Susan Gunelius

December 29, 2012

6 in 10 Facebook Users Talk About Products

Facebook 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:

To express tastes and preferences with friends = 38%
To share a great product experience with friends = 35%
To receive discounts or rewards for sharing = 30%
To enter a contest or sweepstakes = 15%
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

December 20, 2012

How Will Brands Increase Social Media Marketing Budgets in 2013?

It’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:

Facebook marketing = 39.6%
Social media management technology = 26.5%
Viral/referral marketing campaigns = 23.6%
Twitter marketing programs = 23.3%
Appending social data to customer database = 18.0%
Staff = 16.1%
Training and education = 15.7%
Pinterest marketing programs = 14.9%
Listening platforms = 14.8%
Agency services and strategy = 13.9%
Other = 3.6%
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

December 18, 2012

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

Brand 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:

To prove to themselves that they’re worth the higher price tag and possible higher quality that comes with a luxury brand (self-affirmation).
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).
To enjoy the real or perceived superior quality, performance, or results provided by the luxury brand (appreciation and/or entitlement).

Luxury Brand Stories

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.

December 14, 2012

94% of Consumers Think Businesses Should Give Back

Consumers are more likely to reward businesses and brands that give back to the community and world through charitable donations and socially-conscious initiatives. According to research from Cone Communication and Echo Research (infographic from Zendesk, no longer available), 94% of consumers think businesses should do more than make money. Businesses and brands should give back.

Specifically, consumers think businesses have a range of resources available to them, which those businesses should use to positively impact global issues. This isn’t an isolated sentiment. Over 10,000 consumers in 10 countries were surveyed, and the consensus was clear — consumers expect businesses to give back. Businesses that do can gain loyal customers. 47% of survey respondents indicated they are more likely to be loyal to a company that supports social and environmental causes, and 53% indicated they are more likely to recommend those companies and brands to other people.

It’s important to note that while there are specific causes that consumers are passionate about and believe that companies should support in order to drive changes (see the infographic below for the details), consumers also want companies to make internal changes to positively affect social and economic causes. According to the participants in this study, consumers most want companies to:

Change the way they operate = 34%
Apply unique business assets = 19%
Develop new products or services = 16%
Raise awareness and educate = 11%
Develop partnerships = 11%
Make donations = 7%
Donate employee time/expertise = 5%

Take a close look at the data above. The first step most companies and brands take to demonstrate their commitments to impacting social and economic causes is to donate money or require employees to donate money and time to charitable organizations. Are you surprised to see that the internal changes consumers most want companies to make in order to support social and economic causes don’t include making donations and donating employee time and expertise until the sixth and seventh items on this list?

Businesses should support economic and social causes for multiple reasons. Most importantly, they have the resources to make positive changes, but also because consumers want them to and will reward them with referrals and loyalty. For brands the benefits are numerous. At the most basic level, economic and social causes evoke powerful feelings in people, and tying emotions to your brand can have significant results to loyalty, advocacy, and sales. Never underestimate the power of emotional branding.

December 11, 2012

Mobile Shoppers Want More from Retail Brands

A new study by research consultancy Latitude offers insights into consumers’ mindsets, motivations, and desires around mobile shopping. More than 900 smartphone-enabled consumers in the United States and the United Kingdom participated in the Latitude study, and 63% of them claimed that they expect they’ll do more mobile shopping in the future.

Today, Latitude found that 51% of people feel very comfortable making purchases from their mobile devices, while 39% feel somewhat comfortable doing so. Furthermore, 80% would be interested in a mobile wallet, and 61% have a better perception of brands when those brands offer good mobile experiences.

Mobile Shopping Activities Vary by Device

Interestingly, smartphone-enabled consumers’ shopping-related activities vary depending on the device they’re using at a given moment in time. According to the study results, the following top three activities were reported for smartphone, laptop, and tablet users:

Top Mobile Shopping Activities for Smartphone Users:

Locate a store = 72%
Look up/compare pricing = 66%
Look up product information = 58%

Top Mobile Shopping Activities Laptop Users:

Check out = 72%
Look up product information = 66%
Look for coupons/promotions = 65%

Top Mobile Shopping Activities Tablet Users:

Look up product information = 66%
Look up/compare pricing = 61%
Check user ratings/reviews = 57%

This information can help marketers create more relevant and useful brand promotions targeted to device users and the actions they’re comfortable taking. Participants in the Latitude study offered a variety of “future requests” for mobile shopping within physical retail stores, which you can see in detail in the image below.

Click the image to view it at full-size at the source.

Reasons People Shop with Mobile Devices

The reasons why consumers shop using mobile devices are also important to marketers. Understanding why consumers choose mobile shopping can help marketers craft more compelling messages that support consumers’ reasons for shopping using their mobile devices. The top reasons smartphone-enable consumers provided for shopping with their mobile devices are:

Saves time = 73%
Can find the best deals = 69%
Can do it on the go = 69%
Can do it while multitasking = 63%
Don’t have time to wait in line = 55%

More people cite saving time rather than saving money as the primary reason they shop using mobile devices. This held true for all study participant income-levels. Again, marketers might want to create more messages related to saving time when targeting the mobile shopping audience.

What Mobile Consumers Want from Virtual Retail

When it comes to mobile shopping, consumers know what they want from brands and retailers. The image below from Latitude’s report explains some of the future requests that study participants want from mobile virtual retail.

Click the image to view it at full-size at the source.

Not sure what your customers want your brand to deliver to them through their mobile devices? They’re telling you in research studies like this. You just need to listen and create the brand experiences, promotions, and messages that they’re asking for. You can review the full Latitude report and get all the findings here: Latitude Next Gen Retail Study.

December 7, 2012

Pantone Color of the Year 2013 – Emerald

Pantone has revealed the 2013 color of the year — Emerald (17-5641). Pantone Color Institute executive director Leatrice Eiseman explains that the color is right for 2013 because it “promotes change, renewal, and clarity in a complex world.” According to the Pantone Color of the Year 2013 web page, emerald reflects elegance, beauty, well-being, and balance.

Eiseman and the Pantone team expect that emerald will be particularly prevalent in the coming year in the fashion, interior, and beauty categories, but it can be easily integrated into marketing and design for brands that are looking for a change. As explained on the Pantone website, that’s because green is “the color of growth, renewal and prosperity – no other color conveys regeneration more than green. For centuries, many countries have chosen green to represent healing and unity.”

You can see how emerald green is being used on products in the Pinterest Holiday Look Book board from Pantone that is dedicated to the 2013 color of the year. It features clothing, a coffee maker, shoes, bags, notebooks, cameras, and more. Pantone also offers mood boards from its website featuring Emerald 17-5641 with downloadable color palettes and links to creative submissions that use emerald on Pantone Canvas — a site where people can share their creative work, view portfolios from top designers, and find inspiration. This creative use of social media marketing and crowdsourcing is integrated with Pantone’s efforts to spread the word about the color of the year via Twitter and Facebook.

The selection of emerald as the 2013 color of the year comes on the heels of the vibrant 2012 color of the year – tangerine. Pantone explains, “The 2012 color of the year, PANTONE 17-1463 Tangerine Tango, a spirited reddish orange, provided the energy boost we needed to recharge and move forward. Emerald, a vivid verdant green, enhances our sense of well-being further by inspiring insight as well as promoting balance and harmony.”

You can see the evolution of the Pantone color of the year since 2007 in the image below. Trends have certainly leaned toward bright colors without crossing over into neon territory. Instead, rich, bold hues have been selected consistently over the past seven years.

While the Pantone color of the year typically doesn’t have a broad effect on marketing and design, it does have an effect on some design trends, particularly in fashion, beauty, and interior design as mentioned above. What really stands out about the 2013 Pantone color of the year announcement is how well Pantone has leveraged integrated marketing to spread the word, boost the online conversation about the Pantone brand, and garner publicity through articles, news features, and blog posts (like this one) from people who love color. It’s a great example of a company turning an announcement into a marketing opportunity.

Images: Pantone LLC