Creating consumer-brand connections via social media - why consumers care and what works

Editor's note: Brant Cruz is vice president, retail and ecommerce practice, and Josh Mendelsohn is vice president of Boston research firm Chadwick Martin Bailey. This article appeared in the August 9, 2010, edition of Quirk's e-newsletter.

A fundamental shift is taking place in how companies engage with customers and prospects, and more and more of that communication is uncontrolled by corporate teams and agencies. This new brand reality is determined as much by what customers and prospects say as by what companies say about themselves. With the onset of social media sites, blogs and online communities comes a new consumer platform where consumers can shout from the rooftops. Companies now must choose either to be part of the conversation or not.

Companies need to understand not only what the conversation is but how they can learn from and engage in it most effectively. Web-scraping tools only tell part of the story as companies need to understand where their customers and prospects are interacting; who is most influential; where social media fits into the marketing mix; how it affects brand perceptions; where there are customer service opportunities; and what people are interested in hearing or willing to accept from a given brand. Using primary research can help understand the social media landscape and why consumers use social networks in certain ways.

Why people choose to become a Facebook fan

With all of the conversation about social media marketing and its role in the new marketing world order, we partnered with iModerate Research Technologies, Denver, to better understand why people choose to become a Facebook fan or Twitter follower of a particular brand and if they say it changes their behavior towards that brand. We didn't set out to look at causality and suspected that most people who become a fan or follower do so because they are already customers of that brand. As it turned out, results showed that 49 percent of people who were Facebook fans of a brand became a fan because they were already a customer.

The real question on our minds was does engaging with consumers via social media sites like Facebook and Twitter make consumers more likely to buy or recommend the brands they follow? Fifty-one percent of Facebook fans and 67 percent of Twitter followers reported they are more likely to buy that brand since becoming a fan or follower. In addition, 60 percent of Facebook fans and 79 percent of Twitter followers are more likely to recommend since becoming a fan or follower. These are powerful statistics supporting social media as an engagement strategy.
 
So, what inspires people to become Facebook fans of a brand? The No. 1 reason is discounts and promotions, with 25 percent reporting that this was the primary reason they became a fan, and 21 percent became a fan because they were already a customer. We also saw interesting gender differences, with 23 percent of males reporting they became a fan to show others that they like/support that brand, as compared to only 15 percent of women. 
 
When it comes to Twitter, our research shows Twitter followers want to be brand insiders and receive exclusive content so they are in the know. Looking at gender differences, we found that 59 percent of those men who follow brands became a follower at least in part because they are a customer, compared to 43 percent of women. For women it's all about the discounts and promotions: 60 percent reported they followed brands to get discounts and learn about promotions.  
 
In fact there were a variety of gender differences that marketers should think about when building their strategies.

Male respondents who are fans and followers:

• are more likely (33 percent) to follow five or more brands on Facebook than females (25 percent);
• are more likely to cite that one of the reasons they become a fan on Facebook is to "show others I like or support this brand" (52 percent) than females (34 percent); 
• are more likely to cite that the primary reason they become a fan on Facebook is to "show others I like or support this brand" (23 percent) than females (15 percent); and
• are more likely to cite being the first to know information (29 percent) about a brand as the primary reason for following a brand on Twitter than females (9 percent).

Female respondents who are fans and followers:

• are more likely to cite receiving discounts and promotions (30 percent) as the primary reason they are a fan of a brand on Facebook than males (18 percent); and
• are more likely to cite receiving discounts and promotions (34 percent) as the primary reason they follow a brand on Twitter than males (23 percent).

One of the additional themes we explored using online chats was what a brand's lack of engagement in social media tells consumers. Recognizing that social media is not for everyone (and companies should explore what will work on a brand-by-brand basis), there is a definite message sent by what action is or is not taken. We heard common themes that a company is out of touch, missing an opportunity or not in tune with today's consumer.

"It's EXPECTED that a company have some digital face - whether it's on Facebook or Twitter I don't know - but they need a strong electronic presence or you doubt their relevance in today's marketplace." - female, age 50-54

"It shows they are not really with it or in tune with the new ways to communicate with customers." - female, age 18-24

"Either they are not interested in the demographic that frequents Facebook and Twitter or they are unaware of the opportunity to get more exposure in a more interactive method." - male, age 35-39

"Frankly, would be pretty dumb for a company NOT to avail themselves of that much direct contact with people at a minimal investment." female, age 50-54

In short, for consumer-focused brands our research shows a huge opportunity to increase engagement and incremental spending by utilizing social media as part of your marketing mix.

Three primary roles

In addition to making sure that your customer experience and brand tracking measurement tools are incorporating social media measures, we see three primary roles for social media in market research - though each with its own caveat.

Using listening as a qualitative input to your decision-making process. Web-scraping and counting tools help make sense of the conversation going on in the marketplace.  The best tools go beyond just sentiment analysis and help answer specific questions, but even these are qualitative and directional in nature despite the large volume of data they include.

Using social media as a convenience sample. Much like listening, there is much you can learn from your followers and fans about their goals, needs, preferences, experience, etc., but the trade-offs need to be understood. Even at large sample sizes, recruiting via social media is not necessarily representative. Marketers and researchers need to remember that social media is about inclusion, while sampling methods are about selection.

Using primary research to develop social media strategies. Many researchers catching the social media bug are ready to throw out traditional tools, but we have found that the use of primary qualitative (including listening) and quantitative research among your target customers and prospects is the best way to define or refine strategies, especially in the business-to-business space.

Essential and measurable

Social media has become an essential and measureable part of the marketing and customer engagement mix for both consumer and B2B. To really take advantage of the opportunity you need to take your research beyond counting metrics and build an understanding of why people are engaging, how they want to engage with your company and what you should do about it.