Jan
22
Written by:
Jim.Longo
1/22/2010 7:01 AM
I am finding some sponsors of Market Research Online Communities just do not understand how to engage community members nor understand the group dynamics of an online community.
Companies will build a community on their own; expect immediate engagement then realize that people don’t spontaneously talk about their product without proper facilitation and moderation.
Communities are qualitative in nature. It takes time and effort to bring them to their full potential. I feel many Qualitative Research Consultants (QRC’s) can move into a role as a community consultant. Those who have been conducting online bulletin board groups understand the nuances of communicating via text over face to face. QRC’s who know how to get people to go beyond a Q&A session and can create a cross talk among respondents via text will be most successful in this role and may be the first of our profession to make the shift to becoming community consultants.
What other engagement or reporting skills do you see QRC’s can bring to a Market Research Online Community?
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3 comment(s) so far...
Re: How can Qualitative Research Consultants (QRC’s) move into a role as a Market Research Online Community consultant?
@Jim - I completely agree. As I mentioned earlier today in the LI thread on this topic, there are many similarities, but the QRC skill sets need to be applied in a different manner in regard to Online Communities. Simple probing and Q&A does not build compelling engagement within the community.
One thing people do not give enough credit to is the actual community platform itself. We sometimes are attracted to these "research-lite" modules like ning and yahoo groups, but often they are not complex enough to do what a skilled community consultant needs in terms of both front end and back end management.
By bwsmithee on
1/22/2010 2:03 PM
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Re: How can Qualitative Research Consultants (QRC’s) move into a role as a Market Research Online Community consultant?
Ben, I would agree with your comments. MROCs provide the ability to incorporate proven marketing research techniques into a social media environment . MROCs give you the ability to switch back and forth. I also believe a QRC must use social media and understand it before they layer Marketing Research techniques over a community. What other attributes could a moderator who is looking to move into becoming a community consultant leverage to win a project?
By Jim.Longo on
1/22/2010 3:38 PM
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Re: How can Qualitative Research Consultants (QRC’s) move into a role as a Market Research Online Community consultant?
Agree. An MROC is an online bulletin board on steroids. A QRC does need to be up to date on the basics of social media. When you have a group online for a long period of time - as MROC's do - you need a variety of activities to keep people engaged, and many of these come from the social media world. For example, you may create a wiki where people can share ideas; or ask people to upload photos or videos (easy to do with a camera in every phone); or you might do a chat off to the side with a sub-group. So you also need a platform that can do all this easily.
By bdpeople on
2/1/2010 8:57 AM
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