Technology has Taken Over…

Public relations research has evolved from the time of the simple survey, or observation to see how the public likes a product or type of entertainment. Social media has broken through as a method of qualitative research and is being used in many industries across the country.

While reading Francesca’s blog about how social networks is connected to how the public feels about movies. The movie industry is taking a different route when deciding to conduct qualitative research. Instead of conducting focus groups, giving out surveys, or making observations they are utilizing YouTube and other social networks to get feedback from the public. The study that was done was a movie company put the movie’s trailer on YouTube and waited to see how many people commented on it, and what the feedback was. This was a great way to use social networks in a company’s advantage it is free to post on YouTube, and all of the feedback was voluntary and will work in a positive way for this company.

Another way technology was used to get feedback from the public was displayed in Laura’s blog. She discussed how social media is using forums to discuss and post questions about celebrities, fashion, and the Entertainment Industry. This is once again a great way to utilize the fast growing world of social networking. It is on the Internet, so it most likely is free and everyone has access to it. Laura makes it clear that the old-fashioned way of conducting qualitative research is probably better, but I believe this is a great start for our always-changing society.

Let’s face it technology is changing at the speed of light, or it sure feels like it, and we have to do everything in our power to keep up with it.  This is happening everywhere from college campuses basically going paperless, to the PR industry using the Internet to conduct their qualitative research. Everything we are used to is changing rapidly, and we can choose to ignore it, or embrace it and just enjoy the ride.

Conducting Research for Small Businesses

Research is a huge part of the advertising and marketing industry, as well as PR. We have been learning for a while about the different types of secondary research, one of which was focus groups. A focus group is a form of qualitative research, which usually aids to your research. I recently read an article about how focus groups can help small businesses.

            This article made a lot of great points to small businesses; it started off saying that you don’t need to be a big corporation to conduct your own focus group. This is a great way to try and help small businesses get the feedback that they need, and will allow them to be confident in doing so. The article then goes on to explain in detail how to prepare for your focus group. This can be done by determining your objective carefully, and write down what you want to learn. Then the following has to be done to make your focus group successful: write your script, have a way of recording this focus group, and find a moderator who will lead the discussion and ask follow up questions. You also need to find a comfortable location, and have food and beverages there to keep the participants happy. For the timeframe of the focus group, they suggest about two and a half hours with a short break.

            When the focus group is completed you must be able to chart your responses, review the questions, and try to be objective. It is important that the person reviewing the tapes does not try to force the answers, but instead to find them.

            Focus groups are the best way to collect data. I believe that if you have the funds and the means to conduct a focus group, no matter how big or small your company may be, you should do it. Focus groups are there to help you company prosper, and thrive in this ever changing economy. 

What’s Everyone Listening To?

      It’s week six, and we are evaluating our peers for the second time to see what they are writing about in their own blogs. As I was looking through my classmates’ blogs to see similarities, I found two specific blogs that focused on music and the types of unobtrusive research that can be done to see what everyone is listening to.

       Something that I found very interesting in BDaunno’s blog was her connection to Pandora and unobtrusive research. I have been listening Pandora radio for many years now, and have surprisingly never made the connection. This radio is excellent to see what other people are listening to, and also gives suggestions of what you may like. I can put in an artist that I listen to on a daily basis and it will give me at least five other artists during the duration of my Pandora listening experience.

       The next blog I came across was a blog I have read before, by SLapin. She also discussed music and the unobtrusive research that can be done to see who’s listening to what. SLapin said you could see what radio stations people listen to and then compare that to what type of music that radio station plays. This goes right along with Pandora, except Pandora is using a much more technological approach by using social networking. This blog gives prime examples of how unobtrusive research can be conducted, and what benefits it has when trying to figure out what types of music people listen to.

       When I began comparing blogs, I thought that it was going to be a difficult process to find a commonality between two blogs, but I was definitely wrong. I was pleasantly surprised to see that two other people shared an interest in music, or at least enough to blog about. These opinions and ideas that SLapin and BDaunno share are definitely broadening my horizons, and even letting me think outside the box a little bit more. I would have never thought Pandora could be used as a type of unobtrusive research, but now I’m curious to see what everyone is listening to. It’s a new way of thinking, and I can’t help but wonder what’s next?

What Really Catches Your Eye?

Throughout the past two weeks we have been studying unobtrusive research, and the many categories of unobtrusive research there actually are. As you all know, I am very interested in entering the advertising field when I get older, so I decided to see what types of unobtrusive research most advertising researchers do to get viewers to remember their product.

            In an article that I found on Improving Brand Recognition in TV Ads, I found that researchers are using data to track the eye movements of almost 2000 participants over 31 commercials to see how various branding patterns of activity influence consumers ignoring the commercials. The person conducting the study found that eye tracking was as unobtrusive as sitting in front of a computer monitor. An optical sensor using an infrared light bouncing off of the cornea captures the eye movements.

            The researchers also found many other things out from this study, they saw that the eye sensor measures an attention span, and due to its scarcity, is something very important to understand. They found it to be troubling, because now a days more and more people seem to ignore ads, but it seems that more and more companies are paying millions of dollars to get their ads on television.

            As the researcher neared the end of his study he found that brand presence alone would automatically increase commercial avoidance; but if you were to change the brand exposure, you can lower the rates that viewers will ignore it. He also found that while using eye tracking you could see when the viewer’s attention begins to drift. This will allow you to figure out what will keep or lose a viewers attention on any type of ad.

            This study was a great example of seeing what types of ads keep people interested, or what makes them lose their attention. I feel that this is a great tool for any advertising agency or company to use if they want to sell more of, or to just get people aware of their product. It basically says what will work, and what won’t while you’re trying to get your brand recognized.

However, there have been many ethical issues with unobtrusive research, but this I feel is a very noninvasive way to get the data you need. If you have no idea someone is watching to see when your attention drifts, then it shouldn’t really be a bother to you. I mean if this helps you to want to watch more commercials, why complain?