Whether you’re a small business or a B2B enterprise, social media helps you connect with your customers and create engaging narratives around your products. Understanding what types of content work, which channels to emphasize, they post formats to favor and which narratives you should address are important tasks.

Understanding the big and small picture is essential if you wish to establish your brand as an important voice in your industry.

Strike the wrong tone on social media, and the backlash will damage your reputation. However, consistently strike the right tone, and your customers will love you. A good market research tool, then, is essential when crafting your social media strategy.

These tools help you understand all the factors that drive audience engagement and interact with your customers better. Here are four ways market research tools help build your social media presence.

Uncover industry trends

Every industry is subject to trends that come and go. In some industries, micro trends dominate conversations for short periods but drive massive engagement. For instance, a trend might catapult a small company to virality and drive traffic to their products. 

Market research tools don’t just highlight important trends, they also let you know from where these trends are originating. For example, a new social media platform might be inspiring people to post content highlighting your product. Whether you decide to partake or not, keeping tabs on such mentions is essential.

These tools also uncover trends that might damage your brand for no fault of yours. For instance, the Tide Pods challenge that went viral a few years ago could have potentially damaged Tide’s image if the company hadn’t swiftly reacted and warned people of the dangers the challenge posed.

Evaluate traffic channels

Traffic is everything on the internet, and figuring out where the highest traffic comes from is essential. Social media analysis is challenging since trends can change quickly. Hashtags on Twitter and Instagram might trend for a week or so before fizzling out. These trends stop before you can react to them, and it can seem intimidating to monitor all of them.

Market research tools will help you gather all of this information in a single platform, allowing you to prioritize your responses. Some trends might not be worth responding to, while others will demand acknowledgment on your behalf.

Over time, as customer demographics change, you might find that other social media platforms could send you more traffic. Before running test campaigns on those platforms to attract new audience members, you should examine the latest research data to figure out the ideal tone, content style, etc that appeals to those users.

A good market research tool simplifies these tasks and helps you stay ahead of the curve.

Monitor industry influencers

Influencer marketing is a central pillar of many industries these days. Even B2B audiences are influenced by a select few voices on social media. A bad review can break your business if managed incorrectly. Brand associations are also important in the influencer business.

For instance, if you’re associated with an influencer who adopts a controversial tone or commits an act that angers their audience, you should reconsider your relationship with them. A market research tool will help you monitor their content and engagement rates, allowing you to discover new voices that carry significant weight with your audience.

Discovering new influencers is also useful when you migrate to a new platform and establish credibility quickly. Tracking influential voices and reaching out to them for partnerships will help you gain a large following and drive the narratives you want around your product.

Thanks to constant engagement metrics measurement, you can cut ties with underperforming influencers and sign new partnerships to boost your brand presence.

Discover competitor tactics

Monitoring your social share of voice is essential. Market research tools will help you monitor your industry and compare your engagement metrics to your competitors. As a result, you can benchmark your efforts and figure out what’s working and what isn’t. 

Benchmark data is essential when you’re switching to a new traffic source. For instance, if your competitors routinely receive 10% engagement rates on Instagram and you’re receiving 15%, you know you’re ahead of the curve. 

Monitoring competitors also allows you to optimize marketing resources. For instance, if the majority of your competitors are moving to a new traffic source, you can decide whether you should follow suit or stay put. When coupled with benchmarks and content analysis, you can easily create campaigns that hit the spot with your audience.

A treasure trove of data

A solid market research tool is an excellent resource for establishing a dominant social media presence. Thanks to the wide range of data they provide, you can quickly create great campaigns that drive traffic to your product. Whether figuring out industry trends or keeping tabs on the competition, these tools will help you immensely.

Also Read: 6 Ways Social Media Professionals Boost Businesses