A training module on how to approach research in a digital strategic planning journey. This presentation focuses on the relevant tools (with a particular focus on listening tools) and methodologies used by small/mid-sized agencies across MENA and SEA to derive digital comms strategy for pitches and accounts.

1. RESEARCH TOOLKIT
SESSION FOR SOCIAL TEAM
NOV ‘14, PUNE

2. “One day I’ll find the right words,
and they will be simple.”
- Jack Kerouac,
The Dharma Bums

3. Let’s start with a disclaimer.

4. This is going to get messy.This is going to get messy.

5. We might not remember most of it.We might not remember most of it.

6. So let me not bore you to sleep.So let me not bore you to sleep.

7. Let’s make this a discussion.Let’s make this a discussion.

8. In what ways
would you like do research
in digital?

9. Essentially three.Essentially three.
The Best Kind
The Acceptable Kind
The Okay Kind
(Doing research or the sake of
it)
(For an assignment
with enough time
and scope)
(For an assignment with little time and
scope)

10. Actually four.Actually four.
The Worst Kind
(To retrofit shabby ideas with the brief)

11. What we’ll cover today?What we’ll cover today?
The awesome kindThe awesome kind

12. An intro to
research

13. “Tools
are
called
Tools
for
a
Reason”

14. Business, brand, consumer, experience, technology
Analysis, mapping, trends, insights, inflections, measurement plan
Ideate, experience and opportunity maps, point of view
Overall road map, direction, way forward, KPIsOverall road map, direction, way forward, KPIs
Define
Assess
Originate
Articulate
A seemingly small scope for tools in the overall
strategy formulation process
Stuff you need
tools for

15. Digital research (as per J. Cole)
Category
Research
Consumer
Research
Discourse
Analysis
Environment
Study
(*Julian Cole is a renowned strategic planner and agency

16. Digital research (as per me)
How are thingsHello, who am I
talking to
Tell me more Who else did
you speak
with

17. OUR PROCESS WILL FOLLOW A
STRUCTURE
✓We’ll list the factors
✓We follow the steps

18. THE FACTORS
The 10
things we
want to
read into
The 10
things we
want to
read into
The Influencers
The Channel
The
Communicatio
n
The Campaign
This is what you’d like to study.
The
Competition
The Market
The Scene
The Audience
The Brand
The Product

19. This is how you’d want to study them.
THE STEPS
Here’s your
factor
this will be all your notes, your excels, your
graphs, your charts, the gory details
THE RIGHT
ANSWER
THE RIGHT
ANSWER
AN
ACTIONABLE
INSIGHT
AN
ACTIONABLE
INSIGHT
THE RIGHT
QUESTION
THE RIGHT
QUESTION
this will give you the queries, the search
keywords, the parameters to look for
a simple line that summarizes it all

20. Moving on to the
tools

21. THEN, THE ROLE OF DIGITALWhy not start with the greatest research tool of all times?

22. Google
Search, Blogs, Forums, News,
Trends, Alerts…
Warc
Ad best practice, evidence and insights
from the world's leading brands
Slideshare
More than 10,000+ decks
uploaded since 2010
#1 The Market
The right question: What is the business trying to achieve at
this point?

23. Comscore
Over 1.5 trillion interactions covered each month
from 172 different countries. That’s almost equal to
40% of the monthly page views of the entire internet.
GlobalWebIndex
World’s most detailed syndicated research covering
31 key global markets and 87% of the world's internet
population.
#2 The Scene
The right question: What are people doing in my medium?

24. Google Trends, Ad
Planner, Display Planner
Consumer Barometer,
Mobile Purchase
Journey, Mobile
Planet, Databoard
# The Scene
SocialBakers : For
collecting numbers on
social communities
Some free tools.

25. Channel-wise divide
of social buzz
Coverage of brand
communities across the
web as per set keywords
#3 The Audience + Channel +
Influencers
The right question: What are my people like?
Webfluenz
The social research and analysis tool
that we currently use

26. The thing about social
tracking tools
✓They are either for community reporting
✓OR engagement console/workflow
✓OR “listening”

27. My top 5 picks
MeltwaterSysomos
MAP
Radian6 Synthesio Brandtolog
y

28. Sysomos
MAP
Immediate results
1-2 years historical data
Coverage across all
channels

29. Radian6Customizable charts and
reports
Instant updates
Quality data

30. Synthesio
In-depth geographical
coverage
Better segmentation of
channels

31. Social Mention
Topsy
IceRocket
Hootsuite
SimplyMeasured
Klout
TweetReach*
My top 7 free tools

32. SimplyMeasure
d
Indepth performance
coverage
Last 15 days data

33. Topsy
Instant results
High volume

34. Klout
Influencer identification
Campaign platform

35. Google Analytics Locowise
#4 The Brand + Competition
Performance review and insights tool
for brand’s owned properties
Social tool for detailed comparison of brand
pages across industries
The right question: How are people interacting with my brand
and category?

36. Google Analytics
show the audience’s
interaction with the
brand on the web and
their specific interest
areas
Locowise is a FB partner
tool that can pull admin-
access-only data from
any brand page

37. The Story So Far Inspiration
#5 The Communication + Campaign
A narrative study of the brand and its
communication strategy
A look at industry practices, the best works,
the effective solutions, the award-winners
The right question: What have we said and how well was that
received?

38. Community Content
Review
Check social performance
from publicly available data:
Facebook Page
Twitter Search
Statigram

39. MixRank
Performance check of
display banners from brand
and category rivals

40. YouTube
The perfect research tool
for campaign material and
viewership/popularity
metrics

41. News/Case Study Sources
Ads Of The World
BrandChannel
BannerBlog
Creative Sandbox
Campaign Asia Digital Buzz

42. A QUICK ROUND-UP
?
THE RIGHT
ANSWER
THE RIGHT
ANSWER
AN
ACTIONABLE
INSIGHT
AN
ACTIONABLE
INSIGHT
THE RIGHT
QUESTION
THE RIGHT
QUESTION ?
?
The Market
The Scene
The Audience
?
?
?
?
?
?

43. THAT’S ENOUGH DATA.
What do we do with it though?
THAT’S ENOUGH DATA.
What do we do with it though?

44. PUT
THE
INSIGHTS
UP
ON
A
WALL?
ACTIONABLE

45. “IMMERSIONISM”
A new form of journalism in
which the story is reported
by a staff who is part of it
and is affected by it.

46. An evolved form of Gonzo.An evolved form of Gonzo.
And that is how we have to work with data.And that is how we have to work with data.

47. A Consumer Journey Mapping exercise for an FMCG client in
Singapore

48. See the patterns?See the patterns?
Congrats, you’re a planner.Congrats, you’re a planner.

49. THREE THINGS BEFORE WE WRAP UP
✓Firstly, tools are useless.
✓Secondly, research is planning. The rest is fluff.
✓Thirdly, the pack we present at a client meeting is not our ammo.
We are.

51. To get this session presented in your agency or brand team,
please drop a line to @kunaldgp