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Online research is all about data that you can acquire information over on the internet. They are also referred to as internet research. There are several tools that you can use for online research such as surveys, forms, questionnaires, and focus groups. These tools are essential with different types of research mentioned below.
Why does online research important? Because this can help you gather information about your audience or your market, potential customer, and product information.
As you read this article, you will learn about the different types of research that you can use to be efficient and maximize your research.
1.Influencer Research
Influencer research is the process of looking for content creators that can improve a company’s brand awareness and increase its website traffic. This kind of research can help the organization boost its marketing and sales by having the right influencer for its organization.
There are ways on how to find influencers.
- Know your goals.
- Know the type of influencer you want for your campaign.
- Target influencers that fit your industry.
- Pitch to influencers and set up a working contract.
- Find influencers that are friendly and serve a company’s target audience.
- Track your results.
2.Lead Generation and Data Mining
Lead generation is the process of targeting people who take an action towards your company. For example submitting a form, following on social media, reaching out to the company via phone, or email. Overall, lead generation is the process of attracting potential customers in buying a product or service.
Common platforms virtual assistants can use for lead generation are Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram. These social media platforms can connect you with different potential customers by having an online presence to communicate with them. You can communicate through chats and comments. Setting up advertising campaigns can increase your awareness to attract potential leads as well.
Data Mining is the process of looking for actual contacts that fit your buyer persona and targeting them through content or other marketing efforts. You can go on social media accounts and engage with the community to find people who may be interested in your client’s product or service. Then, you can follow the process of collecting their contact information for further nurturing.
CRMs can help you in lead generation by enabling you to manage leads. Examples of CRMs are Follow Up Boss, Freshworks, Keap, Zoho, and HubSpot. These tools are useful in keeping in touch with customers by creating an opportunity to interact and follow up.
3.Product Research
Product research is the process of conducting surveys or collecting information from your potential target market to determine if a future product or service will be successful or not. It helps companies understand the needs of the customers in a much better way so the required product can match the customer specifications.
As a virtual assistant, product research is useful, by knowing what trends are effective in the market. This can help you easily determine what strategy you can use and if a certain product is good or not.
Guide on how to do product research:
- Research hashtags that are useful to your niche.
- Use the pins and comments on Pinterest.
- Search competitors’ services or products.
- Design surveys and questionnaires to administer to groups of people.
4.Market Research
Market research is the process in which you will gather data from your client’s consumer base that will help you determine their needs and preferences.
As a virtual assistant, you can apply market research by doing online surveys, questionnaires, and focus groups. This process is helpful because you can gather information like demographics and psychographics rto help you learn more about your client’s target market, and the way they might respond to marketing messages.
5.Competitors’ Research
Competitors’ research is evaluating your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses of their product or service.
As a virtual assistant, you can start on your competitors’ websites on how they are doing online. Afterward, you can proceed to their reviews and citations. In this section, you can look for strengths and weaknesses where your competitors need to improve on. Now, you can oversee what strategy you can utilize to help your organization to improve.
You can also monitor their social media platforms for better information about your competitor and you can gather information from their posts. You can research the content, marketing strategy, product and service, and other aspects of how they conduct business and how they are perceived by the target market.
6.Database Research
Database research is a collection of information that can be easily accessed, managed, and updated from a company database. All information is conveniently stored in a cloud or a database where you can access and update it from time to time.
Many companies usually have databases that are full of customer data including contact information, transaction data, metadata, and much more. CRMs and databases hold company information that can date back years and give insight into customer history. It can also store important company metadata for products and services.
7.Trend Research
Trend research is all about the newest trends. You’ll want to research trends in the company’s industry, niche, and among their customer base or target market. This will inform improvements to products and services. Gather information on the trending posts, videos, and dance crazes so you can give your organization an increase in online presence by creating content that’s inspired by these trends. Trend research also anticipates changes in consumer demographics, attitudes, values, and needs and identifies developing local and global consumer trends.
8.Content Research
Content research is looking at what other content is trending or ranking high on search engines and having that inspire your own content. You can also use tools for this like Ubersuggest, Google AdWords, and Quora.
9.SEO and Keyword Research
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the quality and quantity of website traffic to a website or a web page from search engines. It also helps pages to get a higher rank in search engines such as Google. The higher the rank, the better the flow of traffic will be to a website.
The SEO tools that are commonly used are:
Keyword research is the process of finding and analyzing terms that are useful when you are searching for a product, service, or general information. This is helpful because having a keyword can give you an advantage when you have the top keyword that is most searched.
Keyword research is important to use when content writing. More specifically, it’s important to do keyword research when you write blogs so it’s easier for search engines to match your articles to queries people make.
Online research plays a vital role in molding and enhancing a virtual assistant in today’s world. Research helps virtual assistants to be more reliable and resourceful where all information is readily available on the internet. Proper research is what you need to attain the efficiency and quality of your work depending on how you use the types of research mentioned above.
Just keep in mind that when you are researching, know your goal or purpose of the research. This way, you can easily understand what information you need to acquire.
If you find this article interesting you can check out other articles at Virtudesk so you can learn more about the different skills of a virtual assistant.
If you want to become a virtual assistant, you can apply by filling out this form. The positions that are currently available are Executive Virtual Assistant and Inside Sales Associate.
