How To Use Social Listening To Build Market Research In 7 Steps

Marketers and brand managers all understand the importance of reporting. Quality reporting provides valuable insight into market trends, target consumer segments, and a brand’s health. Remember, if the underlying data used to make a report is wrong, the conclusions and takeaways from the report will also be wrong. Reporting with good data helps us better understand the impact of our marketing efforts and provides us the data we need to make improvements to our process and message.

But who actually enjoys the process of putting reports together?

For many marketers, reporting is a daunting process that requires tracking down data from multiple sources, attempting to interpret that data, and putting it together in a cohesive manner. This process can be incredibly time-consuming and tedious.

What if there was an easier way to produce high-quality, immediate, and insightful reports that provide the accurate, actionable data you need?

Fortunately, with a social listening platform, there is a way! Read on for our simple seven-step process to produce market research reports driven by social listening insights.

Step #1 – Define the problem.

It’s important to begin by defining the specific problem you’d like to solve. Questions to consider include:

1. What is the core pain point or question the client/brand is facing?
2. How can the information in the report help to understand and solve this problem?
3. Does each section of the report contribute to solving this problem?

Establishing a tight problem statement is the most important step when laying out a market research report, as it helps guide your future research and avoid unnecessary/irrelevant data.

Let’s consider the example of McDonald’s, which recently increased its prices. We wrote an insight brief in an attempt to answer the question, “How are customers responding to sharp McDonald’s price increases?”

^{Figure 1: Negative news articles surrounding McDonald’s price increase; Infegy Starscape data, (2024).}

A quick search on the Infegy Starscape dashboard shows negative feedback surrounding the price hikes. Figure 1 shows a sample of news snippets highlighting anecdotal reports of unhappy customers complaining that the value of fast food, particularly McDonald’s, was being eroded by ever-increasing menu prices.

But, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Infegy’s reporting capabilities have a much broader scope. For example, we published an ebook at the beginning of 2024 that took a comprehensive look at streaming services, movies, sports, video games, and general entertainment. Our key questions were:

• What changes have occurred in the entertainment industry?
• What direction is the industry taking?
• What do key target audiences look like?

These questions provide you with a starting point to begin collecting data. They then become the framework on which to build a comprehensive, robust market research report. Which brings us to the next step.

Step #2 – Conduct preliminary market research using social listening data.

Now that you have an idea of the problem you wish to research, you need to start gathering data. It’s important to begin with general searches to gather preliminary research data. Why?

First, if you begin with a narrow search, you may unintentionally exclude results. You don’t want to miss the forest for the trees, so to speak.

Second, general searches are more efficient. You've wasted time if you start with a specific query that yields no results. Instead, start with a simple branded query or a content-subject-based query, and you’ll likely receive a high-level overview. Herein lies the power of ultimate, fast queries - you can iterate on that initial result by applying filters to narrow down the specific information you care about.

^{Figure 2: Screenshot of a generalized query about Apple; Infegy Starscape, three months of data.}

^{Figure 3: Screenshot of a generalized query looking for movie, video game, or television-related content; Infegy Starscape, three months of data.}

Along with social listening data, it can be helpful to support your preliminary market research with open-source news. Consider pulling:

• Data from Google trends and other search engines
• Publicly available revenue projections
• Online research reports from agencies such as Mintel (an Infegy client), consumer reports, or public news

Step #3 – Formulate research questions.

Now that you’ve defined the problem you wish to solve and done some preliminary market research, it’s time to craft specific research questions based on your goals and a review of your initial findings.

For example, consider post volume trends. Is post volume trending up or down? Are there any sharp spikes in posts? How does or could this relate to the problem you’re trying to solve?

Let’s consider TikTok as an example.

^{Figure 4: Conversational post volume regarding a potential TikTok ban; Infegy Social Dataset, January 2023 through May 2024.}

We recently wrote an insight brief about social listening activity related to TikTok. Notice the sharp post volume spikes in 2023 and 2024. A quick review of this preliminary data presents some obvious questions:

• What caused these sharp post volume spikes?
• Is there a news event driving these spikes? If so, what is it?
• What, specifically, are consumers saying during these periods of sharp spikes?
• How does consumer sentiment differ from the norm during these periods?
• Are competing brands experiencing a similar uptick in post volume during these same periods?

As you can see, the preliminary data we collected provided a direction to guide our research efforts. We learned that we needed to dig deeper into the timeframes surrounding sharp upticks in consumer post volume to better understand the cause and sentiment surrounding these spikes.

As another example, we sought to better understand issues related to HP Elitebooks, which are business-level laptops, using Reddit as a data source.

^{Figure 5: Dashboard showing top topics associated with HP Elitebooks, Infegy Social Dataset (2014 through 2024)}

In Figure 5, notice the large clusters of discussions surrounding battery issues and problems with booting. This shows us that there may be concerns or problems with a particular product feature that warrants additional research.

Also, notice the negative sentiment surrounding HP’s product. A marketer would likely see this and ask, “What is causing this negative sentiment, and how can we quickly address it?” These questions could then be used to guide the next stages of research.

Step #4 – Build effective research queries.

Now that you’ve conducted high-level queries and identified relevant questions to guide the next stage of research, it’s time to develop more precise queries that can help you better understand the “why” behind the trends.

The “why” is much more important than the trend itself because it helps you uncover the underlying context behind the trend and may even help you predict future events. In order to get to the why, we need to tighten up our queries and dig deeper into the data.

Let’s look at some examples of effective query construction.

Traditional Boolean queries

Virtually every social listening platform supports full Boolean queries, which are queries that allow you to target what you’re looking for using logical operators around specific words (aka tokens) that appear within the text.

Let’s consider a more specific Boolean query that looks at Intent.

^{Figure 6: A traditional Boolean query to identify Intent among target audience; Infegy Starscape, (June 2024 through August 2024).}

Notice that Figure 6 includes much more specific query parameters than the initial query we conducted in Step #2.

Although traditional Boolean queries have been the industry standard for a long time, they are not a foolproof method of isolating your intended research topics. The main challenge with Boolean queries is that they often result in long, difficult-to-read, error-prone phrases that can be very difficult to logically parse.

A better way to query

Fortunately, marketers and brand managers are no longer restrained by the limitations of traditional Boolean queries. Infegy Starscape now offers a new and innovative drag-and-drop query builder process that provides precise, targeted queries without the need to create a long and complicated Boolean text query.

^{Figure 7: A specific query looking for positive, female, Reddit-based post volume about Apple over the last three months; Infegy Starscape query builder, (June 2024 through August 2024).}

Notice the clarity of the Infegy Starscape query (Figure 7) versus the traditional Boolean query (Figure 6). As you can see, Infegy Starscape allows you to more easily view and adjust your search parameters, resulting in a clear search that gets straight to the heart of your query objectives.

Step #5 – Analyze data to answer research questions.

The next step in building your market research is to analyze your data for answers about your research questions. Your query results and audience segments can offer important insights to help solve the specific challenges you face.

For example, we recently released a healthcare report that looks deep into the three “Ps” of the pharmaceutical industry – patients, providers, and pharmaceuticals.

^{Figure 8: Word clouds relating to common symptoms experienced by people within different condition-related Reddit communities; Infegy Social Dataset, winter 2024.}

Through our research process, we started by isolating effective research queries to identify targeted Reddit communities. We then identified common illnesses shared by people suffering from six common illnesses (Figure 8).

^{Figure 9: Word clouds showing discussion topics within Reddit communities pertaining to well-known medications; Infegy Social Dataset, winter 2024.}

In an effort to answer our initial research question, “How do patients feel about taking drugs such as Ozempic, Wellbutrin, and Humira?,” we also looked at how patients responded to different drugs (Figure 9).

We were able to successfully isolate this data because we took time at the beginning of our research process to formulate a comprehensive query and identify the specific audience that would be able to answer our question.

Step #6 – Create and share your report.

Now that you have a good picture of your dataset and have answered each of your research questions, it’s time to start formulating your report. The structure of your report will be guided by the research questions you posed at the beginning of the process. Start by presenting the question you’ve set out to research, then offer relevant data to support your answer to the question.

At Infegy, we separate data reporting into three main types, ranging from easiest to most difficult.

1. Starscape dashboard report - The simplest way to structure a report is with a modular, no-code dashboard, such as the one provided by Infegy Starscape.

Starscape offers a drag-and-drop modular structure to quickly showcase relevant data. The social listening APIs powering the dashboard are constantly refreshed, so you have immediate and real-time access to the latest and most up-to-date live data.

This is a significant benefit over traditional and static PDF reports that are standardl in the social listening industry. We refer to PDF reports as “data graveyards” because the moment you export a graph to a PDF, the data is dead and represents a historical snapshot. In contrast, the Starscape dashboard report is constantly updated to reflect the latest trends. Here is an example of an Infegy dashboard report analyzing the electric car industry.

2. Written report - The second type of report provided by Infegy Starscape is of the written variety. Written reports are still simple to access, and they allow you to add your thoughts and comments alongside your data using a rich text editor. This allows you to provide relevant context to help you communicate to your readers so they have a better understanding of the data they’re viewing.

3. Fully customized report - A more formal reporting option is to create a long-form narrative piece. These reports are helpful because they do not require internet access and are accessible to a less tech-savvy audience. Infegy’s social listening APIs allow you to create a completely custom report to meet your specific needs. Here is an example of a customized report, our Brand Risk Dashboard.

It’s important to carefully consider your audience as you decide which report format is most appropriate. If you select the wrong report format, your audience may struggle to understand it and therefore, glean the relevant insights you intend to share.

Step #7 – Learn from other examples.

If you’re just getting started with social listening reporting, you may not yet be familiar with all of your options and capabilities. A great way to learn more is by reviewing other examples.

At Infegy, we’ve been writing ebooks and producing detailed reports for a long time. We’ve referred to a few of these pieces throughout this post, but we offer countless other examples of narrative pieces we’ve produced using Infegy social listening data. Consider visiting our Resources page for additional examples of written narrative pieces that may help inspire your own reporting efforts.

Using Infegy’s social listening platform to build your market research reports

Infegy’s social listening platform offers real-time insights into changing trends and consumer sentiment that can be used to drive your marketing efforts. When properly reported in a timely manner, this data can help your brand quickly respond to changing consumer preferences and stay on top of the competition.

Fortunately, building a comprehensive market research report has never been easier! Using the seven steps outlined here, you can be up and running in no time. And if you ever get stuck or need help, our award-winning client success team is here to help you!

To learn more about how Infegy’s social listening platform can help you build accurate, relevant and timely reports, request a custom demo.