Social networking-based qualitative research is unparalleled these days. It gives you insights about your brand and customers that no site traffic data or other quantitative research can provide.

There are many good reasons to use a proprietary social network for qualitative research but we will focus on a particular one: consumer behavior.

Once again, social networking is at the forefront when it comes to qualitative data gathering and trend tracking.

The process is fairly simple:
1. You provide an audience a relevant theme-based proprietary social network.
2. Members have accessible ways to connect with people who share the same lifestyle and interests.
3. As a result, they want to provide more information about themselves.
4. You gather the information, anonymously (you don’t need the information of a single individual – this way, there are no grounds for legal issues).
5. You cross-reference this personal information with traffic data.

Et Voilà. You now have the perfect ingredients for solid, highly specific behavioral data and psychographics.

Now take all the above and apply it at a local level: you know everything about a culture’s hidden elements that your usual consumer report is not able to give you. When the time comes and that you need to set the foundation for a megastore opening in Beijing or a product launch in an emerging market, you can access the same information and gain invaluable insight on local consumer behavior.

Lorenzo Benazzo