Market research, an integral part of any marketing campaign, is divided into two main types: Syndicated Research and Custom Research. Syndicated Research is especially important for new brands entering the merchandise industry. What is Syndicated Research?
Market research is a process of gathering information to gain a deeper understanding of users as well as the relationship between users and brands. Therefore, market research is an integral part of any marketing campaign. Basically, market research is divided into two main types: Syndicated Research and Custom Research. Each type has its own advantages, which will solve different problems of the brand. In the framework of this article, three questions will be answered: (1) What is Syndicated Research? (2) What is Customized Research? (3) Syndicated Research or Customized Research for the Brand Problem?
Syndicated research is a type of research conducted independently, whose findings can meet the needs of many brands. The subject of Syndicated Research is usually Major Topics, which is inclusive of an industry or a community of users. Syndicated Research does not follow the requirements of a specific customer, so the research results can be suitable for the entire market. Syndicated research will be more cost-effective compared to Customized Research, which only serves the needs of one customer. The results of Syndicated Research are often presented in the form of reports, which can be served as a valuable reference source to any brand, especially those looking to enter new markets. In addition, for brands that have not studied the industry in a long time, Syndicated Research is also a way to quickly update knowledge.
For example:The overview study of the washing machine market shows: More discounts do not mean higher purchase intention. A discount of 50% or more will cause users to begin to doubt the quality of the product. Instead, a discount that does not exceed 15% will promote the best purchase intention. Any brand belonging to the washing machine industry can take advantage of the results of this research for its promotional campaign, as this is the general trend of the market.
See also: Online distribution activities - What can social networks help?
Unlike Syndicated Research, Customized Research is the type of research that is done at the request of a specific customer. Research Topics and Questions are designed based on the brand's own concerns.The results of the research are in the ownership of the client. In the case of Syndicated Research, the results of the research will be owned by the entity conducting the research. Due to its focus on addressing the needs of a given brand, Customized Research has deeper analysis, and higher applicability, but the scope of application is also narrower than Syndicated Research.
For example: One brand of washing machines is aimed at older, married women. The brand's message is to save water. After a while, the brand noticed that the above message was not responded to by the user group. At this time, a study can be conducted to find out the cause and make recommendations for the brand. The results show: With the older group of women with families, they are often interested in the anti-wrinkle feature of the washing machine to save time on housework. This result should help improve the problem of this brand, but cannot be applied to other brands, due to the difference in the target user group.
See also: Washing Machine Goods Industry - Interesting Psychological Contradictions of Users
Syndicated Research and Customized Research both have their own strengths. With the ability to provide a comprehensive view of the market, Syndicated Research contributes to building the foundation of a campaign. Next, Customized Research can be conducted to provide an in-depth perspective based on the brand's situation, thereby making appropriate adjustments to the marketing plan. However, there are certain differences between Customized Research and Syndicated Research that make it difficult to replace each other. Brands will not be able to achieve the desired results if they use Syndicated Research to address narrow or specific topics. Conversely, brands waste resources if they use Customized Research for overviews that can be solved with Syndicated Research.
The Syndicated Report Hub online reporting library aggregates research proactively conducted by Buzzmetrics based on observations of common market needs. These studies do not serve a specific customer but will provide a panoramic view of users and the goods industry on the social network.
Social Listening is a type of research done by “listening” to discussions on social media. Identifying the right campaign tracking metrics right from the pre-campaign stage is important, as it will help the brand have a clear direction for creative ideas. Moreover, during the implementation of the campaign, the constant monitoring of these indicators helps to adjust, optimize and allocate resources accordingly.
Social Listening is a type of research done by ”listening to discussions on social media. Properly identifying Campaign Tracking metrics right from the pre-campaign stage is important, as it will help brands have a clear direction for creative ideas. What's more, in the course of a campaign, constant monitoring of these metrics helps to adjust, optimize, and allocate resources appropriately. Does the brand have a grasp of the necessary Campaign Tracking metrics & how to combine them for the most accurate assessment? The article below will help to summarize the basic indicators that are commonly used in the social listening reports by BuzzMetrics.
There are many indicators to assess the creative effectiveness of the campaign. However, Campaign Tracking metrics can be classified into two large groups: (1) Awareness and (2) Discussion Quality, which correspond to two major questions:
Buzz Volume is an indicator of how noisy a topic is. This is the most basic unit of measurement in Social Listening. Every post, comment, or share related to a brand's campaign counts as Buzz. This indicator will help the brand answer the question: How many discussions about the campaign on social media?
For example:Campaign A generated 100 posts, 1,000 shares, and 2,000 comments. So, campaign A collected 3,100 buzz.
Share of Voice is an indicator that compares the amount of discussion a brand generates compared to its competitors during a campaign run.
Competitors here are campaigns that compete for influence on social networks. With social media, it can be campaigns by other brands in the industry, other campaigns of the same type, or other campaigns running at the same time
This indicator indicates whether the campaign is attracting more attention than the competitors. And this rate depends on the competitor & the number of competitors the brand compares with. SOV is a relative indicator, which depends a lot on who the brand's perspective is looking to compare directly with.
For example:In May 2020, there were 2,000 buzz talking about the B brand. Meanwhile, 8,000 buzz is about other brands in the same industry. So, the Share of Voice of Brand B will be 2000/ (2000+8000) = 20%.
Audience Scale is an indicator of the number of participants in a public discussion about a research topic (event/campaign/brand). A user can generate a lot of buzz (by sharing a post multiple times). And 1,000 buzz generated by 1,000 people will mean a lot different than 1,000 buzz generated by 100 people. So, this indicator shows the degree of spread of the campaign (virality).
For example: Between November 1, 2019 and January 15, 2020, the New Year campaign “Generali - Song Nhu Y” garnered 31,603 buzz and was discussed by 17,606 people. On average, one person generates 1.8 campaign discussions.
Sentiment Score is an indicator of how users feel about a brand's campaign. This indicator is calculated by the formula: (Positive Discussion - Negative Discussion)/(Positive Discussion+Negative Discussion), whose value is in the range of [-1,1]. Getting closer to 1 means that positive discussion is absolutely overwhelming the amount of negative discussion. Conversely, a low value can be an early sign of a crisis. A Buzzmetrics study shows that 1 negative discussion can be nullified by 4 positive discussions. Therefore, this indicator is recommended to be between 0.58-1.
Brand Mention is the amount of discussion that directly refers to the brand name. The metrics indicates a user's interest and remembrance of the brand. Any user comment, whether positive or negative, that mentions the name of the brand is counted as a brand mention. Brand names include official names, Vietnamized names and other variations.
Message Recall is the amount of discussion directly referring to the message of a campaign.
Every social media campaign comes from an idea and is encapsulated in a certain key message. Any user comment that mentions that information counts as a Message Recall.
The indicator helps brands answer the question: Do users recognize the message the brand wants to send?
For example:In Biti's “Go Back” campaign, user discussions containing the keywords “reunion,” “meeting,” “home” count as Message Recall.
Relevant Buzz volume is an indicator of brand-related discussions, which includes Brand Mention and Message Recall.
For example: Still in Biti's “Go Back” campaign, although users do not mention “reunions”, they ask where to buy shoes or how much they cost. These questions count towards the Relevant Buzz Volume.
Attribute Mention is the amount of discussion that mentions product or service attributes. This indicator reflects whether the campaign interested users in product attributes.
One of the campaign goals may be to build a brand image. To achieve this goal, brands must build content and lead discussions around brand image attributes.
The indicator helps brands answer the question: Do users recognize or care about the strengths of the product?
Paid media are channels that are paid to run content. Owned media are channels owned by the brand. Meanwhile, Earned media is an organic channel, when the customer himself becomes the speaker for brand. Earned Media can be viewed as a result of Paid media and Owned media. Each user comment or share is counted towards Earned Media.
Determining the ratio of the three types of media will help brands and agencies to know that with numerical How much discussion can be generated by paid media, the equivalent of knowing how much each discussion will cost the brand. Thus, the brand will evaluate the effectiveness of the communication channels.
For example: There are two media campaigns that together generate 100k buzz. However, campaign A had 67% of discussions generated from earned media, while campaign B had only 32% of discussions generated from earned media. This shows that campaign A uses fewer resources but still has the same impact as campaign B (in terms of discussion volume). In terms of the quality of the discussion, the A campaign is better because of the high level of user discussion.
As much as possible: “I need to satisfy as many indicators as possible”
These aforementioned indicators had the role of measuring & evaluating the performance of brands/campaigns after a period on social networks. This means that after running the campaign, they measure all Campaign Tracking metrics & assume that “The better these metrics, the better the brand activity implies”.
However, each indicator has its own meaning, responding to a separate marketing goal. And the brand's job is to answer the question “What does my social media marketing campaign need to work for?“. Then, find the right set of KPIs & use it to orient the active sequences
Therefore, instead of trying to do well with every possible indicator, the brand should focus on those that are really important, which are related to the goals of the campaign. This helps to better focus & distribute resources
Further reference:
The Higher the Better: “The Higher the Buzz Volume, the Higher the Sentiment, the Better”
“How much is enough” is the second question that needs to be answered. The KPI must be in line with the discussion situation of the industry & the level of user interest. Too high or too low doesn't help brands properly evaluate their social media efforts.
For this, brands should refer to Buzzmetrics benchmarks.
So, how do I choose the right metrics and identify benchmarks for my campaign?
The choice of campaign tracking indicator depends on many factors, including: the goal and type of campaign, the characteristics of the product industry, the nature of the message. The form of research itself will also affect Campaign Tracking. For example, a new product promotion campaign will pay attention to the indicators that indicate the user's intention to buy, while a community campaign will be interested in the user's support actions (share posts, draw endorsements, etc.)
Often, the questions that are asked to help determine the indicator are:
In addition to the indicators of the campaign tracking report, the brand can also refer to the indicators from Ecommerce Auditing reports to look at how effective a campaign reflects on a brand's sales performance on e-commerce sites. Further reference: Video on how to evaluate and measure the creative effectiveness of a social media campaign or Contact Buzzmetrics.
