Twitter listening tips every marketer should know

With a few online tools, you can do real-time market research via your laptop

During my career as a Web strategy consultant I’ve often had people ask me, “How do I do social media?” Unfortunately the answer isn’t simple. But the first step is the same as if you developing any other marketing strategy: Know your market.

To “know your market” in the old days, you needed a $15,000 qualitative market research study that would then need to be quantified for the likes of senior management. The customer research effort was time-consuming and expensive.

Luckily, the Web offers many ways to gather information on a topic and the conversation around that particular topic or product, in real time. We are spoiled, even overwhelmed, with free listening tools.

If you’re just starting out using the Web as a research and analysis tool to find out about your customers’ needs and wants and have never used a search service to do this, a great place to start is Twitter Search. However, fair warning: These tools are addictive. If you are ready to take the plunge, read on.

Search your product, service or topic using Twitter search