Now that we're connected, what are you going to do about it? The conclusion that people actively seek out the brands they like and choose to engage with them on the engaged web resonates for me as it mirrors my own personal experience.
It does create a weirdly precarious position: now that I've chosen to engage with brand x online, I expect something from that engagement. It may be simple product updates or it may be vouchers, usage tips, etc. It varies from product to product based on my perception of what the product should do. For brands that are able to do innovative things, I'll be impressed and the experience will be positive. For brands that do what I'd expect, but no more, it's a zero sum game. For brands that do nothing, my impression of them will be tarnished and this will affect my future behaviour.
My reflection is, getting into engaged media is the baseline, its what brands do with their engaged customers (and potential customers) that will become the differentiator.
polopolo21
· 3 months ago
and almost ALL social-media 'journalist' are information Gigoloogle fanboys!
CarlPhelps
· 3 months ago
I think this is great validation that social media is a legitimate tool for marketers. If it is done right, the payoff can be big. More studies like this are needed to satisfy the social media ROI question. Does anyone know of any similar studies?
Jason Dojc
· 3 months ago
The question is. What motivates people to fan/follow a brand? To win a contest? To gripe? To sing praises? To get insider news?
steveseager
· 3 months ago
You hit the nail on the head Jason. Nice call.
Jason Rukus
· 3 months ago
Naturally it's effective, it takes a corporation as large as Dell and brings it down to the level of your local computer shop. People are more comfortable and emphatically more grateful if their perception is not of throwing money into a furnace and bending over to get their customer service. We all want to feel like we have a say in whats going on.
The more we continue to reinforce what many of us believe to be common sense the more we will see this replace traditional advertising. Right now a lot of companies are like that shy person sitting at the back of the dance, they want to get up their just afraid everyone's going to laugh at them. Studies like this will continue to prove everyone wants to dance.
patrickblessing
· 3 months ago
Great stuff! Agreed - It would be interesting to gauge what has made them fans? Games? Giveaways? Or - was it that these brands have generated a genuine voice that the consumer gravitated to? I'm always interested in the tone/voice that brands are using to introduce themselves as into the cocktail party that is social media.
BlackBoxStrategy
· 3 months ago
The question of what drives people to be fans is a great one. I think it will give light also to what causes so many people to adopt a certain social network site. ie: what caused so many people to shift from Myspace to Facebook. I mean, certainly functionality was part of it, but I'm curious to see what's going to happen post Facebook. www.blackboxstrategy.net
Recently I blogged about creating "FANS" for your business rather than customers. First I am a big fan of Social Media but I do wonder because someone joins a fan page if they are truly a fan of that business. Do they actually want to see the business grow and do good? Not sure, I guess it all comes down to a numbers game. I am sure somehow they will be able to narrow it down to say if you have 100 fans then x% is truly a fan of your business. If you have a moment check out the blurb I did on FANS. I titled it "Having customers is wrong? http://yougonetwork.com/johnnie_firari/2009/08/...
Deb
· 3 months ago
I worry that a lot of bloggers, especially on the mom blog beat, suppress bad mentions because they hope for sponsorship. Couple that with contests and other brand-led gimmicks and it brings into question the activity of "seeking out" a brand connection.
steveseager
· 3 months ago
I'm with monsieur Dojc. The way brands engage determines the way people engage. Stop.
cp09
· 3 months ago
My question is, after you have become a fan, how engaged are you on an ongoing basis? If the avg user has 200-400 friends and a few brands sprinkled within that, does a brand become something more engaging than just regular chatter? The stats on that please (and more relevant than passively becoming a fan)...
steveseager
· 3 months ago
Totally agree. The stats on though are in the hands of the brands themselves. And they are not likely to hand over their 'secret sauce' to competitors. Realistically, which brand would ever reveal their ROI? The debate continues :)
clausverticportals
· 3 months ago
Really good find. I was trying to argue the value of social media today for companies and this is good ammunition. I hope this will help open up more companies to a dialogue with the consumers on a more open basis than what we are used to.
brandonhess
· 3 months ago
Interesting statistic but in my experience, having some being a fan of you on FB doesn't convert well into an ROI.
Plus, a study like this needs more transparency in what groups were studied, what demographics, what 'share' of users? Was this out of a group of 100? Was this out of a group of marketers or regular users?
The fact this study was done by eMarketer also leads me to believe there was a goal in what they wanted the study to show since having it say the opposite would work against their overall purpose.
As an example, how many people were fans of a brand / company because their friend works there? Because they work there? That's not the same as just stating "52% of Social Network users favorite brands" if part of that percentage favorites their current employer, friends small business, etc.
Doesn't seem like there was much science to the study due to the lack of insight into measurement.
Patrick Prothe
· 3 months ago
And once consumers connect, brands have to deliver - consistently, authentically, and respectfully. Those that deliver value will have a better chance of sustaining the engagement.
DebraWilliamson
· 3 months ago
Hi Adam, thanks for covering my report. Since a few commenters had questions on the stats, I wanted to add a bit more clarification. The data came from Anderson Analytics, which recently conducted one of the most comprehensive studies I have ever seen on the subject of social network users and usage. I included the stats on brand fans in my report because I believe they speaks to the fact that consumers DO want to engage with brands on social networks and DO react positively if they are treated with respect. Check out Starbucks' page on Facebook or its Twitter feed and you'll see a great example of how a company is working hard to turn negative commentary online in a positive direction, and probably creating a lot more brand fans in the process.
facebook-625384656
· 3 months ago
Next year, I'll have my iPhone 3G for 2 years. There is no way in hell I'll be staying with AT&T. I'll give up the iPhone to give up ATT, but this may be some good news for me. iPhone + Verizon is a much better option.
Marc Krisjanous
· 3 months ago
Thats great news though many business people find social media a big dark hole. We - the techies - find this stuff easy and enjoyable but many business people still have confusion understanding how blogs work - forget Twitter and Facebook! The bulk of consumers I would say are still at this level as well.
Updatesmbs
· 3 months ago
This is quite true. I have been trying to recruit local businesses to participate in the Twestival we are having in SWFL and most of them are exhibiting the proverbial "deer in headlights" response.
SIRIRS
· 3 months ago
I'm so happy to see a study that validates Brands usage on Twitter. @MacdonaldHotels and @BotleyPark have been actively engaged in using Twitter as a way to 'Connect' with our guests and are happy to see some good result's. Were more than happy to engage with our followers and hope that they find us of interest.
We do promote ourselves and offers from over 40 hotels in the Uk and Spain, but try to find something in all locations for everyones taste which can be a struggle sometimes, but we'll do our best. If you have any new ideas please pop along and say hi.
Rgds SIR @BotleyPark for @MacdonaldHotels
Samina
· 3 months ago
I've always seen Facebook as a large general social network that caters for everyone. I guess on Facebook you can target through fan pages but it's really interesting that this report notes 'the more targeted the social network, the more likely it is that members will engage in product discussions there.' Facebook and MySpace are seen more as entertainment sites in the example given.
Ty Phelps
· 2 months ago
No surprise here. Whenever I am cruising through Facebook I constantly see my friends joining a "fan of" group. Most of the time its something lame like napping or cell phones, but occasionally they are a fan of a product. Its almost like they are doing advertising work for the corporations.
All Comments
It does create a weirdly precarious position: now that I've chosen to engage with brand x online, I expect something from that engagement. It may be simple product updates or it may be vouchers, usage tips, etc. It varies from product to product based on my perception of what the product should do. For brands that are able to do innovative things, I'll be impressed and the experience will be positive. For brands that do what I'd expect, but no more, it's a zero sum game. For brands that do nothing, my impression of them will be tarnished and this will affect my future behaviour.
My reflection is, getting into engaged media is the baseline, its what brands do with their engaged customers (and potential customers) that will become the differentiator.
The more we continue to reinforce what many of us believe to be common sense the more we will see this replace traditional advertising. Right now a lot of companies are like that shy person sitting at the back of the dance, they want to get up their just afraid everyone's going to laugh at them. Studies like this will continue to prove everyone wants to dance.
www.blackboxstrategy.net
Plus, a study like this needs more transparency in what groups were studied, what demographics, what 'share' of users? Was this out of a group of 100? Was this out of a group of marketers or regular users?
The fact this study was done by eMarketer also leads me to believe there was a goal in what they wanted the study to show since having it say the opposite would work against their overall purpose.
As an example, how many people were fans of a brand / company because their friend works there? Because they work there? That's not the same as just stating "52% of Social Network users favorite brands" if part of that percentage favorites their current employer, friends small business, etc.
Doesn't seem like there was much science to the study due to the lack of insight into measurement.
We do promote ourselves and offers from over 40 hotels in the Uk and Spain, but try to find something in all locations for everyones taste which can be a struggle sometimes, but we'll do our best. If you have any new ideas please pop along and say hi.
Rgds SIR @BotleyPark for @MacdonaldHotels