Keeping Up with the Social Consumer
Although the increase in brands’ online marketing budgets indicates that the social marketing space will continue to thrive, this also increases the pressure on marketers to look for new ways to engage and retain consumers. This growing pressure to keep up can make brands vulnerable to social media fatigue. Thismoment’s research on some of the probable causes of social media burnout and the challenges brands could face now and later shows:
- The recent proliferation of social platforms can be exhausting for brands and consumers. As consumers keep up with existing platforms and experiment with the newer entrants, the challenge for brands will be to keep them engaged and monitor conversations across multiple channels.
- 2013 will see fewer new users signing up to social networks (only 67% penetration rate compared to 66% in 2012). This means brands will need to focus on retaining existing customers than amassing new ones (eMarketer).
- Mobile social network users in the U.S are expected to reach an estimated 79.1 million in 2015 (eMarketer). The task of optimizing content for mobile viewing, while simultaneously creating engaging social content, could be a likely cause for social fatigue among brands.
The Smart Approach to Content
The constant content creation process can sometimes be tiresome for brands. According to eMarketer, the biggest challenge for brands in 2011-12 is the creation of original content. Rather than being overwhelmed by this, marketers can:
- Reuse Content: Reusing content does not mean annoying consumers with repetitive, outdated marketing messages. The smart approach here will be to create content once and use the same across multiple platforms. Brands can do this by using social content management systems like Thismoment’s DEC. DEC allows brands to create content once and reuse the same across different platforms, establishing a consistent brand voice in the process.
Check out the OnStar DEC, featuring YouTube, Facebook and Mobile as the distribution points, to know more.
- Allow Consumers to Contribute: This reduces the pressure on brands as far as creating fresh content is concerned. UGC not only keeps social fatigue, associated with the content creation process, at bay, but is also an affordable way to share content and improve brand image. Pet care brand, Purina, keeps the content on their YouTube channel (created on DEC) fresh and interesting by allowing users to contribute.
Staying Engaged
Having understood the importance of social engagement, marketers are juggling between the innumerable ‘likes’, ‘comments’, subscription requests etc. Also, the increase in number of social channels has made it difficult for brands to engage everywhere. How can brands stay on top of their game, while ensuring they don’t burnout?
- Sifting Through the Noise: The sheer scale of the social space can be overwhelming for brands, making it difficult to reply to every post or interact with every fan. To successfully engage in this unfettered and overcrowded landscape, brands need to use social media monitoring tools like Thismoment’s Brand Monitor. This helps them sift through the noise, identify critical posts and engage accordingly.
- Bridging the Perception Gap: According to a report by IBM, there’s a major perception gap between what consumers want and what brands think consumers want. For instance, while consumers consider discounts as the biggest motivation to interact with brands on social sites, brands believe consumers want to know more about their products. This miscommunication can affect engagement opportunities and can be tiresome for brands and consumers alike. By bridging this perception gap, brands can meet consumers’ needs better, and stop fretting over slowing revenue and engagement rates.
Conclusion
As the number of social networks increase, so will consumers’ expectations from brands. Although brands will strive to keep up with the proliferation of social channels, the likely cause of fatigue will be managing and publishing original content. Brands, at one time or another will find themselves vulnerable to social fatigue; however, their reliability on user-generated content and use of monitoring tools to understand the social consumer better will lessen the likelihood of a social media burnout.
- Shama Ahmed
Thismoment
