'Likes' Lead to Nothing—and Other
Hard-Learned Lessons of Social Media Marketing
A decade-and-a-half after the dawn of
social media marketing, brands are still learning what works and what doesn't
with consumers.
Seventeen years after the dawn of social
media marketing, this medium continues to be an intriguing puzzle—a place where
brands are investing more time and money, but are still struggling to determine
what works well and where the returns on investment can be found.
Social media spending has increased by 200
percent in the past eight years, rising from 3.5 percent of marketing budgets
in 2009 to 10.5 percent in February 2017, according to The
CMO Survey 2017. And that upward climb is expected to
continue: Marketers say they will expand their social media spending by 90
percent over the next five years, or 18.5 percent of the total by then.
“All brands, big and small, are firmly in
social media today,” says Jill J. Avery, senior lecturer at Harvard Business
School. “Social media has become a mainstream tactic.”
Marketing
professionals are not sure that social media marketing is effective.
Is this ever-increasing focus on social
paying off? Forty-three percent of respondents said in the CMO Survey that they
have not been able to show the impact of social media on their businesses.
After all, it can be tough to pinpoint a direct connection between a social
media chat about a product with the actual purchase of that product.
“The biggest challenge right now is that all
this money is shifting into digital marketing, but there are still a lot of
questions about return on investment,” Avery says. “Social media marketers are
feeling pressure to show ROI.”
Still, since those first Facebook ads were
posted in 2004, social media has proven itself a valuable tool for helping
companies create consumer perceptions about particular brands (Old Spice) and has even
sparked social movements (Ice Bucket Challenge).
More recently, it has allowed companies to reap creative ideas on product
improvements directly from their customers (Lay's flavored potato chips). And it has
also managed to get brands into trouble (United
Breaks Guitars).
The smash hit Old Spice campaign
"The Man Your Man Could Smell Like" started on TV, but was amplified
by exposure on YouTube and other social media.
As marketers have experimented, what have
they learned about what works on social? We sat down with four marketing
experts on the Harvard Business School faculty to find out.
WHERE BRANDS HAVE GONE WRONG
Here’s a look at some of the social media
missteps brands have taken over the past decade–and the lessons we’ve learned
from them.
Prioritizing
technology over substance
Maybe it’s because the medium seems so
ephemeral, but digital brand managers are too often intent on creating
short-term promotions rather than conveying long-lasting brand values in the
minds of consumers, says Sunil Gupta, the Edward W. Carter Professor of
Business Administration.
As an example, take a look at location-based
mobile marketing. “You walk past a restaurant, and McDonald’s sends you a
50-percent-off coupon,” Gupta says. “We’ve been doing that forever with a
poster in the window; I can have a guy stand in the doorway and hand you
coupons. What’s the difference? We get caught up in the activity and never stop
to ask: What is the benchmark?”
Early on, many brands made the mistake of
focusing on collecting reams of likes on Facebook, yet Gupta says those
likes haven’t amounted to much—certainly not a whole lot of purchases. “Do
likes lead to loyal consumers or do loyal consumers tend to like a brand on
Facebook? Do these likes lead to anything?” he asks. “What we found with our research was
that likes lead to nothing.”
Not social enough
Commercial appeals often fall flat on social
networks, which many consumers believe should be a place for conversations
strictly among people they know. “If you and I are having a conversation and
someone pulls up a third chair and says, ‘Buy my product,’ it’s annoying,” says
Gupta.
Brands should instead look to create a
conversation with a broader message that connects with consumers. For instance,
Dove’s Real Beauty campaign
wasn’t focused merely on the benefits of a bar of soap, but tapped into
the deeper themes of body image and self-esteem that resonated with women.
“If a brand wants to create a conversation
with you, the message of the brand has to be broader than just the function of
the product itself,” Gupta says. “In social media, functional messages don’t
work. I’m not interested in talking to my friends about a brand. So how can you
weave the message into a bigger social conversation and still make it relevant
to the brand?”
Forgetting that on the Web, consumers control
your brand
With traditional marketing, brand managers
took time to carefully craft messages placed in newspapers, television, and
radio—and they had some control over who saw or heard that ad.
Now, marketing is much less manageable,
with consumers
taking charge of social media discussions about
brands. Social gives customers a megaphone, Gupta says, allowing them to
weigh in on every message a brand posts—all for plenty of public eyes to see.
Inappropriate
messaging
Cheerios attempted to express sympathy after
Prince died, but its “Rest in peace”
tweet received a vicious backlash—and was later deleted—after the brand dared
to dot the “i” in that message with a single Cheerio.
“This was a death that was felt very deeply
by the fan culture of Prince, and that’s not a time for a heavy marketing
sell,” Avery says. “A common tactic right now is for brands to look at what’s
hot, what’s trending, and what’s in the news and they shackle their brands to
it. If you’re just tacking your brand onto a current event that has no
relationship to your brand or consumer, it’s dangerous because it can feel
false, opportunistic, and inappropriate.”
Failing to
understand how quickly things can go wrong
One viral video on Facebook can do serious
damage to a company’s reputation, as United Airlines undoubtedly learned when a
Facebook video surfaced of a passenger
being dragged off an airplane.
“Social media has changed consumers’
expectations with the way they communicate with brands,” says Leslie K. John,
Marvin Bower Associate Professor. “I have friends who have had a bad customer
experience, and they immediately turn to Twitter.”
Some companies worry about even stepping into
the social space for fear of how customers will react, but Gupta questions whether
that’s a sign these companies really have a more general image problem that
needs to be addressed.
“A health care company might say we wouldn’t
have a social media conversation with consumers because consumers would say bad
things about us,” Gupta says. “So, then you should ask: Why would they say
those things? Is your company bad? If your (company) is lousy, a negative
message will resonate with other people.”
WHERE BRANDS HAVE GONE RIGHT
Respond to complaints—and make it quick
Brands should react to social media
negativity the same way firefighters manage forest fires, particularly when
they’re not sure where the next spark will come from, Gupta says. “You ask
these guys: How do you manage lightning strikes when you can’t predict them?”
he says. “They have two simple rules: Make sure your forest is not dry, and if
lightning strikes, act very quickly.” By ensuring that a forest is not dry,
Gupta means companies should make sure they are perceived positively before a
crisis occurs.
The Transportation Security Administration
works to keep its forest dry by doing quite a bit of listening on Twitter. To
ease congested lines at airports, for example, TSA workers answer questions
online about items that can or can’t be carried aboard planes—a bit of helpful
pre-planning communication many flyers appreciate.
When companies do screw up, social can make
things worse or make things better in a hurry.
“In social media, seconds count,” Avery says.
“If a company doesn’t respond in real time, other consumers will pile on and it
spirals out of control.”
If a company has a positive reputation,
customers will often defend a brand that’s feeling social media heat. A popular
brand like Apple will have plenty of die-hard fans willing to push back when a
consumer issues an online attack, Avery says. “The best defense against people
who are speaking badly about you on social media is to have an incredibly loyal
relationship with your users, so they are ready and able to defend you.”
It’s OK to be
funny—but remember your brand’s purpose
Social media is a place where people
appreciate humor—as long as it fits with the brand image, Avery says. Squatty Potty does
an excellent job of engaging its audience with amusing and entertaining
Facebook videos to sell a product focused on a subject people don’t normally
like to talk about. Blendtec
captured attention and increased sales with a video
showing that its blender was so powerful it could crush a cell phone into a
pile of powder.
“It
went viral because it was short and it was shocking and funny,” Gupta says.
“But it also had an objective and stayed on message: The blender (can) blend
anything. That’s what social media should do: You can be funny, but you have to
stay on message.”
Be playful, have
fun
When brands
get playful on social media, payoffs can be huge.
Every few years, a 2008 video recirculates on
Facebook that appears to be dramatic footage taken with a handheld camera of a
stunt plane losing a wing and spiraling to earth—with the pilot miraculously
making a safe landing.
“It gets millions of viewings, and people
pass it on. It seems too good to be true,” says John Deighton, Baker Foundation
Professor of Business Administration. The video is so dramatic it is likely
that many viewers will investigate further. “Some notice that the plane has a
logo.”
Sure enough, it turns out that the clip was
a digitally
produced video promotion for German clothing company
KillaThrill—the name on the logo. “Two-thirds of people who see it won’t ever
know it’s an ad,” Deighton says. “But the people who see what it’s for and get
to the company website are quite likely to buy something. They’ve tracked it
down, and now you’ve got this bond, and you’ve engaged with a brand in a
self-directed way.”
More recently, Wendy’s has taken a lighter
touch on Twitter with customers:
Put your customers
to work
Brands can make consumers feel empowered by
giving them opportunities to share ideas, as Lay’s has done by asking its
customers to vote on the chip flavor the brand should create next.
“This is a new trend, and it provides great
information, allowing companies to create new products that fit consumer
preferences,” John says.
But when an organization invites public
input, it should also be prepared to lose its grip on a campaign, as the UK’s
National Environment Research Council found out when it created a citizen poll
to suggest a title for a ship and ended up seeing the jokey name Boaty McBoatface take
the lead in votes.
Encourage
endorsements
A consumer merely liking a brand on
Facebook isn’t considered all that effective in attracting brand followers, but
paying to have branded content displayed in followers’ news feeds does work.
Brands should find ways to encourage consumers to recommend
companies by sharing why they use their products
and services.
“It’s not enough to slap your brand on
Facebook and expect things to happen,” John says. “But if you see your friend
booked a hotel on Facebook, that kind of endorsement is more likely to be
effective than if the person just pressed the like button.”
Understand your
customers
Some brands can get away with being
political—Ben & Jerry’s uses the political news of the day to further
its relationship with consumers. “They’ll launch ice cream flavors tied to political agendas,
and it’s believable,” Avery says. “That’s because they’re very focused on their
target market and they don’t care if they alienate others.”
Not every brand can get away with political
messaging, however. John says a friend who sells artisan maple syrup in Vermont
considered an anti-Donald Trump social media campaign during the presidential
election to woo Bernie Sanders supporters. John advised against it. “I said,
‘You’re not a political brand and this feels off-strategy for you,’” John says.
The friend followed her advice.
Listen on social
and massage your message
Companies can now do quite a bit of listening
and data mining on social to get a feel for public sentiment. Nike can track
whether people are talking about the company in relation to sweatshops, how
expensive its products are, or if they appreciate certain features of its shoes.
“This can change your business strategy and how you market,” Gupta says. “The
challenge is to find the nugget of insight from this huge amount of data.”
That data can also be used to target
customers who matter.
“The benefit of Facebook is that I can use
data to identify who might be the right people for the business and do precise
targeting of that audience. In TV, I can’t do that,” Gupta says. “When I reach
out to my target audience and convey my message, if it’s only to 10,000 people,
that might be more effective than reaching 10 million people who mean nothing
to me.”
Authenticity wins
Whether a company has garnered millions of
Facebook likes or created a hilarious video that has gone viral, marketers are
starting to realize that above all, a social media message needs to stay on
target—to the intended audience, to the brand’s values, to the social
climate--if a company expects to benefit.
Says Gupta: “(Companies) are putting so much
money into social media, and they are only just now beginning to learn to stay
on message and ask the questions that matter: Does it drive the business, or at
a minimum, does it enhance the brand?”
by Dina Gerdeman
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/don-t-express-sympathy-with-a-cheerio-and-other-hard-learned-lessons-of-social-media-marketing?cid=spmailing-16870048-WK%20Newsletter%2009-20-2017%20(1)-September%2020,%202017
No comments:
Post a Comment