Being resourceful means using the already existing data and tools innovatively, and taking the most advantage of it. Within this article, you will find a proposal of how to use the social media, specifically Instagram, to have a better understanding of new online communities.
Six months have passed since the spread of the COVID-19 out of China, hitting Europe and crossing the Atlantic all the way to Latin America. During the first months we were wondering what to do next, and nothing was clear, just uncertainty.
With time, many industries started developing a necessary new vision of how to approach the “new normal”. Because yes, absolutely nothing will be the same, and this is a new stage in our evolution as a society.
For me, as an individual and a researcher, a very important part of this new vision is to make the most advantage of the resources we already have available.
It involves trying to do smart shopping, rethinking twice every purchase, appreciating having a job, being more health-conscious and taking care of the world´s resources.
In my family, we’ve experienced how it’s like to lose a source of income for several months, because restaurants, stores and the majority of services closed. So, we started a new delivery business! And so did many others. The first idea we had didn’t work out, but it helped us understand a bit more about the new necessities of the market and lead to implementing a new concept that is still growing. According to INDECOPI (National Institute for the Defence of Competition and the Protection of Intellectual Property) in July 2020 the number of applications to register a new brand in Peru grew 4.23% in comparison to July 2019, from 3660 to 3815 applications, reversing the crucial falls recorded between March and June, during the quarantine.
With existing retail in crisis, the online landscape is becoming stronger than ever! Existing brands of all sizes move all their actions to the online world, and the new ones are betting it all, starting by creating their social media profiles. Instagram and Facebook are predominant, mainly as they allow sales, but more importantly, because they facilitate interaction and engagement with the clients and prospects.
As a result, we have these new communities nurtured by their creators, thousands of people interacting with brands inside the social media world, probably without a defined business objective or not knowing their buyer well enough.
So, as a researcher, I ask myself: are we participating enough in this new role and development of the social media world? Yes, we have social listening, but what about the declarative part of the equation? Are we interacting with this new type of consumer inside their own environment? Are we understanding them?
With this in consideration, my proposal for the YES! Award, which I will present at the ESOMAR LATAM Insights Festival broadcast in October, is covering the development of a new exploratory methodology that uses Instagram (IG) as the principal source of information, specifically, the IG Stories. “Digging into the gram” propose the use of the already existing features implemented in the IG Stories to collect information about brand´s communities.
To bring valid results to the conference, I set a trial investigation with a small brand with more than 33 thousand followers in Instagram. Their objective was to have a better understanding of their community´s habits and skills, and ability to create new content and products based on their needs. After this three days’ trial, the results helped the client to polish their content marketing strategy and brought ideas for new products.
Using this methodology, I was able to work side by side with my client during the implementation, getting to know the business in detail, implementing the investigation with participants during their natural social media interaction, and at zero cost, only investing time, dedication and analysis.
People want to be part of things, of the development of brands and institutions. This is a unique opportunity to let them be, while implementing a process, with guidance and intention. I am proposing the development of a methodology that in some way is already there but waiting for us to benefit more from the resource.
It is our time to be creative, to be true innovators, but also to make the most of the already existing resources that will help to better understand this new chapter of social evolution.
If you are interested to find out how the Young ESOMAR Society (YES) can support young researchers, visit yes.esomar.org (ed.)
