Though I would like it to be so, I think not. However, social media research is a nice complement to traditional market research for traditional consumer insight. It also provides the additional benefit of providing context (who is talking, where the talk is, and the nature/style of the talk) that can’t be matched by any other approach and should be a key element of digital media/strategy planning.

Two recent articles:

• Comparative Surveys in China Reveal Minimal Differences in Data Collected Online vs. CATI, New Study from Survey Sampling International and Ipsos Confirms; PR Newswire
• Web-Tracking Research Emerging From Surveys’ Shadow; Adage

From the Ad Age article, note this quote from Kim Dedeker, chair of WPP’s Kantar Americas (Millward Brown, TNS among other WPP TNS firms):

Five years ago, while at P&G, Ms. Dedeker expressed skepticism about blogs as research tools, noting that bloggers weren’t really representative of typical P&G consumers. But asked last week whether it might be possible for marketers to replace tracking research with online sentiment monitoring, she said, “It’s very possible. We need to find better ways to enable it.”

The debate is certainly not new, dating back to 2006:

• Is There Something Rotten in CGM Research?; Marketing Profs
• Is There Really Something Rotten in CGM Research, AttentionMax (rebuttal)

The Role of Humans in “making sense of the buzz”

Thoughts/phrasings that have been bouncing around my head in the last month:

• A dashboard is a tool.
• A human provides insight and meaning. 
• A human uses a dashboard to generate insight and meaning.
• If your tool sucks, your insight will suck.
• Even with a good tool, your insight might suck.
• A good tool is necessary, but not sufficient for good insight.
• A good ‘human’ is necessary but not sufficient for good insight.

Perhaps this is obvious, but you would be surprised that clients/agencies for get such subtle, but very important facts.  Do you have the right person who knows how to use the dashboard? Does the person know how to generate AND communicate insight? Recent articles from the echo chamber of social media analytics (I’m a proud member) suggest that insight as human driven is finally beginning to resonate.

• Monitoring Social Media Bootcamp, London – The Story of the Day; Our Social Times
• Listening Platforms and Professional Services Net-Savvy.com
• On the Non-Automation of Insight Net-Savvy.com
• Brand Monitoring is Not Research; HumanVoice
• Social Media Monitoring And Human Business; Brandsavant

I do think there are two levels of “analysts” that are often missed. One level is the analyst who is a researcher, i.e. ‘makes sense of the buzz.” The above articles refer to this type of analyst.

Another level of analyst is the one who knows how to use the tool. One of the key challenges, for example, is to input terms to represent a topic to be analyzed. As Nathan points out, even such tasks are not easy, and cites this example from using Boolean logic to track mobile phone operator “Orange”:

(Orange OR subject:Orange -subject:light -light -”Clockwork Orange” -subject:”Clockwork Orange” -”orange box” -subject:”orange box” -juice -subject:juice -fruit -subject:fruit -peel -subject:peel -”Orange Wednesday” -subject:”Orange Wednesday” -”orange county” -subject:”orange county” -”clock work orange” -subject:”clock work orange” -”orange ink” -subject:”orange ink” -”bright orange” -subject:”bright orange” -”dark orange” -subject:”dark orange” -”light orange” -subject:”light orange” -(”color orange”~3) -subject:(”color orange”~3) – (”style orange”~3) -subject:(”style orange”~3)) AND ( (SMS OR MMS OR HDSPA OR “Mobile Phone” OR GSM OR GPRS OR 3G OR SIM OR handset OR “Sony Ericsson” OR Nokia OR HTC OR Motorola OR BlackBerry OR iPhone OR PAYG OR “pay-as-you-go” OR “Network Provider” OR UMTS OR WAP OR PDA OR “PAC Code” OR Cellphone OR OFCOM OR phones4u OR voda OR vodafone OR tmobile OR tmob OR “T-mobile” OR T-Mob) OR subject:(SMS OR MMS OR HDSPA OR “Mobile Phone” OR GSM OR GPRS OR 3G OR SIM OR handset OR “Sony Ericsson” OR Nokia OR HTC OR Motorola OR BlackBerry OR iPhone OR PAYG OR “pay-as-you-go” OR “Network Provider” OR UMTS OR WAP OR PDA OR “PAC Code” OR Cellphone OR OFCOM OR phones4u OR voda OR vodafone OR tmobile OR tmob OR “T-mobile” OR T-Mob) )

Now, try adding a level of language/cultural nuance, say, for Chinese. Like many markets, Chinese net language/slang is vivid, dynamic and essential to make sure you are finding appropriate references (see example with Ford here and here for background on overall Chinese net language).

See also:
Recent reads from February 2010
Recent reads from January 2010

What’s your impression of the balance between traditional (TV, print) branding now in China compared to digital, in terms of the spend and influence?

In terms of spend, compared to the West, the gap in China between traditional and digital is even greater than in the West. General estimates put digital spend in 2008 at 7% of overall media spend. Part of the reason is that the 298 million people online only account for 23% of the Chinese population and may not offer the greatest reach to Tier 3 and beyond cities.

However, for those that are indeed online, it is a primary media. Numerous studies have suggested that Chinese netizens spend upwards of twice the amount of time online as they do watching TV. Compared to traditional media, digital is so much more varied, exciting and open. It serves the primary platform for consumers to find information, be entertained and socialize: 81.5% of netizens get their news online and the Premier Wen Jia Bao enages netizens in online chats (and also has a Facebook fan page); net stars are in movies based on net novels and World of Warcraft characters appear on Coke cans; QQ, China’s leading social internet platform, is bigger than than Facebook.

What is the balance between fixed line internet and mobile – is mobile a better vehicle for a brand connecting with people ?

China has the most mobile phones in the world now and has more people accessing internet via mobile phone than fixed line. However, with the computer essentially replacing the TV as a primary media device (young people will buy a computer for their new apartment before they would buy a TV), we see that the computer offers a better, more engaging platform (though we may be biased).

Could you venture a “regional” opinion i.e how China compares with other regional countries?

China more bloggers (162 million) (see full stats here) and more places online to be social than any other market in the world. China’s penetration rate is a relatively low 22.6%, but social participation rate is very high. Forrester’s China technographics study, for example, shows that Chinese “creators” account for 40% of netizen population compared to just 13% in the US.

In terms of the region, Japan and Korea are as exciting as China in terms of social media, with extremely high penetration rates as well as high participation rates.

Is the idea of community getting much traction there? Do Chinese people get involved in online communities beyond the BBS?

Overall, social networking sites like Xiaonei and Kaixin are growing rapidly as a place for netizens to play and share with their network. However, BBS is still very much the heart of social media in China and have been a “mainstream” Internet activity since the very beginning of the Internet here. They serve as the nation’s online “water cooler” with anonymous discussions that touch on most any topic beyond the racy and political ones. For example, just within the automobile category, every month we track over 6 million messages written by 300,000+ user names. Within these forums, there can be a very powerful sense of community, with forums regularly organizing offline meet ups (called fubai) and online activities such as “homework.” For a full overview of the social media landscape, see here and PPT deck here.

Are brands able to use the bulletin boards or is it very much consumer power?

While BBS are pretty much the domain of consumers, brands do try (sometimes successfully, sometimes not) to participate. Not surprisingly, brands and/or their agencies will try astroturfing, but it is largely ineffective, and overall not welcome within the communities. See here and here for discussions on this topic.

Smarter brands will listen to the talk online, know or understand the online culture, and then choose the most appropriate way to participate. For example, in the popular PCauto community, brands can officially answer questions posed by netizens in designated, branded “expert centers.” Most important to realize here is that the information provided is what is actually wanted and needed by netizens. It is real, two-way communication, NOT seeded marketing messages that only serve the interest of the brand.

Some brands have successfully built their own BBS communities after studying best practices from existing communities. For example, Lancôme’s “Rosebeauty” is now a top 10 women’s/fashion BBS.

Have you any examples of brands getting it wrong online or off – ie getting adverse reaction from bulletin boards.

Last year Lenovo got flack for what was an obviously fake viral campaign that raised the ire of netizens. The classic case study, however, is 2007’s Dell Hell (China version) where dissatisfied netizens attempted to launch a class action lawsuit. It should be noted that Dell in China, as it has in other markets, has since turned things around considerably in the “conversation marketing” department with its own Chinese blog, Chinese Twitter account and Jiwai.de account (a Twitter clone).

Are there any indigenous brands that are succeeding with digital?

Local sports apparel brands like Lining and Anta consistently make splashes with clever, buzz making efforts. Anta, for example, launched a line of shoes named after the net nickname of NBA player Louis Scola (see slide 6 here). Meizu, the company behind various so called “IPOD killers” also has a very active fan community, both in English and Chinese.

Any global brands?

Johnson Baby has done award winning work with its Mom Ambassadors campaign while Intel has developed interesting engagements with its “I-fans” (see here). Pepsi, with its Pepsi Creative Challenge open source marketing campaigns in the last 3 years as well as Coke, with its I-Coke platform, are also impressive.