Ready, set, go - Deploying the social listening stoplight activity to teach marketing analytics using qualitative techniques

Sep 13, 2026

Analytical skills are in high demand across business roles, yet marketing students often receive limited exposure to qualitative techniques for collecting analytics and generating actionable insights. The study introduces the Social Listening Stoplight Activity, designed to help undergraduate and graduate students qualitatively gather marketing analytics for recommendations that can adjust social media strategies to increase engagement. Using student assignment submissions, the authors qualitatively evaluate the activity and find students struggle more with qualitative than quantitative strategic social media analysis, supporting the need for such training in marketing analytics and social media courses. Ultimately, students must interpret and communicate recommendations, not only analyze numerical data.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryPresentations

FormatPDF

Pages13

Reading Time5 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Marketing analytics skills demand

Gap between practice and pedagogy

Role of qualitative research

Journal of Marketing Analytics [https://doi.org/10.1057/s41270-024-00292-4](https://doi.org/10.1057/s41270-024-00292-4) Ready, set, go Deploying the social listening stoplight activity to teach marketing analytics using qualitative techniques Morgan M. Bryant1 · Jen Riley2 · Tiffanie Turner‑Henderson3 · Dexter Purnell4 Revised: 1 September 2023 / Accepted: 22 January 2024 © The Author(s) 2024 Abstract Analytical skills are in high demand across business sectors and various positions. Therefore, it is pivotal for marketing students to have exposure and practice leveraging analytical methods and tools before graduation and entering the job market. However, qualitative techniques to gather marketing analytics and insights are rarely taught as an approach. As a result, the authors created the Social Listening Stoplight Activity to teach students how to qualitatively gather marketing analytics insights for actionable recommendations that can be used to adjust social media strategies for increased engagement. By leveraging data from the Social Listening Stoplight Activity, the authors qualitatively analyze undergraduate and graduate student assignment submissions to assess the activity as a method to teach students qualitative social listening, a growing industry skill. This research finds that students exhibit more difficulty with qualitative versus quantitative strategic social media marketing analysis skills, further justifying the need for an activity like this in marketing analytics and social media courses. Students must not only be able to assess numerical data, but they also must be able to interpret and communicate recommendations to truly contribute to organizations. Keywords Marketing analytics · Social listening · Qualitative methods · Student engagement · Social media · Marketing pedagogy Introduction According to Marketing Week, the demand for marketers with social media and data analytics skills is rising (Tesseras 2021) . Students expect that in return for spending time, * Morgan M. Bryant [mbryant@sju.edu](mbryant@sju.edu) Jen Riley [Jen.riley@vanderbilt.edu](Jen.riley@vanderbilt.edu) Tiffanie Turner-Henderson [t.turnerhenderson@wingate.edu](t.turnerhenderson@wingate.edu) Dexter Purnell [dexter.purnell@unt.edu](dexter.purnell@unt.edu) 1 Haub School of Business, Saint Joseph’s University, Philadelphia, USA 2 Owen Graduate School of Management, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, USA 3 Porter B. Byrum School of Business, Wingate University, Wingate, USA 4 G. Brint Ryan College of Business, University of North Texas, Denton, USA money, and effort studying for a degree, the institution, faculty, and staff will equip them with skills to be competitive in the job market. As a result, to enhance a student's employability, higher education institutions must focus on developing skills and investing in activities that will enhance the student's future. However, many institutions struggle to find qualified individuals equipped to teach cutting-edge topics to enable students to shift toward new skills, growing in demand quickly. For example, WEForum predicts that by 2025, two of the top sought-after skills will be analytical thinking and content creation (Russo 2020). Meanwhile, the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation reported that one-third of Americans lack digital skills, and 18 percent are limited in digital abilities (Mello 2023) . As the marketing industry continues to evolve, marketing faculty are responsible for preparing students for future roles in fields like content marketing, social media marketing, and data analytics. It is imperative that marketing educators recognize the pivotal role of marketing analytics in modern marketing and how vital it is that students graduate with practical experience and skills in this arena (Gregorio et al. 2019) . Due to rapid technological advancements and an explosion of digital data, marketing has undergone a profound transfor

FAQs

What is the Social Listening Stoplight Activity designed to teach?

It teaches students how to use qualitative techniques to gather marketing analytics insights and convert them into actionable recommendations for social media strategy adjustments.

How did the authors evaluate the activity?

They qualitatively analyzed undergraduate and graduate student assignment submissions to assess the activity as a method for teaching qualitative social listening.

What challenge do students show more difficulty with in the study?

Students show more difficulty with qualitative strategic social media marketing analysis skills than with quantitative ones, reinforcing the need for dedicated qualitative training.

Sep 13, 2026

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