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Thursday, July 2, 2009
Inside Social Media
Social media's value not measured by friend counts
MHT's Galen Moore: New 'hyperlocal' web trend
MHT's Efrain Viscarolasaga: How social networking is changing business
MHT's Galen Moore: Charities score with online fundraising
All marketers are striving to build customers who incorporate their products and brand experience stories into their social lives. But a look at the online social world shows that not all customers are equal in their social behavior.
Influence can’t be measured by how many followers someone has on Twitter, or the number of friends they have on Facebook. Instead, marketers should focus on determining which relationships really matter, and how that could impact their brand. Unfortunately, the question of influence becomes more complex as you dig into measurement tools such as social network data, influencer rankings and conversation and sentiment monitoring.
Traditionally, when marketers needed answers related to consumer behavior, one turned to research such as focus groups, quantitative studies and observation. Participants were typically recruited using a list of desirable demographics, which results in a panel of individuals with no real connection other than the fact that they fit the screening characteristics.
But how much can companies really learn about social behavior when speaking to people in isolation from their social networks? These research studies often show clusters of behavior similarities that help marketers to create personas and segments. However, what do these “personality clusters” really tell marketers about how people relate to one another in their own social groups? To look beyond the need to gain insight on segments and personas, employ social influence research (as outlined below), in order to truly gain insight into consumer’s social behavior and how it relates to your brand:
A look at market segmentation
Produced by statistical analysis of quantitative data;
Provides quantitative data on who users are, and what they enjoy;
Analysis focuses on differences and distinctions in demographics and attitudes;
Segments become clusters of dominant characteristics by demographics and/or attitudes;
Can be used as input to qualitative research, marketing and branding.
A look at personas
Produced by inductive and interpretive analysis of qualitative data;
Provides qualitative data on who users are and what makes them real;
Analysis focuses on putting people’s needs, goals and behaviors in-context for the brand;
Personas become clusters of dominant characteristics by needs, goals or behaviors;
Can be used as input to quantitative research, design processes and media efforts.
Try social influence research
Analyze a customer’s social behavior as a structure made of influence nodes (generally individuals or organizations) that are tied by one or more specific types of interdependency;
Identify how deeply values, visions, ideas, financial exchange, friendship, kinship, dislike, conflict or trade work as interdependencies;
Can be used as inputs to develop Social Influence Marketing (employing social media as a part of the entire life cycle of a marketing campaign) programs, and insights into social behavior.
Marketers can begin to conduct Social Influence Research by mapping customers to their online networks. This can be done in both quantitative and qualitative settings as self-reported data. But, as more social networks open up usage data, marketers will also be able to use secondary data analysis to further understand the intricacies of consumer behavior. It’s important to also understand who your customers are connected to online and not just where they’re connecting, but how they are influenced. Analyzing social behavior between known and anonymous connections helps marketers to better understand what really constitutes influence.
Don’t forget to look at the offline relationships as well. Humans have always been connecting socially, so look to the original and most prevalent social networks to gauge the strong insight into forecasting online social behavior.
Four tips to add social influence research to your brand toolkit
1. Recruit research participants as part of their social groups.
2. Observe participants in social settings.
3. Observe participants engaged in online social behavior.
4. Ask survey participants to forward the questionnaire to friends and family, and track referrals to the source (first forward).
Andrea Harrison is strategy director at online advertising company Razorfish.
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