IO Report: Social Studies

Insights and updates on social media marketing at specialty

by: Martin Vilaboy
Inside Outdoor Fall 2016
[Excerpt from Inside Outdoor Fall 2016]

It’s been about 10 years since Facebook opened its pages to all the world and Twitter first hit the Interweb. How much has social media changed in that time? So much so that some leading thinkers even argue that the term “social media” itself is incomplete if not obsolete.

The leading contestants in the space seem to feel the same way. Twitter, for instance, now defines itself as a “news app,” while Pinterest see itself as an “online scrapbooking service.” Snap, Inc., the company behind Snapchat, self-identifies as “a camera company” (i.e. Spectacles), and Facebook sees itself as, well, everything.

For lack of a better term, we’ll stick with “social media” for now, considering it reflective of today’s social network platforms that primarily center on consumer generated, aggregated and shared content, and rely largely on advertising dollars. That’s not to suggest change has not been prevalent. Rather, the pace of change can be dizzying to marketers, particularly those at smaller retailers and vendors that lack substantial social media teams and budgets.

Which brings us to what is arguably the biggest shift: social media can no longer be viewed as a free or super cheap form of marketing. “[B]rands are coming to grips with the (sad) reality that social is a pay-to-play field now,” said Ben Donkor, Social Media Analyst, Microsoft UK. Paid social advertising and sponsorships as well as software tools that measure campaign effectiveness have become the norm, at least among larger contestants. In turn, social ROI is no longer just a concept thrown about by keynote speakers and session panelists. The prioritization of quantity and action is being replaced by informed decision making and analytics.

All the while, social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat continue to bake advanced advertising and promotional platforms, conversion mechanisms, calls-to-action and buy buttons into their products. On the horizon, Facebook and Twitter also are expected to roll out more B2B ad products in order to take advantage of that large and largely untapped market of advertisers for social networks.

With all this, and more, in mind, we’ve poured over piles of research and data, reports and updates, in the hopes of providing smaller organizations that lack dedicate teams or large budgets insight into some of the recent developments and shift of strategies in social media marketing. We also hope to dispel a few myths along the way. After perusing our 10,000-foot view, feel free to contact us (martin@bekapublishing.com) if you’d like to receive a digital packet of the data and surveys used to produce this report.


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Two Words: Don’t Annoy

If you’re interested and reading this article, it’s more than likely your company has built up a nice group of followers and fans, and those friends sit on the front line of your social media campaign. This loyal collection of consumers is arguably the most powerful social tool in an arsenal. Not only do these folks represent a community of advocates, but according to the proverbial “network effect,” the more endpoints that exist to share and spread the word, the more powerful the network becomes. So it almost goes with saying that marketers need to be careful not to take steps backward by annoying and hence losing followers. As much as anything, research suggests the quickest way for retailers and brands to lose fans and followers is by essentially trying too hard.

Actions That Make People Unfollow a Brand on Social MediaA survey of more than 1,000 Facebook, Twitter and Instagram users by Sprout Social, a provider of social management tools, asked participants what annoys them about brands on social and what ultimately drives them to unfollow. Far and away, the most annoying behavior for respondents is when brands send too many promotions, said 57 percent of respondents. Even worse is when the promotions are not relevant. In other words, if you are blasting out messages and memes simply for the sake of “staying on the customer’s radar,” you are likely annoying a good chunk of customers. They may not always unsubscribe, but they likely are quickly swiping by.

One-sided content isn’t the sole annoyance. “People are also taking notice of the tone and content of social profiles that just don’t seem to fit,” say Sprout researchers. Trying to convince a younger demographic that your legacy brand is hip by inserting slang or casual chatter, or making attempts at humor that are either not funny or not appropriate to the company personality are major turn offs, Sprout’s figures suggest, topping lists of both “most annoying behavior” and reasons to unfollow a brand.

Actions That Make People Follow a Brand on Social MediaMore than likely, when people follow a brand or retailer, they are not looking for a “friend.” Generally, they are looking for deals and promotions; information on cool product, events and outings; answers to their inquiries; maybe a laugh or ah-ha; and possibly a community of like-minded folks to share among. For a post, tweet or snap to present clear value and relevance to customers/followers, it must meet one of those or another known need. Easier said than done, for sure. After all, that could be the genius of retail social marketing. But sometimes, it simply starts with consciously asking how a certain message or communication provides value to followers. The next less-easy step is to be honest in that assessment.

Snap To It

Facebook remains the undisputed king of social network marketing, both in terms of user penetration and business spending. It is an extension of many brands’ websites, and sits at the core of many social strategies. The site boast more than 40 million active small business pages alone, and with its steady stream of new product additions and acquisitions, it’s likely to maintain its position as the Sunday paper of its generation for some time. Even so, if Facebook still gets the overwhelming majority of your attention and budget, you’re likely falling behind your savviest competition, particularly when it comes to attracting younger cohorts.

Preferred Social Media Site among U.S. Teens

The relatively young Instagram, for one, has quickly become much more than a new kid on the block when it comes to aggregating eyeballs. Launched about six years after Twitter, it already boasts more active users in the U.S., per Statista figures, with 77 million to Twitter’s 67 million. Its daily active user count (number of users who engage with the service any given day) is as high as 300 million, dwarfing Twitter’s 110 million, reports The Motley Fool.

“Instagram has become the go-to platform for users interested in both sharing visual stories and consuming them,” said researchers at Simply Measured. This year alone, the network has added 60-second videos, added video to carousel ads, simplified its interface to highlight shared content better and adopted an algorithmic feed. Notable to marketers, a study by Influenster and Adweek found that Instagram was the most preferred social media site/app for engaging with brand content among U.S. female social media users, named by 81 percent of respondents.

All the while, the even younger Snapchat has exploded during the past two years. It has arguably become the top social media destination among U.S. teenagers and is already a core component of the social strategies of leading brands such as Taco Bell, Coca Cola and Louis Vuitton.

“What began as a tool for young people to connect with their friends with erasable content is now used by 150 million people every day, and not just to engage with friends,” said Simply Measured researchers. “For many people, Snapchat is a destination for news, trends and entertainment from brands, especially on Snapchat’s Discover feature.”

Websites Apps Used by US Teen Internet Users June 2016Among teens, in particular, it is quickly emerging as a top network. As recently as Spring 2015, just 13 percent of teens surveyed by Piper Jaffray listed Snapchat as their favored social site. By Spring 2016, the number jumped to 28 percent, just topping Instagram for the number one spot and distancing Snapchat significantly from mainstay Facebook and Twitter. Keep in mind, however, Snapchat advertising, although customized by Snap Inc., can be relatively expensive.

Elsewhere, the mighty YouTube is losing some luster among social media marketers, largely due to leading social networks, including Facebook and Twitter, adding more and more video capabilities and the emergence of short-form micro-videos. A recent Trusted Media Brands study, for example, found that 65 percent of media executives prefer social media for video advertising over video-specific options such as YouTube. Nonetheless, if should be noted that YouTube remains wildly popular among young adults, teens and pre-teens, particularly young boys who follow the growing band of YouTubers the way previous generations followed television stars and sports heroes. A recent survey by Microsoft and the National Cyber Security Alliance found that YouTube was far and away the most used site among U.S. Internet users between the ages of 13 and 17 years old, at 91 percent penetration.


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Get ‘Em in the Door

The direct impact that social networks have on store sales and their ability to facilitate purchasing continues to evolve. Social marketers tell Simply Measured that “measuring ROI” is clearly their top challenge surrounding their social media campaigns, cited by 61 percent of respondents (securing budget came in second with 38 percent). In the same survey, only 9.4 percent said that they’re able to quantify revenue driven by social.

Brand Social Media PresenceAnalysis of available surveys does little to clarify matters. When Gallup asked more than 18,000 consumers about the influence of social media on their buying decisions, 62 percent said they had no influence at all. Just 5 percent said it has a great deal of influence. E-commerce research firm Custora, for its part, reports that less than 2 percent of both 2014 and 2015 holiday sales can be directly attributed to social media campaigns. On the other hand, research from Sprout Social suggests a staggering 75 percent of people have purchased something because they saw it on social media.

Ultimately, it’s foolish to ignore the influence social content and contacts have on consumers’ paths to purchasing, from initial discovery to post-purchase posts and recommendations. Even if users aren’t heading to social media specifically to interact with brands, per se, friends’ referrals have been a primary influencer on purchasing decisions since before the days of marketing metrics.

“Social media has a unique ability to impact any stage of the buyer’s journey, depending on how it’s leveraged,” argue researchers at Simply Measured.

Buying from a Brand People Follow on Social MediaSo how can independent retailers leverage and gauge their social media marketing campaigns? According to Jay York, senior social media strategist for EMSI Public Relations, whenever a company is interacting on social media, one of the goals should be to send traffic to their websites. Similarly, we believe independent, physical retailers should focus their social media efforts on getting folks to visit their stores. That’s particularly important during the holiday shopping season when close to half of shoppers report to making their final purchase decisions while in a store, show figures from Prosper Insight. And whereas 7 percent of respondents to a Gallup survey said they’ve based a buying decisions on social media content, 56 percent said they base purchasing decisions on in-store displays.

Certainly, this can be achieved through posts and promotions of ongoing sales and events, but social capabilities, including live video, also can be used to provide real-time updates on in-store inventory availability, something holiday shoppers very much desire from physical retailers (see “Ho Ho Promo” feature, page 30).

Retailers also can look into Snapchat Geofilters, which automatically display the retail location anytime a customer snaps from inside a store. This can be enhanced by providing shoppers with reasons to interact with Snapchat while shopping.

Assuming historical traffic patterns exist, social media efforts designed to drive shoppers to a store can actually be measured and quantified.


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