First, let’s take a look at some facts and trends:
- Statistics tell us that women are responsible for the vast majority of purchase decisions.
- Women spend time on the social web.
- Brands are not connecting with women on the social web.
Looks like a missed opportunity.
A recent study by ad:tech Chicago and Q Interactive gives us even more insight into the failure of brands to connect with women on the social web. The study surveyed 1,000 women and reports the following results:
- 75% of respondents’ purchase decisions are not affected by social networking sites. Only 21.9% say social networking sites have “somewhat” of an influence on their purchase decisions and 3.3% say they greatly influence their purchase decisions.
- 52% of respondents have friended brands on social networking sites.
- 19% of respondents feel negative emotions when they come into contact with brands online, and 17% feel positive emotions, while 64% feel neutral emotions.
- 10% of respondents engage in brand-related activities on the social web such as finding information and writing reviews.
- The most common social web activities reported by users are sending private messages, sharing photos, and chatting.
- 75% of respondents spent more time on social networking sites this year than they did last year.
- 54.1% visit social networking sites daily, 30.8% weekly, 7.4% monthly, 7.7% once every few months.
- 66.4% use Facebook, 16.3% MySpace, 3.1% Twitter, and 1.4% LinkedIn.
These statistics tell us a few very important things.
- Brands need to find ways to connect with women through the social web, particularly on sites like Facebook.
- Current brand efforts on the social web are not working well to attract a female audience and getting them to engage with the brand.
- Women use the tools of the social web to be social, and that’s where brands need to find ways to interact with them. Simply providing information isn’t enough.
And here’s a final thought for you to ponder:
Respondents to the survey cited price (47%) and quality (45.7%) as the top reasons for their purchase decisions. Brand ranked fourth with just 2% of respondents saying brand is important. Guess what ranked above brand? ‘Other’ which 3.5% of respondents cited as a primary reason for making their purchase decisions. That tells us that the social web provides an open opportunity for brand building. In fact, that’s one of the biggest opportunities for social web marketers. The long-term brand building strategy supported by short term marketing tactics is what creates a successful, integrated marketing plan.
Your thoughts?
Susan Gunelius is the author of 10 marketing, social media, branding, copywriting, and technology books, and she is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She also owns Women on Business, an award-wining blog for business women. She is a featured columnist for Entrepreneur.com and Forbes.com, and her marketing-related articles have appeared on websites such as MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek.com, TodayShow.com, and more.
She has over 20 years of experience in the marketing field having spent the first decade of her career directing marketing programs for some of the largest companies in the world, including divisions of AT&T and HSBC. Today, her clients include large and small companies around the world and household brands like Citigroup, Cox Communications, Intuit, and more. Susan is frequently interviewed about marketing and branding by television, radio, print, and online media organizations, and she speaks about these topics at events around the world. You can connect with her on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google+.
