Definition and Significance of Consumer Research

Consumer research refers to the process of collecting, analyzing and interpreting consumer-related information to understand consumer needs, preferences, behavior and satisfaction, so as to provide the basis and guidance for the marketing decisions of enterprises. The purpose of consumer research is to better meet the needs of consumers, improve consumer loyalty, and enhance the competitiveness and profitability of enterprises.

Methods of consumer research

Consumer research methods can be divided into two categories: quantitative research and qualitative research. Quantitative research refers to the research methods of measuring and analyzing the number, proportion and frequency of consumers through mathematical and statistical methods, such as questionnaires, experiments, sampling, etc. The advantage of quantitative research is that it can obtain objective, accurate and comparable data, which is suitable for verifying hypothesis and evaluating effect. The disadvantage of quantitative research is that it cannot deeply understand consumers' motivations, attitudes, feelings, etc., nor can it capture consumers' changes and trends.

Qualitative research refers to research methods that describe and explain consumers' meanings, perceptions, and experiences through non-mathematical and non-statistical methods, such as interviews, observations, and focus groups. The advantage of qualitative research is that it can deeply understand the inner psychology of consumers, discover their needs and problems, and create new ideas and opportunities. The disadvantage of qualitative research is that it is not possible to obtain representative and universal data, nor to quantify and evaluate the effect of the research.

A New Approach to Consumer Research: Social Media and Live Broadcasting

With the development of the Internet, social media and live broadcast platforms have become the main channels for consumers to express themselves, and also provide new opportunities and challenges for consumer research. Social media refers to a network platform that allows users to communicate, share, and collaborate in virtual communities through Internet technology, such as Weibo, WeChat, Douyin, and Kuaishou. Live broadcast refers to the network platform that allows users to show their life, work, entertainment and other activities to other users in real time through Internet technology, such as fighting fish, tiger tooth, station B, etc.

The Application and Value of Social Media and Live Broadcasting Platform in Consumer Research

The application and value of social media and live streaming platforms in consumer research are mainly reflected in the following aspects:

-Large amount of data and wide coverage. Social media and live broadcast platforms have a large number of users and content, covering consumers of all ages, regions, interests, and industries, and can provide a rich data source for consumer research.

-Real-time, dynamic data. The users and content of social media and live broadcast platforms are updated in real time, which can reflect the latest needs, preferences, behaviors and satisfaction of consumers, and provide timely data feedback for consumer research.

-Diverse and in-depth data. The users and content of social media and live broadcast platforms are diversified, including text, pictures, video, audio, live broadcast and other forms, which can reflect the multi-dimensional meaning, perception and experience of consumers, and can provide in-depth data insight for consumer research.

Problems and Suggestions of Social Media and Live Broadcasting Platform in Consumer Research

The problems and suggestions of social media and live broadcast platforms in consumer research mainly include the following aspects:

-Data quality, credibility. The users and content of social media and live broadcast platforms are spontaneous, and there may be some false, misleading, exaggerated, and incomplete information, and may also be affected by some external influences, such as water forces, swiping orders, hidden rules, etc., which affect the data Authenticity and validity. Therefore, consumer research needs to filter, clean, verify, and weight the data of social media and live broadcast platforms to improve the quality and credibility of the data.

-Data analysis, mining. The data of social media and live broadcast platforms are unstructured, and some professional tools and methods, such as text analysis, image recognition, sentiment analysis, topic mining, social network analysis, etc., are needed to extract, classify, summarize, summarize, and interpret the data to discover the rules and value of the data. Therefore, consumer research needs to use some artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing and other technologies to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of data analysis and mining.

-Data utilization and transformation. The data of social media and live broadcast platforms are dynamic, and the results and insights of the data need to be translated into marketing strategies and actions in a timely manner to adapt to the changes and needs of consumers.

Use effective consumer research tools. Consumer data on social media and live streaming platforms is unstructured and needs to be collected, cleansed, analyzed and leveraged through a number of tools and technologies. Enterprises need to use effective consumer research tools according to their own research objectives, research methods and research results to achieve effective consumer research. For example, if the company's research goal is to analyze consumers' emotional tendencies, the research method is through social media comments and likes, and the research result is to generate a sentiment analysis report, then sentiment analysis tools may be a more effective choice.

Case Study 3. Social Media and Live Consumer Research

In order to more specifically demonstrate the application and value of social media and live consumer research, this article will combine some specific cases provided by Champ Consulting for clients to conduct a case study. Shangpu Consulting is a professional marketing consulting company, providing customers with a full range of marketing solutions, including market analysis, market strategy, market execution and market evaluation. Shangpu Consulting has conducted various types of consumer research for customers using social media and live broadcast platforms, and achieved good results and feedback. The following is a brief introduction of some cases:

Case 1: Conduct consumer demand research for a cosmetics brand. Shangpu Consulting conducted a consumer demand survey for a cosmetics brand to understand consumers' habits, purchase motives and preferences for cosmetics. Shangpu Consulting Company has chosen Little Red Riding Book and Kuaishou as platforms for consumer research. It has collected active data of consumers, such as published content, commented content, praised content, etc., using notes on Little Red Riding Book and videos on Kuaishou. Using text analysis and image analysis tools, Shangpu Consulting cleaned, classified, counted and visualized the collected data to generate consumer demand analysis reports. In the report, Shangpu Consulting found some characteristics of consumer demand, such as consumers pay more attention to the quality and efficacy of cosmetics than price and packaging; consumers prefer natural and refreshing makeup to heavy makeup; consumers are more likely to obtain cosmetic information and recommend through social media and live broadcast platforms, rather than through traditional advertising and sales channels. These findings provide valuable consumer insights for cosmetics brands to develop product development and marketing strategies that are more in line with consumer needs.

Case 2: Conduct consumer satisfaction research for a car brand. Shangpu Consulting conducted a consumer satisfaction survey for a car brand to understand consumers' awareness, evaluation and loyalty to the car brand. Shangpu Consulting Company chose Weibo and Douyu as the platform for consumer research. It used the topics on Weibo and the live broadcast on Douyu to collect passive data of consumers, such as the length of viewing, the number of times of forwarding, and the number of collections. Using network analysis and sentiment analysis tools, Shangpu Consulting analyzed, measured and evaluated the collected data to generate consumer satisfaction analysis reports. In the report, Shangpu Consulting found some characteristics of consumer satisfaction, such as consumers' high awareness and favorability of automobile brands, but low loyalty to automobile brands; consumers' evaluation of automobile brands mainly focuses on product performance, design and safety, rather than service, price and environmental protection; consumers' emotional tendency towards automobile brands is mainly positive, such as like, appreciation and trust, but there are also some negative, such as complaints, dissatisfaction and doubt. These findings provide valuable consumer feedback for automotive brands, helping them to improve the quality of products and services, and increase consumer satisfaction and loyalty.

Case 3: Conduct consumer behavior research for a restaurant brand. Shangpu Consulting conducted a consumer behavior survey for a catering brand, aiming to understand consumers' catering habits, consumption levels and consumption scenarios. Shangpu Consulting Company has chosen WeChat and Zanthoxylum bungeanum as platforms for consumer research. It has collected active and passive data of consumers, such as published content, commented content, praised content, viewed duration, forwarded times, collected quantity, etc. Using cluster analysis and correlation analysis tools, Champ Consulting grouped, correlated and mined the collected data to generate a consumer behavior analysis report. In the report, Shangpu Consulting found some behavioral characteristics of consumers, such as consumers' dining habits are mainly affected by time, place and interpersonal relationships, rather than healthy diet and balanced nutrition; consumers' consumption level is mainly affected by income, mood and festivals, rather than price, discount and taste; consumers' consumption scenes are mainly family, gathering and dating, rather than work, travel and entertainment. These findings provide valuable consumer insights for restaurant brands to develop menu design and marketing strategies that are more in line with consumer behavior.