4 Ways to Engage "Super Socials"

 

About one-third of Americans with a social media profile have fully integrated social media (mostly Facebook) and smart phones into their daily lives. These 46 million people, manage their lives minute-by-minute and hour-by-hour using their phones. Two-thirds have used their phone to update their social media status which probably places them among the 300 million who check their Facebook pages using mobile devices several times each day. 

Jay Baer, analyzing a new study from Edison Research and Arbitron titled Social Habits II, calls them “Super Socials.”  Some of the key survey findings were: 

• Social networks are mainstream tools for personal communications
• Super Socials are more likely to be young and female
• Mobile access drives increased frequency of social network use
• Frequent users create more content  -- more viral opportunities
• Frequent users are more likely to follow brands
• Frequent users consume more on-demand content
• Frequent users watch more video TV on a digital device
• Almost 25% said Facebook most influences their buying decisions 

This growing segment is the leading target for integrated marketing campaigns. Forty-three percent of social media activists follow brands in social media; 8 in 10 do so on Facebook. Their psycho-demographics inform the personas that marketers use to build digital assets and target digital media.  Mom’s make up a healthy sub-segment of “Super Socials.” Yet when surveyed, 72 percent said that no social network influenced their purchase of products or services. 

A data point like this makes you wonder. 

The obvious explanation is that people say all kinds of stuff on surveys so we can easily dismiss internal contradictions as “survey error”. On the other hand the survey might be revealing a type of cognitive dissonance emerging from the social media experience that is being documented by a growing body of data, specifically the recent CMO Council study that says consumers and brands are coming at social media from different perspectives, with different expectations and agendas that might be seriously out of synch. 

People embraced Facebook and other networks because they created fast, easy and free ways to keep up with and communicate with friends and family. Social media is a personal CRM tool that adds value and fun. Plus it’s the thing to do, as evidenced by huge adoption among every demographic segment. Brands are second cousins. Admitted late to the party, brands are groping for credible ways to enter and participate in the on-going conversation. 

Typical brand interactions on Facebook happen once. The average fan visits the brand page once, usually to sign up for offers or deals or to play a game or participate in a promotion. A “Like” is usually the cost of participation not necessarily a sign of brand awareness, affection or preference. 

Most of the action on brand pages takes place on apps. These visits are not organic repeat visits. Instead media spending drives app use and promotional participation, often Facebook ads and external drivers like banners, video, search, text ads and e-mail. 

The fact that only a small percentage of fans actively visit brand pages without prompting suggests that the relationship with brands is secondary to relationships with real friends and based on a WIIFM calculation rather than as an expression of true loyalty or love.  The implication is that super social consumers frequently participating in the Facebook experience will play along or take goodies from brands but that’s not the reason they visit, post, comment or like frequently. 

No brand wants to feel, much less be, an interloper on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, LinkedIn, YouTube or elsewhere. It’s humbling to realize that the frequency and intensity of brand relationships aren’t what we thought they were or should be. But it also gives us clear direction on how to better serve our customers and ourselves in crafting social network marketing programs moving forward. 

Consider these four social media tactics.  

Focus on what people do.  Interact and support the things that Super Socials (and everybody else) do frequently in social media. Think visually and think through a life on the go. Identify inflection points where your brand has a distinctive positioning or point of view or can uniquely add value. Comment on the things fans care about. Share frequently. Become more like a real friend; helping, advising, celebrating and sharing. 

Enable or enhance functionality. Find ways to add to the social network experience by making it easier to post or share pictures, comment or post on popular subjects or find other people with similar interests. Conceive promotions that either save consumers’ time or money or have talk value. Focus on the simple, frequent functions that are easily done on a smart phone or a tablet. Build promotions or games that engage Moms and their kids. Remember the average Mom has downloaded several apps designed as babysitters or distractors for their kids. This might be a better access point for many brands to the social arena. 

Give Them What They Want. They come for deals, offers and coupons. Give them deals, offers and coupons. They want inside info, early access to new products or services and the real skinny about your category. Tell them in a consumer friendly voice. Expose key personnel. Use video to take fans inside your operation.  Be as candid as the competitive environment will allow. Parse the information to suit your sales objectives, but be sure to get it out to bloggers, brand fans, advocates and your e-mail list. And get it out using language and images that will provoke comments and riffs and that can be easily shared. 

Figure Out Who They Are. Look into emerging eCRM tools or design promotions that require fans and followers to identify themselves in ways that can be cross-matched with brand e-mail lists and databases. You can’t build on-going interactive relationships if you don’t really know who you’re talking to. Remember that social media fan bases are a collection of segments. Develop social media campaigns that break the one-size-fits-all mode. 

 

Comments

[MMI Marketing Solutions]

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MMI Marketing Company

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