Traditionally, brand marketers have spent substantial resources on market research to understand who their customers are, what they are interested in and how they behave. Now brands can turn to their social networks to reveal powerful data about fans and followers for a fraction of the price, and without ever pulling together a focus group. When done right, social market research dives deeper than surface-level demographics and interests. It employs multivariate analysis of consumer attitudes, values, behaviors, beliefs, and sentiment to uncover fans’ affinity for other brands, competitors, interests, media properties and more. The learning has powerful practical applications for brand marketing strategies and tactics: • Selecting appropriate media targets online and off. • Helping better position the brand. • Highlighting messages fans respond to best, which can influence content online and off. • How often to post on social networks and what keywords to use.