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6 in 10 Facebook Users Talk About Products

facebook signFacebook is still the top social site that consumers use to talk about products and share information about products with their followers. According to research from 8thBridge, 63% of  the study respondents reported that they talked about products on Facebook while 25% talk about products on Twitter and 22% do so on Pinterest. Just 31% claimed that they did not share information about products on social networks.

Before you get too excited by this data, it’s important to point out that the study respondents were all Facebook users, so it’s safe to assume that these results are skewed toward Facebook rather than other social sites. However, there is an important piece of information to take away from the study results. People are talking about products on Facebook — a lot — and those conversations are gold mines for brands that track and leverage them for direct and indirect marketing purposes.

These product conversations are happening among friends, family, and acquaintances on Facebook and lead to brand awareness, brand trial, repeat purchases, loyalty, and advocacy. What other form of word-of-mouth marketing is so easy to track? The question is why aren’t all brands, at least all B2C brands, doing it?

Taking a closer look at the reasons why Facebook users share product information using social networks and social media tools, approximately twice as many people did so for personal reasons as opposed to reasons created by the companies behind the products they were talking about. Here is the breakdown reported by eMarketer for the reasons study respondents claimed that they talked about products on the social web:

  1. To express tastes and preferences with friends = 38%
  2. To share a great product experience with friends = 35%
  3. To receive discounts or rewards for sharing = 30%
  4. To enter a contest or sweepstakes = 15%
  5. Don’t share products on social networks = 29%

Of course, talking about a product and offering an informal review through a Facebook post is very different from simply clicking the “like” button, and these actions should be treated as two very different things.

Image: Marcin Wichary

How Will Brands Increase Social Media Marketing Budgets in 2013?

budgetIt’s not surprising that research shows brands plan to increase social media marketing budgets in 2013, but the biggest investments might not be in the areas you expect. Brands plan to increase budgets in many areas but two areas are the biggest focus for brands in 2013 — Facebook and social media management tools and technology.

According to eMarketer, research by STRATA found that 82.4% of ad agencies use Facebook most often for client campaigns followed by YouTube (41.9%), Twitter (36.5%), Google+ (25.7%), LinkedIn (23.0%), and Pinterest (23.0%). Other sites like foursquare and MySpace were cited as “most likely to be used for client campaigns” by just 4.1% and 1.4%, respectively.

Clearly, Facebook is the focus for brands. It’s used by more people than any other social media site, so Facebook should be a high priority for brands. However, breaking through the clutter of Facebook is very challenging. For brands that do it successfully, the rewards in terms of brand awareness, brand buzz, and even sales can be significant.

According to research by SocialVibe, 77% of U.S. internet users connected with brands on Facebook in October 2012. That’s significantly higher than any other social media site such as Google+ (14%), YouTube (13%), Twitter (6%), and Pinterest (2%).

Since Facebook is the biggest player in social media, brands plan to invest even more in marketing to consumers on that site than ever before. As eMarketer reports, brands expect to increase social media marketing budgets in several areas, but Facebook is always in the lead.

Research from Strongmail found that nearly four out of 10 business leaders across the globe plan to increase Facebook marketing investments in 2013. That’s significantly more than the number of business executives who expect to increase spending on social media management technology in 2013 (26.5%).

The survey results tell us that behind Facebook marketing, business leaders are most concerned with streamlining, analyzing, tracking, optimizing, and justifying social media marketing budgets in the future. The full breakdown of social media programs that business executives around the world expect to increase spending on in 2013 according to the Strongmail survey follows:

  1. Facebook marketing = 39.6%
  2. Social media management technology = 26.5%
  3. Viral/referral marketing campaigns = 23.6%
  4. Twitter marketing programs = 23.3%
  5. Appending social data to customer database = 18.0%
  6. Staff = 16.1%
  7. Training and education = 15.7%
  8. Pinterest marketing programs = 14.9%
  9. Listening platforms = 14.8%
  10. Agency services and strategy = 13.9%
  11. Other = 3.6%
  12. None = 21.7%

Did you notice that more than five out of 10 business executives surveyed by Strongmail indicated that they didn’t plan to increase spending on any social media marketing programs in 2013? Does that surprise you?

Review your 2013 marketing plan and see if your priorities align with the priorities of other business executives or if there are key differences. You might find some great opportunities to invest in marketing programs that other businesses are missing.

Image: linusb4

Storytelling for Luxury Brands Delivers Big Results and All Brands Should Take Notes

louis-vuitton-journeys-adBrand storytelling has never been higher on marketers’ radar screens than it is as we near the end of 2012. Thanks to social media, every brand needs to have a story that taps into consumers’ emotions and drives a connection that leads not just to awareness, interest, and sales, but also to vocal advocacy and guardianship.

Brands can learn a lot about storytelling from luxury brands. What’s the Louis Vuitton story? The Tiffany & Co. story? The Bentley story?

These brands are extremely meaningful to the customers who pay large sums of money to buy them, use them, and flaunt them.

Luxury Brand Consumers

Consumers typically purchase luxury brands for one of three reasons:

  1. To prove to themselves that they’re worth the higher price tag and possible higher quality that comes with a luxury brand (self-affirmation).
  2. To prove to others that they’re worthy of the luxury brand’s price and quality (peer-affirmation). This could come in two forms: proof that the person belongs in the “wealthy” or “better” group as the consumer perceives it (assimilation) or proof that the person is not part of the mass consumer audience (differentiation).
  3. To enjoy the real or perceived superior quality, performance, or results provided by the luxury brand (appreciation and/or entitlement).

Luxury Brand Stories

tiffany and co ad

With those primary motivators behind luxury brand purchase decisions, marketers can create branded stories that leverage the emotions which come with self-affirmation, peer-affirmation, and appreciation of the features and benefits that luxury brands deliver. Luxury brand stories can focus on:

  • Brand history: The story of how the brand evolved, about well-known individuals, groups, or entities who use the brand, and so on can support a person’s need for self-affirmation. Leveraging the long history of an established luxury brand is a perfect example of storytelling that can be used to market and sell products. Consumers aren’t just buying a product when they purchase a luxury brand, they’re becoming part of a respected history.
  • Brand performance: The story of how a luxury brand performs, meets consumer expectations, and delivers on its promise of quality and excellence are easy to tell in marketing and advertising. Just focus on consumers actually using the branded products.
  • Brand availability: The story of how a luxury brand is hard to get unless a consumer is part of an exclusive group is one that has sold luxury branded products successfully for a very long time.
  • Brand experience: The story of how the brand can be experienced works extremely well for marketing luxury brands. Rather than simply telling consumers how to use products, luxury brands are excellent at showing consumers how to use their products for self-affirmation, peer-affirmation, and so on.
  • Brand persona: The persona of a luxury brand can be used in various ways to create brand stories. From who the brand represents to who is worthy of mingling with the brand or owning the brand are easily turned into stories for advertising.

Storytelling has never been hotter in the marketing world, and marketers don’t need to look far to find inspiration. There is much to be learned from luxury brands that have been using storytelling to drive sales for a very long time.

Images: Louis Vuitton, Tiffany & Co.

Banking For Everyone, Made In Heaven

Freddie Mercury Made In HeavenIf you’re of a certain age and plugged into social media, a certain milestone may not have escaped your notice during November: the 21st anniversary of the death of Freddie Mercury.  A cracking excuse to get the old vinyls out an give them a spin .. or browse over to YouTube, whichever takes your fancy .. all the way from the original Queen album through to Made In Heaven.

Made In Heaven.  A practically unique album, in that it was released posthumously with much of the engineering work also being done after Freddie’s death.  You may have realised I’m something of a fan (“nut” has also been used) and I still have a little difficulty listening to the album.

Something I don’t have difficulty with though is the Spanish banking group Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, or BBVA for short.  Yes I know it’s a tenuous link but when I came across their CSR website, Banca Para Todas (Banking for Everyone), I really was mightily impressed by it.  It just so happens that I’m writing about it with Freddie very much in my thoughts… so there you go :)

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EU continues corporate governance reform

EU slow corporate governance reformLike a slow, inevitable, irresistible piece of origami, the EU’s plans on corporate governance reform in line with general CSR principles continue to unfold.  This latest instalment looks at corporate governance and follows on from a public consultation and green paper in 2011.

Sixteen areas have been identified and put into an action plan.  Some will require regulatory changes, all will be enacted during 2013 unless further investigation is required and all, with the exception of the SPE proposal, will apply to all listed companies across the EU.

Generally they fall into three broad categories: transparency, shareholder power and cross border ownership.

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Five Key Elements of Sustainable Supply Chains

green supply chains : five elementsOne of the hottest topics of debate surrounding business sustainability is how to introduce it in a broad ranging manner across all sectors.  Regulation seems to be one path, as will shortly be seen for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, but business’ instinct is always to see if the market is flexible enough to bring about change without a change in the law.

Supply chains are one of the key players in this deregulated approach because they allow engagement with both upstream suppliers and downstream clients and neither of these crucial relationships should be forgotten.

However playing your part in a sustainable supply chain is about more than engaging with your business partners.  There are five key areas of a business which should be addressed to ensure your company’s link is forged with strength and resilience.

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