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Most brands use social media to broadcast: new product, new promotion, new post. Comments and direct messages are often treated as a nice bonus for reach and engagement. Yet, that is exactly where you find a resource for which companies otherwise pay for expensive market research: direct feedback from people who know a brand, use its products, and, ideally, buy them.
In our projects, we are increasingly observing a shift: social media is no longer just a megaphone, but a source of research. Because when you ask your community targeted questions and actually listen to the answers, they tell a brand exactly what they want.
For our client Die Vegane Fleischerei, we manage the social media presence for several locations. A fixed component of the content strategy is a simple but regularly recurring question: What products would you like to see? Not a one-off survey, but a continuous dialogue.
Currently, the community product campaign is going one step further. Instead of just asking for wishes, the community can submit their own product concepts this time. Five concepts will be selected from all the suggestions, which the community will then vote on.
Whether this will become a permanent format is deliberately left open for now. After this first round, we will look at how well the approach worked and whether it is worth repeating. The interesting part: it is about much more than just a product idea with built-in market validation.
Instead of speculating internally about which product might fit into the range next, the impulse comes directly from the people who will eventually buy it. Of course, this does not replace classic product development, but it provides a valuable starting point. What is on the community's mind? Which needs are mentioned again and again? And which ideas actually have enough relevance to motivate people to vote?
A vote gives people a concrete reason to get active. They can comment, share, discuss, and vote for their favorite. This generates engagement not as an end in itself, but because the community actually has a say in the decision. The interaction arises from a relevant topic, not from a trending audio or an artificial engagement hack.
People who are involved in the creation of a product develop a different relationship with it than those to whom it is simply presented. That is exactly the difference between a brand that only communicates and a brand where people feel they are part of its development.
From simple product wish surveys to sophisticated voting campaigns, we develop the perfect format for your brand.
The real value of such a project emerges when the circle is closed. It is not enough to ask the community for their opinion. The feedback must have visible consequences. When people see that their idea or their vote actually turns into a product in the shop or on the shelf, credibility is built.
This is exactly where the challenge lies for brands. A survey is quick to post. Developing a producible and economically viable product from submitted ideas is much more complex. Concepts must be reviewed, adjusted, calculated, and tested for feasibility. Most of this work happens behind the scenes. However, it is crucial for ensuring that community feedback becomes more than just a promise. After all, if you ask, you should eventually be able to show what happened with the answers.
This principle can, of course, be applied to other shops and brands as well. It does not require a huge community or in-house product development. The key is to view feedback as a recurring component of your communication.
The question "What would you like to see?" becomes much more valuable when it is part of a long-term content strategy. This creates an expectation over time: the community knows their opinion is valued and will return.
Allowing product concepts to be submitted and then voting on them is significantly more complex than a simple survey. Therefore, it does not have to become a permanent format immediately. Try it out first, analyze the results, and then decide if a repeat is worthwhile.
Why were these five concepts chosen? Who made the decision? How long does the voting last? The more transparent the process, the less the campaign feels like a mere PR stunt.
If a product is actually created from the feedback, its development process should also be part of the communication: from submission to voting to the launch. This makes it visible that community feedback is not just being requested, but taken seriously.
Reviewing submissions, evaluating ideas, checking feasibility, and developing a concrete product from them: this takes time – especially on the company side. This effort must be included in the planning from the very beginning. Otherwise, all that remains in the end is the initial social media post.
Community product development does not happen at the push of a button. If a brand is just starting to build a community, an extensive product concept vote is probably not the best first step. Simpler feedback formats can initially help build trust, reach, and a culture of participation.
Of course, not every submitted idea can win. That is precisely why you need fair and transparent communication from the start about how selections and voting will take place. Taking community feedback seriously does not mean fulfilling every wish. It means listening, making decisions transparent, and visibly showing what comes from that feedback.
This is ultimately the decisive step: understanding social media not just as a channel for brands to communicate their products, but as a place where products can be created together with their community. If you are considering how to meaningfully translate community feedback into product decisions for your own shop, please feel free to reach out. We develop such formats as part of our social media management – tailored to your community, your product range, and your capabilities.
Communicating results transparently is the part that most often gets overlooked. We help you tell that part of the story effectively.
In a personal conversation, most things are clarified much more quickly: whether we fit in and like each other and, above all, whether we can help you with your problem. So come by and let's talk or get to know us online!
