The new digital divide: consumer expectations vs brands activities in social media
A study (.pdf) from the CMO Council of 1,300 consumers and 132 senior marketers revealed a profound difference between what consumers want from brands in social media, and what marketers think they want.
The bottom line?
[...] consumers want more — more experiences, more engagement, more rewards, and more reasons to connect with each other and brands through social media. And brands are missing the boat. They see the benefits of reaching out to customers through social channels, but they aren’t yet fully invested.
The report sees 4 ways to narrow that gap:
- Enable peer-to-peer interactions. 9% of brands think their Facebook fans want to connect with each other. 60% of consumers say they like brands on Facebook in order to connect with other brands. Your consumers want to talk to each other. Make it easy for them - open a forum, put Q&A on your Facebook page, launch a customer community.
- Get serious about social support. 63% of consumers search online for others with similar problems when they need help - 19% of brands think that's the case. 47% of consumers expect a response to an online service request in 1 hr - 30% of brands use social media to improve service and responsiveness. 50% of consumers expect to find service and support on Facebook - 10% of brands provide it. Consumers want to help and get help from other customers and they do a bang up job of it. It costs between $6 and $75 to resolve customer issues over the phone. It costs as as little as $.05 to help customers find answers online. Social support is a no-brainer for 2012.
- Ideate with social customers. 41% of social customers expect to share product ideas on Facebook. 9% of brands ask customers to help them innovate on Facebook. With few brands actively asking fans for feedback and ideas, smart marketers can leap ahead in 2012 by running idea exchanges - and you'll get a real-time, always on focus group that will drive better, faster innovation for the brand.
- Gamify the social experience. 67% of consumers expect special treatment when they like a brand on Facebook. 7% of brands reward their most active contributors. 46% of consumers expect incentives and rewards when they connect with brands online. 7% of brands offer social customer incentives and rewards. Give social customers something to work for, a reason to level up. Reward them for their contributions, give them rank and reputation, let them take it with them as the move about the social web.
Listening and monitoring: what is the business benefit?
In the age of Facebook and cloud computing, listening to customers is more important than ever. It sounds simple enough, but there are tweets, online comments, and various other channels of digital communication to pay attention to.
According to a 2011 Dell-commissioned Forrester Consulting survey of 200 US-based companies, 63% of surveyed companies believe that listening and digital engagement has helped them see positive results in brand awareness.
But what areas of their business will benefit most from listening and digital engagement?
More in this Infographic: How Brands Listen in the Digital Age @ getsatisfaction.com
The social algorithm and 9 other trends in social media
U.K. based social media agency The Social Practice recently upload an inspiring slide deck on how they think social media will evolve. They see Google+ as the Trojan horse of the social web and that the eventual winner will be the platform that is:
- Ubiquitous: effortlessly omnipresent in every aspect of our lives, on-line and off-line
- Dynamic: responsive to real time data, from location to time to pricing. Aware that groups, closeness and relevance are not fixed concepts but fluid and mutable
- Intuitive: innately aware of context and nuance. Intuitively aware of where and when I want particular kinds of social context
- Hard wired into business models: enables companies to give consumers a social stake in their success
- Seamlessly integrated into devices: effortlessly integrated into the desktop and mobile OS
In the accompanying slide deck From destination social to dispersed social: 10 trends in social media they see 10 trends in social media. In a nutshell:
- The rise of the social algorithm.
- (Social) Selling is everywhere.
- From group discounts to group dynamics.
- The evolution of location.
- The rise of social business.
- The consumer as curator.
- Rewarding social sharing.
- Convergence and blurred boundaries.
- Cross device consumption.
- HTML 5 and the rise of web apps.
Facebook for business: traffic to site most prominent KPI
Custom fan page designers Pagemodo conducted a survey among small business owners who were using Facebook as a marketing and revenue generation channel. The results show that, while only half of respondents use Facebook, a significant number of users report increased revenue as a result.
Highlights from the survey:
- 47% of SME owners said their Facebook pages are pushing a significant amount of traffic to their websites.
- 48% reported that a portion of the traffic converts into customers.
Businesses that use Facebook for business engage in the following activities:
InSites: Location-based services are still a niche application
From Social media around the world 2011 @ slideshare.net/stevenvanbelleghem:
Location-Based Services refers to a broad range of services that are based on information about the physical location of a user and/or device.
Location-based services provide the user with information such as "Where is the nearest ATM?" or they can be push-based and deliver coupons or other marketing information to customers who are in a specific geographical area.
[...] The reach of location-based services (lbs) is limited. Only 12% is currently using lbs, mainly Facebook Places, Foursquare and Gowalla.
Important note: Facebook Places was reported discontinued on August 24, 2011. Facebook users can now add location from anywhere, regardless of what device you are using, or whether it is a status update, photo or Wall post.
More highlights regarding Location-Based Services from the report:
- People are encouraged by social media to share information, but they seem somewhat less enthusiastic to share their location. The issue is mainly due to privacy and a lack of awareness.
- Both users and non users expect brands and companies to offer local discounts wherever they go, or advise on things to do /information regarding the place they are.
Which social media metrics are most often used?
From mdg advertising's The ROI of social media infographic:
Marketers can put a price on increased sales or decreased costs, but far trickier is identifying the value of social media beyond dollars and cents.
Tangible metrics for social media efforts
- 68% Site traffic
- 66% Conversion
- 63% # of fans/members
- 63% # of positive customer mentions
- 50% Revenue
- 50% # of contributors
- 43% # of page views
- 42% # of posts
- 41% # of mentions
- 23% Average order value
- 16% Reduced returns
- 15% Increased channel sales
- 11% Reduced call volume
- 7% Other
- 7% Do not track metrics
There is clearly no standard measurement, but at least the majority tracks whatever metrics they have at their disposal.
Special offers/deals top reason why people follow brands
From "Here is why people follow a brand", an infographic by Fastgush:
The majority of consumers who engage with a brand in the digital space - whether by parcipating in a contest or by "liking" a brand on Facebook - tend not only to purchase the products, but also make recommendations to their friends and family.
Twitter, e-mail, Facebook most likely to drive purchasing
BuySellAds.com compiled an interesting infographic based on (mainly U.S. based) reports by PEW Internet, Razorfish, eMarketer, ExactTarget, mashable and edisonresearch.
According to these numbers, e-mail is still a succesfull channel to drive sales, with Twitter and Facebook next:
Further reading:
- Twitter Follower Versus Facebook Fan: Who’s More Valuable? @ blog.buysellads.com
- Twitter vs Facebook: where the brand loyalty is [infographic] @ blog.buysellads.com
Acquiring customers through social media: LinkedIn for B2B, Facebook for B2C
From Infographic: Where Is Inbound Marketing Headed? @ mdfadvertising.com:
For companies that seek to acquire customers through a blog or social media sites, success depends on whether the goal is B2B or B2C. LinkedIn was more succesful for B2B marketing, while Facebook was most succesful for B2C.
ZMOT: the Zero Moment of Truth for consumers’ purchase decisions
Consumers live and learn and make buying decisions today by using a variety of sources:
- ratings and review sites
- friends on social media, at home and on the go,
- (more than ever:) video
They're looking for search results, user reviews, four-star ratings, text ads, image ads, news headlines, videos and even good old-fashioned official brand websites. They're asking answers for three questions about products and services they're considering to buy:
- Will it save me money?
- Will it save me time?
- Will it improve my life?
The First Moment of Truth (FMOT) is when the consumers stands in front of the shelves in the store. In a new eBook, Google employee Jim Lecinsky identifies a Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT) just before that.
Some factoids from the eBook:
- a full 70% of Americans now say they look at product reviews before making a purchase
- 79% of consumers now say they use a smartphone to help with shopping
- 83% of moms say they do online research after seeing TV commercials for products that interest them
Further reading: