How do social media studies work?

01. Why leverage social media?

The research sector was born at the beginning of the 20th century. As technological revolutions progressed, methods of gathering opinions diversified. At the turn of the century, the first surveys were conducted face-to-face in the street.

Then, in the 1970s, the advent of the telephone and its democratisation in households made it possible to rationalise survey costs and time, while taking advantage of a wider geographical reach.

But then the Internet came along. Towards the end of the 1990s, the digital revolution disrupted the industry. Pollsters no longer needed to administer the questionnaire to each individual, but could now distribute it over the Internet to panels of Internet users, collecting answers simultaneously.

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Strengths and Limitations of Three Traditional Opinion Gathering Methodologies

Face-to-face / CAPI (Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing)

Strengths

• Access to respondents without internet or phone
• Ability to deviate from the interview guide framework

Limitations

• Need for trained staff
• Time-consuming
• Bias related to being familiar with the interviewer 
• Expensive

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Telephone / CATI (Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing)

Strengths

• Access to a broader population
• Ability to deviate from the interview guide framework
• Remote geographical targeting

Limitations

• Staff and training needs
• Time-consuming
• Bias related to being familiar with the interviewer
• Decline in landline phone usage and difficulty in obtaining mobile numbers
• Increasing reluctance towards calls from unknown sources

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Online panels / CAWI (Computer Assisted Web Interviewing)

Strengths

• Simple to program and administer on large samples
• Limited need for human resources
• Speed of execution and fieldwork
• Cost-effective

Limitations

• Exclusively for literate populations with internet access 
• Professionalisation of certain respondents
• Limited qualitative data

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Today, the power of social networks represents a significant opportunity for quantitative research. In the UK, 84% of the population uses social networks. 

On average, each individual spends around 2 hours a day in this way. That's almost 20% of waking hours! Your audiences spend most of their free time on social networks, so it's the ideal place to ask them about your issues.

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Social networks in 2023

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02. How does it work in practice?

Social Media Ads as a Targeting Tool

Social media platforms now offer the ability to target all their users based on precise criteria: socio-demographic, geographic, and interests. This targeting, initially intended for advertisers to disseminate promotional content, becomes, in our quantitative research context, a valuable tool for pre-qualification and respondent recruitment.

The methodology for social media-based surveys relies on these advertisements and their precise targeting criteria.

The principle is simple:

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Defining the target of the research study

according to its goals.

Create publications (posts and stories)

a visual accompanied by a message inviting users to share their opinion.

Launch of an advertising campaign

which sponsors these publications to the target population leveraging social media targeting criteria.

Monitor the collection of answers from targeted users

by monitoring the filling of quotas.

At Episto, we mainly use Facebook and Instagram to recruit our respondents. But we also use Snapchat and TikTok if the goal is appropriate.

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Conversational Questionnaire as a Data Collection Method

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Accurately targeting respondents is crucial. However, it is then essential to administer a questionnaire that they will enjoy completing, right through to the end!

If interested in the advertisement, targeted users are just one click away from becoming survey respondents.

They are then redirected to the questionnaire, which they answer directly on their smartphone. 

The main challenge of social media surveys is to offer each individual an enjoyable experience, through an easy-to-understand and fluid questionnaire.

At Episto, this is what we achieve through an engaging conversational format.

What is a conversational and engaging questionnaire?

It's a questionnaire that takes the form of a natural discussion like an instant chat.

• A familiar application look & feel
• Varied question typologies
• Emojis
• Questions that arise as the conversation unfolds
• An engaging tone that is neither too familiar nor too formal, with an adequate vocabulary

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Warning!

While the commitment of respondents is essential to gather high-quality answers, this method may not be suitable for certain types of studies. Two cases fall into this category, and on the basis of your questionnaire, we can discuss possible alternatives and solutions.

If your questionnaire involves an overly complex mechanism

In other words, it requires technical provisions such as the activation of a webcam foreye-trackingfor example. 

If your questionnaire is necessarily long

In other words, it contains more than 60 questions and takes longer than 15 minutes to complete. In this case, it will not be suitable for this methodology, especially given the use of cell phones and the non-incentivisation of respondents.

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