How to Supercharge Your Market Research with Social Listening

Toyota assumed parents wanted minivans. Social listening showed they were actually talking about off-roading. That gap between what brands think customers want and what customers really say is where social listening earns its keep. Every day, millions of people post opinions about products, brands, politics, workouts, and beauty. It's honest. It's free. And it's happening in real time. Yet most market research teams ignore it. Teams that rely only on focus groups, polls, and surveys leave huge amounts of useful data (and money) on the table. When you pair social listening with traditional research, you get a clear, defendable view of your market. Here are five ways to do it using Infegy Starscape.

1. Discover product attributes that resonate with customers

You'd think brands know what their customers want. Often, they don't. Many spend a lot on focus groups and still miss the mark. Focus groups have their place. But social listening is faster and cheaper, and it shows you what customers care about in their own words. Take Toyota. You'd expect parents to talk about the Sienna minivan. They don't. A hashtag search showed parents talking mostly about off-roading (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Hashtags often associated with parents discussing Toyota, colorized by sentiment analysis metrics, (February 2023 - April 2023); Infegy Social Dataset.

A deeper look confirmed it. Parents posted more positively about big SUVs and off-road models like the Tundra, 4Runner, and Tacoma than about smaller Toyotas or other brands (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Interests analysis of vehicle-related interests among parents discussing the Toyota brand, (February 2023 - April 2023); Infegy Social Dataset.

This gives Toyota a strong case for two things: marketing SUVs to parents, and putting more R&D into off-road vehicles with the safety and comfort features parents want. The team found all of this in minutes. No focus group needed. You could still run a survey to confirm the findings, but social listening gets you most of the way there, fast.

2. Make data-driven recommendations to improve brand reputation

Want to know how customers feel about your brand right now? Social listening is the answer.

It helps you track how customers react to things you can't control, like bad press. It also shows how they respond to your own moves, such as a new product or a big announcement. That gives you a head start on damage control.

The McDonald's Snack Wrap story shows how this works.

McDonald's and #BringBackTheSnackWrap

McDonald's loves to change its menu. But pulling a fan favorite can cause as much noise as adding one. The Snack Wrap (a tortilla with chicken, cheese, and sauce) was cut from U.S. menus around 2016. The backlash never went away. By 2023 and 2024, social listening showed a huge spike in posts begging for it back.

Viral moments brought the conversation back to life. People flooded X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok with nostalgic posts, petitions, and videos. The hashtag #BringBackTheSnackWrap trended repeatedly. Fans were upset that a cheap, beloved item had been cut with nothing to replace it.

Figure 3: Screenshot of a post calling on McDonald's to bring back the Snack Wrap, 2023.

The posts spread fast. Influencers and everyday fans pushed the message way past a small group.

Figure 4: Post volume analysis showing spikes around the Snack Wrap, (January 2016 - December 2023); Infegy Social Dataset.

A keyword search showed what was driving the buzz. People used phrases like "craving," "bring it back," "miss the Snack Wrap," and "Petition" (Figure 5). The mood was about nostalgia, low prices, and a gap on the menu, nothing else had filled.

Figure 5: Topics drilldown word cloud related to McDonald's Snack Wrap, (September 2023 to October 2023); Infegy Social Dataset.

The signal was clear. Customers wanted a cheap, handheld chicken option that wasn't a burger or a nugget. Brands watching social media could see this in real time. McDonald's eventually did. In 2024, the chain brought the Snack Wrap back, and fans cheered.

3. Identify and activate key influencers

Once you know your audience, social listening helps you find the influencers they trust. Data on age, interests, and behavior tells you who your customers are likely to follow.

Fashion and beauty influencers

Say your research points to younger women interested in fashion and beauty. Maybe you're not a fashion or beauty brand, but your audience overlaps. You need influencers who already reach them.

Sephora is a trusted beauty brand, so we looked at influencers who showed up alongside Sephora and the hashtag #BeautyBlogger. We focused on smaller influencers because past research shows people trust them more than mega-influencers. They feel more real, and they spend more time talking with their followers.

The search turned up the top influencers for both Sephora and #BeautyBlogger (Figure 6).

Figure 6: Analysis of top influencers for both Sephora and #BeautyBlogger, (February 2023 - April 2023); Infegy Social Dataset.

Pairing social listening with surveys and focus groups helps you pick influencers who can actually move the needle.

4. Link brand loyalty and defection signals to the marketing funnel

Social listening shows you market trends, including when you're winning and losing customers. Real-time data tells you what's keeping people happy and what's pushing them away.

Netflix and the password-sharing backlash

When Netflix launched streaming in 2007, the brand was all about easy access. In 2017, the company tweeted, "Love is sharing a password." That was a clear thumbs-up to account sharing.

Figure 7: Screenshot illustrating Netflix's previous support of password sharing; Twitter, March 10, 2017.

Then things changed. Higher interest rates, new competitors, and a falling stock price pushed Netflix to find new revenue. One plan: crack down on password sharing.

We used Infegy Starscape to track the response.

In April 2023, Netflix said it would limit account sharing by July. Posts spiked right after the news (Figure 8).

Figure 8: Social Universe of Netflix's crackdown on password sharing, (February 2023 - May 2023); Infegy Social Dataset.

Netflix rolled out the change in South America first. The response was very negative (Figure 9). The biggest complaint? Customers had to keep connecting to a home Wi-Fi network just to keep watching.

Figure 9: South American sentiment around Netflix's new password sharing policy, (February 2023); Infegy Social Dataset.

Another search showed frustrated customers talking about other ways to stream, including piracy. Posts about illegal downloads jumped more than 1,000% after the South America rollout (Figure 10).

Figure 10: Interests among those complaining about Netflix's password sharing, (February 2023); Infegy Social Dataset.

5. Use social listening to cross-examine traditional research

Surveys, reviews, polls, and focus groups all show how customers feel. The data is useful, but it's slow, costly, and needs lots of people to be reliable. Adding real, unprompted posts to the mix gives you faster signal, and a way to check what your other research is telling you.

Rotten Tomatoes vs. Infegy data

Rotten Tomatoes scores movies and shows based on viewer reviews. We wanted to see how those reviews lined up with what people post online in real time. So we compared Infegy Starscape sentiment with Rotten Tomatoes scores for Game of Thrones.

Social sentiment moved first (Figure 11).

Figure 11: Game of Thrones consumer sentiment analysis, Rotten Tomatoes vs. Infegy media sentiment, (2014–2019); Infegy Social Dataset.

Look at Season 8 (the red line). Fans hated it. Social sentiment dropped before the Rotten Tomatoes score did. That's because people post on social media right away but wait until the season ends to write a review.

So why use both? Social listening is fast. Reviews are slower but more thought through. Together, they let you act fast and confirm your read with formal reviews later.

Biden's approval rating vs. Infegy data

Social listening isn't just for consumer brands. Political pollsters can use it too. We compared Joe Biden's FiveThirtyEight approval rating with Infegy sentiment data (Figure 12).

Figure 12: Joe Biden's approval ratings, FiveThirtyEight political polling vs. Infegy social media sentiment, (January 1, 2021 - January 1, 2023); Infegy Social Dataset.

The two trends lined up, with an R-squared of 0.55:

• Approval (purple) dropped when the Taliban took over Afghanistan.
• Infegy sentiment dropped at the same time.

The example shows social listening can back up traditional research, even in politics.

Make social listening your first stop

Pairing social listening with traditional research is one of the best ways to level up your work. Infegy Starscape shows you what your audience cares about, what bothers them, and what they want. It's fast, defendable, and ready to use for marketing, strategy, and product decisions.

Want to see how it works? Request a custom demo today.

Key Takeaways

Social listening is faster than traditional research. Across every example, social sentiment moved before polls, reviews, or surveys caught up. That speed lets you act while it still matters.

Social listening makes traditional research stronger. It doesn't replace focus groups, surveys, or polls. It works best as a partner. Real-time data plus slower, deeper research gives you both speed and proof.

Social listening shows what customers actually care about. The Toyota story says it best: instead of minivans, parents wanted off-road vehicles. That kind of insight helps you make sharper calls on products, marketing, and where to spend, without waiting on slow, costly research alone.