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Please mind the (perception) gap
09th November 2011. Posted by Tom Braithwaite. Trackback
It was my birthday this week. I turned 25, and have therefore been stalking this earth for a quarter of a century now.
It’s all quite scary stuff and normally I’d be quite annoyed about getting older, but this week I was pleasantly surprised to see that apparently I’m still classed amongst the ‘younger consumers’.
The good news came whilst reading about those aged between 18 – 34 years who, a study found, are the more likely to turn to Facebook than Twitter in order to read news.
The new data from Lightspeed Research found that 30% of 18-34 year olds turn to Facebook for their news at some point during the week compared to only 12% who use Twitter.
People seem surprised at this and I’m not sure why. I’m always a bit sceptical about these sorts of studies and with over 800 million active users on Facebook, compared to the 200 million Twitter users, I’m not surprised that out of the 1000 people surveyed more people use Facebook than Twitter. Especially when the survey asked respondents to list all types of media they use when finding out about news.
It can be hard for companies that work day in, day out with a certain type of digital media to understand its true importance to a wider audience and it’s vital to remember to take a step back and analyse where the real opportunities lie.
I recently attended this year’s MediaPro conference and learnt more about the perception gap that exists for brands about exactly why people join social networking sites.
Many believe the main reason people join Facebook or Twitter is to belong to a community. It’s not. Actually 70% of people sign up to connect with friends and family, it’s only 23% who say they join to connect with brands.
So, with more people using Facebook, each having an average of 130 friends, more people are hearing about what’s happening through their mates.
This translates into e-commerce. A recent study by Deloitte found that 71% of people said the single most important factor in buying from a website was if it was recommended by a friend or family member.
In order for brands to fully connect with its followers, they need to change its perception about who they think uses social media and why, in order to fully engage with them.
This was seen to great effect a couple of years ago with Burger King’s Whopper Sacrifice campaign when people were offered a free burger from the fast food chain if they deleted 10 of their friends from Facebook.
This connection between a brand and what it’s audience values saw 33,906 friends removed by 82,771 users in the space of a week and the campaign being swiftly shut down by the social networking site.
Whether it’s understanding how and why a ‘younger consumer’ finds out about the news or understanding why people connect to a brand on social media, it’s important to think carefully about any perception gaps that might exist along the way.