According to research conducted by TNS, the world leader in market research, social media is failing. In an article titled, "Hard Evidence of Social Media's Failings," from MarketingWeek by Mart Ritson, there are surprising results about social media's place in marketing.
After 72,000 consumers were interviewed across 60 countries, TNS found that a "majority of consumers in developed markets do not want to engage with brands via social media." This is shocking because many brand managers are implementing strategies to engage with their consumers through social media. Another shocking result of the study was that "just a quarter of consumers in developed markets see social networks as a place to buy products."
So what do brand managers need to understand about social media? TNS chief development officer, Matthew Froggatt, suggests that they need to realize that "social media is consumer space, and brand presence needs to be proportionate and justified." Unfortunately, as more companies begin entering social media with its brand, there will be more clutter, and thus consumers will begin ignoring almost everything related to a brand.
This is important information to know as a brand manager when creating an integrated marketing strategy. Brand managers need to somehow differentiate their brand via social media, or lessen its presence on social media because the clutter is not a benefit to consumers. In fact, it seems to be decreasing consumers' interest, which is the opposite of what they're trying to accomplish. Hopefully brand managers catch on to this survey and begin thinking about how they should incorporate social media into their IMC plan.
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Interesting data, but I find it hard to believe that marketing through social networks will stop. In my opinion, social media as a marketing tool is still developing, perhaps more developed than it was 5 years ago, but it has not reached its full potential. Perhaps the 61% surveyed have not embraced social media at its fullest, thus, don't see the benefits of communicating with "your favorite brand" online. I enjoy receiving Tweets from my favorite TV shows and cupons from my favorite stores; maybe it's just a matter of time until everyone thinks the same way.
ReplyDeleteI think social-media marketing might not work for big companies because most of them do the same thing (ex. "Like Us on Facebook") and it gets repetitive; there need to be a true breakthrough in social-media marketing.
At this point, it seems like small business and start-ups are the ones who truly benefit from the use of social networks to promote their business.
This is extremely interesting information, because it seems like in every class that we take is emphasizing the use of social media and embracing it in your future occupation. What this information tells us is exactly the opposite of what we've been taught for the last couple years. I know some may not agree with me, but I side with the 61% who would rather not interact with companies via social media.
ReplyDeleteThe nice thing about social media is that consumers get a choice. They can choose whether to like a company page on Facebook or follow a company's tweets on Twitter.
I think it is hard to imagine that social media is failing. I do not believe it is failing; it is just not working as effectively as some people expected it to. Social media is still getting “all the rage” about how wonderful it is and how EVERYONE needs to market on the different sites. It is now becoming more of a clutter and I agree with Autumn, people stop paying attention. I do believe that it is still beneficial. Facebook and Twitter are free. What are businesses losing? Maybe a little bit of time but not much. It gets the brand name out there and people will see it and later recognize it other places.
ReplyDeleteI do not believe that marketing on social media is failing. Businesses just need to learn to be more creative now. The ‘hype’ of marketing via social media is dying down. Now that the clutter has evolved it is time to stand out. It will take a little bit of thinking and ingenuity but I believe it can be done effectively with the right ideas.
I agree with Alejandro's comments about companies not wanting to be the same by falling into the pattern of social media craze. Companies can only succeed by social media if their target audience is active in social media. It doesn't make sense to advertise a product over Twitter if your target audience is middle aged and up because to odds are that most of that group will not be active on Twitter enough to where it could be a successful market strategy. The fact that social media is failing some businesses does not surprise me. It entirely depends on the product and the market for it as to whether this kind of market strategy will take off or not. Companies need only have a presence in these areas if they know customers will respond. Otherwise other channels will be more useful.
ReplyDeleteI truly believe that companies either don't know how to use social media for their business yet or they are just starting to catch on. Social media use for brands has just recently started to take off. I would say that the numbers are correct. The brands that understand social media, have built a community for the consumers that actually want to embrace social media, but most are still learning. Most are still learning how to best utilize social media though so I would give social media for brands the benefit of the doubt.
ReplyDeleteAs most of us who have commented on this so far, I think people are judging social media's success the wrong way. Social media is not going to be something where 100% of your sales or customer feedback come from. Social media is simply a tool that should be used by companies to reach customers in a different medium. If the business can create a few more loyal customers or transactions through social media it should be deemed a success. The public and researchers are putting too much emphasis on social media and how much it increases sales or makes an impact on a business. It should be used because of the people it makes happy, and eventually more people will become more aware of it and start to use it. Social media may be "failing" now, but in the future it will still be the focus of companies marketing approaches everywhere.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Alex's comments because you shouldn't view social media marketing success the same as other forms of marketing. I believe that social media marketing causes awareness, not actual call to action. If a company wants a campaign surrounded by call to action social media is not the best medium to use. With more and more people using social media I believe that it will still be a prevalent marketing strategy. This form of marketing still serves a purpose and is not going anywhere.
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