Everyone tells you that you need to research your potential customers, but no one tells you much about how to do it. Whether you are in a small organization or at a large company, you need good prospect research, and you may wonder where to begin and how to add useful details to that shadowy group known as 'potential customers.'

While we often write about social media in this blog and how businesses and organizations can use it strategically as part of an integrated marketing plan, it's not often first-hand field research on social media use by tweens and teens can be shared.

Three years after my first look at the question of where to find your customers in social media, I have a pleasant surprise for you: There is good news on this front. While changes made by social media networks and service providers often disrupt marketers, causing small nonprofits and businesses lots of extra work with little benefit, that’s not the story this time. It is easier and more affordable now then ever before for change marketers to identify where current customers, friends and prospects can be found in social media.