Chocomel Dark test on Facebook
Posted: Mon Feb 17, 2025 10:15 am
I think this gigantic long questionnaire for Fanta is a bad example. With this you are actually doing exactly the same as an online survey, but within a Facebook page. Nothing new here and I can't imagine that you're doing consumers any great favors with this.
3. Online focus group
In addition to online surveys (quantitative research), focus groups (qualitative research) are a widely used form of market research. In a traditional setting, you often sit in a room with a group of 6 to 12 representative consumers, together with a discussion leader from the market research agency. This situation can be facilitated perfectly within Facebook. You approach a number of fans of your Facebook page and invite them to become members of a closed Facebook group .
Unilever also uses Facebook groups for its Facebook trial: “A closed environment was chosen because 'sensitive' information is also requested, for example about dealing with the economic crisis”. With tools such as Facebook chat, video (Skype) and the standard reactions and polls you can then discuss your brand, products, services and those of your competitors with these people. But you can of course also use it to pre- or post-test campaign expressions. This approach is also chosen by Unilever: “Unilever wants to talk to consumers about eating habits, cooking behaviour and purchasing behaviour. The marketers also want to know what they think of its products, brands and advertisements.” In my opinion, an online focus group via Facebook offers three advantages:
People will exhibit less socially desirable behavior when behind their own laptop compared to a traditional group setting (a known problem in market research).
You actively involve your Facebook fans in your brand; something they in turn will appreciate.
This method is a lot cheaper than the traditional focus group.
Facebook Groups
If an online focus group is still a step too far for you, there is of course always the option of organizing a traditional focus group session with some of your Facebook fans.
4. Crowdsourcing
The latest market research tool is crowdsourcing . In other words: actively involving your target group in testing and developing new products, services or campaigns. A great deal has been written and talked about this; think for example of successful initiatives such as Battle of Concepts and Brandfighters . Recent research by Insites shows that 44% of consumers want to be actively involved in the development of new products or advertising campaigns of 'their' brands. To date, it often remains with marketing campaigns and is still used to a limited extent for new products and services. See for example this appeal from John Frieda again:
John Frieda - Crowdsourcing
I think this is because many companies prefer to do this in a closed environment. They do not want their competitors to be able to see openly what innovative ideas their fans have. This problem can of course be solved by using a Facebook group here as well. But of course the Facebook page can also be used as a catalyst and the actual ideas can be picked up somewhere else. A good example of this is the Hema test team and the customer panel . But a brand with guts involves its entire Facebook fan base openly and openly in crowdsourcing. A good example of this is the Chocomel Dark trial test . This really resulted in a huge stream of reactions in the news feed of the Chocomel page.
Monitoring quality
In my opinion, brands with tight budgets can easily apply the above tools themselves denmark phone number list Brands that have their own marketing insights or intelligence function can also take this on. And of course there are plenty of freelance market researchers and agencies that can help you with this. However, many 'traditional' market research agencies will see this as a threat to their 'core business'. I think that is a bit nonsense, this fear mainly stems from the fact that these agencies cannot innovate fast enough. I think that the knowledge and expertise of traditional market research can be transferred perfectly well to market research on Facebook.
An agency that successfully embraces these new forms of market research is InSites by Frankwatching blogger Steven van Belleghem . Their philosophy about online research communities fits in perfectly with the above story. By the way, conducting market research on Facebook does not mean that we should pay less attention to the quality of the market research. The quality of the research must of course be monitored. In this area in particular, existing market research agencies still have a major role to play. I am very curious about your ideas and experiences about market research on Facebook, so please leave them in the comments.
Also read the other articles in the Facebook marketing series .
3. Online focus group
In addition to online surveys (quantitative research), focus groups (qualitative research) are a widely used form of market research. In a traditional setting, you often sit in a room with a group of 6 to 12 representative consumers, together with a discussion leader from the market research agency. This situation can be facilitated perfectly within Facebook. You approach a number of fans of your Facebook page and invite them to become members of a closed Facebook group .
Unilever also uses Facebook groups for its Facebook trial: “A closed environment was chosen because 'sensitive' information is also requested, for example about dealing with the economic crisis”. With tools such as Facebook chat, video (Skype) and the standard reactions and polls you can then discuss your brand, products, services and those of your competitors with these people. But you can of course also use it to pre- or post-test campaign expressions. This approach is also chosen by Unilever: “Unilever wants to talk to consumers about eating habits, cooking behaviour and purchasing behaviour. The marketers also want to know what they think of its products, brands and advertisements.” In my opinion, an online focus group via Facebook offers three advantages:
People will exhibit less socially desirable behavior when behind their own laptop compared to a traditional group setting (a known problem in market research).
You actively involve your Facebook fans in your brand; something they in turn will appreciate.
This method is a lot cheaper than the traditional focus group.
Facebook Groups
If an online focus group is still a step too far for you, there is of course always the option of organizing a traditional focus group session with some of your Facebook fans.
4. Crowdsourcing
The latest market research tool is crowdsourcing . In other words: actively involving your target group in testing and developing new products, services or campaigns. A great deal has been written and talked about this; think for example of successful initiatives such as Battle of Concepts and Brandfighters . Recent research by Insites shows that 44% of consumers want to be actively involved in the development of new products or advertising campaigns of 'their' brands. To date, it often remains with marketing campaigns and is still used to a limited extent for new products and services. See for example this appeal from John Frieda again:
John Frieda - Crowdsourcing
I think this is because many companies prefer to do this in a closed environment. They do not want their competitors to be able to see openly what innovative ideas their fans have. This problem can of course be solved by using a Facebook group here as well. But of course the Facebook page can also be used as a catalyst and the actual ideas can be picked up somewhere else. A good example of this is the Hema test team and the customer panel . But a brand with guts involves its entire Facebook fan base openly and openly in crowdsourcing. A good example of this is the Chocomel Dark trial test . This really resulted in a huge stream of reactions in the news feed of the Chocomel page.
Monitoring quality
In my opinion, brands with tight budgets can easily apply the above tools themselves denmark phone number list Brands that have their own marketing insights or intelligence function can also take this on. And of course there are plenty of freelance market researchers and agencies that can help you with this. However, many 'traditional' market research agencies will see this as a threat to their 'core business'. I think that is a bit nonsense, this fear mainly stems from the fact that these agencies cannot innovate fast enough. I think that the knowledge and expertise of traditional market research can be transferred perfectly well to market research on Facebook.
An agency that successfully embraces these new forms of market research is InSites by Frankwatching blogger Steven van Belleghem . Their philosophy about online research communities fits in perfectly with the above story. By the way, conducting market research on Facebook does not mean that we should pay less attention to the quality of the market research. The quality of the research must of course be monitored. In this area in particular, existing market research agencies still have a major role to play. I am very curious about your ideas and experiences about market research on Facebook, so please leave them in the comments.
Also read the other articles in the Facebook marketing series .