Leveraging Facebook for Marketing Research: Questions 1-5
The advantages of using an online survey of a cross-section of Internet households include a large sample size and the opportunity to grow the company’s audience while simultaneously conducting research. The advantages of using an online survey presented only to the company’s Facebook likers are the higher rate of active engagement amongst the targeted group.
The difference between likes and active engagement is the level of participation of the audience. Many people may like the page but will hardly participate and engage in the company’s messaging. While active participants become brand ambassadors as they engage in the contests and share the posts with a larger audience.
A message with a strong call to action engages the Facebook audience. Examples of these strong calls to action include contests, polls and any requests that ask the audience to perform a specific action. There are many methods of gaining “Likes” on Facebook boosting a post, encouraging shares or creating marketing campaigns to increase the page’s likes. Consumers are attracted to Liking a company’s Facebook page when the page promotes a benefit to those who like the page.
The advantages of using a fixed alternative poll question are the minimal amount of time it requires to respond to. A participant can respond to a single fixed alternative poll question in less than a second. The minimal effort design promotes a higher rate of respondents. The disadvantages include hasty responses and the possibility of a better alternative choice not being discovered by the poll. Open-ended questions are best to discover more qualitative feedback from the audience, seeking out the possibilities and to define a problem.
If I had a limited budget and only two weeks to decide the best two flavors to move forward to quantitative testing I would use a poll only design. The use of a quick fixed alternative response poll could provide extensive results within hours. If the poll does not yield the required results within a day I could then add prizes to encourage participation. If I had a large budget and two months to perform the same research I would use the same strategy. I would begin with a poll but perhaps use focus groups to solidify the findings and gather qualitative feedback. The advantages of using the simple poll first are to monitor how quickly the audience responds as it relates to their level of passion about the topic and the speed that the audience is reached. Adding a contest/prize element to reward participation can always be added if the audience is not participating in the poll.
