Keeping up their trend of constant innovation, Facebook launched their Questions tool in March, which we also wrote about on the blog. However, the new tool can also be very effective, when wanting to do some research among your fans.

Questions work on simple voting formula based on individual choices and opinions. A simple, no cost option, is easy to implement, just involves a survey questionnaire. Another advantage of this tool is that it gives the flexibility to add extra choices, which gives marketers an understanding of various possibilities.

This research on Facebook can be used for demographic, psyshographic and market data as Facebook provides an inexhaustible universe of such information.Personally, I feel this is the most viable tool for small businesses that already have a social media presence. Depending on the size of the network, companies can analyse the responses based on the background of the respondents. It could also be used as a contact viral to grow the customer base, as long as it does not cross the line into spam.

I believe that the tool could be far more beneficial to small businesses and non profit organisations than any applications so far because:

• There is no cost involved.
• Excellent opportunity for marketers to analyse the responses in light of demographic and cultural background of the respondents, which therfore helps them list the perferences of a region or cultural group.
• Flexibility to add additional options gives a chance to the marketers to know the alternatives sought by customers to their offerings.
• Less time consuming, so better reponse rate.
• Informal platform, so honest and easy response.
• Questionnaires can be accessed anywhere in the world, so no location constraint.
• Last, but another important feature, is it increases the engagement level of the customers with the brand.
• Key to make this feature work for your benefit  is to know what to ask and how to ask for the relevant information.

If you have got your act together here, I think you are good to go! And if there is anyone who has already used this, please let me know how and what you think about Questions as a research tool.

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Tags: business, Facebook, research, Social Media, tool