Using Social Media to Ask the Right Questions

By now most of us have had some experiences with social media whether strictly for fun or to find ways to promote our business or cause. But there is another level of engagement that can provide valuable feedback...if we just ask.

Houston, Texas ©Totsie Marine

by Totsie Marine
Webonobo.com

A popular feature of social media is throwing out provocative questions to your contacts. It is fun and sometimes reveals interesting information that you did not know about your friends, but businesses and nonprofit organizations can turn this idea on its head with very purposeful results.

As reported in Neilsenwire:
One success story demonstrates how social media was used to reshape a baby diaper campaign with enhanced results by combining both listening and asking research.

The traditional survey results showed that the majority of consumers believed that “environmentally friendly” was the most important product attribute. But in authentic, online conversations, consumers indicated that “organic” and “avoiding diaper rash” were the most important product features.

The social media analysis revealed a more accurate picture of consumer sentiment around product desires. This lead to a new campaign theme centered on “Caring,” which produced phenomenal results for the brand.

So how do you ask good questions?

First decide what kind of answer you want. Are you looking for short answers with no room for discussion or are you trying to create dialogue?

Closed questions assume answers that can be given in a few words or that result in Yes or No choices. Closed questions often begin with “Are” “Can” “Did” “Do” etc.

Open questions generally begin with “What” “How” “Who” “When” and “Why”. Open questions usually require more deliberation on the answerer’s part and can easily lead to secondary questions and answers that flesh out a concept, opinion or provide problem solving information.

Social media can be a resourceful tool for your organization’s strategic and marketing plans if you ask the right questions.

Note: Blogonobo is now on a two week schedule. The next post: Are you listening?

Resources for this post
http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/global/using-social-media-to-ask-the-right-questions
http://www.bizsuccess.com/articles/ask.htm

Using Social Media to Ask the Right Questions

So how do you ask good questions?

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