BackCreating momentum for a brand through social networking
Creating momentum for a brand through social networking
PremiumC2C effect: Aegis Media’s Patrick Stahle says agencies of the group and specialist communication companies use the RoI model.
Mumbai: Social network marketing creates value for a brand by making more consumers want to buy a product and by increasing advocacy (word of mouth). Research conducted by TNS, TRU and Marketing Evolution and commissioned by Fox Interactive Media Inc., Isobar and Carat USA shows two sources of value creation in social networking: The classic ad effect, where a business communicates to a consumer, or B2C, and the consumer to consumer, or C2C, effect when one consumer uses the brand as a reference point in her personal profile or passes along the information to a friend.
Here’s how the model measured the impact of Adidas’ soccer community on MySpace. The new campaign focused on fostering an environment of friendly discussion and debate of Adidas’ two models or elite soccer boots—Predator and F50 TUNIT.
Customers could align with their choice of Adidas brands. Value creation was defined primarily as an increase in purchase intent. Secondary metrics included awareness, loyalty, advocacy and positive brand perceptions.
The momentum effect accounted for more than half of the total impact of social network marketing in the case of Adidas. C2C impacted 4.2 million consumers on purchase intent and 1.5 million consumers on intent to recommend. The B2C and C2C value created on the “definitely will purchase" parameter and the C2C momentum effect represented 77% of total value created for Adidas.
Such examples show that almost all the C2C value comes from seeing the brand within the social network.
Traditional measurement of digital media typically focuses on first-level effect from advertising, such as purchase intent and intent to recommend. It, however, misses the majority of value from social network marketing—in Adidas’ case, awareness, association with soccer, favourite brand, brand attributes, product familiarity, purchase intent (product) and intent to recommend.
And what are the variables that drive the momentum effect and hence its score?
Patrick Stahle says that some of the variables they measure in this space are: Searches made online by tracking through Google and Yahoo; blog postings tracked via Technorati, Ice-rocket; Flickr or YouTube postings that include tags for the product or brand; number of views or responses for each of these items, which can indicate the reach and power of each bit of “social media"; time spent on the site to see how engaged users are in the activity, or their experience of the brand; how many people “pass on" postings or content to their friends; people creating stories (those people creating brand stories and content); people passively observing (viewing but not posting); and buzz generated online (positive and negative posts in social networks).
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