Just reviewing the suggested sites..I really like the zeitgeist. I am using google trends at the moment, and decided to see how the term "Chris Brown" was doing. Google
trends displays the number of search entries, the term "chris brown" gets everyday, and puts it on a graph. You can use this for any search entry, from anytime on Google. So when I entered "Chris Brown", you can see a very very slow increasing trend over a couple of years and then it skyrockets up in early 2009, when he first went to court on counts of domestic violence. I can see how zeitgeist would be very helpful if you were looking to see the trends of certain products over a period of time. It is definitely a great source of secondary data, if you are looking to see how popular a topic is.
I never really got into blogs until this class, but after not only writing my own, but playing around with the blog search tool, I've found that it has some really cool functions! The benefits to marketers are amazing. If I wanted to see what people are saying about my product/company before and after an update/event, there are numerousss blog entries from as many blog sites as you can imagine, it does not limit itself to a certain amount.
Gaining insight -- Probably one of the best ways to gain insight using social media, is FACEBOOK. Facebook and similar networking sites are ridiculously informative.
Facebook can not only give marketers demographic data, but information about their hobbies, interests, annnnddddd a 1000 photo picture-journal? Almost seems like
Facebook was created for marketers.. Appealing applications lures facebook members to use it, and give up ALL of their information; pretty sneaky huh?
By using social media, there are a ton of ways for marketers to gain customer insight, that cost virtually nothing. So many companies employ traditional marketing techniques that are often costly, and not insightful. The great thing about using social media is that you get a REAL look at someone's interest. It is like the example I heard from the guest speaker (woman)..that whenever you setup an appointment with a family to view their house, you often don't get a very good look into their life, because they clean up, put away their bad foods, etc., basically..they can show you their "fake life". But what facebook and other similar forms of social media do, is give you a real, unedited version of their lives. It's amazing!