Market research is a must in today’s digital playing field.
Every business owner, regardless of the size of the business, ought to be doing market research to be able to make effective decisions.
But where you ask, is the best platform to do this?
LinkedIn of course!
Surprisingly, the social media platform is one of the most powerful tools for market research that is underused by multiple members, who are also entrepreneurs.
How you do it is the tricky part!
In this guide, we show you how to use LinkedIn for market research.
Where to Initiate LinkedIn Market Research
How do you utilize the existing features of LinkedIn to do your market research?
1. Group Discussions
If you haven’t discovered it yet, then it is time you explore the social media platform more.
LinkedIn is overflowing with Discussion Groups. These are exclusive groups composed
Group discussions, quite obviously, are perfect for lead generation. You can initiate discussions by promoting advocacy or introducing an idea and see what people have to say about it.
You can solicit feedback from members of the group and you are highly likely going to get very sound ideas from people there.
2. Polls
When in doubt, you can never go wrong with a good old poll. And yes, LinkedIn has a poll feature – if you haven’t figured it out yet.
You can do this within a discussion group. You simply ask a question that will ultimately give you more ideas about what it is you are currently working on.
And if you are part of multiple group discussions, you can expect that there will be an abundance of new leads and new comments.
3. Answers
As can be expected, using this feature will more or less lead you to the kind of answers you may be looking for.
You are either the one asking the question or you are answering someone else’s questions.
If you intend to position yourself as an authority or expert in a specific area, this feature is perfect for that need.
Read more: How to Export Leads from LinkedIn Sales Navigator and Create Email Campaigns
How to Use LinkedIn to Do Market Research
Unknown to many, LinkedIn is a very powerful social media platform.
Unfortunately, very few people know about its special attributes until they read it in a guide or article such as this one :P. You can leverage these attributes to drive support for your business and brand service.
By being strategic on LinkedIn, you can hit several birds with a single stone. This is quite ideal as it would save you money and time, two elements that you cannot afford to lose as an entrepreneur.
Knowing where to go in order to effectively generate market research is key to maximizing your experience on the platform.
1. Search LinkedIn Posts
Each day, thousands of articles are being posted after LinkedIn opened its publishing platform for everybody on the website. As can be expected, there is a wide array of topics available. Knowing this, there is a possibility that someone has written about the industry in general and the kind of market you are looking for.
To find the kind of information you need, all you need to do is to use the LinkedIn Search Post. Being able to access these articles will help you greatly in gathering the market information your need.
Most, if not all, of these articles, simply put together data and statistics from different sources. To say that you will get a ton of information is an understatement.
What you need to do is type in the keywords in the “Search Post” and it will generate all kinds of information related to it.
Read more: LinkedIn Boolean Search: Advanced Search Tips for Growth
2. Ask Your Network
Being on LinkedIn gives you access to a rich network of professional and industry experts.
Sometimes, the best step to take first it simply to ask people about your concern. In this case, ask the people in your network straightforwardly.
“Would anyone know anything about improving credit scores?”
“Do you know who can give me relevant data on consumer interest on crypto?”
The beauty about being part of a network is that you can just ask anyone to potentially give you those details or lead you to someone who can.
Easy right?
3. Download White Papers
White papers are documents that contain numerous industry trends and data that may help you with your market research. A lot of companies advertise these white papers on LinkedIn.
A lot of companies will allow you to download white papers if you agree to become a “lead” for them by simply filling out a form, and giving your name, contact details, and company. Having access to as many white papers as you can just give you the answers you are looking for.
4. Join Relevant Groups
LinkedIn is rich with all sorts of groups that are made up of people who share similar interests as professionals.
Within groups, members share a lot of things, including trends, insights, and developments, among others. Quite often you will witness interesting discussions within the group. Either you ride on a discussion initiated by another member or you start your own.
5. Connect with Veterans in the Industry
Of course, with the right network of people, you can easily connect with industry veterans to ask them directly about your market search topics.
They tend to know more than most people in the present generation so it is ideal to be able to connect with them.
Other Ways to Generate Information for Market Research
Just when you thought you know all there is to know about LinkedIn’s features, think again.
There are still other ways to generate information that will help you with your questions. All you need to do is to contextualize the discussion, post a simple and easy-to-understand question, and post it.
1. Poll Question
Polls can be a very helpful tool for you to know what people think. It is also fast.
There are several ways that polls can help you. They can be useful for:
- Finding out if consumers like your brand;
- Knowing what they dislike about your product;
- Learning the extent of the awareness consumers have about your product or service;
- Understanding market behavior; and
- Determining the degree of demand for a new product or service.
When creating a poll, remember to give respondents four possible choices. If you want to generate comments, assign an extra box for it. You also need to set the length of the poll and decide whether you want it to be available for only a week or more.
Publish the poll on your page and invite people to give their replies.
2. Study LinkedIn Hashtags
If you are looking for specific concepts or ideas that people may attach to a hashtag, just type the number sign together with specific word or group of words you are looking for.
While LinkedIn hashtags are not as elaborate as that of Facebook and Instagram, it still serves a great purpose. It can narrow down your search and give you ample time to analyze the information you will intercept.
Takeaways from LinkedIn for Market Research
LinkedIn is still the leading professional social networking platform in the world making it one of the top repositories for information.
Everyone wants to compete on it and by learning to observe how your competitors move, you can easily leverage the network to find out about the latest trends and where the market is heading.
However, don’t just limit yourself to LinkedIn.
For proper competitor analysis, you need to check out where your competitor stands on each network.
Learn to observe before adapting.
As always, stay Golden.
