Marketing News: Webtrends consumer survey reveals social media Rules of Engagement

News Release from: Octopus Communications
15/10/2009
Webtrends, Social Media, brands, Loudhouse, survey, Facebook, Twitter,Christian Howes,

Three in four people (85%) under the age of 35 welcome brands on sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Youtube, as proved by the Rules of Engagement survey commissioned by web analytics and marketing intelligence specialist Webtrends.

The survey also found that more than two thirds of the people (67%) who use Twitter every day expect brands to use social media to either understand customers (67%), provide better service for those customers (58%), involve users in the design of future goods and services (52%), discuss market issues (55%) or to draw attention to new products and initiatives (64%).

The survey of 1,000 consumers, conducted by independent research company Loudhouse, found that while nearly three in four web users say social media can help brands understand their audiences it should be remembered that ‘understanding’ is a two way conversation.

Businesses that just bombard social networkers with sales offers should be aware that too much advertising and blatant commercialisation of social media sites is a concern for users – 39% complain there is too much advertising on such sites and half of those surveyed revealed they would leave a social networking site if it became too commercial.

Christian Howes, Digital Solutions Architect at Webtrends says: “Social media provides a massive opportunity; the problem with most brands is they’re not agile enough to set up and maintain a useful presence so they miss out on many of the benefits. When I looked at airlines recently BA had something like 10,000 followers on Twitter but Jet Blue, the American no-frills carrier, had more than a million. BA was posting relatively corporate messages tonally, while Jet Blue was involved in a genuine dialogue and using that as an extension of its customer service.

“To get the most out of social media businesses must be agile, and should listen and serve customers. Pumping out self-serving or ‘preachy’ announcements just doesn’t work, no matter how big the brand is. People are open to conversations with brands they like – I know I get a huge buzz out of a brand I favour following me on Twitter –but it’s got to be a two-way conversation.”

The Rules of Engagement

It is mainly early adopters and progressive brands that have reached out to social media users and the early feedback is it can reap rewards if done well. Half of Twitter users reveal a brand has successfully interacted with them through social media, compared to 31% of Facebook users. Of those who have interacted in some way with a brand over social media, three in four reveal they think more highly of the brand.

Perhaps the most important figure is that although one in five social media users (19%) predict they would think more highly of a brand they interact with on a social media site, for those who do interact with brands the approval rating rises to three in four (74%). So users are more favourable towards brands that reach out to them on social media than they themselves initially thought they would be.

Steve> “There are many examples of brands demonstrating the “epic fail” in social media but what they all have in common is an ill thought-out strategy for engagement. All too often brands are devoting inadequate resource, or entrusting to the likes of interns, their activities on these platforms.

“Social networks are more-or-less perceived as meritocracies where “social capital” has to be earned and where any individual enters on an equivalent standing with any other. Personality, activity, impact and individuality all contribute to this status. When a brand does surface, there is a tendency for it to adopt a corporate (rather than an individual) identity, which can be off-putting to the consumer.

Popularity (for example) does count towards social capital, so brands enter at a privileged level, trading upon their offline status. But to then be seen to be faceless (on Facebook?), hiding behind a logo or an entire communications team (the PR department that Tweets with the voice of one), will have a negative effect.”