At Dimensional Research, we are big fans of social media. We blog here.  You can follow us on Twitter @DimensionalR. We’d love it if you fanned us on Facebook.

So what is the place of social media in market research? 

This is a topic that is constantly evolving as social media changes, but let me make one important observation about research bias. 

I think Twitter is an AMAZING way to get feedback from people who are on Twitter. The ways to interact and test are absolutely revolutionary and should be evaluated as a potential component of any company’s arsenal of feedback mechanisms. Now the question is – is my target market on Twitter? 

If you sell to corporate IT, I’m going to make a bold claim: Twitter is NOT the best way to get feedback from your target market! I’d argue that the people spending money on enterprise technology are particularly under-represented on Twitter.   (Now all the Tweeps can argue with me – please do!)

Using Twitter is a great way to reach the part of your target market that is on Twitter.  Maybe your early adopters are on Twitter.  And you may sell a solution that is more likely to be discussed on social media.  But caveats aside, think carefully about how your overall target market can be reached for feedback.

Bottom line: Know where your audience can be reached.  Execute market research that represents your entire audience – both the portion of it that is active on social media and the part that isn’t.