Social Communities that Drive Real Insights
Perspectives > Blog Post

Social Communities that Drive Real Insights

March 31, 2014

Ashton Bridges

Kelton’s SmartCommunity platform applies the analytical skills of social scientists to the dynamic conversations that occur in online communities, driving results that move businesses forward.

Many companies want to utilize a SmartCommunity platform to solve a specific business issue, but often don’t realize their full potential. Often when it comes to business issues, they don’t know what they don’t know.

The result? Companies miss the key insights that lead to better business decisions. In order to get to those game-changing, head-turning insights, you need an engaged community moderated by ethnographers and social scientists who can uncover and tell your community member’s story and how it relates to your brand. That’s the Smart Community difference.

Smart Communities can lead or enhance various aspects of your research:

  • The voice of the customer – Tracking opinions, usage patterns and changes, and emotions over time
  • Preliminary consumer insights to inform a quantitative survey
  • Testing products and use cases
  • Asking respondents to anonymously divulge sensitive information
  • Understanding both group and individual dynamics – and how the combination affects behavior and choice
  • Assessing the customer’s “journey” from identifying a need, to making a purchase

Additionally, Smart Communities provide:

Fast, Affordable Insights: Think of this as a focus group on steroids – more participants, much greater duration, similar or lower cost.

Weeks of Insight: While a focus group lasts hours, a Smart Community gives you a longitudinal look at your customer’s behavior.

Online Social Conversations that engage consumers in an intuitive environment. Our communities incorporate many of the social media technological devices and tools that consumers are already using on a regular basis. From mobile apps, iPads, live video streaming, Flickr, Tumblr, FourSquare and Facebook – we have our thumb on the pulse of the digital consumer and use it to advance our research strategies.

Easily Digestible Reports: One-of-a-kind, in-depth deliverables created by our in-house design team that utilize participant collages, quotes, personal pages, and photos to create deliverables.

Understanding New Behaviors & Platforms for Viacom

When Kelton got the call from Viacom Media Networks to examine peoples’ attitudes and usage of tablets, we were more than convinced that our team of tech and media experts were the right fit for the job.

We used our SmartCommunities to examine what makes the tablet so special, particularly as a TV and gaming platform, and how it has altered viewer engagement and habits of entertainment activities. We also delved into what makes the tablet truly different as not just a device, but as an extension of the user on psychological and emotional levels. Our insights will inform VMN overall creative development for its shows, channels, and content for the tablet platform.

We designed an interactive presentation for their executive team where VMN tablet owners will be invited to follow the presentation on their tablets, accessing unique content made especially for their very own tablet segment and creating a truly immersive transmedia experience.

Understanding & Driving Messaging for Glad Trash Bags

When Glad released their new, eco-friendly trash bags, they looked to SmartCommunities to help them balance innovation with reliability. They wanted insight into how environmental impact played into consumers’ choices.

We set up a community of primary grocery shoppers who tested the new bags and blogged daily about the new design, texture and strength.

Using feedback direct from consumers, Glad changed communications on packaging around the environmental technology of the bag and launched a targeted campaign with educational aspects to raise awareness about their green product.

Uncovering Insights on Sensitive Topics for Pfizer

Pfizer wanted to learn more about . Pfizer turned to SmartCommunities to better understand their first-script patients.

Because of the sensitivity of the topic, we started with a community focused on private blogs and one-on-one discussion with moderators. We waited almost ten days before exposing participants to the larger group.

The results were startling—the men felt so comfortable that the emotions came pouring out. _The results led to a first-script patient journey for Pfizer with a proprietary model for how to approach this unique phase in a man’s life. This paved the way for Pfizer’s agency to conduct stage-specific marketing to men in this early phase of use.

Ashton Bridges

Director, Client Development

As Director of Client Development, Ashton is a passionate brand advocate who serves as one of Kelton’s key client liaisons. She excels in crafting engagements that...

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