Softly, softly is key to social media

Within only a few years, social media has rewritten the rules of personal engagement, transforming how people interact with each other and providing new ways for brands to reach consumers.
Recent research from GI Insight reveals just how widespread social media usage has become: a survey of more than 1,000 British consumers shows that 75% are active on social networking sites, with the overwhelming majority of these visiting at least once a week.
The sheer numbers may seem reason enough for marketers to target these consumers through the sites they use, especially since the speed with which people can communicate on social media means that brands can spread their message more widely than ever before.
However, GI Insight’s research exposes potential pitfalls for companies intending to take advantage of these possibilities. Brands run the risk of alienating the very consumers they aim to attract if they approach them on social networking sites, with 82% of the consumers surveyed saying that they object to advertising or commercial messaging ‘invading’ these sites.
Brands also risk damaging their reputation by targeting consumers in this way: according to the research, 81% of consumers say they would be seriously put off a brand or company if it contacted them directly via social media. This hostility is a compelling argument in favour of a cautious approach to marketing through this medium.
The situation is complicated, however, by indications in the research that consumers are in fact willing to engage in interactions with brands and companies on social media. Despite their seemingly hard-line attitude towards commercial contact via social networking sites, the majority of social media users – 64% – have ‘liked’ or ‘friended’ pages run by brands or companies, and 68% of these are subsequently happy to receive personalised commercial messages from them.
So there is a place for social media within a broader marketing strategy, so long as companies recognise that consumers are determined to stay in control of the relationship – something that is further reinforced by the fact that 49% of the social media users who have ‘liked’ a brand’s page have later retracted an endorsement as a result of irritation at the volume of messages they were receiving.
However, for companies that respect these limits, social networking sites present an opportunity to engage informally with potential customers and gather vital information on consumer attitudes to their brand – although still only at an aggregate level.
The more channels that companies incorporate into their strategy – not forgetting more traditional methods of direct and loyalty marketing, including email, post, SMS, and telephone – the more informed they will be. And a comprehensive approach will give marketers all the tools they need to target their customers in a way that will strengthen their relationship, rather than strain it.

Andy Wood is managing director at GI Insight