Hallmark has been exploring social media listening since 2000 to understand consumer insights and brand perceptions. They have worked with various vendors over the years to analyze social media data from platforms like blogs, forums and Twitter. Some key learnings include that it is difficult to generate truly new product ideas from social media data alone. However, social media can provide ideas for in-season marketing promotions and insights into consumer lives. Hallmark has also found that clear objectives are needed for meaningful data analysis, and that interpreting social media conversations requires significant time and labor. The presentation discusses various paradigm shifts that social media is bringing to market research practices.

1. Hallmark‟s Journey into
Social Media
Experiences and Learnings

2. LISTENING
J.C. Hall
(1891 - 1982)

3. Social Media Listening
2000 - launched first consumer community for the purpose of
research.
2005 – pilot w/ Umbria to understand the Hallmark brand in the
social space.
2007 - pilot with Spiral 16 to understand Influential Bloggers.
2009 - major RFP with 8 vendors – find partner for research
and marketing.
2010 - consulted with Ben Smithee; contracted with Collective
Intellect for a look into holidays, ornaments.

4. 1 Hard Question
“Is there a framework we can use to
understand social media data?”
3 “Simple” Questions
1. “Can we use social media sources to get
new product ideas?”
2. “Can we use social media data to create
marketing interventions „in season?‟”
3. “Could we use social media data to help
understand people and their lives?”

5. Hard Question
“Is there a framework we can use to
understand social media data?”

6. Social Media Discovery
Analysis
What you’re trying to accomplish
Space? Understanding people
Uncovering white
space
Topics + dashboard
Specific Open
Ways of approaching the data
Topic Search
“Ocean” Small “pond”
of Data of data
Brand Reputation
KPI‟s
Monitoring
Source: Hallmark CU&I, 2010

7. Hallmark Social Media “Listening” Activities
Consumer
Leads
Focus
We
Lead
Single Multiple
Stakeholder Stakeholders
Breadth of Learning

8. Listening audit showed that
activities are many and varied
Consumer
Initiated
Conversation
Focus of
Conversation
Hallmark
Initiated
Conversation
Single Stakeholder Multiple Stakeholders
Breadth of Learning

9. Dimensions of listening
Feedback is more about
the brand and rational
Discovery is more about the
consumer and emotional
9
Source: CEB

10. Listening activities tend to fall
towards feedback and tactical
Source: CEB

11. Research Landscape
Structured Data – it is what we made it
Focus PA‟s
Groups Multivariate
Trackers
……
Ethnography Communities
Observation
Qualitative Quantitative
Social Media
Unstructured Data – it is what it is
Where does social media data play in the research landscape?

12. 3 “Simple” Questions
1. “Can we use social media sources to
get new product ideas?”
2. “Can we use social media data to
create marketing interventions „in
season?‟”
3. “Can we use social media data to help
understand people and their lives?”

13. What Did We Conclude?
• Getting “New” Product ideas is very hard!
• If you do lots of traditional research and
ideation, chances are you’ve heard of thought
of everything you will uncover through social
media.

14. Some Thoughts on In-Season
Marketing
• Twitter promotional sweepstakes generated
major spikes in Hallmark Ornament Mentions
• Hallmark Gold Crown store visits emerged as
a conversational theme - how could that be
leveraged?
• Emotional connection to Hallmark brand
ornaments vs. those bought in Wal-Mart or
Target – how could that be leveraged?
• Focus on connecting the troops and their
families – what would that look like?

15. What Did We Conclude?
• Beware of making any marketing suggestions
without having Marketing in the design and
analysis discussions!
• Research in social media begins to “rub up
against” Marketing and can create friction!

16. Thoughts Going Forward

17. What Have We Learned
About Social Media?
• There are new vendors emerging daily in
the social media listening space.
• Most vendors provide the same
capabilities – it is hard to find
differentiation.

18. What Have We Learned
About Social Media?
• Social media data is messy (spam, advertising, porn,
context) and requires significant validation and cleaning
– suppliers are getting better and better at this, but it is
still an issue.
• Text analysis capabilities vary from vendor to vendor –
you have to know what questions to ask to know what
you‟re getting.
• Sentiment analysis is about 75-85% accurate (based on
external research) and everybody does it at some level.
It is of limited value.
• It is difficult to classify individual contributors – but not
impossible, and it costs more. This capability is still
emerging.

19. What Have We Learned
About Social Media?
• Clear and specific listening objectives are
essential to getting meaningful data and
information from listening efforts.
• Social media conversations can be very rich
and could support many different aspects of our
business.
• Getting meaningful learnings and insights is
very time and labor intensive, despite the
software tools. There is a learning curve!

20. Social Media Data is…
- Self-selecting/Opt-in –
- Participants who create social media content
must opt-in or choose to participate.
- They may or may not represent your target
consumer.
- They do not necessarily constitute a “probability
sample” of the population.
- The researcher is not establishing the topic and
controlling the conversation, but rather listening
to whatever is posted.

21. Social Media Data is…
+ Not recall-based –
– Recall data is known to be the least reliable
source of data.
– Recall is usually the result of some stimulus
(question, prototype) that can affect what the
respondent recalls (due to priming).
• Social media data is less subject to recall
biases and errors, as it usually represents
comments and observations made “in the
moment” or shortly thereafter.

22. Social Media Data is…
+ Longitudinal and Instance-based –
– Tradtional MR is usually instance-based
feedback/insights, social media research can
represent “flow of life.”
– There is a constant stream, or flow, of social
media data continually being created.

23. Social Media Data is…
+ Self-recording/Archival –
– Conversations, both public and private, within
the social media environment are archived and
available for others to consume at will.
– Conversations with people in traditional
research methods are recorded, but are
generally only available to permission-based
viewers/listeners.
– This creates an interesting blend of liability and
value to researchers and brands.

24. Paradigm Shifts for the World of
Market Research
• Data Transparency –
• Data Ownership –
• Blurring Boundaries between Research and
Other Divisions –

25. Paradigm Shifts for the World
of Market Research
• Control of the Environment –
• Blurring of Qualitative and Quantitative –
• Re-thinking Sampling –
• Disproportionate Influence of Respondents

26. Paradigm Shifts for the World of
Market Research
• Shrinking space between brands and
people.
 Social media has “leveled” the playing
field for both consumers and brands.
• Relationships are the Ultimate Sources of
Insights within Social Media –

27. Food for Thought
Just as Technology is NOT an Idea, so Social
Media Listening is NOT an Idea! Both are
means to achieving whatever it is we want to
achieve!

28. Food for Thought
Grow
Revenue
Understand This
Resources: People‟s Quarter
People, Lives
Protect the
Time, & Brand
Money
Spectrum of Desired Outcomes

29. Social Media Research White Paper
http://www.slideshare.net/CuratingPixels/utilizing-social-media-
to-understand-people
http://bit.ly/UnderstandingPeople

30. QUESTIONS?
Tom Brailsford – Hallmark Cards, Inc.
tbrail@hallmark.com
816-274-3989

31. Presented at:
Market Research in the
Mobile World
2nd International Conference | July 19 & 20, 2011 Atlanta
Organized by: Thank you to sponsors:
LinkedIn Group: Mobile MR
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