New Marketing Research Models: The Potentials of The Social Network Analysis Applied to Social Media

This work adresses the issue of the relationship between marketing research and the opportunities provided by Internet. In particular, we focus on the recent developments arising from digital tools such as social media and the ability to access to a continuos stream of data through the use of Big Data Analysis platforms. Indeed, Big Data technologies have strongly impacted in research performances giving rise to new techniques, enhancing or bringing back other methodologies which had lost appeal over the year. In this regard, the social network analysis technique in considered in this study. It can be adopted for many marketing purposes thanks to the recent developments of social media. The aim of the paper is the identification of an analysis model based on the social network analysis methodology, useful to conduct marketing research within social media. Metrics described have been selected based on their capabilities to generate insights that can support marketing researcher for a series of evaluations. Therefore it is considered that the present model can contribute to create a new marketing approach, where the use of social media can be seen as a resource and as an opportunity for the relevant managerial and marketing implications identification.