4 things that work when using social media for user testing

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I am Monika, one-half UX researcher, one-fourth marketer, and one-fourth designer at CanvasFlip. We are a small team but each member has good ideas all the time.

Every time my team dreams of a new idea or researches for a new feature to enhance a product, I like to test it out before I go to the product team with the idea. I was hesitant at first to reach out to almost the same sets of users twice a month. It’s annoying, isn’t it? But I did not give up on testing an idea before proposing it. I found a better way to do it.

In our company, just like with many digital products, social media is the dominant form of interaction with users. Leading platforms like Facebook and Twitter count hundreds of millions of users each month. So, why not harness these channels to test concepts and hypotheses?

In this article, I will talk about how I used social media to collect data for user research.

How to do user testing on social media

1. Define relevant hashtags and user accounts for your test

Hashtags are definitely more than just drawing attention. They make it easy for users to find, follow, and contribute to a conversation and/or cause. Therefore, you need to set up a search query or queries (hashtags) in order for users to find and contribute to your posts.

To start, identify at least 10 hashtags that are closely related to the feature or product you are testing. For example, when I tested for an idea, UX Inspire, some of the hashtags I used were  #UXflows, #usersessions #uservideos, and #UXanalytics.

You can also tag pages on Twitter that have followers who are aligned to your persona.

2. Shortlist the social media channels that work best for the company

Select the social media network that offers the best potential in reaching your ideal audience and has the tone that suits your company well.

Every social media platform works differently for every company. Some might be great for generating leads and others can be great for user engagement. Closed channels on Slack, Facebook groups, Hangout groups, etc. are also great places to share your prototype and get feedback.

When not to use this technique

Conclusion