their brand in the Japanese market and also more deeply understand the attitudes and motivations of Japanese 20 – 35 year olds.
The first part of the research involved a comprehensive stage of social listening where as a team we dug into the main social networking platforms in Japan to see what beer drinkers were saying about our client’s brand along with other domestic and international brands. What we discovered was something the client didn’t expect and quite different from other perceptions they had heard from beer drinkers in other parts of Asia, Europe, and the US. Which, while surprising, was all very positive. Along with key insight extracted about competitors we able to create a map of the beer market in Japan with associated perceptions and take this context to the next research stage.
The next research stage involved a series of friendship pair interviews with both females and males aged 20 – 35 years old conducted in bars, clubs, and restaurants around Tokyo. Having respondents in a beer drinking, relaxed environment worked wonders in opening up the discussions so respondents could talk freely about their motivations in life, thoughts about the future, and our client’s brand and beer market in general – real insight to work with and generate stimulus for the final focus group round.
While social listening alone may not be enough to formulate overall brand strategy it is a useful tool when coupled with other research methods – especially in Japan where Japanese are said to be the most prolific online bloggers in the world and where product review sites and social networking play a big role in their purchase decision making.