My take on social media – Peter Harris

Guest post from Peter Harris, EVP & Managing Director, Asia Pacific at Vision Critical, Australia. Click here to see a list of the other posts in this series. I am not sure when it started but social media has completely revolutionised how I consume information, connect with friends and family, research topics within the industry and keep on top of who is doing what. That is not new news for anyone but when I think back even 3-4 years, I see it has all changed. I no longer carry industry magazines to and from work trying to keep up with who is doing what, I rarely talk to recruiters and use linked in to keep track of people’s movement, to advertise positions and to see what my clients and competitors are up to. I can also see which of my competitors and prospective clients are researching us! For me, social media has not been a distraction to work but a big aid. We have used @VC_APAC and @visioncritical to help build our presence in Australia and now across the Asia Pacific region. It’s so much easier to offer thought leadership on niche subjects now via social media and also to […]

My take on social media – Dr Nasir Khan

Guest post from Dr Nasir Khan, Executive Chairman, Somra Group, Bangladesh. Click here to see a list of the other posts in this series. Socializing in cyberspace, in all its forms and nuances, is truly borderless, global, and hugely beneficial for an array of known and unknown (till date) purposes. Most importantly, one doesn’t necessarily need access to the internet in all cases. For instance, Facebook and Twitter have options for posting and engaging via SMS. So, in one way or the other, anybody anywhere in the world is welcome on board. The key objective of “post, like, comment, share” – across major social media platforms – is to engage fellow humans, who could be family, friends, colleagues, current or prospective business partners, buyers of products and services, group of people sharing common interests or concerns…The list can go on until bots take over – my conscience tells me that socializing, despite all technological progress, must remain human (futurists please take note). Coming to the point of how we can make the best use of social media in general, we need to draw a clear line between simply ‘talking’ (one-way) and conversing (both ways). If we fail to start a […]

My first MR impressions: Where is the youth?

Guest post from Jack Ramsay, Creator of https://www.youtube.com/communitiesonline As a new face in market research – some would say a fresh face – I was flattered to be invited to write this blog post by Ray Poynter. What I’d like to share are my first impressions of this industry. And first of all, I’m going to be honest with you: I stumbled into Market Research. It’s a confession which I hope won’t lose me any respect, but it’s the truth and has motivated me to take the steps which I have done within the industry to date. My first impressions of Market Research were that of being overwhelmed. It was a steep learning curve. There were experienced heads everywhere I looked, professionals that been in the industry for years; masters of their craft, with limitless expertise. Another first impression was that of the distinct lack of young people in the industry, which led me to wonder how I could make a mark and why this was the case. I found reading white papers and industry related books only took me so far and frankly found the amount of information out there was hard to digest. No, the only way to […]

My take on social media – Damian Vanderwolf

Guest post from Damian Vanderwolf, Senior Research Analyst, Marketing Communications, Tourism NT, Australia. Click here to see a list of the other posts in this series. I’m all about Facebook. For me, it’s the one that suits my attitude to social media the best. LinkedIn has been useful in the past when I have been looking for work otherwise I tend not to use it. I find Twitter useful and fun at events – either as an attendee or if I can’t make an event, checking in on the event hashtag to see what’s going on. Otherwise it’s all a bit to ‘businessy’ for my liking. It’s useful but it’s not my ‘go to’ medium. I get all my news from Facebook – I rarely watch the TV news or read a newspaper – only the articles that my friends have already vetted for me. I have a relationship beyond social media with all my friends on Facebook so I have developed a level of implicit trust with the people I interact with there. I also think the interface suits my needs. No restrictions on words, I can preview links easily. From an MR perspective I have used Facebook to […]

My take on social media – Betty Adamou

A series of prominent users of social media are writing guest posts for NewMR on the theme of social media, in order to highlight the many options available. This first one is from Betty Adamou, found and CEO of Research Through Gaming. Click here to see a list of the other posts in this series. Guest post by Betty Adamou, from Research through Gaming. When I first started RTG (Research Through Gaming), one of the first things I did (aside from attempt to make an awful website…cut me some slack, this was before WordPress!) was open a Twitter and Facebook account. But this is not unusual for any new business, as opening social media profiles is now commonplace on the ‘list of immediate things to do’ for all new business owners. After all, it’s free advertising. Not too long after I started those profiles, a LinkedIn company page was born and then, in the last year or so, Research Through Gaming had its own Pinterest profile and Google+ profile. All in all, Research Through Gaming currently holds social media profiles across 8 different platforms, if you count our YouTube channel as social media too (some people debate this). We also […]

Forewarned is forearmed! The case for IIeX

Next month I will be in Atlanta as one of the co-chairs of IIeX USA. If you can attend one of the IIeX events (in Europe, North America, Latin America, and the Southern Hemisphere) I strongly recommend it. Business is changing, society is changing, and consequently research is changing. If you hope to be enjoying work in five years then you need to have a plan for how you are going to stay relevant to clients and customers. Why IIeX? Most conferences and events have their purpose, AAPOR explore the methodological boundaries, MRMW advance the cause of mobile market research, the trade bodies provide coherence and shared learning for the members of the industry. IIeX has a very different purpose, in my opinion. IIeX represents the contested future, a set of different visions pitched in dialogical conflict. IIeX is not curated to find the best, or the most likely, or the most thought through. IIeX presents the superposition of differing waves of innovation, investment, and imagination. To give you a taste of what I mean, here are some of the highlights you can see in Atlanta (June 16 to 18) Clients agitating for change: Sion Agami from P&G, Ryan Backer […]

Two Scholarships on Offer for the QRCA Annual Conference

Guest Post by Ilka Kuhagen, Co-founder of Think Global Qualitative and founder of IKM, see her LinkedIn profile by clicking here. The QRCA Global Outreach Scholarship is a wonderful opportunity for qualitative researchers outside the US, UK and Canada to experience a QRCA annual conference. One Scholarship is awarded to a qualitative researcher in the early stages of their career, while the second is for a more senior practitioner who is well established in the industry. This year’s recipients will have the opportunity to come to New Orleans from 15-17th October 2014. QRCA is currently seeking candidates for two 2014 Global Outreach Scholarships: The Foundation Scholarship is awarded to a qualitative researcher who is relatively new to qualitative research, but is already establishing a career path in this field. For instance, they should have developed some experience of moderating group discussions and IDI’s and of analysing the results. The Advanced Scholarship is intended for a qualitative researcher who is already well established in their career, but wants to expand and deepen their knowledge of methods and techniques, and to maximize the value of the projects that they plan and execute for their clients. The Scholarships cover the cost of conference […]

MRMW – Market Research in the Mobile World – an essential part of the mobile picture

I am lucky enough to be invited to take part in a wide range of market research events, including those organised by the trade bodies, by specialist conference groups, and by innovators. For many years many market research conferences had been getting more and more similar, and less and less interesting as they sought to play to a wide audience. However, in recent times that has changed, and one of the best examples of the change is the MRMW (Market Research in the Mobile World) series of conferences, organised by Merlien. I have been lucky to be involved in several of the MRMW events and I think what they offer is: Focus, the MRMW events focus on mobile, this has helped develop the industries focus on developing new mobile approaches. Series, the MRMW has several events a year and the series dates back to 2010. This has created an ongoing dialogue. Ideas are developed over time, rather than assuming they will appear fully fledged. Global, the MRMW conferences are held in North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. This enables the series to draw on regional strengths, and then take those strengths to new markets. Innovations, for a small organisation Merlien […]

Book Review: Stephen Rappaport’s The Digital Metrics Field Guide

One of my favourite social media/listening books is Stephen Rappaport’s Listen First!, so I was delighted when his new book ‘The Digital Metrics Field Guide’ was announced, and even more delighted to get a copy to review. The book has been produced and published by the ARF and you can download an interactive PDF from this link on the ARF site. The Field Guide is free for ARF members and $29.95 for non-members. To produce the book Stephen reduced a list of about 350 metrics to 197 and backed these up by referring to almost 150 studies, which illustrates the claim that online is the most measurable medium. The book covers four digital channels: email, mobile, social, and the web, and produces a really easy to use reference for anybody interested in the area. To make things easier Stephen has organised the information in three ways, Alphabetical, Category, and Marketing Stage – to deal with different tastes and preferences. 12 Fields per Metric The book is organised in terms of 12 fields per metric, including: where it fits in Paid/Owned/Earned, its category, a definition, and the sorts of questions it answers. The use of a standardised format makes it much […]