3 Ways to Use Social Media for Product Research and Development

Are you looking for creative ideas for your next product or service?

Have you considered the wellspring of social media conversations as a source of product or service innovation?

Keep reading to discover how you can tap social media to enhance the development of your next great product.

Social Media for Product Research?

Yes, that’s correct… you can use social media-based conversations, feedback, comments, complaints and more as a source of research and development! This can be especially handy for smaller businesses that do not have big budgets for R&D.

Social media is not as planned or controlled as a focus group when it comes to research and development; however, with concentrated time and dedication you canuse these channels to your company’s advantage. And, ultimately, you can benefit the very people you’re polling about improved and new products and services.

Innovation does not have to be limited to just within your company walls, so consider getting started with the following three steps.

#1: Establish your roadmap

Ask yourself what you want to accomplish. Are you looking for feedback on how to improve a customer-service process within your company? Does an existing product have flaws or need a new look? Are you looking to develop an entirely new product or service? Do your customers have a need for a product or service that you have not thought of?

Establishing your goals before you begin the research will allow you to develop a roadmap for success. If you know what you’re hoping to accomplish before you start, you’ll set yourself up for keeping on track, correcting if you steer off track and of course restructuring or closing down the research if you’re coming up with nothing in the area you’re seeking.

Part of the roadmap of goals will need to include the arenas in the social sphere in which you will be conducting the research. Not every social channel may be the right avenue.

• YouTube may come in handy if you want people to watch a series of new product demonstrations.

Cisco is one of many companies using social media forms, including YouTube to spread the word about new products and services to not just customers, but their large workforce as well.

• Twitter may be useful if you need to reach larger numbers of your audience and receive quick feedback.

In 2008, Zappos asked their Twitter followers to help them rewrite the confirmation email customers receive upon placing an order with the company. They wanted to add more “pizzazz” to the piece, so they held a contest to encourage their followers to participate in the rewriting process. The company’s CEO prioritizes deep connections with the customers as a way to provide the products and services those individuals want and need.

• Creating a Facebook app would permit you means for social co-creation with your fans.

VitaminWater sourced their latest drink flavor from participants on the company’s fan page. They offered fans the opportunity to combine their favorite flavors into a winning idea that would benefit the company with low-cost crowdsourcing and product development, and the fans with not only the chance at the $5,000 prize for the winning flavor, but creative input into a brand they value.

Jonathon Meiri, creator of Superfly.com, shares how his business discovered they could harness the power of social media for product innovation.

“Around the time that we launched (mid-May), we set up Facebook fan pages for Superfly as well as for various elite flier groups. We wanted to facilitate interactions among users of a particular frequent-flier program and get a sense for where their pain points would be. In our case, it’s like being invited to one of the elite airline lounges and sitting in on a conversation between two elite travelers, understanding their pain, and then building the products to solve it.”

Read the entire blog post here  http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/3-ways-to-use-social-media-for-product-research-and-development/