Brand Engagement on Social Media – Consumer Perspective

Consumer Response to Brand Promotion on Social Media

How many people follow a brand on Social Networking Sites?

If statistics are to be believed, almost anyone would follow a brand now. Why? One, because it makes us connect with other like minded people. Two, we follow brands to show solidarity with brands we love. And of-course, three, we follow brands to know about promotions and other marketing offers.

A survey by Chadwick Martin Bailey – “Why social media matters to your business” – points that a mere 20 percent people do not fan a brand on Facebook. In fact 75 percent females and 68 percent males are fans of up to 5 brands on Facebook. Some may think that following just about 5 brands is not a proper indicative of the consumer interest in brands. True to some extent, but then isn’t this phenomena recent. Moreover, teething issues with consumer engagement strategies further make brand promotion difficult. There are little precedents on successful or safe strategies to engage consumers on social media. And this is why; companies are not upfront on brand promotion on social media. Obviously, consumers, will react to messages that appeal them, and hence a low number. There still is immense dilemma on incorporating and properly implementing social media in marketing plans. Probably this is why; brand engagement on social media fails for consumers in many cases. Yet still, for individuals social media is more about expression than just connecting. Even if individuals are not following a brand, they are talking about it. It has been estimated that approximately 83 tweets per second contain product or brand references.

However, there is a silver lining. Brands that conduct social media interactions with consumers properly; eventually result as a profitable proposition for both the consumer and the brand. Chadwick Martin Bailey research states that the likelihood for individuals to buy / recommend increases after they follow of a brand. [Fig 12] The fact that almost 50 percent Facebook fans of a brand already are customers further boosts this proposition. That’s because, positive experience from direct brand interaction will undoubtedly ensure repeat purchases and recommendations. However, brand promotion strategies on social media must consider the gender differences.

The Likely Impact of Social Media on Buying Behavior

Gender Differences in Customer Inclination Towards a Brand

The motives for friending or following a brand vary for males and females. Nearly half (43%) of all women, become a fan of a brand to receive discounts or promotions. On the other hand, 50 percent men do so to show solidarity with a brand. Another research by ShesConnected.com, states that 79 percent women use social networks to research products and services important to them.  Nearly 64 percent specifically look for discounts. Besides, Razorfish points that 44 percent people follow brands in search of promotions and discounts on Twitter. These differences between the behavior of males and females have been elaborately highlighted in the Chadwick Martin Bailey study, as below:

Males on Facebook

• 52% become fan to show their support to brands

• 35% seek discounts and promotional information

• 28% become a fan to be part of a community of like‐minded people

• 17% become a fan because someone recommended it to them

Males on Twitter

• 59% follow a brand because they already are customers of the company

• 35% follow because they want to be the first to know about news and information

• 13% follow to resolve problems or seek customer service

• 29% seek discounts and promotions information

Females on Facebook

• 48% become a fan because they already are customers of the company

• 43% seek discounts and promotional information

• 17% become a fan on someone’s recommendation

Females on Twitter

• 60% seek discounts and promotional information

• 40% seek access to exclusive content

• 29% follows to receive content/information to repost and share with others

• Only 5% seek customer services resolution

Again, some might feel that since these surveys are predominantly based on US market, their implication might not be applicable to other world markets. However, given the nature of the internet, which acts like one boundary-less echo chamber, we feel that these findings are equally valid for other nations too. Our assumptions get bolstered by the findings from middle-east. In UAE Socialize in collaboration with YouGovSiraj has quantified the evolution of online marketing. Their findings show that as much as 70 percent of the UAE consumers look for online reviews prior to making purchasing decision. Consumer interaction with brands is healthily happening on mobile platforms too. The Mobile advertising network InMobi survey on the mobile Internet usage patterns in India indicates that almost 33 percent of its respondents who surf the internet on mobile phones engaged with brands that advertised. Of this group as many as 73 percent visited the advertiser’s website and 10 percent called the company. Eventually 18 percent of respondents actually bought the advertised product / service. Another interesting finding from the InMobi survey was that as much as 58 percent of the respondents were from the middle and lower income groups, indicating mobile internet usage is not an activity restricted to higher income groups.

In nutshell, consumers are engaging with brands, they are interested in developments at brands they use, they seek reviews before purchase, and inform others about their opinions. Still if companies think that time is not ripe for entering the social media bandwagon – they might actually miss the bus.

Top Image Source – Decision Without Marketing by Will Lion

Tagged as: brand networking, Brand Promotion, branding, communication design, consumer, consumer response, facebook, internet marketing, marketing plan, promotions, Random, social media marketing, Twitter

~by Nitin Srivastava

Nitin espouses to be a libertarian, he loves to read & learn about anything (make that everything). He has a keen sense of observation, and can tell about the guns in ladies' purses by just looking at their heels. Do you get the drift?

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