Social media refers to online media where users can create, share, and communicate content and information through Internet platforms and applications. There are many types of social media, including social networks (such as Weibo, WeChat, Facebook, etc.), content communities (such as Douyin, YouTube, Instagram, etc.), blogs and forums (such as Zhihu, Douban, Reddit, etc.), evaluation and Review sites (such as Little Red Book, Amazon, TripAdvisor, etc.), etc. The scale and activity of social media users are very high. According to statistics, as of December 2023, the number of global social media users reached 4.68 billion, accounting for 60.1 percent of the global population. Among them, the number of Chinese social media users reached 1.05 billion, accounting for 22.4 percent of the global social media users.

Social media is not only a platform for users to entertain and socialize, but also an important channel for enterprises to understand and influence consumers. The content and information on social media reflect the needs, preferences, behaviors and opinions of consumers, and have important reference value for the development, marketing and improvement of products and services of enterprises. Therefore, using social media to conduct consumer research is an effective market research method, which can help enterprises obtain real feedback from consumers and improve the quality and competitiveness of products and services.

The oral cleaning and care products industry is a fast-growing industry. With consumers' attention to oral health and the improvement of consumption levels, the demand and types of oral cleaning and care products are also increasing. According to the report, the global oral care products market reached $43 billion in 2023 and is expected to grow to $63 billion by 2028, with a compound annual growth rate of 6.5 per cent. China, one of the world's largest markets for oral care products, reached $12 billion in 2023 and is expected to grow to $20 billion by 2028, with a compound annual growth rate of 10.8 per cent. The types of oral cleaning care products include toothbrushes, toothpastes, dental floss, mouthwash, oral sprays, oral patches, etc., involving different brands, prices, functions, ingredients, tastes, packaging, etc., consumers' choices and purchase behaviors are affected by Many factors, such as personal oral status, health awareness, aesthetic preferences, social influence, brand loyalty, etc.

In order to better understand and meet the needs and preferences of consumers, companies in the oral care industry need to conduct effective consumer research in order to provide better and more targeted products and services. Social media consumer research is a consumer research method suitable for the oral cleaning care products industry. It has the following advantages:

Broad coverage: Social media consumer research can cover consumers of different regions, ages, genders, incomes, education and other backgrounds to improve the representativeness and universality of consumer research.

Real-time update: Social media consumer research can capture the latest trends and trends of consumers in real time, reflect the immediate needs and feedback of consumers, and improve the timeliness and sensitivity of consumer research.

Low cost: Social media consumer research can use existing social media platforms and tools without additional human and material investment, reducing the cost and difficulty of consumer research.

Strong interaction: social media consumer research can increase consumer participation and trust through direct communication and interaction with consumers, and improve the effectiveness and quality of consumer research.

The main methods of social media consumer research include:

Social media monitoring: Social media monitoring refers to the collection and analysis of content and information related to oral cleaning and care products on social media through the use of professional software or tools, such as posts, comments, likes, shares, concerns, etc., so as to understand consumers' needs, preferences, behaviors and opinions. Social media monitoring can help companies discover consumer pain points and needs, evaluate the performance and reputation of products and services, monitor the trends and strategies of benchmarking companies, and predict market changes and trends.

Social media questionnaire: Social media questionnaire refers to the collection of basic information and subjective evaluation of consumers by publishing or sending a questionnaire containing a series of questions on social media, inviting consumers to fill in and submit it. Social media questionnaire can help enterprises to obtain consumers' personal data and background, understand consumers' purchasing behavior and decision-making process, measure consumers' satisfaction and loyalty, collect consumers' suggestions and feedback, etc.

Social media research: Social media research is the process of engaging in one-to-one or many-to-many real-time or non-real-time conversations with consumers on social media to explore in depth the views and feelings of consumers. Social media research can help companies understand consumers' motivations and psychology, reveal the causes and influencing factors of consumers' needs and preferences, and discover consumers'